Wednesday 26 January 2022

Odourless

It's weird having virtually no sense of smell. It means I'm blissfully unaware of nasty smells, but also frustratingly unaware of beautiful ones.

Jenny is always asking me if I smell something or other, to which I invariably reply that I can't smell a thing. Everyone around me is swooning over some delicious scent, and I'm wondering what all the fuss is about.

I used to work with a local councillor who several people told me wasn't too hygienic and had an unpleasant body odour. He drove me to a meeting once and even in such close proximity I couldn't smell anything unusual.

There's a coastal walk at the end of Belfast Lough where apparently the accumulated seaweed "absolutely reeks", but I can't detect anything out of the ordinary (which is handy because it greatly improves the walk). 

Jenny sometimes asks me if a newly-washed towel smells a bit off, but I regularly tell her it smells fine to me. I can only assume it really does smell off and she's not just imagining it.

Unfortunately beautiful smells usually pass me by, so I'm missing out on quite a lot. Roses and other flowers, coffee, freshly-cooked food, perfumes, shampoos, melting chocolate, newly mown grass, paint, scented candles, to name but a few (though I can generally smell perfume if someone is soaked in it).

I can't rely on my sense of smell to tell me if I need a shower or clean clothes, but luckily my sweat is quite pleasant (so I'm told) so I'm unlikely to embarrass myself with an undetected stink.

Luckily I have Jenny to alert me if the house is on fire and I haven't noticed anything untoward. If I was on my own, I might have been incinerated by now.

I wonder what it's like to have a normal sense of smell?

37 comments:

  1. I’m not sure I knew that about you? Has it been like that your whole life and what did the physician say about it? I’d really miss food smells, but not really anything else.

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    1. Bijoux: I've had a poor sense of smell ever since I can remember. It may go right back to my childhood. I've never asked my doctor about it, it's not a serious problem.

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  2. Ah, Anosmia. You should be in the fishing business like a dear friend of mine was. He was very popular with the fisherfolk as he was blissfully unaware of the smell of drying fish on their vessels or villages. He is now retired but whenever the occasion arises I still rib him about that gift!

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    1. Ramana: Now you mention it, I never notice the smell of fish when I'm on the beach or near the sea.

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  3. I believe you wrote about that before Nick. What do they say, you can't miss what you never had. I suppose it's like being colour blind. You compensate in other areas.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. www: You're right that I don't miss what I never had. But I'm curious about all those smells that I've never experienced.

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  4. I've had Phantosmia, but luckily it went away - I had the smell of smoke stuck up my nose for a couple of weeks and it was horrible - I missed smelling things normally.
    Do you taste things, or does food taste peculiar to you?
    Sx

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    1. Ms Scarlet: I think I have phantosmia sometimes. I get strange smells in my nose that I can't identify and must be imaginary.

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    2. Ms Scarlet: Food tastes absolutely as it should do, no problems there.

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  5. Look on the bright side. Leaving aside its figurative meaning, if you, Nick, had reason to say to someone "You stink" it'd be the death knell to their standing in society.

    U

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    1. Ursula: I would never say "You stink" to anyone, I wouldn't be that rude.

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    2. Yes, Nick, but if said in the right tone and with the right (benevolent) intention it's not so much "rude" as hugely effective. There will be people who will say "why didn't you tell me before?" or "I wish you'd told me earlier".

      By way of vaguely amusing anecdote, I was in my early twenties, my then freshly baked boyfriend (future father-of-son) was blunt to the ouch factor - which is rather remarkable in itself since he is English and very well brought up. The perfect gentleman. However, he told me in no uncertain terms, and I quote: "I don't wish to kiss an ashtray." Thus my smoking career was cut very short.

      U

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    3. Ursula: You were lucky that you were put off smoking at an early age. I've never smoked but my father did, and he died of lung cancer.

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  6. I too have a poor sense of smell. When I taught, teachers complained about how bad students could smell. On occasions my smell returned in full force. They were so right. So there are advantages. But I do smell slightly even on bad days.

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    1. Ann: Sounds like a big advantage that you couldn't smell all those whiffy students!

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  7. That's a good question, what is a normal sense of smell?

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    1. Joanne: You tell me! Being fully aware of beautiful smells would be a good start.

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  8. I worked with a girl who lost her sense of smell AND taste after a fall down some stairs and hitting her head. she lost weight alarmingly! she said food tasted like the texture of cardboard or other things. she hated it and just couldn't eat! but that's different perhaps. I'm overly sensitive to smells I think. I especially can't abide sickly Sweet! and strong perfumes and cigarette smoke! give me FRESH AIR!

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    1. Tammy: Losing both your sense of taste and smell must be awful. I would hate it if food suddenly tasted horrible. And yes, there's nothing like fresh air!

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  9. My friend M has no sense of smell or taste, she's been like that for years, she can't remember how it started. She does feel sad sometimes when she can't taste food, unless it's very strong.

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    1. Polly: I'm glad I can still taste food properly. I'd hate it if food tasted of nothing or actually had a nasty taste.

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  10. Well on the bright side you don't have to deal with bad smells. While having Covid my sense of smell lessened and hasn't come back yet to 100%. I can smell but it's not as strong as it used to be.

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    1. Mary: Indeed, I'm glad repulsive smells pass me by. Sorry to hear your sense of smell still hasn't fully recovered.

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  11. I've had days when I couldn't smell bleach or popcorn. That's why texture is more important than smell for me when it comes to food.

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    1. Linda: So your sense of smell comes and goes? I can usually smell bleach or chlorine, they're pretty pungent!

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    2. My sense of smell appears to be related to eating dairy products--too much eating equals less sense of smell.

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    3. Linda: That's strange. My missing sense of smell doesn't seem to have any link with dairy products.

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  12. Do you have your taste intact?
    I would be very unhappy, if I loose the sense of smell and taste. To smell the salty sea, the smell and taste of a skin the smell of the soil at the beginning of spring, stormy weather and the rain.snowflakes and, and ,and.. My smell and taste list is endless.
    Hannah

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    1. Hannah: I'm very glad I haven't lost my sense of taste so food can still be a delicious experience even if I can't actually smell it.

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  13. That's interesting that food tastes as it should to you since the appreciative taste of food is said to be associated with being able to smell it. You do detect some strong perfumes so guess your sensory buds are not only selective but dependent upon the strength of the odor.

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    1. Joared: Yes, I can taste different foods quite easily. But cooking smells pass me by. Jenny will comment on the cooking smells seeping into the rest of the house, and I can't detect them at all.

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  14. I used to have a wonderful sense of smell but over latter years something strange has happened to it and it's unreliable!

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    1. Liz: Perhaps you had a mild asymptomatic dose of covid which affected your sense of smell?

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  15. I suppose that if your sense of smell is almost non existent, you must find that your sense of taste is also rather poor, since they are I believe associated. I'd miss my ability to smell things, for sure. (I also often wonder how colour blind people see the world. Do you ever do that?)

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    1. Jenny: No, my sense of taste is fine, not diminished in any way. Jenny's brother is colour blind but I've never asked him how it affects his daily life.

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  16. That's good that it doesn't impact your sense of taste. I think my sense of smell is really good. I always seem to notice scents that other people don't.

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    1. Danielle: I envy your acute sense of smell!

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