Drive55's poll about being smelly or not made me think.

I have a really sensitive sense of smell. I remember as a child my Mum sending me into the kitchen first after a gas leak to check whether it had all gone Certain smells make me gag when other people can't smell them. I love animals but even clean ones stink to me. I can't wear clothes which have that "dried too slowly" musty smell about them - they have to go back in the wash again. And if I'm in a lift with someone else with that smell on their clothes, I hold my breath until one of us gets out.

DH's sense of smell isn't quite as intense but it's still better than average.

How about you?

Yep, I am the "gas detector" in our household too (both kinds ). My husband is a heating technician, and he thinks women in general have a more sensitive sense of smell. If he goes to an office to fix a heater, the ladies will say "Ewww...you've got to fix this leak, it smells so bad!", and the guys in the office say, "What smell?".

I think I may have read somewhere that women do have a better sense of smell, because they were the food preparer's, and had to be able to detect if something had gone bad/rancid. Maybe the men/hunters did not have as strong a sense of smell because a "gut shot" animal really stinks, even though the meat may be ok to eat, and they had to gut the critter to bring home.

Interesting poll.

Hm.  I voted "average," but after reading your posts I'm wondering if I should have voted "sensitive."  I'm the gas detector too.  We had a gas leak outside our bedroom window for months and I couldn't convince my husband it was there.  Finally I caught the meter reader outside one day and asked him to check it.  Sure enough, it was leaking pretty badly--on their end, thankfully.  But I also occasionally smell it in our living room next to a vent.  Again, my husband is reluctant to call, for some reason.  [*sneaky thought*] Maybe I'll call the gas company while he's gone on his business trip.  I do believe women smell more bad stuff than men, whether it's a built-in protection system or just being aware (remember, the men retreat to their "nothing boxes" and we don't even have a "nothing box!").

I voted average even though I’m the gas detector and smoke detector in the house.  Certain smells I’m very sensitive to and others I am not.  I read that smell is attached to our memories and is a very important indicator, but is different for every person.

Currently, I think I have an average sense of smell, but above average attention to things around me, so I notice odd smells.  My sense of smell improved somewhat after surgery to repair my deviated septum, and again it has improved on BTD (I think because my sinuses aren't so congested).  It used to be, without a doubt, below average, but the surgery and diet have brought it up to par.

I've been told I have a nose like a bloodhound. I live with a guy who loves ferrets, etc, etc, and has NO sense of smell! Oy. Don't get me started....

Very poor sense of smell. Sort of a handicap really.

Erika, welcome!
good to have you join!

Welcome, Erika!

Thanks, good to be here.

I love essential oils and natural perfumes, but I am very sensitive to chemical perfumed spray, house products and cheap plastic furniture exhalations. Three times in my life I had an half an hour of bad cough with these chemicals, twice in the spring pollen season and my mother was asthmatic, as my brother with cats fur and parietaria.
I have a  good sense of smell also if I had terrific colds and sinusitis before BTD, but I don't use perfume regularly, just some esential oil in my toiletries to rinse and creams or body lotions.
I also refuse to use house perfumes, scented oils and candles, if not seldom and completely naturals.
Maria Giovanna

I’m also sensitive to cheap perfumes and chemical cleaners.  But I attribute that to my allergies, not to my sense of smell.  My throat tightens up and I have to take Benedryl.  That’s the only thing that relieves my symptoms quick.  Somebody put a can of air freshener in the bathroom at work.  If I get a quick whiff of it when I walk in, then I head for another bathroom.  When I’m in the stall, I cross my fingers that nobody uses it before I get out.  We’re in a large building, so it won’t do any good to tell my co-workers.  We just moved in this building from the building next door at the end of October.  I know none of them put it in the bathroom because it wasn’t in the other building.

I am highly sensitive to smells which in my case I think is linked to adrenal fatigue.  I get periods of time when it is not as sensitive and I think it correlates to the times when my adrenals aren't as stressed.

Huh.  Cool.  I notice that about my eyes.  When my adrenals are stressed my vision darkens and blurs.

Quoted from Ribbit

Huh.  Cool.  I notice that about my eyes.  When my adrenals are stressed my vision darkens and blurs.

Yes, my eyes too.  There is not much I don't blame on the adrenals.  I'm guess I'm going through a phase where I see them being related to every health symptom!

Pantothenic acid(B5) is good for the adrenals, but please tell a doctor about your eye symptoms. You don't want to take any chances with your eyes.
S S & L,
Mrs "T"     O+  

I am secretor ( however I might be a weak secretor acording to GTD )
and I have a super sense of smell
I am the gas alarm- the cat pee alarm  
everything and I hate to sit next to a smoker in the train- it makes me sick just to smell their clothes. or a very perfumed person.

Quoted from Henriette Bsec

I have a super sense of smell
I am the gas alarm- the cat pee alarm  
everything and I hate to sit next to a smoker in the train- it makes me sick just to smell their clothes. or a very perfumed person.

That's just the explorer in you!

Quoted from TJ

That's just the explorer in you!

true

I also have a super sensitive nose. I had to leave a classroom when the instructor used a dry erase marker on a white board in the class. I felt overwhelmed by the smell and I looked around the room and everyone else seemed to be fine. I tried cupping my hands around my mouth and nose but it was too no avail and had to leave. I can also smell things that no one else seems to smell.

I read that Doctors have a clue when an older person complains that they have lost their sense of smell that they may be in the first stages of Alzheimers disease. So when I read that I thought ok maybe my super sniffer might be helpful to me.

Oh yes, definitely the household sniffer!  Gas, nappy change time, dust, even mold in an adjacent room  

Super sensitive sense of smell.

i voted secretor average, because i have really good sense of smell of others and things around me but not of myself. ha. before BTD, i couldnt smell anything because of the mucus. then one day i noticed i could smell the pool (chlorine of course) but it was a good feeling because i was like half a mile away at the time. i also noticed (the more i was sticking to BTD) the more i could smell peoples perfume and cologne, their shampoo, and sometimes what soap they used if they just got out the shower. :p like 30 feet in front me. also i smell chalk better, chemical cleaners better, flowers better, and different variety of trees like pine. not that i search out these smells or anything but i pick up on them when im in the area. i notice that i can smell more "misty" type things as well. at the beach i can smell the seaweed, when it rains i smell that. lol soo many smells thanks to BTD!   rock on...


-Higher Ground

hhhmmm in those days it is very changeable for me sometimes I can smell all and everything and then as it is like *cut off* nothing....not even the perfume I just put on
which leads to *overdoings*  ....sometimes .... ....

Very Very sensitive/strong sense of smell. I've only worn one type of perfume because it's the only one I really seem to like.  Chanel Allure