Quoted from Chloe

I'm a secretor with a super sense of smell...I can smell things most people don't notice.

I can wear my own perfume and not notice it, but the odors of other people's perfume and hair
sprays drive me crazy.

I feel I'm generally overly sensitive all the way around... to loud noise, bright lights, too much
stimulation, feeling crowded by too many people or being in tight spaces, too little air,
spicy foods, labels on clothing.  Often if someone touches me or pokes too strongly, shakes my hand too tightly, or squeezes me in a bear hug,  I'm libel to scream! (because it sometimes feels
painful!)  I have low tolerance for physical pain.

Just wondering if one sensitivity is related to others.

I'm with you Chloe relative to light and sound, and small spaces in peticular... My physical tolerance to pain is quite high though

Chloe, reading your post, I feel like I could have posted that myself.  I am SUPER sensitive!  Strong smells like the tiniest amount of cigarette smoke give me a headache.  If I am sitting at a red light, and the person in the car in front of me is smoking... I can smell it!!!  I'm not kidding either!  

Crowds make me want to scream... if a store is too crowded (like walmart on a Saturday), I can't do it, I have to get out of there.  My husband may not like it, but he's able to get what we need and go, while I can literally feel my cortisol levels rising.

This past week, there was something in my refrigerator that was not smelling right.  Everytime I opened the frig, I felt like I was knocked over by the smell.  I kept searching and searching for what it might be (I'm quite anal about foods and my frig is usually very clean), and my kids and my husband couldn't smell a thing.  After a few days, I could smell it without even opening the frig!  I told my husband I was close to getting rid of everything and cleaning out the whole frig.  Finally I checked a sealed rubbermaid container that had some cut up cauliflower in in that was still good but building up gases from not being opened I guess, and that was the culprit!  I threw the entire thing in the outside trash, bc I couldn't open it! I can finally breathe!  

I think my family thinks I'm a little crazy where this is concerned sometimes!  But I seriously can't help it!  I do think women are more sensitive, and I live with almost all boys.  My daughter is a bit more smell sensitive, maybe that's why she is such a picky eater?

I don't know my secretor status so I didn't vote yet, and I have only read a few posts in here so I'm not sure who is supposed to be more sensitive, though I'm guessing it's the nonnies?  I have the test to find out my status, I just need to do it and send it in.

Quoted from TJ

I think sensitivities are related.  IMO it's just the way our brain reacts to the sensation.  HSPs have lower thresholds for sensory input of any kind.  We get overwhelmed more easily, because we aren't good at filtering out extraneous stimuli.

What does HSP stand for?

purlgirl- I used to get horrible migraines and definitely felt overly sensitive during that time.  I don't really get them anymore, I found out they were being caused by the artificial hormones in birth control.  Once I stopped taking that, I got rid of the headaches and actually a lot of other problems I didn't even realize were related.

I'm a secretor with super sensitive smell that I think started when I was pregnant with my first and it never went away.  I wondered if it might be a protective mechanism the that kicks in when you need extra protection from foods/chemcials when your in need of extra help, i.e, pregnant or not in best of health??

Even through chronic sinus challenges, my sense of smell is super sensitive. I think it has something to do with autoimmune function. Hoping it will improve the longer I am on the diet.

Guys, do you see when I wrote that?  August 2008.  I've been on my Teacher SWAMI since August 2009....
and I have to tell you, I re-read what I wrote and I don't feel it fits me perfectly anymore.  For nearly
6 months I'm on what I believe is my "perfect" diet...(although still adjusting to the dairy and can't eat
gluten, I'm hopeful it will all be tolerable eventually).

Here's what used to happen to me awhile back...I'd be sitting in a movie theater and smell the popping corn in the lobby...The smell would get into my head and a day later, I was walking around thinking I was still sitting in the theater smelling the popcorn. The pervasive odor got stuck in my head.  I'd put my
head on the pillow at night with clean hair, a clean pillow case and smell the popcorn popping as if
I were sitting in the movie theater.  There has to be something about being overly reactive when you're not chemically balanced....and what we eat translates to the neurotransmitters we're able to make in our brains.

So here I am 18 months after writing that post and following a different diet now than the one I followed
when I wrote that post....and let me make some additional comments about now.

Although strong odors are offensive to me, and most perfumes just annoy the heck out
of me because they smell like a chemical factory, I'm not likely to feel as overly reactive as I once did.  I might want to seek fresh air....get away from an offending smell, but I'm more tolerant of odors than I was when I wrote that post.  I've been in movie theaters without taking the popcorn odor home with me.

As for feeling overly physically sensitive to pain....that comes and goes.  I don't bruise badly like I once did.

I can't explain the improvement I've experienced on my SWAMI diet as it relates to sensitivity...and I'm
not sure the poll is accurate by assuming non secretors will react differently than secretors...I think the
right diet will cause healing on such a deep level that even an overly sensitive person can more normally
tolerate offending smells and sensations.

great results!
keep up the work!

Atticus: HSP = highly sensitive person/people

I am a nonie and have non of these problems.. I can smell easy, and yes broccoli could do that ,,,,,,,, but in general no issues like that .. I am happy to report.. I do not like cooking smells so I own a air purifier.. would not want to be without it when I cook onions.. like the taste but not the smell.. I don't like the smell of meat and I use the same soap for 40 years the hairspray too.. my sister hates the one I use and not the one I bought on vacation .. she is you every way.. so she might be a sec.. interesting ha-ha ....

I do believe that a few years after ER such issues go away or become milder since the whole body feels better.. less pain, less nervous, less intestinal issues, better sleep, better dreams, better health concerns, and the big one HOPE..    

I'm a nonnie : I have definite smell issues. I can't stand perfume, lotions, cooking oil (like if you come out of a diner from breakfast or cook pancakes). I have to change clothes..
Crowds, tight places and cigarette smoke are all not friendly to me either.

I used to be so sensitive to perfumes that I couldn't even go into a store that had a perfume counter...  It would trigger my adrenal shutdown and cause me to have no energy...  Many other smells would have the same effect, although I don't recall all of them...
I used NAET to eliminate problem from the sensitivity to many foods and other chemicals, which reduced much of the problem.  I am still very sensitive, especially to tobacco smoke.
I can tolerate crowds, I just don't like them...  I usually can feel pains from someone else in the crowd.  I will get a stabbing sensation somewhere, accompanied with a directional indication as to who it is from...  I can usually tell by watching that person's movement, that they are the one who's pain I am feeling...  Really weird, because I often don't know whether to try to help them or just get away to eliminate the pain I feel.  I sometimes feel the obligation to continue to observe them to determine whether they show some indication of needing help...

I helped a woman who was choking one day, so I know that it may be important...

I have the super kind of sense of smell. My father worked for the gas and electric company and I remember being three years old and knowing the reason why they put a smell into gas; as he told it, gas was odorless so the smell was put into it so people wouldn't die but be able to know when it was leaking into their homes. I always thought that was neat.

We are currently trying to buy a house. At the price we can afford, most of the houses have been inhabited by:
A. mold
B. big dogs
C. herds of cats
D. rats
E. smokers

When you understand that the homes we look at have been empty for months, it makes it just worse.

Smells really get me. I seem to notice immediately things that I can't deal with as an Explorer with allergies and chemical sensitivities:
Mold
Floral smells
Cigarettes
Alcohol
Gas/petroleum products

On the other hand, I can't always smell wine that well. I think it's getting better the longer I'm on the Explorer diet. I think that the accumulation of toxins in my body has caused some irritation or inflammation there; also, the lung meridian leads to the nose. I had a terrible time with asthma last fall, but that has much improved.

Quoted from mrstwobears

We are currently trying to buy a house. At the price we can afford, most of the houses have been inhabited by:
A. mold
B. big dogs
C. herds of cats
D. rats
E. smokers

When you understand that the homes we look at have been empty for months, it makes it just worse.

Most of these smells can be overcome by a 5 to 10% chlorine solution washed onto the hard surfaces and left to dry with the windows open.  
Soft surfaces, like drapes and carpet, need to be replaced.

Rats, IMO, are the worst as they cut holes in anything and go everywhere.  You'll find their droppings for years and maybe find virus remains with them.      

Men and women smell differently. Women are better at smelling natural gas then men. Women smell better overall then men.

http://news.google.com/newspap.....&pg=4616,1195997

I had surgery 1 year ago, for nasal polyps. I have a checkup in a few weeks to see how the polyps are growing/not growing. to give you an idea how bad my sense of smell was, my dog got skunked RIGHT BESIDE ME and I couldn't smell it at all! Does anyone know of any natural ingredient that would slow the growth of polyps, other than the nasal spray I have been told is necessary to slow the progress? I did use a NETI pot in the winter months. I have never smoked, and for the last 20 years have barely even sniffed cigarette smoke. (Implying that I don't think I have a lot of irritants around me).You guys who have super smell should be happy! Guess what happens to taste when you don't smell!!  

Hi Poppy,

Sounds like it might be good sometimes to not have a sense of smell (when beloved pet is popping off!)    Sometimes I regret having a super sense of smell.  

Sorry to hear about your polyps.  Once I was researching salicylate sensitivity which I suffer from and I read that it is associated with nasal polyps.  I wonder if you may have Samter's Triad: asthma, salicylate sensitivity and nasal polyps (add a good singing voice I hope)  ?

http://www.wddty.com/avoid-salicylates-to-get-rid-of-nasal-polyps.html
http://www.allergy.org.nz/shop.....asal+polyp+link.html

Hope that helps.  To avoid salicylates it's good to start in the bathroom all minty and strong flavoured / fragranced things have to go.  Salicylates in food are often in fruit and veggies which we don't want to cut out completely.  Hopefully you can experiment and find your tolerance level.  May have to start with an exclusion diet.

how is your dairy intake?

I really thank you Symbi, for the link about the salicylates. My ENT Doc told me already to avoid taking advil and to stick to tylenol. I take almost none of these anyway. I really did not know that there are salicylates in foods, etc. I am sure I'm using mint toothpaste right now! Lola, I consume NO dairy at all, as of 3 years ago. Actually, I tried an experiment with goat cheese. After  about 2 months of eating some several times a week, I noticed worse nasal stuffiness,(it took me that long to clue in!) and sneezing. This stopped as soon as I cut out the goat cheese. Thanks for your replies!

Oooh talking bout sensitive noses...I just realised that prior to my nose bleed I was sniffing on straight peppermint oil, in an attempt to clear my slightly blocked nose (which was brought on by my experiment with using whey)
Wonder if my salicylate sensitivity, along with the fact that I have recently stopped using mint toothpaste (therefore possibly becoming even more sensitive to it ) could have been one more factor that contributed to my nose bleeds

Quoted from Andrea AWsec

Men and women smell differently. Women are better at smelling natural gas then men. Women smell better overall then men.

http://news.google.com/newspap.....&pg=4616,1195997

Are we talking about the "sense" of smell or "how" they smell.  

lol I wondered that too...

both i think.   i notice my sence of smell really kicks in when i get hungry. i can smell a dr pepper across the resterant when i am hungry and it smells great witch i find funny sence i have ALWAYS HATED dr pepper! but it is not just that. everything smells stronger. the hot oil, the perfume the co mates are wearing, even the smell of ice in the freezer when i walk in their. nasle battering ram. nothing like being hit in the face with smell of burnt buns.  

Quoted from battle dwarf

nothing like being hit in the face with smell of burnt buns.  

Then don't stand so close to the oven!  

Talking about being hit in the face with the smell of something...last night we got stuck behind a slow vehicle spewing diesels & I just cannot tolerate/cope with the smell... Well interestingly enough, after two weeks of no nose bleeds... I had two this morning, while trying to get ready for work...I wonder & seriously think there may be a connection