Is An Over Sensitive Sense Of Smell, Helpful Or Annoying?

Over sensitive sense of smell, do you suffer from this like I do?

I actually come from a long line of sensitive noses and inherited the “I can smell everything” gene. My Mother has an over sensitive sense of smell,  and my Grandmother also had an over sensitive sense of smell. Aren’t we lucky? Most of the time, I can smell things like a bloodhound. It drives my husband CRAZY! I’m actually not sure if the “gene” thing is where the over sensitive sense of smell comes from, or from something else.  I’m going to ask my doctor next time I see her.  It seems the older I get, the worse it is.

Oh, did I mention that I suffer from allergies and asthma? Unfortunately, even though I have an over sensitive sense of smell along with allergies, the allergy testing I had was for things like grass, mold, dust, animals, and food, not environmental toxins. I know I am allergic to toxins because when I’m exposed to them, I have a bad allergic reaction, sneezing, wheezing, itchy eyes, etc.

Many items irritate my over sensitive sense of smell such as:

Chlorine
Ammonia
Bleach
Perfume
Hairspray
Cleaners with chlorine or bleach
Smoke from cigarettes, wood-burning fireplaces, etc.
Nail Polish
Perm Solution

Maybe I should start charging for my over sensitive sense of smell!

Due to my over sensitive sense of smell, it’s quite difficult to be close to people who wear perfume, hairspray or anything with a scent. A while back while shopping at Target, it smelled like a perfumery in the food section, the animals section, and even the drug isle. ICK! As an added bonus, while walking out of Target, what did I smell?  SMOKE! I don’t know which was more toxic. I’ve also gone to sporting events where I had to walk through clouds of smoke to get to the facility where the event was being held. It’s even difficult to handle when people smell like smoke. My poor lungs.

Being the bloodhound that I am, a couple of years ago, one of my best friends asked me to come over and sniff her rental house for mold. I agreed and sure enough I detected it.  It turned out she did have a mold problem. Amazing! I can smell mildew and mold in a many department stores too.

One time I smelled something burning, but we couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. We discovered that a bug flew into the Halogen lamp and zapped itself to death, which of course smelled like burning. Another time, I went for a walk with Mark and told him that SOMEWHERE near our house, there was a fire. Of course, he just rolled his eyes and didn’t believe me. Sure enough, within minutes, we heard helicopters and turned on the news, there was INDEED a forest fire nearby. Am I good or what? Should I start charging for my “sniffing” talents?

It’s a Good Thing My Husband Loves Me!

I’m sure my husband finds it humorous when he kisses me hello and instead of saying hello back, my response is normally “Did you eat garlic” or “Did you eat chocolate”? I’m glad he loves me anyway, even though he has to put up with my Over Sensitive Sense Of Smell!

The worst scent that I can detect “in an instant” is if the dogs have accidents ANYWHERE in the house. Oh, lucky me!  Truly this has got to be one of the worst times for my over sensitive sense of smell to be activated.

I grew up in California and swam in the pool day and night when I was young. Sometimes I swam on a smoggy day. On those days my lungs would hurt when I got out of the pool and I had a hard time breathing. It was just awful. Now, when I go around a chlorinated pool, I have a terrible reaction and just can’t handle it. It’s OK, because I swam so much when I was a kid, I have no desire to swim now.

The good thing about my over sensitive sense of smell is that I can smell good cooking, but my over sensitive sense of smell can also detect whether things in the frig need to be tossed. What talent, eh?

Having an over sensitive sense of smell makes for an unpleasant visit to the salons!

With a constant over sensitive sense of smell, walking into nail salons is not a pleasant experience most times! Sometimes I do “suffer” through it. Same with hair salons. Smelling Perm Solution and Acrylic nail solution is not good! As I mentioned in a previous post, I purchased some non-toxic nail polish. Although it doesn’t stay on for long, it has absolutely no scent, which works out very well. My advice? Just don’t put it on in the car, when your husband is driving. I tried it and not only were my nails polished, but so were my fingers and parts of my hand. I truly wish that NON TOXIC nail and hair salons would come to this area. I bet they would get a lot of business, especially from people who also have an over sensitive sense of smell like I do.

I FINALLY found a green cleaner that works!

One issue I have is with toxic cleaners. My over sensitive sense of smell can’t handle toxins, I sneeze, wheeze and have itchy eyes. I’ve tried a couple of the green products, from the grocery store, and they DID NOT CLEAN. Due to my Over Sensitive Sense Of Smell, Shaklee sent me a sample of Basic H. Per the directions, we mixed it with water into a spray bottle, and sprayed it in the shower and sink. Not only did it clean well, but it had NO SCENT at all. I have now ordered a great big 64 oz container of it, along with some unscented wipes and a couple of other items.

Maybe others, like the police department, would appreciate my “over sensitive sense of smell”.  I could work right along side the bomb sniffing dogs. What do you think? Is this what the future holds for me?

Feel free to leave a comment if YOU have an over sensitive sense of smell or do you KNOW someone else who has an over sensitive sense of smell.