What Smells

Post Reply New Topic

I am new to Aspergers and this site. I was just diagnosed at 36. Anyway I find that certain smells drive me bananas. Examples: If I go into a restaurant and can smell damp corrugated boxes from their refrigerators, I can't eat. It is the worst in cafeteria style restaurants. I try to avoid them. 2. Anything that is a leftover in the refrigerator that has a top on it that has just been opened. That smell is just nauseating, especially if it is meat. 3. Any body who cooks with a crockpot. 4. Any event that includes a "potluck dinner."

Now for the weird smells. I can walk past a person and notice their smell changes one to two days before they get a cold sore. Don't ask me it is crazy. Sorry ladies, any women having her menstrual cycle and I do not mean that I can smell them because they are not clean. Here is another one. I found a gas leak in my house that no one could find not even the gas man their to fix it. The gas man said right next to the heat unit and said it was not a gas leak that it was an animal that had died. I was thinking that was B.S.. I stuck my head inside the heat unit and almost threw up. I then pointed out to the man the copper joint that had a hole in it. I do not think he believed me at all. However, he got out his bottle of soap bubbles and sprayed the joint and low and behold the joint started bubbling. Checkmate. The guy was completely amazed.

Anyway does anyone else have these problems and how so?

My hypersensitivity to chemical smells isn't as strong as yours, so it's not nearly as problematic. About the worst smell I can think of is walking passed/down the soap & detergent aisle of Costco - the smells of laundry soaps and whatever else is there just becomes sooo strong and overbearing that I have to hold my breath. That's about the worst of smells for me, really. I mean, I don't like the smell of rotting anything or w/e but that's pretty normal.

Have you ever considered putting your nose to work? Go sniff & evaluate fine wines.. wander through a hazelnut grove and sniff out truffles!! Smell the fear on your competition and know that you've won _____ before it's even begun.

This ability ( or maybe its a disability- but on balance Id call it an ability) has nothing to do with asperger's.

But it is remarkable.

Ive heard tell of individuals like you who can smell things most of cant. A teacher in college mentioned a friend who tell if you were under stress from some smell you gave off that he could smell (something like that- I forget the exact anectdote).

Maybe its you olfactory equipment, or maybe you're more mentally focused on scent, or both. Maybe one feeds into the other. I dunno. Maybe you should go to work as a wine taster.

Actually I take that back about aspergers. Who knows? Maybe scent is your aspie obsession, and in your case it might be related to as.

But Im an officially diagnoised aspie and Im as nose-blind as most people, and not like you. So even if its somehow related to aspergers its still not a common asperger trait.

I will start looking at this as way to utilize it as a skill. Thank. ':D'

I don't think it is a drawback, except the restaurant thing and you could get an extra job working in the gas business
I can smell smoke and people who smoke or have smoked from a long distance, it is really annoying as I hate the smell of smoke. when I was pregnant (and the sense of smell is even more keen) I could smell the varnish that was used on the kitchen cupboards years ago, the smell was so bad that I could hardly go into the kitchen. Rather unpractical when I had to make my own food

The smell of the menstrual cycle is pretty unusual to notice (as far as I know) but very logical. The change in hormone levels make our body smell different - well known in many species of mammals (but normally not noticed in humans) - very practical if you want to know when there is the best chance to get your girlfriend pregnant

The cold sore thing is pretty weird! Can you also smell the oncoming of a epileptic attack? Some dogs can sense/smell epileptic attacks a short while before they occur, I do not know if it is the smell or something else.

Oh.. and welcome to WP the best resource for the late diagnosed.
me: Recently diagnosed at 40

They can also detect cancer.

I do not know about the epileptic thing. I have heard about dogs that notice this. I wonder if someone in my area would be willing to let me try my skills out.

Hypersensitivity to chemical smells is an ADD/ADHD trait, fyi.

It does have something to do with AS/autism. It's part of the sensory issues that many Aspies/auties have.

You may well find NTs in the population that also have an advanced sense of smell, but I will bet that if there were research done it would be a lot less people than in people on the spectrum.

Both me and my daughters have highly sensitive smell.

Just because there are people on the spectrum with auditory sensitivity, this doesn't mean that no-one else in the population has auditory sensitivity.

This is how people can be NT and have sensory processing disorder as well.

For me it is a big drawback. I work in a library and it is often filled with a number of pleasant and unpleasant smells, such as old books, new magazines, terrible BO, strange foods, and cat urine/meth smells. In particularly the last I have the biggest problem with. A family often comes in and they and the items they return smell like cat urine/meth. It is so bad to me that I can tell when they are here from upstairs on the opposite side of the building. Working at the front desk becomes nearly impossible to do normally as my facade tends to fall off, and they sit there for hours on the computers. My coworkers think I'm crazy and they don't notice it as much and it has earned me a number of complaints and "incident reports". I've told the assistant director that I can't stand it and to assign me to another area while they're there, but she seems to go out of her way to put me on the front lines and thinks I'm being rude to avoid them. I feel pretty stuck and the only advice I've been given is to apply vapor rub to try to counteract the smell, but I can't stand it either, let alone if they both mixed.

I too am sensitive to smells-when I would work on TV's I could smell if they were infested with cockroaches and I could smell if something had burned up as far as a component inside and what type of component it was.

I have a sensitive nose also. Not sensitive in the way that I can tell which of 16 perfumes my wife owns that I am smelling, but in the way that a lot of things are profoundly overpowering to me. Perfume, hot tar, incense, garbage, residual cigarette oder, flowers, farmers (sometimes smell like ammonium nitrate which smells like rotten armpits to me), speed stick original is awful, people who don't floss, public bathrooms, live birds (have a dusty musty poop smell), the menstral thing, yes I understand that too, ozone generators or ionizers, paints, glues, propane, car exhaust, and scorched metal from welding.

I hate walking through people's "wake" because of their scented lotions, shampoos, body washes; that's all very too much for me. Plus b.o. Is bad.

On the flip side, I enjoy the smell of fresh oranges, fresh baked bread, and basil, to name a few.

A lot of aspies have a dog's ears and or nose. Hypersensitive hearing and or smelling. It comes with the territory.

And I thought I was the only one! I don't find it unpleasant, but I definitely notice it.

Some smells that drive me nuts: any residual amount of detergent on dishes (we have to use natural, not-very-effective detergents at my house... and I still sniff them all before use); most plastics, especially food or drinks in plastic containers; hairspray... pretty much any type of hygiene product, actually, if it isn't completely natural and unscented. I can smell someone who uses bleach on their clothes from a mile away. I have been known to literally cry over spilled milk (I hate even being in the same house with someone eating cereal). Half the aisles at the supermarket are kind of off limits.

Yet, I lovve lots of plant smells (lavender is probably my favorite, or rosemary). So much so that I will happily sit and smell handfuls of them for long periods of time. I guess people find that odd, but it feels something like a nice massage to me.

I tend to be quite sensitive to smell, too, but not quite as problematically so as the OP. I generally find artificial smells very unpleasant such as soap, perfume etc. I also seem to sometimes notice women's monthly smell. I also quite often subconsciously tend to associate people with their particular smell - body odor, bad perfume, bad breath etc.

My gf has a superior sense of smell she has reversed blood vessels in her nose also which might help the smelling idk...

She hates smells sometimes as she has a bloodhounds sense of smell so to speak.

My sense of smell isn't good i do smoke cigarettes though (trying to quit still) so i'm sure that doesn't help.

My hearing is very good at night or in the woods at night.
If i am in the woods at night it's like my senses are hypersensitive and i am more aware of everything