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Posted 1/3/2009 3:42 AM (GMT 0)
I was just wondering...do any of you have sensitivities to smells or taste? Hubby poured hot sauce on a taco last night and I could still smell it hours later...I even thought I could taste it.  Tonight he made egg salad about four hours ago and I swear I can still smell it.  Last year, we encounered a truck that had blown a tire on the thru way...hubby said he smelled the reek of burning rubber too but I smelled it long after we had past the accident.  I have this ever since dx'd with fibro(12 years ago) but never heard anyone else complain about it.

thanks,

donna

Posted 1/3/2009 5:18 AM (GMT 0)
I'm very sensitive to smells. I can smell things way before anyone near me can. I also can still smell things for a long time after. Chemical smells and perfume make me sick. This can be tough in an elementary school, some kids are very lax on hygiene and their parents don't notice that the cat peed on the shirt their little darling is wearing.

A smoker moved into the apartment downstairs and it's driving me crazy. Moving is not an option so I'm stuck.

My hearing is the same way. I can hear high pitched sounds that the other adults around me can't hear. I keep soft foam earplugs with me to tone down the sounds when I am really sensitive.
Posted 1/3/2009 5:37 AM (GMT 0)
Donna,

You must have been in my head these past few days. I kept thinking about posting a very similar topic but figured I was most likely the only one...lol...should take my own advice and just ask.

My tastes have changed so much in the past 2-3 years, especially. Foods I love I can no longer get even a bite down. I can just look at many foods and my stomach gets queezie. Very few things are palatable any more. It's been frustrating me because I go searching for something for lunch, fix something and after one bite I'm done! Smells are also more bothersome, but for me it's taste.

Anyone else out there?
Chutzie
Posted 1/3/2009 6:04 AM (GMT 0)
Donna the enhanced smell thing has haunted me for years. If I am in a flare or have any nausea at all, I am in big trouble. My everyday smell-o-meter is always on. I never venture into those home decor places with their stankin candles and such. I became nauseated once at a shoe store, in the mens dept there were some docksider types of shoes with a sole with some nasty stankin rubber. It literally made me sick LOL In my house I have outlawed microwave popcorn, coffee pots that burn the liquid to a sticky stankin goop, and vile fake cherry "aroma" cigars. hehee!
Posted 1/3/2009 8:52 AM (GMT 0)
I don't identify with the smell problem, but I sure do the noise one. 

 

My dh seems to keep the tv as loud as it will go.  He swears it's not that loud but it hurts my ears so bad.

 

Also when we get in the car together he automatically turns the radio on or has to play a cd.  Sometimes I think I'll scream from all the noise. 

 

When we're in a crowded room, I sometimes have to go outside because I can hear everyone talking so loud.  Then it's so peaceful and quiet.

 

I also have sensitivities to hot and cold weather.  I can't stand either one for a length of time.

 

I think a lot of ppl with fibro have various sensitivites, but that's just a part of fibro.

 

God Bless!

Shannon

Posted 1/3/2009 8:59 AM (GMT 0)
Just like Shannon, things are very loud to me.  It's funny since I'm hearing impaired.  I'm always asking my daughter if the television is too loud and she can barely hear it!

 

I'm more sensitive to "perfumy" smells like candles, room deodorizers, etc.  Some women pour on the perfume and I can barely stand to be near them. 

 

Alteration of tase, smell, or hearing is one of the symptoms of fibromyalgia so we are just being normal fibromites!

 

Sherrine

Posted 1/3/2009 3:41 PM (GMT 0)

I am hypersensitive in all of my senses.  Right now my husband and 13 year old are having a conversation and the noise is driving me nuts.  I keep plugging my ears and telling them to lower their voices but I really think it is just me because they look at me like I'm nuts.  The smell sensitivity is bothersome most days for me.  I have been trying to figure out what in my towels and washclothes that smell when they have been used and are hung to dry.  No-one else smells it but the smell nauseates me.  I can stand in my bathroom door and know that there will be a washcloth hanging in the shower or next to the sink.  I stear clear of any perfume counters and just recently the pine smell in stores for the holiday decorations. 

For as long as I can remember my reflexes have been hypersensitive and the doctors have all commented on it but never tried to figure out why.  I guess they just assume if I'm not complaining there is no reason to look further.

Anyway, I just want you do know that this seems to be a very common fibro symptom.  You just need to work around it and avoid triggers.

Posted 1/3/2009 4:55 PM (GMT 0)
I have lost my taste for chocolate!!! I know, unheard of for a woman. This comes from a woman that use to stand with the frig door open squirting Hershey Chocolate Syrup in her mouth if there was no chocolate in the house or eat chocolate frosting from the can.

 

Ken had a rag in the garage not long ago with WD40 on it, don't know what he was doing, and everytime I opened the door to go out to the garage it made me sick. He doesn't have a great sense of smell and he thought I was over reacting to it. When I'm at Walmart I have to avoid the auto department cause I can smell oil and the candle department. After I color my hair I can smell the product for weeks sometimes.

 

The smell of diesel gets in the car sometimes from trucks and I can't stand the smell of that and it seems to linger forever. So I would say any petroleum based products gets to me. The smell of rubber too.

 

I hate waking up to noise. It is too much for my brain so early in the day. No comments needed Sherrine. devil

 

I still have some favorite odors vanilla and lavender. They are soothing to me.

 

All of my senses have changed since fibro even my sense of touch. Everything has to feel soft to me for me to wear it.

 

I wonder why this happens to us???

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

 

Posted 1/3/2009 5:24 PM (GMT 0)

Oh Marlee, if only I had lost my taste for chocolate...last night I was so desperate I dumped a half bag of chocolate chips down my throat...right from the bag!

I finally dumped the garbage bag in the garage that had the egg shells in it from Eric's egg salad...the reek was making me sick but I still think I can smell it.  I have had on three different pairs of pants today trying to find one that didn't make the skin on my legs crawl and pinch.  At the casino last week a woman next to me had soaked herself in Jean Nate...you old broads remember that 'body splash' from the 60's?  I thought my throat was gonna close up and I had to change machines. Bummer cause I was on a roll!

I do love the smell of lavendar though...it is soothing and I burn lavendar oil all the time.

My hubby thinks I'm nuts too...I keep saying, "Don't you smell that?"  Nope, never.

Oh..and we visited friends last week-end that had a huge cork board on their kitchen wall for post-it's etc.  I literally thought I was gonna puke.  I think that is the worse smell ever.

Oh well..I guess I have to be thankful that if the house ever caught on fire I'd smell it before the fire alarm went off!

hugs

donna

Posted 1/3/2009 6:16 PM (GMT 0)
I am very sensitive to smells, but I always have been, even before the fibro hit.

Perfumes, household cleaners, scented candles, the list goes on and on. Food smells do not bother me though- not sure why not when everything else does!

GamJill

Posted 1/3/2009 6:28 PM (GMT 0)
I have noticed similar reactions to smells. Although mine arent familiar to anyone else. I sometimes can smell a smell like burnt popcorn? It will just come out of nowhere. But, it has been happening for so long I just accept it. To those of you with hypersensitive hearing, you may want to mention this to your Dr.'s. I was diagnosed with Meniers Disease and that is one of the symptoms.
Meniers seems to go along with a lot of Fibromyalgia diagnosis.

Lot of Luv,
Kathy
Posted 1/3/2009 6:41 PM (GMT 0)

Meee tooooo... I'm very sensitive to smells, one of the weird one's is styrofoam.. I can smell it a mile away, I can even taste it.   I can't stand being around most purfumes and anything that's scented messes up my skin.

I also have skin sensativity when it comes to certain dyes on clothing.  I have to wash anything that's black about 5 times before I can wear it or I'll break out.

The sound thing is really annoying.  My hubby is a bass player in a band, I can hardly stand it when he practices or going to one of his shows.  I love the man to peices but the noise just about rips through my head.

Posted 1/3/2009 7:28 PM (GMT 0)
I can't stand the smell of burning wood either so if the house catches on fire I would smell it right away hopefully. When I walk outside and smell the neighbors fireplace it makes me sick.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

Posted 1/3/2009 8:58 PM (GMT 0)
Donna, you should buy a pair of nose plugs...the kind you can wear around your neck like "jewelry".  Then when Miss Jean Nate comes by, you  can snap them on your nostrils and keep on playing!  It wouldn't look any worse than when you walked through the casino for hours with your undies dragging from the leg of your jeans!  turn

 

Let's see, Marlee...for your birthday....a big box of chocolates and a cord of wood!  See how thoughtful I am?  devil

 

Sherrine

Posted 1/3/2009 9:36 PM (GMT 0)

just thought I'd put my two cents in...I too am very sensitive to noise and smells. Especially the smell of fish in a restaurant! I no longer can order it because no matter what, it smells "fishy" to me. The last time I ordered salmon I had to send it back. I had my husband smell it and he smelled nothing, so I won't order it any more.

I have the same problem with the loud TV...my husband, I think, is becoming hard of hearing; of course, he denies it, but he keeps the TV on so loud and it is the surround sound...really drives me nuts. It does help, though, to hear I am not alone. Before coming to this forum, I never put these sensitivities together with fibro, so thank you all for the information yeah

Posted 1/3/2009 10:14 PM (GMT 0)
Donna,

 

I can't begin to count the number of times I've heard my mom say, "You have a really sensitive sense of smell."  It really is weird just how sensitive I really am.  I swear, I can smell Reese's (my mom's cat) litter box from about 50 feet away and with my bedroom door closed.  OMG-my mom made a huge pot of bean soup in the cock pot the other night.  You can imagine what the house smelled like! skull

 

I also have sensitive ears-don't try and whisper a secret anywhere near me, LOL. wink    However, having sensitive ears can be bad when your room is right beside your mom's, and your mom is hard of hearing.  Sometimes, I can hear what she is watching on TV, turn my TV to that station, and set my TV on mute, and watch my TV and hear everything that is being said-through the wall! rolleyes

Posted 1/3/2009 10:46 PM (GMT 0)
I know I already posted but remembered something I wanted to share. I too have intense hearing when it comes to really high pitched sounds. I can always hear sirens MILES away, while everyone else tells me I am imagining it. To think, once the ambulance or whatever screams by, no one thinks to apologize. LOL I can usually sense that a cop is ahead, somewhere on the side of the road. I used to tell people that, also, but frankly I got #$%&{ tired of getting that "look" and now I just let them get they behind pulled over. HA! Laff at me. hmmph.

Also when I was 20, to get out of a college philosophy final, I volunteered to be a student fire fighter after a fool walked 5 miles into a mountain in ne Georgia in the spring and set a huge fire. They didn't have enough people to follow the "real" firemen and rake out embers. So to get out of a final, I spent 36 hours jukkkkkkkkkkkoooopppppppppppppppppp000999999999kkk [sorry the gray kitty nodge decided to type something] I spent 36 hours in that mess. I was filthy and excreted smoke for a week. To this day that particular smell of smoke makes me choke. I should have taken the %$@%#&^&* final LOL.
Posted 1/4/2009 10:21 PM (GMT 0)
Ugh one of my biggest pet peeves is when people seem to drown themselves in perfume or cologne. Especially in an office building. One woman who sat next to me wore this awful vanilla smelling stuff and I would have a headache all morning. There have been other mysterious scents in the office building that make me feel awful, but no one else seems to notice them. I worked in a large, 2 floor building and I worked on the 2nd floor. Apparently they had done some painting in the 1st floor offices and for 2 days I smelled that paint and it made me feel sick. It did not seem to bother a single other person at work, they were all like "It's all the way downstairs..." I would constantly be calling people over to my cubicle saying "Don't you smell that?" and at best they might say "Faintly." Yuck. I am also one of those who feels that I can "taste" smells if they are strong enough. DBF was making something for dinner that involved onions, and I stood next to him talking for a minute. I left the room and my mouth tasted exactly as if I'd eaten onions. Yuck!

The only time I feel like I am more sensitive to sounds is if it's a sudden sound I wasn't expecting. If it's all quiet and then someone coughs, sneezes or a phone rings my body startles. It's weird.
Posted 1/4/2009 11:45 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, I am very sensitive as well to taste, smell, and SOUNDS.. ever since I have been dx'd with Fibro as well (which was recently)

I always mention to everyone when the topic of smells comes up that I "have a nose like a shark" lol turn

xoxo

_________________________________________________________

Fibromyalgia, Bipolar Disorder, Hallucinations, OCD, Chemical/Noise/Light Sensitivity, Irrational fears

Posted 1/5/2009 6:02 AM (GMT 0)
Smells seem overexaggerated to me and they stay with me for a long time too. Sometimes when I eat something, I swear I can smell it in my skin for several hours later, and sometimes for the rest of the day. My husband and my mother think I'm crazy. Smells make me sick.
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