Question About Smells

[Soleil]

As far as I am aware, I don't have any real issues with scent and smelling things... or do I?

Sometimes strong scents (perfume, cologne, smoking, and such) are so strong that I literally can't breathe. My question is, is this an ASD issue, or is this just because I have asthma?

Also, the masks doctors use to put patients to sleep, do those smell absolutely awful to anyone else? When mentioned it to the surgeons they said they didn't smell anything, but I absolutely can't stand it. Fortunately it's not something I smell often.

 

[Tom]

I'd guess it is sometimes related to asthma (can't breathe) and sometimes extra sensitivity to smells (smells awful). The extra sensitivity can be related to autism I believe.

 

[Gift2humanity]

As far as I am aware, I don't have any real issues with scent and smelling things... or do I?

Sometimes strong scents (perfume, cologne, smoking, and such) are so strong that I literally can't breathe. My question is, is this an ASD issue, or is this just because I have asthma?

Also, the masks doctors use to put patients to sleep, do those smell absolutely awful to anyone else? When mentioned it to the surgeons they said they didn't smell anything, but I absolutely can't stand it. Fortunately it's not something I smell often.

The dentists gas mask smelt unbeatable to me. I've had surgery but don't remember any masks apart from oxygen when I came round, that freaked me out, laid flat with an oxygen mask, I had COPD at the time, well, borderline COPD, which has improved since I stopped smoking years ago.
I only had gas at the dentists twice as a kid and that smell was the worst thing about it. I would rather have a needle in my gum than gas.
Also, when at a pay-trance club once we tried nitrous oxide balloons, I could only take half as it was that same horrible smell.

 

[Misery]

With things like the masks, I think there's often some sort of rather odd material used that just... has a weird scent to it. I can think of some other things that have a bit of a hint of that. I've often mentioned a VR unit that I use, and there's something in it that produces a very similar scent... difference is that it's not jammed in front of your mouth, so you pretty much have to jam your nose into the eyepiece to smell it, and if you do that you need to be yelled at. But it's another "goes on your face" thing that produces that smell.

I *think* what is producing that scent is a type of rubber. I think. I could be wrong. But it seems that alot of complex things that go on your face have a sort of rubber aspect to them.

It's going to be worse with something in a doctor's office though. It's an unusual environment, and these objects are constantly sitting in it, so they'll pick up even more weirdness through being there, and then that's shoved onto your face...

Of course I could be wrong on all of this, I dunno. Look, I havent had my caffeine yet...

 

[Gift2humanity]

With things like the masks, I think there's often some sort of rather odd material used that just... has a weird scent to it. I can think of some other things that have a bit of a hint of that. I've often mentioned a VR unit that I use, and there's something in it that produces a very similar scent... difference is that it's not jammed in front of your mouth, so you pretty much have to jam your nose into the eyepiece to smell it, and if you do that you need to be yelled at. But it's another "goes on your face" thing that produces that smell.

I *think* what is producing that scent is a type of rubber. I think. I could be wrong. But it seems that alot of complex things that go on your face have a sort of rubber aspect to them.

It's going to be worse with something in a doctor's office though. It's an unusual environment, and these objects are constantly sitting in it, so they'll pick up even more weirdness through being there, and then that's shoved onto your face...

Of course I could be wrong on all of this, I dunno. Look, I havent had my caffeine yet...

I wondered about the rubber. The masks in the 70's were black.
The nitrous oxide was in rubber balloons, it's a sickly smell, unbearable for me.

 

[Progster]

Sometimes strong scents (perfume, cologne, smoking, and such) are so strong that I literally can't breathe. My question is, is this an ASD issue, or is this just because I have asthma?

My dad had asthma and things like smoke really affected him badly, but it was the particles in the air, rather than the smell that triggered the asthma. We couldn't have flowers in the house, but again, this was because of the pollen. But there again, smells are basically chemicals floating around in the air and are particles, so these two things are definitely related and possibly it's a combination of both that is affecting you.

For me, strong smells like cologne or perfume can be overwhelming to the point of my having to leave the room and whenever I come to a new place, I'm always very aware of the smells, more so than most people. When things have been in the house for a while, then they have the smell of the environment and I don't really notice them, but anything new most definitely smells. I just received a new CD through the post, and it has a perfume smell that's overwhelmingly strong, they must have been storing it in a room with air freshener or something before they sent it to me.

 

[HidinginPlainSight]

I'm extremely affected by scents. The most common one, perfume, can make my eyes water and I get a scratchy feeling on my throat. Seems nobody else has this one, but freshly laid pavement (bitumen) is nearly unbearable for me. My skin gets itchy in addition to the perfume reactions. Body odor can be really bad, especially considering I play sports. When playing soccer once there was a guy on the other team I didn't want to go near to defend simply because of his body odor, but nobody else on my team could smell it (I asked).

 

[Magna]

I too have very strong sensitivities to artificial fragrances. I'm affected the most by scented laundry detergents, dryer sheets, perfume, cologne, scented soaps/shampoos, scented candles and air fresheners but also things like diesel. I can not only smell such things, I can taste them. They disorient me, give me headaches and can actually anger me. I also don't like smelling halitosis (who does?) but mainly it's the artificial fragrances that do a number on me.