sense of smell

[QTpie87]

Ok so I was born with no sense of smell and don't know why. when people ask me about it it's odd cause I can't really explain why, or how things are to me. like tasting, yes I have a sense of taste only it's not taste it's feeling. like when you plug your nose you can still tell what is sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and spicey, because those are feelings not tasting. I don't know really what my point is other then is there anyone else here like that, no sense of smell?

is it fixable? would you fix it if you could, why or why not? How did it happen to you, sickness, injury, born with it?

mk i'll shut up now, just using up some free time to ask a question.

thanks guys.

Qtpie87

[rionmccloud]

My ex was like that. She never really complained. It's like you don't know what you're missing so why worry about it. That's how she felt anyway. Really helped when our son was born though, since diapers can be filled with some very nasty stuff.

[darkblue]

Nope can't say I have it. I many people with Bad senses of smell - but they still have it.

 

However, I cannot taste spice. I was born without spice taste-buds.

That's rather strange.

[yokohama_mama]

My brother lost his sense of smell in an accident (head injury). The accident was about 8 years ago, and he's regained some of his sense of smell but not all. In your case since you were born without one it seems unlikely that it'll develop, but what do I know I'm no doctor.

 

I think if my brother could choose, he'd want his sense of smell back because the range of tastes he can experience is diminished. He has to pour hot sauce on things just to get some sensation of taste. Also being without a sense of smell can be dangerous (not detecting gas leaks, not smelling the smoke of a fire, not realizing food has gone bad, etc.). However there is the advantage of not having to experience certain disgusting smells!

[nexus532]

well, i wonder if any of your senses hav eovercompasated for your lost of smell??

[Carnatic]

That's odd because the hotness of spices isn't really a flavour, more like a feeling which is to do with the spice being a mild irritant, (ironically the reason for Chillies being so hot is probably to keep animals from eating them) I would have thought that anyone could feel that burning sensation no matter what their senses of smell and taste are

[BellaDonna]

I was born with no sense of smell

 

This can be an advantage in certain situations. I work with the public often. Sometimes I wish for no sense of smell when dealing with people, who clearly were born without a sense of deodorant.

 

So while you may "miss out" on some things that are pleasant- you also miss out on many things that are quite unpleasant. If you ever got a sense of smell you might discover the world is a gross place and want to send it back.

 

 

This is actually more common than you think. Also keep in mind that there are many worse conditions. I was forced to learn all this fun stuff in "cognitive neuroscience" classes for my master's degree. It's pretty fascinating, but the processes involved are extremely complex. Some people are born "missing" much worse.... For instance, aside from typical bindness, deafness, etc....although rare- some people are born without a sense of motion. So they see life in snapshots. Imagine you're pouring milk into a glass- you'd see your actions in a series of still pictures, spaced apart- there's no flow to the actions. You end up spilling milk all over the table because by the time you processed the picture of the carton tipped- it was too late. At least you can live normally without a sense of smell in today's society. If you were born in hunting/gathering times- then it would probably be a significant disadvantage- but now you have nothing to worry about.

 

i wonder if any of your senses hav eovercompasated for your lost of smell??

 

Since the parts of your brain that would typically be used for sense of smell are not working on that- it is likely your brain has adapted and using those systems and neurons for other tasks. Which tasks, would be quite hard to pinpoint though.

 

Informative website with diagrams about sense of smell: link removed

 

BellaDonna