I swear I'm not a hypochondriac, but this is really starting to bother me.

[underwr1tten]

I’ve had an extraordinary sense of smell, dubbed hyperosmia by those smartypants medical types, for quite some time. Certain smells, often ones that others can either not detect at all or can only smell very faintly, have a strong nauseating effect on me. I can smell when diabetic friends need their insulin. I can smell when food is done, when it’s

Comments

[ongo]

How could I recommend anything? I am only an experiencer of subtle back and shoulder pain and the yearly mental breakdown.

[invaderxan]

Hmmm...

Well, the only thing I can say about with any authority is the phantosmia. Certain aromas or flavours are actually composed of a whole host of individual flavour compounds. The different compounds to overlap though. In other words, most people wouldn't be able to smell broccoli, but you can, because you can pick up the much lower concentrations of all the things that make up the aroma, despite them being intermingled with everything else.

The sensory overload does sound like a reason for the headaches to me. It's unfortunate too, because really, if not for the headaches, hyperosmia could be a very useful skill to have. If nothing else, it could make you a very good wine critic... Out of interest, are you a supertaster as well? Or is it only smell.

Sadly, I think a neurologist would be your best option, to be honest. Things like this are best handled by experts.

In the meantime, caffeine can help ease migraines by constricting certain capillaries in the brain. Perhaps that might help a little...?

[underwr1tten]

Thanks for your suggestions.

I figured the phantosmia was probably a result of the heightened sensibility, but I can't understand why it would have increased with cigarette smoking. Or maybe they're not correlated at all.

I'm not sure if I'm a supertaster, because I absolutely love most of the problem foods listed on the wiki, and I haven't tested. Coffee seems to help for the less severe headaches, but once it hits the level of a cluster headache, I just want to sleep.

At least I might have nifty brain scans to look forward to at the neurologist's :)

[invaderxan]

I suspect smoking might affect phantasomia just through the additional volatiles that would be trapped in your nose. Even with regular olfaction, it can interfere or alter the way scents and flavours are perceived. Maybe some correlation... Perhaps it's just confusing your senses even more.

When a headache gets bad, yeah. Sleeping is the best thing you can do. I get migraines occasionally. Never pleasant. :\

And yeah, brain scans are cool. Heh. Make sure you get a large copy, so you can pin it up somewhere! The sagittal section looks the coolest IMHO... :D