Reader questions and feedback on optimized use of your senses. Also refer to smell, taste, hearing, vision, 6th sense, curiosity, awareness, observations, psychic, future, foreseeing, mind reading, power, deja vu, time, fear, Ron Kurtus, School for Champions. Copyright © Restrictions
Answers to Readers' Questions on Using Your Senses
Smelling
The following 5 comments and questions have been sent in. They are listed according to date.
List of first 10 items
- Odor brings on memory of serious accident
- Info on odors
- How do we use smell sense in communicating?
- Lost sense of smell
- Smelling in future
Odor brings on memory of serious accident
Question
March 28, 2007
When I was 10, I woke up one night from a horrible nightmare, I couldn't really remember the dream, but it bothered me all day. I had the bad feeling something bad was going to happen. That afternoon we were in a horrible car accadent in Lakeview, Or. As soon as I heard my sister scream the entire dream came back to me. My dad brought the totaled car back and it sat in our driveway for a month fermenting, the smell of rancid motor oil and debris was over powering. Through the years I've smelled that same smell, and each and everytime someone I know dies. I hate it when I catch that smell because I know that someone I love is going to die but I don't know WHO. When I was pregnant with my daughter I fought it hard, to get rid of it, and I thought I did, but just after her first birthday, it came back. It bothers me greatly and is causing me a lot of emotional stress, it's running my life, each time I smell this horrid thing I'm afraid to go anywhere or do anything because I don't know who it's for and I don't know how to stop it. Is there some way that I can get control over this instead of it controling me? I don't want to know when someone's going to die especially when I don't know who it is and I can't do anything to stop it!
I'm desperate
Rachel
rachel - USA
13444
Answer
It really sounds like you have post-traumatic stress disorder. Just as war veterans can have horrible memories triggered by certain sounds or smells, people who have been in serious accidents can have the same symptoms years later.
For some reason, smell is a very powerful trigger to bring back memories and elicit emotions. Often it brings back pleasant memories, but smell can also bring back bad memories, like what is happening to you.
The fact that your dreamt about an event that came true can be upsetting in itself. Our articles on the 6th sense address this phenomenon that many people seem to have. When a dream comes true, it is often called déjà vu. It doesn't seem that having the dream come true bothers you as much as the effect of the horrible accident.
Since this odor brings back unpleasant memories of this traumatic event, it probably would be good to see a therapist or psychologist who could help you overcome the problem. There are therapists that specialize in post-traumatic stress. You don't want to have some unpleasant odor affecting your life in such a negative manner.
Best wishes on getting some good help to overcome this problem. It may take a little time, but it would be worth the effort.
Info on odors
Question
March 1, 2005
HELLO. I AM IN NEED OF INFORMATION ON ODORS. I HAVE EXPERIENCED THEM FOR MY ENTIRE LIFE. I DO HAVE VERY GOOD INSTINCTS AND AM PSYCIC. THE ODORS I EXPERIENCE RANGE FROM JUST A QUICK SCENT TO OVERPOWERING ONES WITH THE FEELING OF PROTECTION. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION OR CAN TELL ME WHERE TO LOOK PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
THANK YOU
KIM
kimberly - USA
6175
Answer
Some people have more sensitive noses and senses of smells than others. You can tell the emotions of people, their health, and what they have eaten from the odors. A problem is that many people use purfumes which mask their own smells.
See http://www.hhmi.org/senses/d110.html for some more information.
How do we use smell sense in communicating?
Question
January 19, 2005
Do you know how we use our smell sense in communicating?
Jenna - UK
5671
Answer
Mothers can identify their babies by the sense of smell. Doctors can tell if a person is sick and what is wrong by the way they smell. You can smell when a person is nervous. There are many other signals we get from smell.
Lost sense of smell
Question
October 20, 2003
Following a sinus infection 4 months ago I have had no sense of taste or smell since then. I have a constant, strange powdery taste in my mouth & very recently, a similar powdery smell. I have seen both an internist & an ENT specialist who have told me it may take as long as 6 months to regain my senses. I would like to know if there is anything I can take or do to gain my senses back. I would appreciate any feedback you may have.
Kathie -
918
Answer
The fact that you have some taste and smell is a good sign that your senses are slowly coming back. If you smoke, it would be a good idea to stop, because that can only aggravate the condition.
The site http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/smelling_disorders.html makes the following statement:
"Alternative treatments for smelling disorder center around the theory that zinc supplements help improve the sense of smell. The supplement is said to be effective when the olfactory sense is impaired by conditions such as a head injury or an upper respiratory infection. A person should take 50 mg of zinc picolinate each day after eating. This procedure might be effective in the case of head injury. However, it may be several months before results are seen. Acupuncture may also produce results."
It would be good to check with your doctor before trying that supplement.
Best wishes in a speedy recovery.
Smelling in future
Question
August 10, 2003
Hi! Hope u r fine!
I came across your website, just looking for some answers to my questions.
I guess I have this funny sense of smelling. I mean I can smell someone, or something relating to that person.
I remember almost a year ago, when my mother was in hospital, I woke up by smelling vomit. The smell was sooo strong that it woke me up. However I went back to sleep. When I woke up, my father told me that my mum had vomitted, as she was not well.
This evening I just sensed smelling one of my uncle, and he has gone to the hospital, as he has some abdominal pain.
I really can't figure what this really is. I wonder if it is a sense or something.
Can u please help
Thanks
Samira -
184
Answer
The sixth sense is being able to sense something that will happen in the future or that happens elsewhere. Usually, people sense such things by getting a strange feeling--like the feeling that someone is going to have an accident.
Sometimes people will have a dream where they see and hear something that will happen. But there is no reason that a person could not sense a smell, especially if the person is sensitive toward smells.
Not many people are very sensitive to different smells. Apparently you are, and this probably was your sixth sense working.
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