I am a smoker, down to around 4 cigarettes a day now but I also think it stinks and have for a long time! I too have gotten more sensitive to some odors as I have aged, perfume and B.O. being the worst.

 

-Folly ever comes cloaked in opportunity!
Need I say more?
Open the windows, turn on the fan, avoid the smokers, delight in your purity.
Where did I put my cigar?
I'm just so glad that we've had some rain to diminish the pollen. My eyes have been in a trauma state for weeks.
Just can't help it. I'm a smart a$$.
Bill

 

roger…your a sick individual…lol…you must be related to me somewhere down the line..lol…although i dont do that anymore…i use to do that in the grocery store…then wait to see who would walk down the isle , but ive grown up since those days…..lol…....but jim, i know what you mean…sometimes certain smells drive my nose crazy…when it comes to cigarette smoke, i cant handle that at all…makes me sick…but your not alone…as we can see from what others have posted here…i know certain woods really irritate really bad..ive noticed the blood wood really makes my sinuses almost burn…

 

GRIZZ ???

That was YOU ????

Man.

I needed laundry detergent, too, but had to leave and go back the next day !

 

It's a valid subject Jim. Cigarette smoke has always bothered me a lot, and it's probably gotten worse over the years….can't stand it when someone sucks down those last two cigarettes before church, then comes and kneels behind us….yikes! Seriously, it's like setting an ashtray under my nose.

Perfumes don't seem to bother me as much as they did 20 years ago….there was an era where it seemed like every new designer fragrance smelled like insect repellent….geez, I could taste those perfumes! Haven't noticed it as much lately, but maybe I just don't get out as much!

Air fresheners tend to bother me….many have a thick pungent smell that's choking.

 

You and your wife are NOT the only one/s. We've had the same exact problem last year. To our benefit tho, the same friends that were also using really scented things, have come to realize that the smells are now bothering them, so they have also started buying unscented products. I think those hard smelling perfumee, stinkin crap should be banned. My wife and a few o my kids have asthma, and smells are and will trigger asthma related attacks. I feel your pain Jim. Here is a really gr8 product that my wife used to "unscent" the furniture where our friends had been sitting when they were using the scented products…..which took a few days of putting the cushions from the couch & chair/s outside to air out…. It worked really well for us. Here is the link: http://expelproducts.com/ We have been using unscented products for many, many years. I hate when I go to the store, and someone can be in another isle over, and I can smell that stinkin smellee perfume/s made by Tommy, Axe, and products like these. They are the worst. Lets get together and have us a humungeous bond fire and burn up all o these smellee ass products…. GR8 post Jim….Thnx

 

Jim, I don't think your crazy. I do think that you are suffering from the effects of quitting the smoking thing.
If you notice a trend in the comments from the ex-smokers, we all have issues with the smell. I quit eight years ago, after I lost my younger sister to lung cancer. She was forty-two. Since then I have lost two brothers to cancer. We grew up in a family of smokers, and we are paying the price for it. So quitting has made us more sensitive, and we will have to make adjustments. The benefits we gain from our choice to stop far outweighs the costs.
I don't like to have smokers in my house, though I still do, because after they sit on a piece of furniture the odor lingers. They nice thing about the improved sense of smell is that you get your sense of taste back. The bad thing about it is the things you have to smell.

 

Mel and others that take my smoking into account that part doesn't seem lightly because I quit 40 years ago and my wife has never smoked nor when I smoked did I smoke in the house or around her. This sensitivity seems to have intensified over the last five years or so. I'm glad to hear that others suffer in different degrees with some of the same problems,not because I want them to have them same problem ,but just so I know that this is not just unique to my wife and myself. Lots of interesting input here thanks for all your comments.

 

cigarette smoking or quitting those nasty things doesn't have a darn thing to do with what Jim is tryin ta say. He is talkin about all the nasty, nasty smellin scented everything out there. !! I quit smokin myself in 1985. I was a 3-pack a day Marlboro man at one time. I was puffin 2-packs a day when I quit…......cold turkey.! Haven't had one since….. My opinion: cigarette smokin is thee nastiest thing on the planet.. I have nothing against people that DO smoke, BUT, I do wish they would quit…..if not for their family, bu for themselves.

 

Jim - you ain't crazy. For several years now I get a migraine headache (for those they may not know a "migraine" is not just a really bad headache it is a different type of neurological response) from various scents. I've had it checked, I have a neurological response to variations of vanilla. I can stick my face in a bowl of vanilla ice cream, snort the odor from a bottle of vanilla extract no problem. But perfumes and thing that generate a perfumed smell (candles, air fresheners, etc) all give me a migraine. Turns out vanilla is used in scents like salt in food as a means to accentuate the intended smell. My wife has to buy Yankee Candles as they do not bother me and before she buys perfumes she has me sniff it. Oh yeah…cigarette smoke/smell does not cause a migraine but if I smell it in conjunction with a perfume its like I was hit up side the head with a baseball bat. What made it really bad for years and years was my mother-in-law is a heavy smoker and wears very heavy perfume (heavy to me at least) and she would always complain that I was always irritable around her. I, and my wife, told her for years my issue with scents but she didn't believe it until years later she met someone with the same issue.

 

Jim, read my post its no joke people have died from this condition. The guy I know has just what you have explained. His case it was brought on by working with exotic woods and the combination of finishes worsened his condition until his his air passage closed from the irritation thats when he found out he had EI when he was in intensive care. He is OK now but has to ware a respirator everywhere.

 

I don't like cigarette smoke and the smell of pig and chicken farms. Also , years ago when they had anhydrous ammonia plants spewing smoke across I 80 in Nebraska, I would get sick to my stomach if I spent any time at all in that smoke. I buried the needle on the car - about 135- and got thrrough it!
I quit smoking in 8th grade!..............Jim

 

Jim the problem is with the smell- not your nose. The easiest way to tell your friends the stink is hurting you is to say you have an allergy to their perfume. I don't have the patience to suffer any more, I speak right up, so it's a good bet you have more friends than I do. I've heard chemical exposure/sensitivity compared to "the straw that breaks the camel's back". The last few straws are now getting your attention, but you should be looking at the 100 straws that you have been living with all along too. Good luck. -Jack

P.S. If you are using Kilz or any other quick drying finish this is a good time to stop. Feeling sensitive to perfumes in soap, detergent, deodorant, bodywash, shampoo, dryer sheets etc. means a strong exposure to volatile fumes could really knock you down - hard.

 

I don't know about crazy but it sure aint normal.

 

There were a couple of good sensitive nose stories there… But, one of my old neighbors told me his wife could smell a mouse fart next door!!

 

I can't walk into a yankee candle, head shop, or perfume store due to the smells; the large numbers of competing odors overwhelms my sense of smell and caused headaches. Outside of that I am never bothered by smells unless people bring in competing strong odors. Even then they have to really be strong.

 

I think that as some of us get older our sense's get more sensitive. I've had my wife change laundry detergents 3 -4 times now cause I could smell the residue. I also now suffer from allergies and never had an allergy when I was younger.

 

When I was in VietNam, I smelled things that I had never experienced before, and most people in their lifetime never will….death and decay, villages burning, naepalm, gunfire smoke, bodies found in shallow graves with lime thrown on them, people cooking fish sause, dogs being cooked, and on and on and on….I think the worst of all was the rotting corpuses of humans. Even though that has been 40+ years, I will never forget it. Other smells don't bother me at all….I can take anything now. Lucklily, I've never had allergies of any kind, so I'm ammune to that….

 

Thank you all for your input Rick your post reminds us all of the horrors of war and even more so what solders face while fighting for our country.I never could understand how individuals could disrespect returning troops after the solders time spent in hell.Thank you and all of our solders past and present for your great sacrifice and service to our country.

 

I don't think you are crazy Jim. I have similar problems with chemical sensitivities that are getting worse as I get older. I avoid as many scented products as possible and have only found a small number of soaps and shampoos that I can tolerate. One problem is that I can smell something and it is not so bad at first, but after a few days it gives me a headache or stomach ache or sore throat. After that happens, I have to avoid it altogether.

Currently the worst one is men's cologne. Some of them are so bad that I have to leave work early as soon as someone walks by with it.

 

i have that trouble there a lady at work the perfume she wore make me sick and if we use any thing but tide to do are washing i brake out in a rash and there i s 1 thing i can smell 5o ft away and i have freak peple out and that pot and i have never done it and win peple come over we burn insince that hellp with the perfume but you juat have to find the right sint

 

Jim,

I am a former smoker, and although I find the smell of cigarettes in particular offensive, it is nothing that will take a physical toll on me. Most product perfumes and such fall below the stink radar as it were… The only thing that you mentioned that bothers me is perfumes / colognes etc… This has been the case since I was a kid… I was probably traumatized by some old lady wearing gallons of cheap perfume, because perfumes, particularly cheap, rose type perfume favored by older ladies makes me nauseous…

 

When my wife was pregnant all the smells bothered her. I told her they bothered me too so she'd think she wasn't crazy.

 

a1Jim, I suggest you go to an immunologist/allergist for help and suggestions as how to deal with this issue. People don't know how an allergic reaction can mess up one's lifestyle. I'm allergic to bee stings- consequently, warm/hot weather is not on my list of Favorite Things. My wife asked me yesterday if I had my Epi-Pen when I sent out. Forgot it- need to get into the habit for the next 6 months.

 

Jim, I'm hyper sensitive to cigarette smoke too. Only certain kinds though. Don't laugh. I can be 50 feet away from certain people and my lips start burning. That's right…burning! For up to 4 days after, I can't eat anything salty or spicy. The only relief I get is by sipping water. It started about 4 years ago when I went in for my dental appointment. The dentist noticed my teeth were wearing down and wanted to sell me a mouth guard. I told him it was due to my aging. He laughed and said "no, it's because you grind your teeth in your sleep". I didn't believe him, but ended buying the darn thing. I tried it for about a week and noticed my mouth burning. I stopped wearing it and my mouth would gradually get better. But then noticed when certain cigarette smokers were near me it would start burning again and it has done this ever since. The dentist sent me in to see a doctor. The doctor looked in my mouth and said there was nothing wrong, but before I left, he ordered a colonoscopy for me! That's right, I turned 50 and it was time. I have never smoked cigarettes in my life, but have allergies to pollen, purfumes and some soaps.