Can you smell things no one else can smell, taste things no one else can taste? If you can, you may have a wonderful condition called hyperosmia. Hyperosmia is the medical term for an extremely good sense of smell.
Doctors don’t know much about the sense of taste. But they do know that the sense of smell is a large component of it. If you have hyperosmia, you’re going to have an acute sense of taste as well. If you lose your sense of smell, you lose most of your sense of taste. The taste buds on your tongue can only detect salt, and sour, sweet, and bitter tastes. Your sense of smell detects all the other tastes. Your sense of smell also detects flavors.
Old ladies like me, who have many hypersensitivities, often have hyperosmia as well. Do you yourself have many hypersensitivities? Or do you only have normal sensitivities? Sometimes it’s hard to tell.
Here’s a chart that may help you:
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Sensitivities (usual and expected)[/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Hypersensitivities (very rare)[/lgc_column]
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Allergy pollen makes you sneeze[/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Allergy pollen causes a scary rash[/lgc_column]
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Wool makes you itch on a hot day[/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]You can’t wear sweaters at all[/lgc_column]
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]You get carsick with bad drivers[/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]You get carsick with good drivers[/lgc_column]
Here’s a chart that may help you with the difference between hyperosmia and hypersensitivities:
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Hyperosmia[/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Hypersensitivities[/lgc_column]
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]You can detect additives in processed food because they taste funny to you.[/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]After you eat processed food with additives, you often get sick to your stomach.[/lgc_column]
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Apples that are not fresh taste funny to you.[/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Apples that are fresh make you sick to your stomach. You have to cook them or get sick.[/lgc_column]
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]You can actually smell watermelon, even from a distance.[/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Eating watermelon gives you a scratchy feeling in your throat.[/lgc_column]
If you’re not sure if you have hypersensitivities at all, just take the Hypersensitivity Quiz.
Dr. Jean M. Bradt
Ph.D., Psychology, Loyola University of Chicago, 1988