# Anosmic Doper Roll Call **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 17, 2009, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051 "2009-06-17T11:09:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kjckjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@kjckjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjckjc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051/1 "2009-06-17T11:09:24Z")
I know we have a few anosmic Dopers here, Dung Beetle for instance as I just read their “Ask the Anosmic” thread. But I was curious about how many we had and whatnot. I got thinking about it today since the announcement yesterday about how Zicam can kill your sense of smell. (Although doing a search here seems to show this has been known for a long time.) I thought, “Well, if I believed that Zicam worked as claimed, it certainly couldn’t make my non-existent smeller any worse.” I haven’t really looked into treatment in about 10 years or so since I don’t really miss what I never had. Have there been any great advances? I do get occasional “the grass is greener on the other side” moments in which I think I would like to smell that grass, even if it is growing near the cesspool. So, roll call, stories, etc? Smelly Dopers can contribute too. ---
**Author:** ![kjckjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@kjckjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjckjc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051/2 "2009-06-17T11:23:46Z")
Oh and for posterity, here is a post I made on the now defunct Anosmia Resource Center site (which has been morphed into a yahoo group that I just now joined) back in January of 1998: > [@](#): > > I wish I found this site earlier. I feel like the kid who comes into class a few minutes late and is afraid to ask any questions because they might have already been asked. Sooooo…I read all the post. That took a bit. But I am happy to know that there are at least SOME other people that know what this is like. One thing that stands out in my mind is this: I have been anosmic all my life and I don’t know why yet, I might have to do more looking. I just realized it like 3 years ago. The problem was, I didn’t know what things were supposed to smell like, or that you were supposed to smell things any different that the way they smell to me. Which is to say, not at all. I also didn’t know (and my friends got a kick out of this) HOW you were supposed to smell things. Or that everything smells like something. I always thought smell was like tasting something, you went and DID it, like, made an effort, went and said “Nose, turn on” and the smell thingy in your head went on and you could smell it. I guess people are always getting scents, 24-hours a day, that is so cute! And I also had the impression that the “smelly” things (roses, perfume, oranges, etc) had smells but I never really thought that air had a smell, or wood (not cedar), or even…well anything. I think it is funny. > As for diapers and the such, as I have told my family, no I can’t smell them, but I still don’t do diapers. I am an uncle, and don’t feel that anosmia or not, I have to change my niece. > As for names of people who are “with smell” I never use the word osmics or whatever, just use the term “smelly-people”, I am sure it will be appreciated. 🙂 > On a more serious note, do I want to smells stuff? I am not sure it will be fun. In fact I would imagine it would traumatic. I guess you get it back gradually and not all at once so you can adjust, but still. I have gone 24 years without smelling, I think it would be odd to start. Where can I get more info on this Dr. Robert Henkin? He seems to be the “go to guy” in this field. Is there anybody in the more New England area that would be good to talk to? Most doctors that I have had the gall to mention this to tell me, “You must have a cold?” or “What do you mean you can’t smell?” That is why I love this site, you all understand! Ok that is all for my first post. Fell free to write me and tell me about all your experiences, I find them fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051/3 "2009-06-17T12:21:44Z")
Fortunately (unlike many Zicam users) I retain a sense of smell, which detects the stench of irony in the fact that the FDA announcement comes during [Homeopathy Awareness Week](http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/06/homeopathy-awareness-week-14-21st-june.html) (Zicam is marketed as a homeopathic drug). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051/4 "2009-06-17T15:52:02Z")
Hmm, I’ll have to go back and see what I said in that thread… I still can’t smell and don’t miss it, though it might be nice to know when something’s burning! People always say, “If you can’t smell, then how can you taste?” Well, I do taste stuff, but it probably doesn’t taste the same to me as it does to smelly-people. My husband can take a bite of something and know that it has rosemary or something in it, I can’t even identify garlic. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051/5 "2009-06-17T20:47:45Z")
Wow, so really bad BO or stankbreath doesn’t even affect you? I guess there is an upside to everything. ---
**Author:** ![kjckjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@kjckjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjckjc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051/6 "2009-06-17T21:10:55Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > Wow, so really bad BO or stankbreath doesn’t even affect you? I guess there is an upside to everything. Nope, not at all. All the bad smells you can think of…nothing. But also gas leaks, spoiled food that doesn’t look spoiled, my son’s diaper such that I have to check often to know…things you would like to know about. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051/7 "2009-06-17T21:32:26Z")
I lost my sense of smell - I dunno, I can’t exactly remember when. All I know is I used to have one when I was a kid and now I don’t; I think it just gradually faded out by my early 20’s. I used to think it was the smoking, but it left before I started and hasn’t returned even though I quit six months ago. I cannot smell a thing. Literally. Petrol stations, cigarettes, coffee, shitty toilets, camellias, pickle jars, farts, perfume, rotting bodies, bakeries - they’re all lost on me completely. I’d say I miss it, but smell is the kind of sense you can mostly get by without: I’d like to have it back, I guess, but it isn’t in the same league as being deaf or blind. All the same, it’s probably most annoying when it excludes you from things that everyone else smells, like appreciating coffee or fresh-baked bread. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051/8 "2009-06-17T22:38:03Z")
I’m the other end of the spectrum - I have a supersniffer. It’s not a complete blessing, either - smells that other people don’t notice or aren’t bad to them are nearly unbearable to me. A bad perfume is like having someone shouting right in my ear. On the plus side, I suspect I use and value my sense of smell more than your average bear. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051/9 "2009-06-17T23:06:22Z")
I’ve had episodes of anosmia, lasting for up to 3 or 4 days, when I had viral upper respiratory infections. Does that count? I was really happy to get my sense of smell back! ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051/10 "2009-06-20T03:06:41Z")
I finally had to search today. I knew there would be other Dopers with what ails me. There’s always more than one Doper with the same condition, however rare. Then I had to double-check the date to see that I didn’t resurrect an old thread. I am elated that this is fresh. I am not anosmic, I have (self-diagnosed) Hyposmia. It’s not that I can’t smell, it’s the same feeling than when I got glasses for the first time. I had no idea I couldn’t see well, it was natural that things were very blurry from a distance. It was always like that, since I was a kid. It’s hard to miss what you don’t know you’re supposed to have. Both my sight and sense of smell are “good enough” to get by (until I needed to get my driver’s license). I can smell certain things: some odoriferous food (garlic and onions), I can smell smoke and some chemicals (gasoline, acetone, chlorine to some extent), I can smell some perfumes, but when I do I find them very offensive. My sense of taste doesn’t seem to be affected, or so I think. I am also not the only one in my family, my baby sister is also hyposmic. I can’t say that I would like to have a normal sense of smell (unlike my sight), I am not sure I’d like to be bombarded with smells all the time, or perhaps I’d cope with it, other people seem to. ---
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anosmic-doper-roll-call/500051/11 "2009-06-20T03:22:16Z")
One of my SO’s friends has a very poor sense of smell. This is likely why it doesn’t occur to him to use deodorant. How his SO tolerates it i do not understand.