# Are people that are hypersensitive to perfumes also bothered by bad smells more? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 12, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-that-are-hypersensitive-to-perfumes-also-bothered-by-bad-smells-more/688286 "2014-05-12T16:26:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-that-are-hypersensitive-to-perfumes-also-bothered-by-bad-smells-more/688286/41 "2014-05-14T20:05:33Z")
I get nauseated and dizzy from the smell of most women’s perfumes and some cleaners. I love most men’s scents. As for disgusting smells - while I hate most perfumes, I am the only one in my class who is not bothered by the smell of C. diff. When the nurses use mint or coffee grounds to cover the smell, I smell mint and coffee while everyone else smells minty of coffee scented C. diff. If I had to choose walking past a perfume counter or walking past the room of a C. diff patient, I’d choose the patient every time. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-that-are-hypersensitive-to-perfumes-also-bothered-by-bad-smells-more/688286/42 "2014-05-14T20:21:24Z")
C diff = Clostridium difficile = diarrhea For those who are as clueless as I was. ---
**Author:** ![delsina363](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@delsina363](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delsina363)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-that-are-hypersensitive-to-perfumes-also-bothered-by-bad-smells-more/688286/43 "2014-05-14T20:23:31Z")
When I was younger, I loved nice smelling soap, lotions, shampoos, etc. The only thing I have been consistently bothered by is light. I am hyper sensitive to light. Always have been. One doctor explained to me that my eyes did not have the same amount of filter as regular eyes, and I just need to where sunglasses more. Good enough for me. My first problem started with skin allergies. Were there were non before, as I got older, certain things would make my skin a little itchy. Now I am hypersensitive. If I spray perfume on my arm, or use a nice smelling deodorant, my skin will literally swell up into giant hives. Now I just use bland soap, bland shampoos, bland skin lotion. Thankfully, you can find hyper-allergenic stuff with regular stuff now. For the only perfumes I can tolerate smelling, I need to spray just a little on my clothes, never ever on my skin. One time I tried just spraying a little on my neck, and I looked like I had hickys for days. :o Same with smells, I do not know when it all began. I always get numerous sinus infections, in fact, I am on antibiotics right now for one. The things with smells is that they can trigger a really, excruciating painful migraine. I love the smell of flowers, but some, for reasons I will never know, I just cannot tolerate. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-that-are-hypersensitive-to-perfumes-also-bothered-by-bad-smells-more/688286/44 "2014-05-14T21:04:16Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > C diff = Clostridium difficile = diarrhea > > For those who are as clueless as I was. Yeah - sorry about that. It has its own special smell which apparently is vile and offensive. I wouldn’t know. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-that-are-hypersensitive-to-perfumes-also-bothered-by-bad-smells-more/688286/45 "2014-05-19T17:17:49Z")
Psychosomatic doesn’t mean doing it for attention. It means that somehow your brain is causing your symptoms. And I do not doubt that some of my insensitivities (rarely to smell) are caused by that. And I do think that you can learn to tolerate a lot of things if you do it slowly enough. And this even works with non-psychosomatic problems–see allergy shots. But life is often too short if the situation is something you don’t encounter a lot. Plus, I’m sure a lot of people are doing these sorts of things, and would be even worse otherwise. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-that-are-hypersensitive-to-perfumes-also-bothered-by-bad-smells-more/688286.md?page=2)