Come To Your Senses

14 Replies

Hyperosmia is a heightened sense of smell. It can be related to “morning sickness” during pregnancy. I remember being nauseated by greasy food smells when I was pregnant. I have a sensitive sense of smell even when not pregnant. When I worked as a Nurse, I was able to smell odors that indicated infection. A pleasurable side of the sense of smell is the use of aromatherapy. I love the smell of natural scents like lavender, rosemary, sages, roses and others. I really do find these scents soothing and relaxing. My daughter has made me a couple of small scent pillows and I have bought a lavender eye pillow for Yoga. The scent of peppermint is supposed to be good for nausea and headaches. In the Renaissance people wore rings with hidden compartments for scent. Hidden spaces under the bezel of the rings allowed scented materials to be hidden in an attempt to cover up the bad odors that were the result of bad hygiene. The hand wearing the ring could be brought up to the nose whenever a smell became too much to bare. ‘Smelling salts‘ were used in Victorian Times to revive people who fainted. The strong smell would kind of shock the person awake, help bring them to their senses or to regain consciousness. First you faint from a shock and then are revived by a shock to your nasal membranes. It would be nice to have a little sachet of lavender to bring to my nose when I’m stressed. A good way to calm my senses.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Prompt word for today is “smell.”

14 thoughts on “Come To Your Senses”

  2. Dan Antion

    I’m not sure if my sense of smell is normal or not, but it’s not heightened. On the other hand, I’m not a fan of many artificial smells. I frequently take the stairs to avoid sonmeone’s perfume.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
      2. Deborah Drucker Post author

        It is amazing. For dogs and other animals the sense of smell is really very heightened. I did read that when people are anxious they can have a heightened sense of smell. Like it is a survival mechanism to have your senses heightened in scanning the environment for threats. Probably when we were cave dwellers we had to rely on our sense of smell a lot more.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Michael

    That was most informative Deborah…..I agree that lavender is very calming…..we used to have a dog who loved to bury her nose in the lavender bush and stay there until she’d had her fix…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. Deborah Drucker Post author

      I thought it was good with infections because it was like a warning system. It could be the same with your wife’s sensitivity, warning about things that are not right. Thank you, Curt. 🙂

      Like

      Reply ↓
  5. Jami Carder

    When I was a nurse in the hospital, we would put peppermint oil in the toilets of the patients who had difficulty going to the bathroom. Worked like a charm:)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

Comments

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.