A Conversation for Ask h2g2
The acrid smell of...
PanicButton Started conversation Feb 10, 2004
Cat pee. For some reason, every time my flatmate has her period, she smells cat pee everywhere. Is this normal? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing affecting sensory perception?
The acrid smell of...
creachy Posted Feb 11, 2004
seeing as it affects the same area i would assume it is the same explanation as that of cravings whilst pregnant. i don't know what that explanation is but i am sure it is very connected
sorry not to have been of much help but at least this convo is now top of the list again
The acrid smell of...
Agapanthus Posted Feb 11, 2004
Smelling weird smells during periods is very normal indeed. I can smell burning rubber the day before mine is due. When my sister was pregnant, perfumes smelled very much like cat wee to her. It's because certain hormones increase or is it decrease, or both? the amount of blood in your mucous membranes. Which is what your nose is lined with. So you become far more sensitive to smell, and sometimes so oversenstive your brain 'invents' smells to try and explain all these signals from the nose. I have no idea why this happens. It could just be a hormonal side-effect that was never harmful enough to be bred out. Mind you, being very sensitive to smells during pregnancy would presumably help you avoid food that was going dodgy, so that would be very useful.
The acrid smell of...
kelli - ran 2 miles a day for 2012, aiming for the same for 2013 Posted Feb 11, 2004
Those clothes conditioners that make your clothes easy to iron smell like cat pee to me. This isn't affected by my hormonal state though
The acrid smell of...
creachy Posted Feb 12, 2004
i wouldn't tell her she's 'normal' per se
not unless you have a truly defined description of what normal is
The acrid smell of...
PanicButton Posted Feb 13, 2004
Je m'excuse... should have seen that coming. I'll redact it and tell her she's not alone. Which I'm sure will be equally reassuring...
The acrid smell of...
Haylle (Nyssabird) ? mg to recovery Posted Feb 13, 2004
See I would think then it would be because she's smelling metal - that iron rich blood, I mean.
The acrid smell of...
Lady in a tree Posted Feb 13, 2004
>>It could just be a hormonal side-effect that was never harmful enough to be bred out.<<
Perhaps, back in the days of the woolly mammoth etc., because of the bleeding, women were more "attractive" to wild animals and our hieghtened sense of smell let us detect nearby subtle animal smells?
I too smell burning rubber about a day before I'm on. Also, and most frustratingly, for the first couple of days I smell sausages cooking! B/f used to wonder why I was so adamant about having sausages for dinner whenever I got my period. He just takes it as read now!
The acrid smell of...
Haylle (Nyssabird) ? mg to recovery Posted Feb 13, 2004
That is a very clever idea, Lady.
Now, to figure out why I felt compelled to eat so much ide when I was pregnant .
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The acrid smell of...
- 1: PanicButton (Feb 10, 2004)
- 2: creachy (Feb 11, 2004)
- 3: Agapanthus (Feb 11, 2004)
- 4: kelli - ran 2 miles a day for 2012, aiming for the same for 2013 (Feb 11, 2004)
- 5: PanicButton (Feb 12, 2004)
- 6: creachy (Feb 12, 2004)
- 7: PanicButton (Feb 13, 2004)
- 8: Haylle (Nyssabird) ? mg to recovery (Feb 13, 2004)
- 9: Lady in a tree (Feb 13, 2004)
- 10: Haylle (Nyssabird) ? mg to recovery (Feb 13, 2004)
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