So I have congenital (from birth) anosmia. I can't smell anything. Nothing at all. I've had multiple MRIs of my brain and everything appears normal. I have a normal sense of taste (which is the case with congenital anosmia), which is very confusing (Since smell and taste are supposedly complimentary). What could be wrong with me if my brain appears normal, I can taste, but I can't smell. If I put a cottonball with alcohol on it up to my nose, I feel a burning sensation, and I can feel the coolness of menthol, but that's it. I have no idea what weed smells like. Just thought some people might find that interesting. Anyone else similar?
to a point yes.. There are things I can and can't smell. I can't smell a skunk 2 ft away from me.. spraying.. :\ but I can smell sulfur, and some types of food.. Alcohol I can smell fine. my pallet. and sense of taste.. are fucked. things taste like other things.. some things taste like things they shouldnt.. For example: the other day.. EVERY single beer I drank(Alot..) and Different ones too. They tasted like Extra sharp cheddar. :\
So you can still feel the presence of a substance but you can't physically smell it? Like can you taste weed when you smoke it, but it's completely odorless before that? I must say that's pretty bizarre man.
There are 3 neural systems in the nasal cavities. The main olefactory system is known as CN-I (cranial nerve I), the trigeminal somatosensory system is CN-V (cranial nerve V) and the nervis terminalis, CN-0 (cranial nerve 0). We have no clue what CN-0 does, but we do know that CN-I is responsible for odor sensation, and CN-V is responsible for the somatosensory sensations you get from odors: i.e. cool, burning, tickling, etc. Within these systems are neuroepithelium that aid in what you could call the 'basic functions' of our noses. Outlining these would take forever, as there are quite a bit of them, and they all do something different. Only thing you need to know is that scents are picked up through the cilia of these neuroepithelium; that's where the odor receptors are. When these receptors are triggered, it causes a cascading effect of neural firings which ultimately end up in the olfactory cortex (frontal lobe, temporal lobe, hypothalamus and thalamus). Since you were born with it, it's probably just a case of your brain and central nervous system not developing fully (and indeed, if the only thing bothering you is anosmia, it won't show up in MRIs because you can't see all the neural connections with an MRI). Usually when somebody develops anosmia it's because of head trauma or sickness which has severed those connections. Assuming there was no head trauma while you were in the womb (which wouldn't necessarily show up in an MRI, again) and no post-delivery sicknesses that might account for your anosmia, it probably is just a case of your brain not fully branching out all of it's connections...something that is common. Just thought I'd share some knowledge that might help explain why you can't smell . It seems to me like CN-I didn't develop fully, while CN-V did. Not uncommon at all.
So... you don't know what pussy smells like? Damn, just the thought of that makes me sad. Oh well, at least you don't need to worry about which girls are clean and which aren't.
Man, I can't imagine life with no smell. Smell is the underdog of the sensory world, but life couldn't be the same without it. But your kids are gonna have a field day when they discover weed.
Okay, now that's funny. I'm having mental images of myself as a teenager, smirking while I stuff a regular cigarette full of pot to smoke in front of pops later. Dad: Can I bum a smoke? Me: Uh....sure...
i lost a good fraction of my smell and taste in 8th grade skateboarding, fractured my skull and my brain knocked the nerves and damaged them, i can still smell and taste some things, like strawberrys, but it seems like anything with wheat in it i cant really taste
You got no sense of smell? You can't smell anything? I got no sense of having legs, Dewey! I'm dead! You know what it's like masturbating with a ghost hand? It's terrible.
I know the feeling like.. people ask me.. Friend: "you smell that?" Me: "Nope.." Friend: "damn.." I love the smell of bud.. But I can't smell it any more.. haha I know I do that look at people too
I know someone who has the very same condition. Sometimes I'll tell him to smell something and he'll just look at me and then I'll remember that he can't and then I feel bad because he probably thinks I'm making fun of him.