For the past few days Gary has been very dismayed by the smells that have been coming out of him.
I have encountered Gary's smells in the past, and it is true, sometimes he goes through episodes of gas that are bad. Regrettably bad. Labrador-level bad. Called on the carpet before HR bad. Bad.
However, this time, I can smell nothing. I see him shriek and wave his arms and apologize, but there is nothing. No smell. He tells me there is something wrong with me, and then of course I must prove I don't have Covid by smelling other things, and then he concludes as always I don't have the refined nose he does. I would buy that, only I have been getting running over and dropping my nose down to ass level to try to see if he is really making these smells, or if he is hallucinating.
The jury is in: I think he's hallucinating, mainly because here are no pains or sensations that accompany these smells. It might be the same meds that once made him think snakes and bugs are crawling on him. Or, it could be his epilepsy; when I looked up things that can cause olfactory hallucinations, temporal lobe epilepsy was at the top of the list, and that's the very kind he has.
I'm going to keep an eye on it. Or my nose on it. It might just go away.
In theory, there are also specific compounds that one person can smell that someone else can't, but yeah, olfactory hallucinations sound like the most likely option, if no sensations accompany the abrupt appearance of smells for him.
(does that mean you *can* maybe wear the great perfume?)
Posted by: KC | February 16, 2022 at 10:45 AM
KC - interesting to note that olfactory hallucinations are usually bad smells. People rarely hallucinate nice smells. I wonder why.
Posted by: TheQueen | February 16, 2022 at 04:31 PM
Do they not hallucinate nice smells, or do they not notice/care when they hallucinate nice smells? "Oh, one of our neighbors must be baking cookies."
(maybe, though, there are more bad smells than good smells out there? and then there are the smells where bad/good depends on strength and context - musk being notable)
Posted by: KC | February 16, 2022 at 05:03 PM
KC - my guess is that the brain remembers bad smells because of evolution? Rotted things = make a memory, do not eat.
Posted by: TheQueen | February 16, 2022 at 07:09 PM
Oh, this made me laugh so hard. The joys of marriage, I know them well, lol.
Posted by: Lisa | February 19, 2022 at 07:24 PM
Lisa - right? usually it goes both ways.I don't believe I've ever had a phantom gas attack in front of him.
Posted by: TheQueen | February 19, 2022 at 09:06 PM