Hyper sensitive to smells?

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Im trying to understand my son a little better so was hoping maybe you guys could help. My 8yr old was sitting at the coffee table on a little chair with an open box of mixed pencils,crayons textas etc in front of him. He had taken the lid off a new texta (white board marker) and had drawn a few lines on his paper. He made a strange noise then tipped sideways off his little chair and was laying on the floor appearing to be gasping for air, he said he couldn't breath cause of the smell. I moved the paper and put the lid on the texta (it was a little smelly) and opened all the doors and windows. He came good again very quickly, I tried not to fuss because Im not sure if he was over reacting or what. He reacted kind of like this once before but it got much worse, cold sweet, pale, dizzy etc to the glue the hospital used to attatch monitors to his head for a sleep study. He is often telling me things smell bad or so and so stinks. However the texta issue threw me. Any thoughts?

Hmm... I would think he may have just over reacted a bit, i know i used to do that alot as a kid about some things.

I too can be quite sensitive to smell... and really and sence, but not always, only certain stimuli causes that in me, I may cover my ears for instance when a pallet hits the floor, yet nobody else in the warehouse will, and wonder why I do that since I should be used to it by now.

If he is showing physical signes of being bothers like the sweating and stuff, then perhapse he really is effected that severly, maby hes not over reacting. I think its common for kids (im making a generalization because I used to be like that) and may be even more common for aspie kids.

Some things have bad smell which in itself makes one feel ill (and gets worse the longer one has to endure it)-at least one has time to communicate those (predictable things specific to each individual). Examples: non-toxic & natural (non-artificial, non-manmade) odors, which could make someone sick but but not cause harm/damage.
Other things smell bad though one sorta' gets used to it, but the vapors or scent molecules are still breathed in by a person, which have effects (that one isn't aware or conscious of) on one's system. Permanent markers (such as Sharpies & Prismacolor) do this to me-I get dizzy & nauseous. First noticed this in an art class when I felt all strange & lightheaded, instructor suggested it could be caused by the markers so sent me outside for a break (from room filled with students & their uncapped markers).
White-board (dry-erase) markers smell bad in a chemical way to my senses, so I try to not get up any closer than I have to when writing with them. Non (or less) permanent (such as Pentel) markers don't seem to have that intense odor, nor do they make me feel unwell.

Rubber cement can have these sort of effects, but I've made sure to ventilate work area when using that. Imagine that exposure to chemicals is more significant & overwhelming to children.

I think he might have overreacted, however, I can tell you that I am VERY sensitive to smells...It's funny because I'll go somewhere and say, "wow...it smells like my school in 4th grade in Austin"...or stuff like that...Also, when I was little in school, I hated the lunch hour...I would sometimes stick my nose in my lunchbox or go to the restroom during lunch because the smell of broccoli made me sick...or other smells too...

as others have said~ probably an overreaction....however, hubby is bery sensitive to smells...i remember once i was cutting a cucumber in the kitchen on the first floor, and hubby yelled down from the 2nd floor~ are you cutting cucumber ?

i didn't even know cucumbers had a smell !

I'll agree with the others in that it's probably an overreaction.My son will sort of do the same thing when he encounters an offensive (to him ) odor. He's 10 and can smell things that I can't, is very sensitive to some smells and it's a matter of trail and error to find out what those are. If I purchase an older, used book from ebay or somewhere and it has that old, musty smell he can't read it - the smell bothers him. He doesn't like the "smell" of certain clothes - I try to stick with cotton because man-made fabrics seem to bother him. He will walk into someones house and say "it smells like a combination of cleaning products, bananas and potatoes" Most likely the people in the house cleaned that day and either have or did have bananas and potatoes.

The sensitivity seems to have lessened a little bit with age and now its sort of a "fun" thing for him to do to try to detect the smells in a certain place.

Is it possible he has asthma or an allergy to something in the dry erase? There was recently a story about a teacher who almost died from using a dry erase marker because she had asthma and it triggered an attack. Definitely rule that out.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I will have to talk to his doc's about it all when I see them again in 2 weeks. Asthma runs in the family big time, he's older brother is chronic asthmatic as are other family members. (lol thats all we need another diagnoses)

When I brought the episode up with him a couple of days later all I said to him was You know the other day when you were drawing and he said Yeah I felt sick like when I was in the hospital and had the glue on my head.

Maybe there is something in what belfast (Ithink I got that right sorry if I didnt) and siuan said. I did ask him if he felt this way at school during art time and he said he didnt think so but he couldnt remember. Thanks again all.

I know that sensation. When I first went in the music building at my grad school, I sniffed the air and said, "Hey, this music building smells just like the music building did at my undergrad!" I might note that the two schools were about 5 states apart.

I also can't deal with the smell of the trash. If someone's taking it out and they put it next to the back door for a bit, I always end up carrying it out for them. I can't leave it there, because it smells so bad! But no one else ever really notices the smell, unless it gets extreme.

That and the smell of perfume/cologne. Then I really will choke and cough.

I am very smell sensitive. Certain smells make me gag. Today, the toaster caught on fire and, I swear, it smelled just like cat poop! Yuck!

I have problems with smells...some perfume can make me really, really sick (nausea, headache, almost "drunk" can't think), some smells just make me lightheaded or disorientated. I have asthma also triggered usually by allergies.

You may want to check out some info on multiple chemical sensitivities.

http://www.immuneweb.org/articles/mcsintro.html

This kinda hit home for me unfortunately.

Books...baking soda in a ziploc bag...place in freezer for a few days. I do this, I buy alot of used books many have a mildew smell or smell of smoke, I can't stand the smell gives me a horrendous headache.

Clothes...they treat many with chemicals for stain resistance, fire resistance...I've gotten hives so many times, I can't wear anything new without washing it a couple of times, a few things I've bought I've had to forget it totally.

Other's houses...I have a friend I hardly ever visit because of air fresheners...she uses them I don't...I just can't breathe in her house...new carpet, new furniture, new car smell and more...you would be surprised how many people have problems with the off-gassing of chemicals from new stuff.

Your son might be going through something like what I have; my sense of smell picks up completely different things than other peoples' in many cases. Most body odours I can't smell at all while a strong whiff of tomato sauce has been known to make me faint. Skunks smell sweet to me, while some things (I think) smell the same as for most people.

I am very sensitive ( full stop ) to smells like bleach , paint, perfume , deoderant smoke .... - all make MY eyes burn but nobody else's ! !

Jees , nearly forgot ...... the smell of tinned sweet corn makes me choke ! !!