Sensitivity to smells

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I was wondering if anybody (well obviously there's got to be a few out there) experience hypersensitivity to smells. Do you ever find that certain smells nauseate you or make you gag uncontrollably sometimes to the point of vomiting? Or are there certain odours (like nail polish for example) that just seem overwhelmingly strong and give you a headache?

I had an experience today with tuna. For some reason I have never been able to tolerate it's strong fishy odour. My boyfriend decided to eat a dish that had tuna in it. I was in a different room and I could still smell it. I went into the kitchen and my boyfriend left the empty can out and I started gagging so hard i nearly tossed my cookies. I then demanded that he throw it in the garbage and take the garbage outside. I sprayed the kitchen with febreeze and could still smell it. It just wouldn't go away. I even had my boyfriend brush his teeth and he still smells like tuna. I find it rather frusterating.

Has anybody else had any similar experiences?

I've never been overly fond of tuna either. I do not normally gag from it unless I'm "with larva", but febreeze kills me. It gives me a headache even if used sparingly and when used excessively makes me want to vomit.

I am very sensitive to chemical smells and most perfumes/colognes. My husband is also sensitive to smells, we have to be careful what sorts of products we use such as laundry soap or shampoo.

hmm, i like febreeze and tuna. babies and saliva, poop, dog, cat, people in general throw me, though. especially saliva. i can smell my own. it's nasty. body odors i'm particularly sensitive to. i inherited that trait from my mom, who is slightly famous for smelling a slight gas leak in the basement of my apartment building....

some smells are so grotesque they're fascinating. my dad made this delicious broth that always smells horrible in the making, but comes out oh so good... i used to smell for the sensation of whatever the word is.

I have always had issues with smells, and the first thing to come to mind is how sick they can make me. I remember as a kid, I had the stomach flu often, it would make the experience especial bad because every smell would make things worse. Even going through my regular day smelling things on my daily commute makes me sick. I already get car sick, but then the smell of people and the heat in a crowded bus makes me want to jump out a window for fresh air. Of course the trains aren't any better when there is a sleeping bum in a train car and the smell makes me switch cars at the next stop. For some reason other people never seem as desperate to get away from the smells as I am.

Also, since you mentioned food, I tend to really dislike when people eat in public, especially if they are eating especially pungent food. It's especially bad when I'm stuck in a college class and people decide to bring full meals because they seem to think they are going to starve to death. The smell breaks my focus and makes me nauseous.

hmm, i like febreeze and tuna. babies and saliva, poop, dog, cat, people in general throw me, though. especially saliva. i can smell my own. it's nasty. body odors i'm particularly sensitive to. i inherited that trait from my mom, who is slightly famous for smelling a slight gas leak in the basement of my apartment building...

I stopped smoking when I became pregnant, so I thought the hypersensitivity came from the hormones, but I still have it now. I have to stop breathing around certain smells (perfumes mainly). I'm not great at separating smells however, but I'm always aware of them. I'm always taken by how people's homes smell different.

I hate indoor crowds, there's this whirlwind of body odours coming at me, it makes me wanna hurl.

Back when I was smoking I never had this problem. The cigarettes must have really numbed me.

I've been very sensitive to certain smells for as long as I can remember..

Like the other posts the usual fish, toilet smells, farm smells and farts all make me close to sick and make me gag. Basically any strong or pungent smell is enough for me to feel really sick.

I actually had a weird smell intolerance growing up.. I remember my mum cooking flapjacks and just the smell of them cooking made me feel very sick. I haven't been a fan of oatmeal since.

Strong smells and bad smells simply make me want to vomit. I start retching if I encounter them. Someone farted in the lift at work yesterday and I went to get in it and had to walk straight out. I wouldn't have coped going up 2 floors in there. I avoid the other lift because it goes to the basement exit where people have to go to smoke and the lift always smells of smoke. I can't deal with that either and although it makes me gag less it makes me panic and I want to hold my breath. I have a dodgy knee (lax tendons) so I avoid the stairs usually but I couldn't get into either lift with those bad smells.

I've always been like this. I have those little block air fresheners (the odour neutralising ones) that you put in bathrooms in lots of rooms in my house and I have 2 different kinds of febreeze - one for removing pet odour and one for neutralizing general bad smells.

When I was in high school my mother cooked salmon occasionally and sometimes I'd be able to smell it several days or a week later. It was just awful. She had the same issue of hypersensitivity, even though she liked the salmon, because she could also smell it much later. Funnily enough I also inherited from her a nose that is physically larger than average.

When I was a younger child the smell of fish was anathema to me. But in general I'm quite sensitive to that kind of thing. In particular any smell from an oil burner or construction work. I also have the typical aspie problems with hearing. For months I was disturbed by the sound of a chain blowing in the wind across the street and down a floor from my (former) girlfriend's apartment. When I was young I also used to force my father to turn the television down to a specific volume at ten o'clock -- and I would perform checks to see that he hadn't turned it up again.

The smell of fish (especially salmon and sardines), boiled meats, boiled cabbage, makeup (especially lipstick) and certain fried foods (after getting food poisoning) make me feel nauseous. Makes it very awkward for me in social situations when I have to eat the foods mentioned because I feel like throwing up.

Oddly, I'm not odour sensitive at all.

Oddly, I'm the opposite. I'm much less sensitive to smells than NTs.

I've always been more sensitive to smells. I dislike chemically smells, they make me sick, they burn my nose and throat and even my lungs. I can also smell them from very far away.

I am also sensitive to non chemically smells, but I like them. I will sometimes open the top of my fishtank, and I love to smell the scent of the water. But I am also not as sensitive as other people to other smells. I don't mind cleaning the litterbox, for one thing. And I have no problem going outside where there are animals or anything. It's like a bit like I don't really notice the smells much there.

My AS son cannot even smell his siblings diapers unless they are right next to him. Cannot tell what I have made for dinner (even if he is eating it already) sometimes because he cannot smell it. For example I made potato soup and he asked what kind of soup it was.

I have perfect smell and taste. We had tests in school and only two persons were perfect - a girl, who ist very good cook and me - hypersensitive Aspie who cooks tasteless... hmmm... mush? (I call it brei) and destroys the kitchen

I can't travel by car or bus because of smell, I'm sick. And I can't use parfum and deo (I use, but without smell). People stink for me and when I'm in sb's house I have to clean myself because I feel strange smell.
Most of food are too salty/sweet for me and I add the water. I hate oils, because they boost taste and smell.

And I'm hypersensitive to light. My nick means "Light in the Night", but I don't like any other light than me

Perfumes, yech.

I'm pretty sensitive to the light, too. I can read with very little light, and sunlight also seems very bright to me.