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EDITED: She can also smell Alzheimer's, even before a person is about to develop it. https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1107030/dementia-life-woman-sm

EDITED: She can also smell Alzheimer's, even before a person is about to develop it. https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1107030/dementia-life-woman-smell-husband-Alzheimer-strange-odour https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1107030/dementia...

eigenloss 8y ago
This is the same Joy.
pcl 8y ago
EDIT: oops, missed the Alzheimer’s reference. Nonetheless, the title appears wrong, unless her husband had both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. --- I suspect that’s just a mistake in the headline. The article doesn’t say anything about Alzheimer’s. It does mention that she can smell cancer and tuberculosis, however.
- maxerickson 8y ago
  She says Alzheimer’s smells like “vanilla, with a dark side” while tuberculosis smells “harsh”.
maxerickson 8y ago
But her sensitivity to smell means she is unable to enter the cleaning products aisle in supermarkets. To most people, the plastic packaging has no odour; to Joy, it is so intense she starts to retch. Is that even remotely true that people can't smell that aisle? I don't think I have an extraordinary sense of smell and I think of the smell of that aisle as "rank" or something like that.
- amelius 8y ago
  I think I can smell that aisle, but it's from the detergent, not the plastic.
  - tapland 8y ago
    I think that distinction in the text was not the intended point. With 'the plastic' they mean the products, not the plastic packaging. Because of it was the packaging, made of common materials, entire supermarkets would be off limits. And no, I don't think most people feel no smell in the cleaning aisle.
    - coroxout 8y ago
      I guess they mean that most people can smell freshly sprayed cleaning products but think the products don't smell of much when still in the bottles. The aisle has a faintly bleachy/detergenty smell to me, but not usually oppressive, more just pleasantly clean, I suppose. But I have noticed my hands/sweat smell different when I have a cold, and sometimes a day or two before I feel ill. I usually only get close enough to notice it on my own body, but I have a couple of times entered someone else's room/office and smelt the same smell before hearing confirmation from their croaky voice, snuffling, or them just telling me they have a cold. (And no, it's not the smell of cough sweets or lemon/honey-based cold remedies, but it might be partly the smell of damp tissues and stale phlegm and other such nice things. Subtle but sickly sweet.) Obviously this is neither particularly useful nor a superpower, but I'm glad research is going on into more useful applications of similar phenomena.
- graeme 8y ago
  Yeah, I can't really smell it. I have to get very close to the products. But, I have a bad sense of smell.
- chrischen 8y ago
  It's interesting that she's not becoming de-sensitized to all the smells. I think we all have the capability to discriminate between many colors, smells, sounds, etc, but most people normally would de-sensitize and filter out the noise over time.
- m463 8y ago
  I always sort of hold my breath and hurry past everything in that aisle.
hanniabu 8y ago
Much better read, definitely recommend over the other article
lucio 8y ago
The diseases are already there, but can't be detected by standard tests and/or have no visible symptoms yet.

eigenloss 8y ago

This is the same Joy.

pcl 8y ago

EDIT: oops, missed the Alzheimer’s reference. Nonetheless, the title appears wrong, unless her husband had both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. --- I suspect that’s just a mistake in the headline. The article doesn’t say anything about Alzheimer’s. It does mention that she can smell cancer and tuberculosis, however.

maxerickson 8y ago
She says Alzheimer’s smells like “vanilla, with a dark side” while tuberculosis smells “harsh”.

maxerickson 8y ago

But her sensitivity to smell means she is unable to enter the cleaning products aisle in supermarkets. To most people, the plastic packaging has no odour; to Joy, it is so intense she starts to retch. Is that even remotely true that people can't smell that aisle? I don't think I have an extraordinary sense of smell and I think of the smell of that aisle as "rank" or something like that.

amelius 8y ago
I think I can smell that aisle, but it's from the detergent, not the plastic.
- tapland 8y ago
  I think that distinction in the text was not the intended point. With 'the plastic' they mean the products, not the plastic packaging. Because of it was the packaging, made of common materials, entire supermarkets would be off limits. And no, I don't think most people feel no smell in the cleaning aisle.
  - coroxout 8y ago
    I guess they mean that most people can smell freshly sprayed cleaning products but think the products don't smell of much when still in the bottles. The aisle has a faintly bleachy/detergenty smell to me, but not usually oppressive, more just pleasantly clean, I suppose. But I have noticed my hands/sweat smell different when I have a cold, and sometimes a day or two before I feel ill. I usually only get close enough to notice it on my own body, but I have a couple of times entered someone else's room/office and smelt the same smell before hearing confirmation from their croaky voice, snuffling, or them just telling me they have a cold. (And no, it's not the smell of cough sweets or lemon/honey-based cold remedies, but it might be partly the smell of damp tissues and stale phlegm and other such nice things. Subtle but sickly sweet.) Obviously this is neither particularly useful nor a superpower, but I'm glad research is going on into more useful applications of similar phenomena.
graeme 8y ago
Yeah, I can't really smell it. I have to get very close to the products. But, I have a bad sense of smell.
chrischen 8y ago
It's interesting that she's not becoming de-sensitized to all the smells. I think we all have the capability to discriminate between many colors, smells, sounds, etc, but most people normally would de-sensitize and filter out the noise over time.
m463 8y ago
I always sort of hold my breath and hurry past everything in that aisle.

hanniabu 8y ago

Much better read, definitely recommend over the other article

lucio 8y ago

The diseases are already there, but can't be detected by standard tests and/or have no visible symptoms yet.