4 ms·

Too bad that nowadays our jaw development is so compromised and allergies so common that just about all of us have deviated septums and nasal cavities too narro

Too bad that nowadays our jaw development is so compromised and allergies so common that just about all of us have deviated septums and nasal cavities too narrow and misshapen for enough inhaled air to reach the right receptors. I'm, for one, barely capable of smelling anything, heh.

steve_adams_86 4y ago
Interesting. I have chronic allergies and narrow nasal cavities, but my sense of smell is very sharp. In fact I smell a lot of things I really don’t want to just about every day. I can smell my family members across rooms, smell dog poo that wasn’t picked up on the sidewalk long before I walk close to it, smell fumes from traffic very easily. Allergies dampen it but I can smell more than I need to all the time. There’s one weird part though. I can’t seem to smell pee very well. When my kids were smaller and would get pee on stuff I’d never notice. Clothing, bedding, etc. To this day I have no idea why I can smell someone’s dirty hands from several feet away but I can’t smell pee. Everyone can smell pee, I think. As a result I always assume I probably smell like pee but have no way of knowing.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- Sunspark 4y ago
  If you contemplate all the possible reasons why you might smell like pee, you will have your answer.
  - steve_adams_86 4y ago
    I mean, when you have tiny kids and a hard time smelling pee, it’s tougher to tell. Kind of like you won’t always realize you’ve got baby puke trailing down your shoulder — they’ll get you by surprise.
- isoprophlex 4y ago
  Unless there's something wrong with you, urine is sterile. And unless you ate stuff that smells (sulphur compounds in asparagus for example) your piss doesn't really smell after exiting your bladder. It only becomes smelly after some time, when bacteria have had the chance to work on it. Or when you're super dehydrated and you're pissing an orange slurry. My smell is pretty acute, but little splashes of urine from the kids are often almost scent-less. Only when they walk around for a while after small accidents do things get noticeably pissy smelling. Do you also not smell aged, rancid piss in the frequently visited (and messily used) urinals at a bar or highway gas station?
  - Llamamoe 4y ago
    This is a misconception, urine doesn't have many microorganisms, but it isn't quite sterile. And, strange, I find that despite a very weak sense of smell, I can smell mine if I'm even a little dehydrated and it isn't clear.
- pitaj 4y ago
  Do you breath through your nose or mouth when you sleep? Often people with deviated septums will mouth-breath.
  - steve_adams_86 4y ago
    I’m a severe mouth breather. Both literally and figuratively.
    - Llamamoe 4y ago
      Congratulations, you have sleep disordered breathing. Get a sleep study, ideally one that scores UARS and not only sleep apnea.
- Llamamoe 4y ago
  Oh wow that sounds absurd. I have a friend with extremely strong BO, and I need to be right next to him to notice even if he's not showered in a week. The notion of smelling people across rooms... it's as freaky to me as if you'd told me some people have x-ray vision. I wonder if your particular case of nasal cavity just happens to have topology that delivers air to the olfactory portion of it very effectively.
inglor_cz 4y ago
This funny little thing cleaned my sinuses so thoroughly that I no longer carry tissues around. There is simply no need. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/expert-answers/neti-pot/faq-20058305 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/e... I do this several times a week as a prevention. The learning curve is ugh, but once the nose is clean, it is an almost enjoyable experience. Also, it seems to snuff out beginning colds really efficiently, though not 100 per cent reliably.
- Asooka 4y ago
  I would recommend using nasal saline spray instead. The chance of nigleria fowleri is tiny, but definitely not worth it.
  - inglor_cz 4y ago
    The worst documented outbreak was actually in Czechoslovakia: 1056/NEJM196606302742605. PMID 5939846. - Červa, L.; Novák, K. (April 1968). "Ameobic meningoencephalitis: sixteen fatalities". Science. 160 (3823): 92. That said, I feel fairly safe, because I a) run the water through a fine filter < 1 micron first, b) boil it anyway, just to be sure, c) these amoebas don't like cold running water and tend to live in warmer, stagnant waters only, so a typical municipal water system won't be infested.
remarkEon 4y ago
I had terrible allergies as a kid. I grew up in a city and would go back to farms in South Dakota and Iowa to see family, and would be miserable. I then joined the military, and went to certain schools where you are not actually allowed to take allergy meds for safety reasons. I had an allergy attack (some kind of crazy histamine reaction) that honestly made me think I was going to collapse. Woke up the next morning, and I've had no allergy symptoms for about a decade now. This is to say ... go outside.
- jagraff 4y ago
  I’m glad that worked for you, but for some people with allergies each attack can make the allergy worse, as the immune system sensitizes itself to the allergen in the presence of inflammation. One treatment for allergies is exposure, but that is done using extremely small doses to allow the immune system to “see” the allergen without inflammation and thus lessen the response.

steve_adams_86 4y ago

Interesting. I have chronic allergies and narrow nasal cavities, but my sense of smell is very sharp. In fact I smell a lot of things I really don’t want to just about every day. I can smell my family members across rooms, smell dog poo that wasn’t picked up on the sidewalk long before I walk close to it, smell fumes from traffic very easily. Allergies dampen it but I can smell more than I need to all the time. There’s one weird part though. I can’t seem to smell pee very well. When my kids were smaller and would get pee on stuff I’d never notice. Clothing, bedding, etc. To this day I have no idea why I can smell someone’s dirty hands from several feet away but I can’t smell pee. Everyone can smell pee, I think. As a result I always assume I probably smell like pee but have no way of knowing.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Sunspark 4y ago
If you contemplate all the possible reasons why you might smell like pee, you will have your answer.
- steve_adams_86 4y ago
  I mean, when you have tiny kids and a hard time smelling pee, it’s tougher to tell. Kind of like you won’t always realize you’ve got baby puke trailing down your shoulder — they’ll get you by surprise.
isoprophlex 4y ago
Unless there's something wrong with you, urine is sterile. And unless you ate stuff that smells (sulphur compounds in asparagus for example) your piss doesn't really smell after exiting your bladder. It only becomes smelly after some time, when bacteria have had the chance to work on it. Or when you're super dehydrated and you're pissing an orange slurry. My smell is pretty acute, but little splashes of urine from the kids are often almost scent-less. Only when they walk around for a while after small accidents do things get noticeably pissy smelling. Do you also not smell aged, rancid piss in the frequently visited (and messily used) urinals at a bar or highway gas station?
- Llamamoe 4y ago
  This is a misconception, urine doesn't have many microorganisms, but it isn't quite sterile. And, strange, I find that despite a very weak sense of smell, I can smell mine if I'm even a little dehydrated and it isn't clear.
pitaj 4y ago
Do you breath through your nose or mouth when you sleep? Often people with deviated septums will mouth-breath.
- steve_adams_86 4y ago
  I’m a severe mouth breather. Both literally and figuratively.
  - Llamamoe 4y ago
    Congratulations, you have sleep disordered breathing. Get a sleep study, ideally one that scores UARS and not only sleep apnea.
Llamamoe 4y ago
Oh wow that sounds absurd. I have a friend with extremely strong BO, and I need to be right next to him to notice even if he's not showered in a week. The notion of smelling people across rooms... it's as freaky to me as if you'd told me some people have x-ray vision. I wonder if your particular case of nasal cavity just happens to have topology that delivers air to the olfactory portion of it very effectively.

inglor_cz 4y ago

This funny little thing cleaned my sinuses so thoroughly that I no longer carry tissues around. There is simply no need. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/expert-answers/neti-pot/faq-20058305 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/e... I do this several times a week as a prevention. The learning curve is ugh, but once the nose is clean, it is an almost enjoyable experience. Also, it seems to snuff out beginning colds really efficiently, though not 100 per cent reliably.

Asooka 4y ago
I would recommend using nasal saline spray instead. The chance of nigleria fowleri is tiny, but definitely not worth it.
- inglor_cz 4y ago
  The worst documented outbreak was actually in Czechoslovakia: 1056/NEJM196606302742605. PMID 5939846. - Červa, L.; Novák, K. (April 1968). "Ameobic meningoencephalitis: sixteen fatalities". Science. 160 (3823): 92. That said, I feel fairly safe, because I a) run the water through a fine filter < 1 micron first, b) boil it anyway, just to be sure, c) these amoebas don't like cold running water and tend to live in warmer, stagnant waters only, so a typical municipal water system won't be infested.

remarkEon 4y ago

I had terrible allergies as a kid. I grew up in a city and would go back to farms in South Dakota and Iowa to see family, and would be miserable. I then joined the military, and went to certain schools where you are not actually allowed to take allergy meds for safety reasons. I had an allergy attack (some kind of crazy histamine reaction) that honestly made me think I was going to collapse. Woke up the next morning, and I've had no allergy symptoms for about a decade now. This is to say ... go outside.

jagraff 4y ago
I’m glad that worked for you, but for some people with allergies each attack can make the allergy worse, as the immune system sensitizes itself to the allergen in the presence of inflammation. One treatment for allergies is exposure, but that is done using extremely small doses to allow the immune system to “see” the allergen without inflammation and thus lessen the response.