ext_45290 ([identity profile] iguanasdefuego.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] vaginapagina2006-11-08 03:17 pm

sensitive to smells on period

Hi kids (lol I'm 18). I was just wondering if any of you become extra sensitive to smells during your period? I just noticed today while I was chopping some fresh cilantro that it was making me nauseous. Ick! Also, I sliced up some fresh mushrooms and looking at the gills under the caps made me queesy. Does this happen to anyone else?

Synaesthesia

[identity profile] flowershadow.livejournal.com 2006-11-08 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Have you heard of synaesthesia? Basically, in a nutshell, it's the crosswiring of senses.

I'm not an expert or anything like that, but smells=bodily feelings sounds like it to me. :)

If you'd like, there's a community here, [livejournal.com profile] synaesthesis, that is devoted strictly to synaesthesia. There's also a community, [livejournal.com profile] sensedefence, that deals with overly sensitive individuals, which sounds like it would apply to you, at least during your period!

Anyway, just a thought.

Re: Synaesthesia

[identity profile] rotf-lmao.livejournal.com 2006-11-09 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
Actually, with all due respect, synesthesia is not something that only presents itself at certain times; it is a constant condition and does not only manifest itself during a specific timeframe (like during the menstrual period, as the OP describes.)

Also...synesthesia, as you mentioned, is a "cross-wiring" of senses. The five senses are sight, smell, taste, sight, and hearing, so nausea really wouldn't fall under any of those senses. Therefore, what the OP is experiencing is simply sensitivity to a certain smell, at a certain time.

Now, if she was associating the sight of mushrooms with the colour red, or if she pictured the word "mushroom" as being red, then she would be classified as being synesthetic. For example, when I see the word "mushroom", I see each letter in a different colour, because I am a diagnosed grapheme-colour synthete.

Re: Synaesthesia

[identity profile] flowershadow.livejournal.com 2006-11-09 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
I would agree with you that synesthesia is there all the time; but, as you know, in some people it is not very prevelant. I wouldn't consider it impossible that during certain times it becomes more pronounced, especially if that time was when you were menstuating, when everything is all wacky anyway. I was thinking that nausea as being a feeling, because you feel nauseaous, and it was brought on by a smell.

I wasn't saying that she had it, just that it might be something that she might want to look at. My expierence with synaesthesia is limited to my expierences and the community, and I don't want to give the impression that I know a lot about it. Which was why I also gave the OP the link for sensedefence; it's for people that are sensitive to certain stimuli, including but by no means limited to synaesthetes.

:)

Re: Synaesthesia

[identity profile] rotf-lmao.livejournal.com 2006-11-09 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
Fair enough. :) I just didn't want the OP to think that what she is experiencing fits the definition of synesthesia, even though it is similar in some ways.