This is topic Very weird semi-medical question...C'mon I'm serious here! in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
 
I was washing new jeans about a month ago and I kept smelling saltwater. It smelled like the marsh or something and it was grossing me out. I assumed the water was weird but when I took the jeans out of the dryer, they smelled normal except in one spot near the back. I couldn't figure it out but it was gross.

It happened the next two times I washed the jeans.

Then, a couple days ago my husband came and sat next to me and I almost gagged. It was that same terrible smell! I kept asking, "What is that smell, it smells like dead fish!" Sniffing out the culprit, I found his new leather belt. It smelled like seawater, to me. To Jesse it was normal. Then I went and found those jeans and realized the "stinky" part was the leather badge in the back.

So, as weird as it sounds, I've been sniffing leather whenever I get a chance. It always smells nasty to me, but it never did before. Why would this happen? I don't smoke so I don't know what would be fouling up my sniffer. I used to like the smell of leather!

I'm actually a bit worried about this. It seems so weird!

[ February 19, 2004, 10:24 AM: Message edited by: PSI Teleport ]
 

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Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
 
Well, the only time in my life that my "sniffer" did weird things like this was when I was pregnant.

I'm serious

My husband easily told me I was pregnant LONG before we could take the pregnacy test, because I would make some comment about something smelling weird -- out of the ordinary -- or bothering me more than it ever did before. (smelling stronger) And each time, he was right!

Farmgirl
 

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Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
 
Well I know I'm not pregnant (barring a miracle) so I don't think that's it. plus it happens all the time, but just with leather.
 

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Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
Are you sure that it's a constant? There are times during a woman's menstrual cycle when her sense of smell becomes more accute than usual.
 

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Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
 
Well, it's been everytime I'm around leather...I think it has been pretty constant. Unless I only smell leather during the full moon? I don't think so.....

Plus nothing ELSE smells weird, I don't think?
 

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Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
 
You don't happen to have a cold or anything do you? Sometimes infection can affect your sense of smell.
 

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Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
 
You might want to read up on how leather is cured, hides tanned, etc.

Then again, you might not.

And if the leather comes from some 3rd world country, you can bet it's not cleaned and descented.

My leather couch doesn't have any scent. It's possible to turn a hide into leather without the smell, but some places don't bother.

It IS a disgusting smell!!!

OMG! I'm pregnant!
 

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Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
 
Congratulations!
 

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Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
 

I love the smell of leather.
 

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Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
 
I USED to love it...that's why I'm sad.
 

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Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
 
PSI,
I suggest you go to a leather shop (they don't have Tandy leather stores anymore do they?) or a western or saddle shop or somewhere there is lots and lots of leather. See if you can get your mind to re-associate the fresh leather smell with leather -- or if it all still smells like saltware fish (outside of your home).

Farmgirl
 

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Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
 
I have no useful advice, accept see an Ear,Nose, Throat specialist.

I do have a question.

You can't stand being near the smell of leather now.

You can't be pregnant right now, short of a miracle.

Is your sudden aversion to leather effecting your love life that much?
 

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Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
 
:-P

I had my tubes tied, nerd boy.
 

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Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
 
OOOh! You made me run around my house smelling leather things! Thanks for the sensual experience.

Leather DOES smell like things washed up on a beach - tangy, salty, slightly off. I like that smell. I like sea smells and animal smells. It smells like bodies, like skin. Perhaps that's why leather is so sexy.

But you may be developing a sensitivity to it. What are your associations with this smell? I love the ocean, so any saltwater thing turns me on. But if you hate fish or somehting, it may be disgusting.
 

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Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
 


::was going to say something about cow imports, but figure I better just leave it alone...::

FG
 

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Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :
 
Have you become a vegetarian recently, by any chance? I know that meat-eating people sometimes smell bad to vegetarians--maybe leather does as well.
 

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Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
 
You haven't smelled badly cured leather yet, Nick.

Probably nothing wrong with your sense of smell, PsiTeleport.

What we see/smell/hear/taste isn't a direct experience, but rather strongly processed and modified by our brain based on previous experience(s).
eg A friend drank way too many martinis at a sorority cocktail party, regurgitated often&repeatedly, and suffered through a major hangover. Now the scent of gin is always an unpleasant experience. And if the brand of gin is the same as that which was chosen at that party, nauseating enough to leave the room.

You probably ran into a very badly cured piece of leather which when combined with dampness had a particular odor that you found repellent. And the other strong odors associated with leather became hardwired in your brain to remind you of that particularly repellent stench.

Because of that unpleasant experience, you are now acutely sensitized to the aroma of leather in general. And a leather scent automaticly reminds you of the odor you found repulsive. Which in turn causes you to find all leather to be less than pleasing.

[ February 19, 2004, 10:42 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
 

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Posted by Sachiko (Member # 6139) on :
 
Oh! Huh. That explain why I hate even the sight of rabbits now.

I like salty smells too. When I lived in CA I loved the smell of San Francisco; fishy, greasy, deisel-y. Yum. I can taste the street scones and clam chowder now!

Has there been any significant leather-related events recently that might have caused this sudden aversion?

This may not be reassuring, but the description of your problem reminds me of reading Oliver Sacks. Maybe you're suffering from Phantom Stench.

[ February 19, 2004, 10:38 PM: Message edited by: Sachiko ]
 

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Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
 

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But if you hate fish or something, it may be disgusting

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Have you become a vegetarian recently, by any chance?

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Has there been any significant leather-related events recently that might have caused this sudden aversion?

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It smells like bodies

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Oh! Huh. That explain why I hate even the sight of rabbits now.

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Your name wouldn't, by any chance, be Albert, would it?
 

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Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
 
The good news is that you can probably retrain your perception of leather. I played Snood a lot last time I was pregnant, and after the baby was born someone started playing Snood and just the sounds nauseated me. But I disciplined myself by playing lots of Snood and have largely overcome the association.

Oddly, I have never come close to those early high scores.
 

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Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
 
Good one, Noemon!

Sometimes people with brain tumors smell things that aren't there, I've heard. But that's usually experiencing a citrus smell when nobody else does. At least in the article I read.

Not that that has anything to do with you. Sorry. I'll sut up now.
 

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Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
 
What on earth is Snood? I thought they were just those crocheted pouches you put your ponytail in.
 

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Posted by Sachiko (Member # 6139) on :
 

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