Smell Triggers

[Bloomy]

So I have a room mate and until today he didnt smell anything else but neutral. I came home and now he put on perfume. And not just any but the worst kind that triggers me and reminds me of things I dont want to be reminded of. Just trying not to breath to much when we are in the same room and if hell get to close.
Dont think Ill tell him that he stinks. Atleast not in that way. But Im just hoping hell not wear to much of this perfume in future cause Im not sure Ill survive.

Just shitty to have these trigger stressors going on. Not being able to tolerate certain things without going back clash :inpain:

 

[Deadman]

I certainly understand smells as a trigger. Most of my flashbacks I've had have been triggered by certain smells. I guess it makes sense since smell is so closely linked to memory.

 

[Bloomy]

Smells can be the worst ones to set me of @Deadman and under category Smells perfume is def the worst aka memories I dont want to remember. As its spring now there is a lot of smells that triggers faded memories, but these I can handle. Perfumes on the other hand can make me sick to my gut.

 

[bobeara]

I can relate to this... I have a smell trigger, too, and it sucks

 

[Kate Van Sant]

So I have a room mate and until today he didnt smell anything else but neutral. I came home and now he p...

Just explain to him that his cologne triggers bad memories for you, and ask him to apply it once he is out the door. My first husband has been dead for 27 years, and on the anniversary of his death I smell cigarette smoke on everything (olfactory hallucinations) but I don't know what to do about that.
I used to wear the same cologne as one of the secretaries where I worked. She quit smoking and told me, gently, that she could no longer stand the smell. And this was Coco Chanel, the expensive stuff. So I only wore it on weekends.

 

[Cathy O.]

My husband is triggered by just about any smell from Mideastern countries. Spices, perfumes, cologne, sweat, tobacco, strong coffee, ... going anywhere is like a crap shoot of normal or panic attack. War is a horrible thing to ask of a person.

 

[holdenmonty]

@Cathy O. You brought up something very interesting I never thought about before. I remember growing up I thought the smell of body odor was gross but now I'm repulsed by it because the Afghani people either didn't know what deodorant was/isn't important to them/they couldn't afford it or whatever the case my be when I was deployed it was during the summer time and boy the smell coming off some of those people almost turned your stomach and now on the rare occasion where I have smelled body order I have been repulsed by it because it brings back the memories of so many dirty Afghani's.

 

[shatter eyes]

I am going through same... doctors tell me time will heal.

Honestly not acceptable because when i am triggered i can be really extreme in trying to stop the sounds or smells. Each day i feel more guilty having to tell others they are loud and smelly. I am glad the hospital is scent free and mostly quiet.

I have been called back a few times. Its not in our heads. We are ultra sensitive because we want to survive.
I guess we are ULTRA Humans!

Even lavendar triggers me.
I found smelling fresh fruit to help also.

 

[Llith]

Certain deodorant triggers me. Instantly, not cool, thankfully not that many people wear it so it's rarely happens. Strangely enough there are not that many smells I associate with bad things, or I haven't noticed anything besides that deodorant.
Odd xD

 

[Llith]

Sorry to post again so soon but I posted that and then realised it wasn't true. The smell of vomit triggers me (bulimia smells very specific) as well as the smell of stale smoke. I am sure there I more now I am thinking about it.

 

[Bloomy]

@shatter eyes its true that time will heal. Little by little. Like before these smell triggers would have send me straight into the black whole and for the most I wouldnt even be able to figure out what just happend.
Now I can tolerate the smell of spring - the snow that melts and the dirt gets muddy. Im able to tell my zself that this too will pass and that there is no immediate danger to what I smell. The same with perfume all though it brings up much more painful memories.
Guess I this case I would just like to avoid such triggers in my own house that I need to be a safe place.

@Llith Im very much aware that I can not stand to many perfumes cause people that abused me used these perfumes. To smell such things brings up bodily memories I think since I just want to shrink and hide. Guess that the more I came out of ptds darkness the more it made me aware of this as trigger de lux. Before I would just dissociate from it not knowig that I did.