Can A Person Be Triggered By A Smell?

[Uvubo]

We had a conflict and I am trying to find out what it was all about.

 

[Isi]

Anything that causes a remembrance or flashback can be a trigger. A sound, a smell, a place that is touched. Sometimes the smell is ok, sometimes it causes a small reaction, sometimes a nuclear reaction.

 

[Uvubo]

Which smells would be common triggers for combat PTSD?

 

[Mofuzo]

My vet has a hard time with diesel fuel, certain things burning, and corn chip/corn nuts smell.

 

[Uge]

Olfactory memories are some of the most powerful out there. Even for non-PTSD people. There have even been some very cool studies showing a strong correlation between smell & love (make sure you have a lifetime supply of the perfume you wore when you fell in love!)

 

[Hotal]

Which smells would be common triggers for combat PTSD?

Depends on where they served, when, in what capacity, and with which country. Also whether they associate the smell with good memories or bad.

 

[Gerada]

Absolutely. Smells, sounds and sights are all triggers for me.

 

[Ibiz]

Which smells would be common triggers for combat PTSD?

It all really depends on their deployment and what they were exposed to. Where I was at we had what we called the poo pond where it was a sewage lake that was meant for like 50,000 people but was being used for 150,000 people... and it was an awful smell and changed just about every day. There have been times that my son has had a poopy diaper and the oder reminded me of the poo pond and brought back all kinds of memories of rocket attacks happening when I was near the area of the poo pond. But diesel fuel is a trigger for a lot of combat ptsd sufferers. For me the smell of dirt/dust can trigger me because whenever a rocket attack happened we had to hit the dirt. I found a blanket that I bought while I was over there and I got the smell of it and it brought me back to my deployment.

 

[Acapu]

That's interesting @Ibiz because my sufferer has a strong reaction to dirt and dirty or sweaty smell but it is not the smell I thought of when I started this thread. I don't want to mention what this is because it is just so unusual and my friends know of our conflict and I just want them to know I write here.

This smell has not been mentioned here so far.

 

[Karaz]

Here's a very short list of some of mine

Coffee + SimpleGreen (a common household cleaner)
Certain kinds of industrial carpet
Wet concrete
Sludgy engines (mud + mold + god knows what + motor oil + hot metal)
Cordite
JP5
Old death
New death
Water death
Dog death (death smells different depending on who's wearing it)
Shit & blood & vomit
Copper & iron & brass
Speed stick deodorant + BO (fresh will do it, but layers on top of layers always does it)
Yeast infections
Baby wipes
Morning breath & mud
Ice cubes
Cold wet metal, oil, & grit

Really... The list just goes on and on and on. There are 10,000 things which can spark a memory, or hit hard. Lit a cigarette with a zippo inside my shirt in a windstorm, like I have a 1000 times, and that day it just happened to smell/ feel/ taste like it did on the flight deck... And I misplaced a few hours. Pitching and yawing, trying to get the bird up, just gone.

 

[Ovo]

Cheap hand sanitizer

 

[Idi]

Beer and cigs, wrigleys spearmint gum, wet dog, vinyl, and the list goes on... It can be anything that takes someone back to that time.