Smelling smells that don't exist?

Hi everyone,

I bought a new A\C and from the start I smelled a bad smell of chemicals coming out of it.
I asked 2 of my neighbors to come in and see if they can smell anything and they said the smell is fine and they don't smell anything unusual.

About 2 years ago I had the same thing at a different house and a different A\C - I smelled a bad smell coming out of it and others told me they can't smell anything too special.

Can it be my mind is making up smells that don't even exist?

Thanks!

 

Hi Loui,

As a highly-sensitive smeller and taster myself, I think that the smells probably do exist, but that they are too faint for most people. The real issue is that you have to decide what to do about it. Fret and worry? Get rid of the offending item? Or live with it? Unfortunately, that's a very personal decision. Personally, I believe that there's going to be out-gassing or burn-off from a lot of new items, and for the most part I live with it and wait for it to go away. If a smell that I think is safe really bothers me, I'll use some Metholatum or a scented candle or whatever to distract myself.

If the AC has a filter, you can certainly wash it, which might help.

~Jan

 

So recognizable

I often smell things that other people don't smell. It is partly related to bouts of hypervigilance, a mental state that makes you hypersensitive to any input signal (touch, smell, sound, vision, taste). And of course certain people have a more sensitive "smelling device" than others.

 

Gigalos, my friend - long time no "see"! And yes, you're absolutely right - I do believe that my sensitivity is part of the hypervigilance that often goes hand-in-hand with anxiety, in particular, which of course I believe is just another TMS symtpom.

 

It's the chemicals they put inside to stop the build up of bacteria . As OLD !! air conditioning units can contain Legionnaire's !! DONT be scared of that tho as you say you have bought a brand new one. It will go after it's been ran a while. Read the manual it might say in there about how to keep them clean etc. But I'm saying it's not TMS it's like anything brand new electrical or a plastic toy. It loses its smell over time .

 

This reminds me of my friend who had a new kitchen fitted in her house; immediately afterwards she could smell what she thought was a gas leak. Her family said that they couldn't smell anything and dismissed what she was saying, telling her that she must be imagining it. Two weeks later they had to call in the kitchen fitter/supplier to sort out the new integrally fitted fridge freezer which had stopped working properly and the fitter immediately said, 'can you smell you've got a small gas leak?' There was a leak coming from one of the burners on the gas hob....Some people are indeed highly-sensitive smellers and tasters.

 

I want to add my experience of getting hints of a smell hours or even days later after the initial source has subsided, as if a couple of the molecules are still stuck inside your smelling apparatus and have not yet been dissipated.

 

Oh yeah, I definitely experience this. A Neti pot rinse helps (although FYI, I read recently that Neti use should be occasional only).

 

I will add to this as it's recent and I noticed it. Sense of smell is how i figured out my problem was limbic in nature. In fact I went through a year long class to train away my symptoms based on smell. There are many programs for that - but TMS is the root of it, having TMS etc. makes you sensitive to smells - you can pick stuff up that nobody else in the world seems to smell. Same can happen with hearing, wifi signals etc. It is good to be very aware of these things because you can use them to train with - for example lowering your heart rate when you are in their presence etc.