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Do older people have a different smell?

nytimes.com

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Re: Do older people have a different smell?

#61

Post by yesenadam »

dredmorbius wrote: post #47
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Another aspect of older people (and again: Parkinsons and Alzheimers in particular) is a loss of the sense of smell. Which may mean that odors otherwise noticeable and addressed aren't. I highly suspect you hit the nail on the head here from personal experience: My grandma no longer has any sense of smell (or taste, actually) at all. I recall at one point discovering a particularly pungent smell was caused actually…

I've directly encountered the gas-hob-on-but-unlit scenario myself with someone whose sense of smell is virtually completely gone, and it terrifies me. (How far gone? They are unable to distinguish, or detect, the sents of various Dr. Bronners soaps, directly before them.) And mercaptan[1] (the oderising component in municipal natural gas) is among the most detectable scents in existence. The reasons why it was intro…

It seems methanethiol is not the odorising component in natural gas. Methanethiol, CH_4S, is a putrid gas found in smelly cheese, poo, bad breath etc. "Most gas odorants utilized currently contain mixtures of mercaptans and sulfides, with t-butyl mercaptan as the main odor constituent in natural gas"[0]

T-butyl mercaptan (tert-butylthiol) is (CH_3)_3CSH.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tert-Butylthiol

Re: Do older people have a different smell?

#62

Post by nemosaltat »

akeck wrote: post #37
bradly wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Backpacking can cause an ammonia type smell from burning fat and muscle breakdown. It's a smell similar to the smell from homeless people that I always just assumed was because both backpackers and homeless bathe less often than others, but that is just a coincidence of both group's bodies breaking down muscle from not enough of protein/carbs/nutrients.

The author of "Where's the Next Shelter?" (Appalachian Trail through-hike memoir) talks about this condition. He had to get protein into his supplies ASAP to prevent further muscle loss.

Great book, and he narrates the audio version himself which made it really feel like he was sharing his story with me personally. He’s a Marine Corps vet and software engineer. I’d love to buy him a beer some day.

Re: Do older people have a different smell?

#63

Post by bradknowles »

One thing I remember very distinctly from when I was much, much younger is how my grandfather smelled. A very distinct smell that I always attributed to his heavy tobacco smoking and sweaty manual labor as a master cabinet maker. He died when he was in his sixties, from a heart attack. I was in sixth or seventh grade.

A few years ago, I was astonished when I realized that I could smell that exact same smell again. Only this time, to my horror, I discovered that I was now the source of that exact same precise smell. Only I don’t smoke, and my labor is mostly mental.

It’s not a knock-you-over-with-body-odor smell. You can cover it with deodorant or other perfumery type of application. But it is the baseline smell, minus all additional covering odors.

I finally decided that it must be a combination of genes and aging, since I am now close to the age when I recall that my grandfather smelled like this.

Re: Do older people have a different smell?

#64

Post by dredmorbius »

yesenadam wrote: post #61
dredmorbius wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've directly encountered the gas-hob-on-but-unlit scenario myself with someone whose sense of smell is virtually completely gone, and it terrifies me. (How far gone? They are unable to distinguish, or detect, the sents of various Dr. Bronners soaps, directly before them.) And mercaptan[1] (the oderising component in municipal natural gas) is among the most detectable scents in existence. The reasons why it was intro…

It seems methanethiol is not the odorising component in natural gas. Methanethiol, CH_4S, is a putrid gas found in smelly cheese, poo, bad breath etc. "Most gas odorants utilized currently contain mixtures of mercaptans and sulfides, with t-butyl mercaptan as the main odor constituent in natural gas"[0] T-butyl mercaptan (tert-butylthiol) is (CH_3)_3CSH. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tert-Butylthiol

I was indicating mercaptan, specifically. I thought the Methanethiol page was the relevant one at Wikipeida for it, though "mercaptan" itself redirects to "Thiol" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiol).

I'm a shitty chemist.

The broader point was about smells, sensitivity, oderising alarms, and a bit of safety history.

Re: Do older people have a different smell?

#65

Post by yakubin »

patrioticaction wrote: post #24
yakubin wrote: post #5

Well, they certainly smell awful to me. Especially old women. That's a very distinctive smell. I could recognize an old woman without the use of any of my other senses.

Sucks to be you

TBH it does. It seems like I generally have a more sensitive sense of smell than most people. It's annoying, because the result is: a lot more things have a bad smell for me.

Re: Do older people have a different smell?

#66

Post by rebuilder »

jraph wrote: post #56
rebuilder wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife has fairly classic synesthesia, with letters and numbers having colours and "character" etc. I don't have that, but I do have exactly what you described with numbers, months of the year, and years having an unchanging position in a mental 3-d model. The model for each of these is a bit different, but each could be described as a kind of winding road. So I wouldn't say I'm synesthetic, but at the same time I c…

I also have some representation for numbers and for the days of the week, but it would not be 3D, more like 2D, and kind of dynamic, too: the view is relative to the “focused” number / day. Same thing as you, the representations are different for numbers, days of the week and months. The days are horizontal, and months too. Numbers, not so much. Kind of horizontal up to ten, and then vertical up to twenty, and then I…

Calendar synesthesia sounds like a good match with mine, although for me it's very much a "mind's eye" thing, not like an image projected into my visual field. In article 2, the researchers are said to have asked their subject to recite every third month going backwards, apparently to test that it's not just a mind's eye visualization. I get similar speeds as their test subject, and do go through the months in my mental image to help with the task. However, since for me it is a mind's eye visualization, I'm not sure the test as described is very useful.

The Wikipedia article points out that in theory, all logical synesthetic combinations are possible. I suspect that if you tested broadly for any kind of synesthetic experiences, you'd find a significant portion of the population had them, maybe even the majority.

Re: Do older people have a different smell?

#67

Post by jraph »

rebuilder wrote: post #66
jraph wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also have some representation for numbers and for the days of the week, but it would not be 3D, more like 2D, and kind of dynamic, too: the view is relative to the “focused” number / day. Same thing as you, the representations are different for numbers, days of the week and months. The days are horizontal, and months too. Numbers, not so much. Kind of horizontal up to ten, and then vertical up to twenty, and then I…

Calendar synesthesia sounds like a good match with mine, although for me it's very much a "mind's eye" thing, not like an image projected into my visual field. In article 2, the researchers are said to have asked their subject to recite every third month going backwards, apparently to test that it's not just a mind's eye visualization. I get similar speeds as their test subject, and do go through the months in my men…

> for me it's very much a "mind's eye" thing, not like an image projected into my visual field

Same for me.

> In article 2, the researchers are said to have asked their subject to recite every third month going backwards, apparently to test that it's not just a mind's eye visualization

I would be terrible at this task. I don't see the whole year (week) at once. This representation would not be of any help for that. It's here when I am scheduling / planning, or when someone is saying / I'm reading a date.

Re: Do older people have a different smell?

#68

Post by resters »

dredmorbius wrote: post #60
Kamic wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have diabetes, what do I smell like?

Roughly: rotten apples. (Not sure if you spoil the barrel or not though.)

It’s a bit harsh to say rotten apples. In my view the smell is subtly saccharine and reminiscent of fermentation,... with maybe a hint of applesauce.

Re: Do older people have a different smell?

#69

Post by akeck »

nemosaltat wrote: post #62
akeck wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author of "Where's the Next Shelter?" (Appalachian Trail through-hike memoir) talks about this condition. He had to get protein into his supplies ASAP to prevent further muscle loss.

Great book, and he narrates the audio version himself which made it really feel like he was sharing his story with me personally. He’s a Marine Corps vet and software engineer. I’d love to buy him a beer some day.

Same here. He made my commutes awesome for a few weeks.

Re: Do older people have a different smell?

#70

Post by tazard »

dredmorbius wrote: post #51
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know how horrible 2-part epoxy smells? She can't smell it an inch from her nose. I mean zero sense of smell.

I can relate. And yes, it's terrifying. The more so because the condition is quite often coincident with a tremendous state of denial. Anosognosia: https://en,wikipedia.org/wiki/Anosognosia https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/the-anosogn... (part 1 of a 5-part series)

You seem to have a comma in your link. Fixed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anosognosia
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