People who suffer from something called "migraine with aura" often experience a perceptual disturbance and auditory and olfactory hallucinations among many other things just before the onset of a migraine.
I am one of those people.
The visual effects can sometimes be quite stunning, terrifying or crippling. I've experienced blurred, tunnel, peppered, kaleidoscope, double and monocular vision. Thankfully not all at once.
Most of the auditory hallucinations in my case just give me the sense that all background noise is equivalent to a roomful of hungry, tired and soggy diapered toddlers jacked up soda pop and candy or the sound of radio static blasting through a megaphone.
The olfactory hallucinations can be a lot more fun, although I'm sometimes sure I smell the hot, dry aluminum of a cafeteria steam table that has evaporated all of its water, I often smell vanilla pudding, brownies or jasmine.
Even when I'm not about to experience a migraine, I have a constantly hyper-alert olfactory sense, fantastic when I'm in the vicinity of a bakery and nau
seating when I'm near a urine soaked dumpster alley. Of course that would be gross for you, too, but it appears that my schnoz is even more sensitive to it than the average sniffer. I once cooked in a restaurant where I got to know the regulars by smell and from my perch in the kitchen I could start cooking their dinner even before the hostess had seated them.
seating when I'm near a urine soaked dumpster alley. Of course that would be gross for you, too, but it appears that my schnoz is even more sensitive to it than the average sniffer. I once cooked in a restaurant where I got to know the regulars by smell and from my perch in the kitchen I could start cooking their dinner even before the hostess had seated them. Much of the time throughout my days can be marked by smell as much as by activity. Daily arrival at work for me smells like this: hot dumpster, cigarette smoke, full grease trap, stale beer, mildewy mops, slimy grey disintegrating dish pit floor mat, old fish. That's before I even clock in.
So it's no surprise that much of my ADD is also triggered by smell. No doubt I'm still distracted by chipmunks, lizards and shiny objects, but I'll be going about my day when a smell like fake apricot or wet mittens will wriggle its way into my nostrils and suddenly I'm 6 years old and I can't remember for the life of me what table 8 just ordered.
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