Do pheromones affect someone who has "no sense of smell"?

[lyrical.poetess]

Do pheromones affect someone who says they have no sense of smell? Can a person subconsciously smell the pheros even if their sense of smell is not very good?

 

lyrical.poetess

[MissHazel]

I knew someone with anosmia (I think that's what it's called.) She could taste some scents on the air but mostly was bereft of smell.

 

She was also a huge horndog, so I'm not sure but my guess based on thinking pheromones help with attraction (and goodness knows I've picked some bad choices immediately because of how good they smelled to me) is that somehow their brain can still process them from the nose or mouth.

 

I could be wrong but that's my guess. No doubt someone will know better here.

[luna65]

My ex-husband is anosmic but I know he is affected by pheromone use, so I would say yes, it's not just about sensing the odor, but that the odor affects testosterone activity, for example. Even people who are hyposmic (like my man) do respond under the right conditions.

[VexedGlory]

I could be way off on this, but while smell is such a trigger for things, if we stop and think of stuff molecularly - all it comes down to is certain molecules attach and set off certain receptors, which then create this sense of fragrance and smell. So while someone may be anosmic, perhaps the molecules that are within pheromones are still setting off those receptors, but just not going that one step further in creating a concept of scent, or being interpreted as something in particular.

 

I think it would also depend on what's missing that causes the anosmia in any individual. Let's say someone is lacking in that last step, then yes, theoretically, the pheromones would still have an effect. But say someone's been in an accident or never developed the receptors or whathaveyou, then the presence of the molecules would have no effect because the machinery was "damaged" or "missing" so to speak, so nothing would happen.

[luna65]

That's a good point, thanks for clarifying that.

 

lp - if you're asking from a perspective of merely guessing someone is anosmic but doesn't respond to your pheromone use, it could just be the person is a non-responder, it's something which does occur with some people.

[Eggers]

One of BF's best friends, Nick, is anosmic, and he responds to my pheros regularly and quite well. When I first started using pheros, I'd often wondered the same thing, until I realized Nick can't smell a damned thing, and he's very much affected by the things I wear around him. (Incidentally, he's also a fine chef! LOL!).

I was also fairly concerned about stuffy noses affecting my BF's response to my pheros, because he has severe allergies that flare up during different times of the year. At first I didn't think he was affected by them when he was all stuffed up, but after almost 2 years of phero use I can say that while the effect isn't as obvious or as consistent, my pheros still work on him, even when he's all stobbed ub.

[luna65]

(Incidentally, he's also a fine chef! LOL!).

Now that is amazing; a friend of mine up in SF was told during culinary school that his palate - and by extension his skills and instincts - would suffer as a result of being anosmic. He's still carrying on his studies, but he says there are a few areas in which he's not as strong as he'd like to be, he has to have other people help him with determining freshness of ingredients, for example.

[Eggers]

Now that is amazing; a friend of mine up in SF was told during culinary school that his palate - and by extension his skills and instincts - would suffer as a result of being anosmic. He's still carrying on his studies, but he says there are a few areas in which he's not as strong as he'd like to be, he has to have other people help him with determining freshness of ingredients, for example.

I think it's pretty amazing too. He's trained under some pretty awesome chefs, so maybe he's just learned by wrote, what works and what doesn't? I don't really know how he manages. Though it's funny you mention the food-freshness thing - Nick also needs help in this area, with meats in particular. He's made himself sick several times. Having worked with him for a long, long time, (though not anymore), and eaten tons of his food, I have to say that the guy's pretty much a miracle. I knew him when he was a "lowly" dish-pig, and would never have dreamed I'd see him become a successful chef. At the moment he's working at some fancy-pants place in Toronto. He's the Sous, (I can't remember where), and quite happy.

 

ETA: What's really fun about him being anosmic is that we can make him eat pretty much anything. I, for example, have a bizarre penchant for peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches, the very concept of which is enough to make just about anyone else ralph. Not Nick.

Edited October 13, 2013 by Eggers

[lyrical.poetess]

Thanks for all the replies. They've been very interesting to read. I think the guy I've been referring to does respond to the pheros I've been using. He says he can only smell bad smells like gas, so I guess his sense of smell isn't completely nonexistent.

[luna65]

My ex is the same, but he's been officially classified as anosmic anyway because even with bad smells he can barely sense them.

[quietguy]

 

I think it would also depend on what's missing that causes the anosmia in any individual. Let's say someone is lacking in that last step, then yes, theoretically, the pheromones would still have an effect. But say someone's been in an accident or never developed the receptors or whathaveyou, then the presence of the molecules would have no effect because the machinery was "damaged" or "missing" so to speak, so nothing would happen.

 

Exactly - given the "latest" I have read (even without the VNO discussion) the two pathways are slightly different so unless all the nerves from the nose are cut, once the "signals" get to a certain point, the pheromones should register even if a sense of smell does not.

[StacyK]

 

Exactly - given the "latest" I have read (even without the VNO discussion) the two pathways are slightly different so unless all the nerves from the nose are cut, once the "signals" get to a certain point, the pheromones should register even if a sense of smell does not.

Yes, this would make the most sense and on a bio chem level in this case, the pheros should still be effective. Though it might be Intresting to study if the effect in those individuals is lessened.

 

ETA I'd hypothesize that cops might not be effective as the basis for that response is scent association in the brain, though it is on a subconscious level.

[Honeycake]

This is an interesting question with even more interesting answers.