Fragrant sensitivity

In recent years I have developed an acute intolerance to artificial scent. It first arose when I found that the cheaper essential oils that I used to burn in the evenings just outside the house started to make me feel a little tight on the jaws and forehead. A while later it developed into an ability to tell when my neighbour’s maid was washing the backyard whilst lying on my bed in the morning 2 floors above. The faint pungent smell would turn into a suffocating intolerance as I advanced downstairs. Sometimes when the smell became too intolerable I had to close the windows in the kitchen to shut out the odour. I wondered what heavy duty detergent they were using but my family members retorted that they didn’t smell a thing.

The intolerance became more intense gradually and rounded up “culprits” like the “cheap” hair cream in the club’s toilet which I accused my husband of using excessively after his swim and my daughter’s “anesthetic” whiff of perfume which almost knocked me out in the brief minutes that she dashed down to grab a coffee before going to office. I had also to bar her from using Body Shop’s body butter which had fruity flavours in my presence. The most torturous experience no doubt would be when I have to breathe through a tissue throughout a journey in a heavily scented taxi. What is worse you can't really tell people about your allergic reaction because they will find it offending and will be defensive about it. You can't for instance tell the taxi driver "Uncle what car freshener you use ah? I am getting a headache smelling it". Instead most time you have to cover your nose with a tissue discreetly as if you have a cold and do not wish to infect him.

I never cease to wonder why I suddenly develop this allergy out of nowhere when I never had such reactions when younger. It is probably due to my body over-reacting to allergens, ie. my body is mistakenly wary of its danger and there is no way for you to tell your body otherwise. One remark from a highly sensitive person however leaves an indelble impression on me "Now you know what it is like to be sensitive". Yes very often it is tough to understand or empathize when people relate their allergies and sensitivities. At most you hear them but can not feel the same, at worst you think "what weirdness" or "how strange". Only when the taxi driver uncle over reacted and reiterated umpty times that his car freshener was not the cheapskate type bought from CK store and was actually bought by his air stewardess daughter from Australia, you know you should have kept your sufferings to yourself and bear them quietly. For God's sake the whole world loves this beautiful fragrance and what kind of crazy sensitive nose you have- that's perhaps what a more restrained guy is thinking if he is not the typical loud and straight-from-the-mind taxi driver.

For me it is another lesson on empathy and when there is a lack of it; a good lessone for counselling.