Who Knows Noses?

I have a question: does a healing wound smell? And I don't mean an infected wound.

Okay, now I'll explain. See, it started a while ago: when I picked up a can of Coke Light to drink, for a split second, I would smell something bad. Like, just for a whiff, one of those whiffs that you can't seem to smell again afterwards, no matter how you try. And if I picked it up again immediately after to drink again, I would smell nothing. I thought for a while that maybe my breath was an issue, but it isn't.

So I tried experimenting and all this, and here's what I found: if I breathe with my nose, I smell nothing out of the ordinary. I can sniff little or sniff with big intakes -- nothing. But if I stretch my face downwards (kind of like before people rub their noses, how they make their faces long), I smell it.

And it's not pleasant.
It smells, ... well, it stinks.
It smells like poo.

And yet, if I just keep my face normally, I get only normal smells. Weird, huh?? Perhaps normally, the air doesn't really rush by that area in my nostril, and only does when I stretch my face down. Oh, also happens if I press the tip of my nose down, like flatten it down. Can you imagine that?

And the only thing I can think of is that I once had a gash in my right nostril, but that was years ago (and no, I don't know how it happened). Maybe that wound reopened (though it doesn't hurt) and I'm smelling the healing process ... which begs the question I had before, whether healing wounds smell funny.

But a later shocking discovery: the smell comes through my left nostril, but not the right! And it must be just in the front inch or so, because a change in my nose shape changes the symptoms, and that's all that I can imagine being affected by my facial expression.

So ... I'm kind of ... well, concerned.

I mean, nothing is bleeding and nothing is swelling up, and it doesn't seem to be a life-threatening situation. But it's annoying and concerning.

The only time I don't get it is immediately after a shower, and when I've just woken up in the morning. I wonder if it's some kind of combination of pollution outside or the hotter weather giving my nostril sweat?

Wait, do our nostrils even sweat?

Dammit, this is really perplexing! I might have to see the doctor about his. Help!

10 comments:

hougee said...

maybe you should try this to clean your sinus cavities

http://www.jalanetipot.com/

we saw it on the oprah show.. and got one of these pots cuz i have pretty bad allergies... seems to reduce allergy symptoms for me!

miscmusings said...

wow. I would never have even thought of trying to isolate the smell to my left nostril.

Ben said...

First of all, I isolated the left nostril only because I was trying to describe it to a friend better (in hopes of getting a diagnosis), and then I realized that if it was indeed the gash in my right nostril then I wouldn't be able to smell it through my left. Lo and behold, it was exactly the opposite!

And Hougee, you bought a gravy separator to clean our your sinuses?

I guess I'll go see a ear-nose-throat doctor next week. "Doctor, I smell poop all the time."

hougee said...

ahahha.. it does cleans out the gravy in my nose! ahhah

virg said...

Hey, my home in TO has one of those gravy separator. But we being chinese. We use it on soup. To separate the oil layer on top.

virg said...

on second thoughts, i hope my dad won't mistakenly use his neti pot for the soup or vice-versa.......

Ben said...

You guys are nasty.
And not solving my problem.
:-P

hougee said...

we're serious!! neti pot will probably disinfect and cleanse your nostril cavities and help your gash heal faster. :)

i wonder if your ENT doctor knows about neti-pot. the doctors here do.. (prob cuz of oprah).. but the TWnese one will prob freak out! ahahah

Unknown said...

hey Ben i have the same issue... same nostril and also am not sure what it is

Ben said...

Hey, THA. Yeah, I haven't seen the doctor about it yet, because I don't even know what he'll say or if he can even diagnose it from such a airy-fairy description of the symptoms. Let me know what happens with yours!