Smell Cravings?

[Eli's_mommy]

I have a question...

I have been experiencing what I can't call anything except "smell cravings" for months now! I searched the net far and wide and have only found a few other women experiencing this. I thought maybe it was related to pica, but I don't have the urge to eat these things. I absolutely CRAVE to smell gasoline, canvas shoes, tire rubber, my yummy lemon dishwasher soap, and Home Depot. I thought it was wood at first, but I bought some to carry around and realized it's not the wood, it's the smell in the wood department at Home Depot. The feeling I get from this is practically orgasmic to say the least. I try desperately to not smell harmful things, like the gasoline mentioned above, but if I get a whiff of it, my mouth literally waters! I have had people ask me if I am anemic, and I've had recent blood tests say I'm not. Am I just strange, or does anyone else experience this???

[mystic2mom]

You are not alone. I love to smell gas to the point that mu dh won't let me near a gas station. I also have mouth watering reactions to paint fumes in my fil home and matches. I am slightly anemic tho. My doctor said as long as I don't want to eat them its ok.

Dawn

[nighten]

Not me. And I've been horribly anemic. I have had severe smell aversions though, so I suppose it makes sense that if you have food aversions and scent aversions during pregnancy you could also have food cravings and scent cravings...though this is the first I've heard of it.

Glad you're not wanting to eat/drink any of that stuff though.

And not to sound preachy but I really hope you're not smelling the stuff on purpose -- gas and paint fumes are pretty toxic and not healthy for you or baby....

[Eli's_mommy]

The only thing I've let myself smell on purpose is my lemon scented dishwasher soap and Home Depot ! I looked at all of the ingredients and there appears to be nothing toxic. Says not to ingest, but it doesn't say anything about the fumes. I am assuming it's not harmful to smell soap....hopefully someone will tell me if I'm wrong.

[nighten]

My SIL used to carry lemon oil in her purse during pg because the scent helped get rid of her morning sickness.

Didn't work for me though -- there for a while I couldn't abide lemony scented things (lemons were okay but lemon-scented things were not).

But coconut scents were nice, as I recall. And pepperminty things. (I still chew peppermint gum when feeling nauseated.)

Now I'm okay with most smells now -- it was mainly first trimester when I had the uber smell issues. But no cravings, per se. Very interesting. Glad you're not huffing gas...hope Dawn's not.

[aweynsayl]

Someone posted about this a few months ago!

I totally have smell aversions--- and I respond to smells, so I can kind of relate. I've been so congested this whole pregnancy, though, that I cant say I've craved smells much.

[lara1828]

I totally craved the smell of gasoline during the last month of my first pregnancy. I was chewing a lot of ice at the time, so I may have had a little pica going on too (I definitely wasn't anemic).

What a weird thing!

[Enudely]

I wouldn't be so sure that it's safe to inhale the fumes from that soap.... just being cautious. That stuff is full of chemicals...

[KerriAZ]

I have smell aversions AND cravings! I CANNOT abide by beef cooking (ESPECIALLY the ground variety! LOL) and I CANNOT handle eggs of any type! My poor DH... I cannot handle the smell of his deodorant! Makes me wanna run everytime!

And HOLY COW! I hear ya on the gas! If I have to pump it, I hurry and put the nozzle in and RUN myself to get into my car so that I don't stand there inhaling, even though I want to SO badly!!!!!! It is SO odd! I thought I was alone! LOL Another smell (that I normally love but this goes in excess) that I cannot get enough of is the smell of freshly cut grass! OH MY GOSH! If I could find that smell in a bottle somewhere, the person bottling it would make a FORTUNE off of me right now! And cherry stuff - the "fake" cherry! You know what I mean? Like the kind of cherry topping they put on the top of cheesecake? I don't want to eat it - too sweet... But to SMELL it???? LOL

Kerri

[mystic2mom]

No I'm not huffing it... But I sometimes want to... how odd. I stay away from it all now. I can't abide the smell of beef cooking either! Its so gross. I can't stand DH's cologne,ewww.

[Eli's_mommy]

Update! I had more blood tests done. Turns out I am what they call "dangerously anemic"! Funny, I had blood tests not long ago that said I wasn't at all. Must've happened recently. I am still not convinced this is the only reason for the cravings, because I had them prior to them telling me this information. I JUST started taking a ridiculous amount of iron pills, and I'll let you guys know if the cravings go away. It seems kind of backwards to me... I am a vegetarian, and you'd think that if I were that horribly anemic I would crave beef- not dish soap! I guess it turns out meat is just that repulsive to me...