I can smell cancer

OK ! I know this is going to sound crazy but please hear me out. I know that there is evidence to suggest that animals can smell cancer. The thing is I can too. I am not claiming to have some kind of super human sense of smell, just an awareness of a certain smell being linked to cancer.

During my teenage years my grandmother was suffering, and eventually died from, Bowel cancer. At the time nobody told me about it for fear of causing upset. I was aware however of a sort of sickly sweet smell that I began to associate with her.
Eventually I grew older and joined the navy, initially as a radar operater but changing trades to be a medic ten years later. It was during my medical training that I became aware of this sickly sweet smell again. Whilst working on the medical wards of a large hospital I noticed that the patients being treated for cancer all permeated this smell. At that time I thought it might be something to do with the treatment they were recieving. However as I moved onto the outpatients department and began meeting patients that were supposedly in remiision I noticed that the smell was still there.
Recently I met a woman that had returned to work after a long period of illness (What the illness was, was at that time never stated) She too permeated this sick sweet smell. Today she anounced that she had been treated for cancer and that it was thought that it had been succesfully treated. However she has now unfortunately been told that the cancer has returned. I guess that this is what I was smelling.

Am I going mad, or is it really possible to be aware of this smell ? I can't be the only person that can smell it surely ?

I wouldnt rule it out. That is something that you should harness and use to your ability. I believe it to be possible! If people can see music or taste it, whose to say that you dont have the ability to smell cancer?

I think if true its quite amazing.

Wow! That is amazing that you can do that avriel. I believe that individuals who have Cancer have a lot of toxins in their body. Could that be what you are smelling? The toxins emitting out of their skin? If you truly have this gift, you need to use this to help others. An early warning system for those that don't know they have it.

At the risk of answering my own question, it seems that I am not alone. Take a look at the discussion in this link

Smelling cancer

the article is about dogs smelling cancer but the discussion turns towards humans that can smell the disease.

reply to post by avriel

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No, you are not crazy. I know the smell you are making reference to. Both my grandmother as well as my father had cancer and I encountered that smell, although, I associated it to death, because that is when it was the strongest, right before each passed away.

I also know the exact smell you are talking about. I wondered if it was an "eminent death" odor, but I think you've got something there with the Cancer, as I smell it around people that I have been diagnosed as well.

I think you do have something there.

A_L

You aren't going mad. Yes, I believe you when you say that you can smell cancer. I have (had?) something similar in the past. When my wife was alive, I could smell her and know several days before she started her period.

So, yes it is possible for someone to do that. As an aside, certain "chemical" smells are unusually strong for me. I'm not allergic to those chemicals or anything, but I can smell them in very, very small traces. For example, hair spray in a woman's hair almost gags me if I get close.

That is very very intruiging...What is the smell like specifically if you have details or can tell me what the smell is related to? Now I smell something strong from my boyfriends breath(not sure if it is just hallitosis or not ) but its kind of like a heavy smell like the ocean???? Weird...but just curious about this?? Thanks!

I think it's definitely possible for what you're saying to occur.

My sense of smell is generally horrible due (mostly) to my deviated septum. My allergies and sinus issues are more pronounced due to the deviation, and I can hardly ever smell anything. I can smell some things, though, that it seems not many others can.

The slightest scent of blood turns my stomach. My husband was cooking ribs once, and still had the plastic wrap that was around the meat sitting in the sink. I could smell the blood on it, and couldn't even stand to be in the kitchen. Nobody else smelled it, except my mom, and then only when she got really close to it. I also can usually tell when other women have their period (which is really freaking gross) because I can smell it faintly. Not on everyone, though. And it's not just with people that might have poor hygiene, because I have later asked others if they could smell it, and they could not.

Similarly, I cannot stand to go near the casket at a funeral. I can smell the embalming fluids, even though others say that they do not notice any smell. I've thought I was just crazy for smelling this, but then once or twice I have other people comment that they have experienced the same thing at different funerals.

I think that everybody is different. Just like how some people can hear tones that others can't, or how some people are colorblind, or how people have different allergies. I think it's kind of the same thing.

Definitely possible. Glad I can't smell what you're talking about.

reply to post by avriel

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According to one site I had read that certain bacteria are typically associated with cancer and most likely dying also.

Supposedly peoples PH has something else to do with it and that acidity plays a major role with tumors. So people with cancer supposedly need to adjust their PH, probably through diet etc. to change the cancers growth rate and even reverse it.

I have heard of using dogs this way and that they have supposedly also invented a computer diagnositc system that can smell also.

Its a kind of sickly sweet smell, hard to explain but its not really strong just a faint undertone. Thinking of a way to describe it I would say a warm sweet smell. The reason I say warm is that, that is the impression it gives (I know that sounds strange) . It's not an offensive smell but it definately isnt a nice one either.

It's interesting that you mention a computer system that can "sniff out" this smell aleon1018. I was thinking that if enough people could smell it then would it be possible to find what exactly it is that we are smelling (the exact substance) and build a machine to detect it. I suppose that this would work in the same way as the "sniffing" machines used in areas of high security where the machine detects explosives by their odour. Of course this wouldn't be of much benifit to those cancers that can be detected early by scans and the like. However for the types of cancer that only show on scanners in their later stages, this kind of machine could prove invaluable.

Yes, you have correctly described the smell. It is indeed a sweet smell which is not a pleasant smell. I know after my father passed away in his bedroom, the smell lingered for some time and even now, three months later, when I go in there I can still catch the scent by his bed.

My father-in-law died of colon cancer a couple ofyears ago. When I went to my in-laws home to visit him I noticed a sweet sickly smell (hard to describe) which permeated the house. No one else really noticed it but me. In fact the smell made me feel nauseous. He died @ home. 2 years have passed & I still get a very faint whiff of it which nobody else notices.
Can I be used as a cancer smelling dog? How much does it pay?

Maybe its not cancer you can smell.
Maybe its death you can smell.

I have caught scents like that before. Though I can generally feel and see illness better than I can smell it. There is a definite scent to a human body that is under attack from disease (and the cures for the disease).

it is a sickly sweet smell...very weird but not entirely without scientific validation

How to sniff out disease

The Science of Olafactory Diagnosis


rats and Olafactory science

The nose knows We can detect pheromones why not secretions on the skin or from breath that indicate illness?

Thankfully I haven't had any relatives or friends with cancer, so I don't know if I'd be able to smell it on humans, but when my dog got cancer, I could definitely tell. Within about a week he had lost his hearing and sight, and developed two tumors in his throat. Those were obvious clues, but the smell alone let me know that something was horribly wrong. I can't really describe what it smelled like, but it wasn't a faint scent as someone else here said. It was pungent.
Also, are there others here who can smell the residue of illness on pillows or blankets that someone used when they were ill? When my sister had the flu she spent most of the time sleeping on the couch. After she had gotten better, I noticed an odd smell on the pillow and blankets she had used. The smell went away after a while.

I can smell something too.........


a clue... it begins with B

Actually, I think it could be possible. Im not saying that I necasarily buy into this story or not. but it is possible. Scientists are using dogs to smell cancer.

news.nationalgeographic.com...

"Cancer cells emit different metabolic waste products than normal cells," Broffman said. "The differences between these metabolic products are so great that they can be detected by a dog's keen sense of smell, even in the early stages of disease."

The idea is not that far fetched.

I can tell you from personal experience that MRSA Sepsis puts out a specific smell on people who have it. My grandmother had it. It was horrible. The bacteria was eating her alive. Doctors had to doo several surgeries a day for about one month. She was in the hospital for aobut 6 months. They had to remove almost all muscle from from just below the rib cage all the way down to the top of the vulva, along with some bone.

Anyhow, She put of this smell. A nasty smell. one that you cant forget after three or four times smelling it.

well about a year after that ordeal, I smelled a similar smell on another person, lo and behold they had MRSA sepsis. in very advanced cases the smell is VERY strong.

So, I will not say it is BS at all. Infact it is very possible.

My grandma lived by the way, even though the morbidity rate ( percentage of people who live) is something like 2 %.I think that is the morbitity rate. Its a low number any way. She cant walk any more though, She is mostly paralyzed from the waist down. She does have a little movement in her feet.

[edit on 15-11-2008 by gimme_some_truth]

I too, know of the odor you are writing about. I can't explain it, just know it. I have often wondered why the some established cancer institute hasn't looked into this. There may be a simple medical reason that we are ignorant of, or it may be something to help diagnosis cancer.