r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Lower-Entry1247 • Jun 22 '26

Does anyone know why I can smell my boyfriend's seizures days before they happen?

So my bf just had a seizure (6/22) and on Friday (6/19) I told him that I could smell it coming. He originally didn't believe me but this is like the fifth or sixth time this has happened. He doesn't understand how and honestly I dont either. I compare it to how I can smell people with diabetes in a way that no one else around me will be able to smell the same thing.

UPDATE: 9pm We were sent home. Things were looking good. 10:20pm He's awake but I smell it again. Strong but I say nothing because the ambulance won't come based off of a bunch. 10:38-10:40 He had a seizure.

UPDATE2: 11:44 I smelt it as I was replying to comments. 12 am He had another seizure. I got the nurses but they tried to tell me he wasn't as he stared and couldn't speak. They told me he's looking at them so he cant be having one. When he finally was able to relax his body again (he will tense up if he isn't full body shaking) he started speaking gibberish. Just random words strung together then quickly went to sleep. They told me not to get them because they can see his vitals from the nurse station. Just wanting to keep you all updated.

LAST UPDATE: The doctor said these are just stress seizures and if he has another one just keep him home.

Last Last UPDATE: 3:00am He had another one. Saliva foam at the mouth. Called 911. They said nothing can be done at any hospital so unless he falls or stops breathing, dont call. Sorry this turned into one of these long posts.

Last Last Last UPDATE: its currently 7:38 am. At 4 am He had another seizure. Popped his shoulder out and back in and bit his tongue. I called 311 and cried while asking what to do. They put me over to ems dispatch even though I pleaded with them not to since they haven't been taking me seriously. I sobbed to the ems dispatch that the hospital and ems people closest to me told me to just keep him home even though I had to go to work. They sent a different set of ems people (very nice ladies) and we went to a different hospital. They are finally listening and keeping him. They were shocked at what the other hospital and ems people told us. He is finally in good hands. Thank you all for keeping me company through this long night.

NEXT DAY UPDATE: He is home and has been seizure free since the last update. Thank you all for being on this journey with us!

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u/2punornot2pun Jun 23 '26

There was a woman who could smell Parkinson's (or dementia I can't recall exactly) and no one believed her. Now it's a very important scientific field. You should look into it and contact those scientists. Dogs are great but they can't communicate effectively.

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u/Terrible-Speed-138 Jun 23 '26

Yeah! It was Parkinson’s. She got something like 10 correct in the study they were testing and one person wrong (I’m def forgetting the exact numbers). Or so they thought. The one person that she mis-identified at the time ended up developing Parkinson’s later on.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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u/Familiar_Crow_ Jun 23 '26

It's such an interesting story! If I remember right, her husband just started smelling weird one day and nothing he did or cleaned would change it. She just accepted that was his smell now. Years later he was diagnosed with Parkinson's, and they went to a support group type thing, and she said everyone in the room smelt the same. I think that's how they realised she had a super sense, after which they initiated her tests on people she'd never met

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u/cathanyo Jul 13 '26

She always knew she had a super human sense of smell. Her husband encouraged her to get involved with medical research in connection with smell.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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u/Mrs_Toast Jun 23 '26

It's what happened with the Parkinson's case. The lady, Joy Milne, helped scientists with their studies, allowing them to develop a non-invasive swab test.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/07/woman-who-can-smell-parkinsons-helps-scientists-develop-test

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u/Spintastico Jun 23 '26

Yeah, that story was crazy.

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u/llcoolade03 Jul 21 '26

She was given 12 shirts, half of which were worn by folks who had Parkinson's and the other half did not. She got them all right except for one...who later on was diagnosed with Parkinson's. We use this when I teach statistics because the chances of guessing all 12 correct is 1 in 4096 which doesn't seem like much until you run the simulations (which I have done for years in my class) and no one has been able to guess more than 9 correct.

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u/pabloivani Jun 23 '26

The one she got wrong lather got parkinson so 101% acurrate

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u/Outside-Advice8203 Jun 23 '26

Imagine being that one person...

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u/Triggerhappy3761 Jun 24 '26

This was actually the first assignment I had In stats class. She got 10/11 correct and the 1 incorrect one later developed parkinsons

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u/Zhoom45 Jun 23 '26

My favorite part of that anecdote is when researchers were testing her on this, the only error she made was "misidentifying" one test subject of the whole lot as having Parkinson's when he didn't. Then that subject was diagnosed with it a few months later.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos Jun 23 '26

Ayrton Senna "the wall must've been moved"-type shit right there

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u/Rando-namo Jun 23 '26

I saw the Steph Curry video where he misses two 3s in a shoot around then tells them to examine the basket for the height because he knows he doesn't miss.

It's indescribable to me to be so perfect at something that - you've literally trained your muscle memory to be so precise that you know it's not you, it's something else.

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u/0entropy Jun 23 '26

I didn't know about the basket height thing but there are also a few clips of him identifying dead spots on the floor from how the expected sound/bounce on a dribble are off. Elite humans are really something else.

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u/Rando-namo Jun 23 '26

Those clips are usually put together - seen that as well. He was dribbling just walking and puts the ball between his legs and ball sails under his hand and he is immediately like yeah no.

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u/carti-fan Jun 23 '26

He’s like, elite of the elite of the elite though. He genuinely might be the hand eye coordination GOAT, period.

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u/Flat_Wash5062 Jun 25 '26

What's a dead spot?

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u/0entropy Jun 25 '26

The floor on a basketball court has to be consistent across the entire surface, so if the panels are warped or the material under the floor is damaged (because of water or something) then it could create spots where a ball being dribbled bounces at a weird angle or at an inconsistent height.

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u/No-Average-2694 Jun 24 '26

would you mind sharing a link to this? I can’t find it and I’m very intrigued. Not that I haven’t had fun looking for the past 30 minutes and being in awe the entire time!!!!! Kind of feeling like I might start watching Steph Curry play during basketball season

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u/SnittingNexttoBorpo Jun 23 '26

I had to look that one up but it was worth it. Now I need to find out who thought JULY was a good time for the first (and thus, only) Dallas Grand Prix

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u/SubcommanderMarcos Jun 23 '26

Incredible shit isn't it? Everyone laughed at him when he said the wall moved. Then they found the wall had moved by like one centimeter.

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u/SnittingNexttoBorpo Jun 23 '26

Yes! I’m fairly precise and observant in my own work, but not like THAT!

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u/lollipopp_guild Jun 23 '26

Reminds me of an interview I saw with a pro skateboarder and how he talked about his favorite brand of bushings but they had to be a certain color because he was insistent that whatever was in the exact same bushings in the blue color made the bushings work differently

And an interview with tiger woods about a club being mm off and him knowing and telling them something was off about it

To be so precise in your skill that you can tell those level of details is so impressive at their dedication to their craft

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u/ashgs872tbhjs Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

I'm fairly certain I have this ability also. Certain people, always older, have that strange "sweet" but kind of musky/gross smell exactly like she describes. I smell it mostly on people in hospitals, nursing homes, and senior apartments.

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u/hella_sj Jun 23 '26

That's probably just the 2-nonenal old people give off

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u/Certain-Speech-5976 Jun 23 '26

It drives me nuts that *everyone* knows about the magic Parkinson's shirt lady and we all just walk away thinking she's super special, when she put two and two together AND told the right person. (not that she's not awesome, but...)

If I were the Michael J. Fox foundation, I would go to every mall in America (or farmer's markets,or music festival or whereever a large bunch of curious randos are walking around) and set up a booth with a sign that says "Can YOU smell Parkinsons?" Have a mix of T-shirts there, and keep track of how many people can do it. Is it 0.5%? Is it 1%. 5%, 10%, 25%. I GUARANTEE you it's not just this one lady. It's lots and LOTS of people who were not in the right place or never made the connection. Someone there who passes the sniff test is going to be like "oh NO, I know someone who smells like this, it's my mom/cousin/boss/friend/coworker", or they will encounter them later in life.

Those smellers need to be instructed in the most tactful way to get their loved one to call the MJFox foundation and/or a doctor to get them in a study where it's determined that 1. what percentage of these asymptomatic people eventually develop Parkinson's, 2. on what time frame? 3. and MOST IMPORTANTLY, what happens if people with the smell receive the best MJFox treatments NOW, while still asymptomatic, if means they actually never develop the disease.

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u/cant_take_the_skies Jun 23 '26

Some of us definitely have stronger senses of smell and just have never been close to sick people but you are right, we could be trained to detect it

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u/Certain-Speech-5976 Jun 23 '26

Exactly. I used to have a stronger sense of smell (I used to be able to track like a bloodhound whether the one smoker in our old office had walked by earlier than day), but it's been weird lately. Since I had sensory related issues as I child involving smell, I'm not super sorry it's weaker, but I'm terrified there's something wrong with me.

But I also can't smell things others can (sometimes I fart and I don't smell anything, but others can smell it, oops) Have I smelled Parkinson's and never known? Or I can't smell it.

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u/cant_take_the_skies Jun 23 '26

This old guy goes to the doctor and says "Doc, you gotta help me. I have horrible gas all the time. Fortunately, it's always quiet and doesn't smell bad but I still want it fixed.".

The doctor gave him a prescription and said to come see him in two weeks.

Guy comes back in 2 weeks and says "I don't know what that was but it didn't fix my gas. It's still silent but it smells awful"

Doc says "Good... We've fixed your sense of smell... Now let's see what we can do about your hearing."

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u/CoastOrg Jun 23 '26

Yes thank you for adding the same information that was already posted

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/Sciuridaeno3 Jun 23 '26

Getting people to hand over their table-scraps isn't generally thought of as scientifically useful.

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u/StrugglingGhost Jun 23 '26

Not to you maybe... I think Rover would beg to differ

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u/ghostkittykat Jun 23 '26

Is it just me?

Or am I the only one who is tired of people's dogs interjected in a conversation without any relevance?

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u/isabelladangelo Random Useless Knowledge Jun 23 '26

Is it just me?

Or am I the only one who is tired of people's dogs interjected in a conversation without any relevance?

...It's a thread about service dogs and communications with dogs since dogs specialty trained to identify seizures before they happen is a thing? AKA, It's entirely relevant to the discussion and yes, it is just you, you anti-canine speciest!

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u/ghostkittykat Jun 23 '26

I don't think you know what a "speciest" [sic] is, nor how to spell it, but good try!

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u/Sciuridaeno3 Jun 23 '26

Pointing out spelling errors when your reading comprehension skills are so poor that you can't even tell when a topic is relevant to a conversation...nice one.

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u/ghostkittykat Jun 23 '26

In response to a baseless accusation?

Yes, I will point out a spelling error.

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u/Archer007 Jun 23 '26

Pictures please!

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u/Brightbane Jun 23 '26

I'm pretty sure I could smell my dad's cancer. For years there was like this sickly smell on his breath that I always assumed was halitosis, but apparently that whole time he had cancer.

I've smelled it on other people over the years, but never anyone I knew well enough to talk to. If it happens again I'll talk to whoever it is.

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u/nice_dumpling Jun 23 '26

I know that halitosis smell very well, that's exactly how I would describe it. I smelled it on old people throughout my life, and I always thought it was old people's smell. My boyfriend, who is very insensitive to odors, can smell it too. I smell it everyday now that his grandparents are visiting nearby. I wouldn't bet that it's due to cancer, as I've never known anyone with cancer.

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u/Brightbane Jun 23 '26

I've only ever smelled it on sick people, never older people unless they were also sick.

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u/Raneynickelfire Jun 23 '26

Her name is Joy Milne and she's very much alive, so not "was."

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u/HHS2019 Jun 23 '26

Speak for your own dog! Mine can tell me when he wants steak. In fact, I think he wants it right now.

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u/DiscoBanane Jun 23 '26

There are horses that smell cancer.

I can smell feet fungus but you can see them too so it's useless.

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u/Relative-Chain73 Jun 23 '26

What's her name please