What do you folks do to circumvent/cope with smell sensory overload?

Hi TouchingGreen

Generally I get out of the location. Simple but effective  terrible in lifts, cars, and aircraft

If I know it is going to happen  i will block my nose with cotton wool. I have done this in my laboratory  years back )  when handling very nasty smelling / headache inducing chemicals. 

Are there any smells that do not overload you? Perhaps ones that you find are more calming?

I'm thinking along the lines of how white noise or pink noise helps people with hearing sensitivities. Perhaps there is an equivalent in smells that you could have in the background to help dull some of the incoming smells. I would hope that the background smell wouldn't need to be TOO strong... but if it would, then I guess this idea wouldn't work.

Besides this, I try to cover my nose with a sleeve or other fabric, but that only works for shorter time periods - usually to help buy me time to physically move to avoid a smell. I have a reaction (asthmatic) to strong exhaust fumes and for the last decade a mask has worked well in avoiding that reaction, and sometimes I can't even smell that incredibly strong, nasty smell through the mask. But I do change my breathing to shallower 'just in case', so it may be that. Not sure if a mask is an option for you, or if that would work. 

An expensive option - that may not even work - is using an air conditioning unit at home to reduce the need to keep windows or doors open and filter the air a little.

It's a really important topic you raise. It would be good to have more options for smell sensitivities. I'm really stumped for good ideas here.

Basically everything. Anything that is strong that I cannot get away from. Summertime is the worst because the windows have to be open, but people have bonfires every night (close to allotments) so constantly smelling smoke, sometimes all night.

Also lots of roadworks every year in summer which brings smells of hot tar, exhaust, dust from pneumatic drills, sometimes even sewage smells. I have a fan in my room that is pretty much always on, and I have different coping strategies like lavender bags, mint chewing gum, I even place badger balm on skin under my nose after seeing that trick used by detectives in crime shows! (They use vicks vapour rub before going to see a dead body). Unfortunately, vicks has other issues going on with it because of the camphor in it, so that was a no go.

I look around a lot at different autism shops selling coping tools and there seems to be stuff to help with every other sense - headphones for noise issues, coloured filters for light sensitivity/Irlen syndrome, sensory textile stuff for touch, etc. But nothing ever for smell except for those with hyporesponsivity (smell scratch cards, different exploratory tools, etc). I keep hoping to find something like a vinagraitte somewhere but can't get one and just find it odd that there seems to be nothing to try to help those with smell as their biggest overload problem.

if you can avoid it that would be good but if you can't you need to try and find the opposite of what ever it is that is overloading you.

So for me for example, my main 'thing' is that I have very sensitive hearing so I bring my AirPods with me every where so if things start to get too much I can put them in listen to music or even sometimes not play music just use them as ear plugs just to quiet down the things around me.

I have quite a sensitive nose too but I had covid and it's messed up my smell since and I have hay fever right now so I'm blocked up but if I was somewhere with a bad smell I would try and get away as quickly as possible or take my self to a bathroom or something and just put my head under the collar of my jumper and take some deep breathes.

But I don't know what overloads you it could be other things hope this helps though 

Avoidance. It’s literally the only thing that works for me. Tabaco is the worst smell adversions I have so with more and more places banning it my life’s been getting easier.

What are your main triggers?