Quote:
Originally Posted by KathieI
Is that true, Gracie, about the Alzheimer's and sense of smell?? Cool!! Although sometimes I wonder about me. 
Do you think its worse in Lower Hadley, as you haven't complained about it in Upper Hadley like I have. Hmmmmm. You might be right about it being OP's burning of brush. That's what it smells like to me.
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Gracie's mention to you with regard to the lack of sense of smell and a connection to Alzehimers is true. At least in the case of my own mom.
I have also read the information that Gracie is no doubt referring to.
Some say it is from a lack of zinc, however, I am no expert on that.
In her 50's my mother began mentioning that she had lost her sense of smell.
Her concern was that she could not smell a gas leak. I can chuckle now as she didn't even have gas; just oil heat but was probably thinking back to her childhood.
This persisted into her 60's; when she retired up here in Vermont to be closer to us, she would frequently ask me if I could smell a certain odor and that she could not smell anything at all. I didn't really pay much attention to her comments at the time.........as it didn't seem very serious and I was in the process of raising two small children, etc.
It wasn't until approximately 1994, with her having no sense of smell for a good 25 years by now..........and her diagnosis of Alzehimers, that I began reading all I could find on the subject.
A recurrent theme was that in "some" not all cases, the patients had no sense of smell. It can cause worry to the person not being able to smell smoke or a gas leak.
I'm blessed that I can still smell the roses. Just food for thought. Who would think that such a simple "symptom" might be related to Alzheimers down the road.
I am not a medical professional; just my personal experience with my mom who had to come and live with us in our home until the very end when I was no longer able to bathe her and she lost her mobility in end stage Alzheimers.
With mom's day just yesterday, we visited her grave to plant two mini rose bushes..........I wish we had her back. We both recalled her lack of being able to smell........flowers, food, you name it.
She passed at age 91.......but seemed to lose her sense of smell in her 50's.
Again, this does not mean everyone who cannot smell will get Alzheimers; they also say aluminum ingestion might be a culprit. Some over the counter things like Kaopectate and Immodium A.D. have aluminum....or cooking in aluminum pots.
For anyone dealing with Alzheimers right now, great patience is needed.
It is indeed the "long goodbye" .........but most rewarding after the fact.
Any one of us can end up in that boat. Her doctors told me that her lungs, her heart , her bones were in excellent shape.........she had been an avid walker her entire life, petite, thin, .........it just happens. Alzheimers can strike anyone. But, in hindsight, she had that loss of smell for a long long time prior to the diagnosis.
Re the burning odor..........as another person mentioned, garbage or even leaves and compost can give off methane gas and I've been told that can also ignite into a fire.
Perhaps a farmer was burning off his fields? Up in Nova Scotia, we'd drive by numerous fields at this time of year when they were burning them.
Hopefully, your odor is gone by now.