Migraine and Visual Arts
| Author: Klaus Podoll | 09. April 2007 |
| Edited by: Klaus Podoll |
Danielle Sylvie Taylor
Danielle Sylvie Taylor, Mr. Addison, 2004. © 2004 Danielle Sylvie Taylor (see here)
"Sick and tired of being sick and tired."
(Artist's website, March 12, 2004)
"I have Addison's Disease, complicated by an immune disorder (multiple chemical sensitivities and system-wide candidasis). I also get frequent migraines and cluster headaches - every other day at least, and often lasting for days.
My sense of smell is very acute - I can smell chemicals and many gases in such small amounts that sometimes I outsniff our dog and some sensitive machine equipment. I have been able to tell the difference between a plastic bottle washed with soap and one washed with water - even though the one washed with soap had been washed one month previously and had been rinsed frequently since then.
When I get a migraine, this gets worse - my mouth and nose become inflamed and smells are extremely intense [hypersensitivity to odours]. Due to the yeast in my tissues and blood, I am oversensitive to yeast and mold, and often smell an extremely sickly-sweet, rotting, fruity and yeasty odor when I have migraines [probably olfactory hallucinations], though I also smell this when suffering from general inflammation and no migraine [maybe olfactory hallucinations occcurring as migraine aura without headache]. I can't eat most fruit (strawberries and tomatoes are especially bad) because of that smell, and I can also detect when meat begins to spoil. Smells offer trigger migraines for me as well, along with more severe allergic reactions. I wonder if the 'phantom' smells associated with migraine are in fact allergic reactions to minute amounts of the substance lingering in the body?
My aide, who also has Addison's and has severe asthma, will often go into respiratory distress when I begin to smell unpleasant things that no one else can. Her sense of smell is very poor, so I assume that she may be reacting to the same allergen. Also, when I tell my husband of the strange smell, he too can often smell a fruity odor - sometimes coming from me. But it is often so faint that he must leave the room, 'reset' his nose, and then come back in before trying to detect the scent - but when he does, he usually smells a faint fruity odor, too. However, while he perceives it as fresh fruit, I smell it as rotting, moldy, yeasty fruit and it is overpowering."
(Email to Klaus Podoll, May 7, 2005; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)
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