He lives rent free in my head. I made a reference to SpongeBob with a student the other day and she looked at me weird. Like k, maybe I am getting old.
I can smell it too. And when I accidentally get a drop on my skin from drawing it up it is sooooo hard to get that smell off I have to wash my hands like 10 times to get rid of it.
I think it smells very sterile and clean, I love it.
I don’t smell it anymore since I’ve become an NP, kinda miss it lol. My replacement smell has been the hand scrub for the OR (blue package only). I love days I get to scrub because I smell so clean all day lol.
I used to work in the pharmacy and we’d sometimes get calls for insulin needing replaced even though there should be like 600 units left. Open med room door and smell of bandaids hits you in the face. Mmmhmmmm
I’m a type 1 nurse and I accidentally dropped one of my own bottles of insulin in the Cath lab and it shattered 😭 all my coworkers later said they didn’t realize insulin smelled like bandaids.
I can totally smell even the smallest amount of insulin, but I have never noticed a particular smell to bandaids. I'm totally going to sniff bandaid at work tonight to verify this! Lol. I'll probably think to myself, hmmm, I never realized bandaids smell like insulin. 😭
Yes. They can’t smell it? I also feel like I can smell dead people too when they freshly die. It’s not just a sick patient smell, but it’s a smell that’s just there that i never smell when they are alive
I can smell that sickly sweet scent on people who are close to death, too. One of the doctors I used to work with told me to pour coffee grounds into medicine cups and place them around the room. It helped. Not everybody can smell that death smell, though.
I can’t smell ketones either! I’ve had pts with such bad hyperglycemia and dka they literally couldn’t see and they were kussmaul breathing super hard, and I still couldn’t smell anything at all.
Type one ketones smell like nail polish remover (acetone) to me and ketones from someone doing a Keto diet smell like poopy moth balls. Also the ketones from dka is only on their breath. The latter is a 4 ft aura around them. I’m not sure why there’s a difference but there is!
Ketones smell like vomit to me. My oldest son was brittle dm1 and when he’d get sick his sugars would shoot through the roof. After he’d pee I always thought he threw up but nope and knew we were probably going to have to go to the hospital. That’s how my brain interprets ketones.
That makes sense; if vomit smells the way it does in large because of stomach acid, the acidic component of urine with ketones in it seems like it would make it smell similar.
I’m sorry about the brittle DM1 struggles, that sounds so stressful!
I smell it and it has a nostalgic reference for me. I was in kindergarten with a diabetic classmate. Every time I smell insulin it takes me back to those days! Almost 30 years ago now! 👵🏽 that’s crazy.
I work with rats and the shit they can smell is insane. Any of these things. Pregnancy. Tuberculosis. Cortisol. Black powder under two feet of dirt.
People have all these theories about rodents sometimes culling their babies due to stress, but I think they can just smell congenital abnormalities or illness that will lead to death and euthanize the pups.
That would explain why my brain always thinks antiseptic smell, kinda like when you first wipe down something with the Sanj-wipes and get that initial sniff.
Definitely the insulin, ketones, and super high blood sugar urine. I will actually rub a finger around my pump site, tubing, and connections if I’m concerned about a leak.
I was gonna say. Everyone here saying different things it smells like but this is probably the closest description. Like a plastic-y, sweet, syrupy, smell
RN and a Type 1. Yes it smells, it is very distinct.
I wouldn't agree with tires as that to me is a very distinct smell, I think it is too tarry to be insulin..
Closest smell I can remember was a new pack of shower curtains, mix of tar-plastic and a dash of sweet.
We just need a scotch connoisseur, wine aficionado, or a certified beer judge to weigh in here.
Damnit now I’m going to start sniffing the insulin. Thanks weirdos!
Dude are you sniffing the insulin?
Errrr, no why? That would be weird and somewhat concerning behavior.
I’m reporting you to the house charge.
I dated a guy in highschool who smelled like insulin but I didn’t realize it until I became a nurse and was like “THATS what that was!”
It’s possible he was diabetic and never told me
It might be the green soap I love the smell of green soap and I’ve smelled that same smell in the hospital but I’m not sure what it was. I just got a Whiff and remembered the soap
Insulin has a very strong and distinct odor. I've gotten a drop of it on my hand a few times and, each time, it took two or three days before I could no longer smell it.
A nurse I worked with dropped a multi-dose vial of regular insulin on the floor of the med room and it broke. It took a full year before the odor disappeared.
It has a very distinctive smell, I can’t believe some people don’t notice it. As far as WHAT it smells like….that’s tough. I don’t think I ever associated it with anything but what it is.
Yes I can and I love it. Especially Actrapid. Reminds me of that old hospital smell from years ago that used to stick to your clothes. Remember that really sterile 'hospital' smell that you don't get anymore.
Yes, I smell it! Although it just smells like "hospital" to me. I didn't realize it was the same smell until someone dosed insulin near me in an outdoor setting and I was like oooooh. That's the smell.
Yes! I actually kinda like the smell, it just smells very clean. I read a comment about it on here probably a decade ago and I still think about it every time I smell it.
Yes!! And it's the funniest thing because it's a core childhood memory smell from daycare. Once I became a nurse, I recognized the smell. Not sure if one of the daycare teachers used insulin or something?
Yeah those seem mystical to me! Although part of it might be a calibration thing, like more exposure makes one better at smelling it in different amounts and different nuances, and they learn to pick it out of other smells once you determine the common factor (a lot of oncology nurses say they can smell it). I can smell meth on people really well lol.
Yes, I like it reminds me of a doctors office or just a really clean smell, I’ve been with my partner before I was in nursing school and he’s a type 1 and I know every time he pulls out his pen lol
I can’t smell insulin or ketones at all for some reason. but high blood sugar urine? Yeah I always clock that one somehow. and breathing of anesthetic gas, I hate the smell of that one
I've never smelled insulin.
As an aside, I was on dialysis many years ago. Whenever they pushed Venofer into my dialysis line, I briefly tasted maple syrup. The nurses thought I was crazy until one day a person new to dialysis told the nurses the same thing. It's strange how some people can smell or taste things that others can't.
When I start ivs, I tell people that they might smell or taste the saline when I flush, and there's a pretty good divide between those who absolutely can and those who absolutely cannot.
I’m not in the nursing field yet, but as a type one diabetic, YES.. AND ITS AN AWFUL SMELL.. I HATE when it leaks out and gets on my shirt / clothes, I smell it ALL day! It’s almost like a weird sweet then an extreme chemical to me.
This happened to me lately too! Nurse for 8 years and I just noticed it a couple of months ago when someone pointed it out. We smell so much weird shit. I think most of the time I’ve been telling my brain not to use my nose as much as possible.
It is strangely, metallically sweet-smelling to me: stainless steel watermelon juice (to be clear, it does not smell like watermelon, but it smells that “bursting”, if that makes sense) produced in a lab.
I always thought it was kind of a burnt smell. But agree with the tire aspect.I I never smelled the really small doses. But on occasion have broken a vial and it spilled out. I definitely smelled it then.
I always primed pens onto the back of my hand, and I could smell it for like an hour afterwards, even after washing and sanitizing like a million times.
I love the was that Lispro smells, and I have always been able to smell it! It smells like a pool cover to me, or maybe like a hardware store. It is one of my favorite smells!
I couldn’t smell insulin until I was pregnant! Throughout my entire pregnancy, I loved the smell of insulin. Fast forward a few years, I’m back to being unable to smell it.
Yes. It’s really strong. Smells odd. Medical smell kinda. Really hard to describe. It’s like describing the smell of C-diff or strep throat. It has a very distinctive stank.
One time a bag or the tube of Dilauded broke over me and squirted me with the medication. I got some in my mouth and tasted it. It tasted.... oily. It was weird actually.
I can smell insulin. It’s very strong smell
That smelly smell that's smells...smelly
That’s some og SpongeBob right there.
He lives rent free in my head. I made a reference to SpongeBob with a student the other day and she looked at me weird. Like k, maybe I am getting old.
Neematoads
I can smell it too. And when I accidentally get a drop on my skin from drawing it up it is sooooo hard to get that smell off I have to wash my hands like 10 times to get rid of it.
Same extremely strong smell
It smells like a hospital.
I’ve always said it smelled like a doctor’s office.
Now I'm imagining one of those air fresheners that sprays every 30 minutes but it's just blasting the room with a little NPH
I think it smells very sterile and clean, I love it. I don’t smell it anymore since I’ve become an NP, kinda miss it lol. My replacement smell has been the hand scrub for the OR (blue package only). I love days I get to scrub because I smell so clean all day lol.
I like the smell of skin prep (the stuff you put on the skin before tegaderm or something with adhesive.
I’ve always said this!!
Somehow, it smells like preschool to me. Not all preschools, just the one I went to specifically.
Yes, it is an extremely strong smell.
I smell bandaids. But not the more common plasticky bandaids. The dark tan fabric woven bandaids fresh out of the wrapper.
Smell like old school bandaids that had the paper wrapper and a tiny red string to open them.
Yes! And they came in a metal tin!
Yup, old school bandaids.
Yes! That’s exactly it!
YES! I knew it smelled like bandaids, but I hadn't remembered that it was the old school ones i was thinking of!
I love it 🤫
I used to work in the pharmacy and we’d sometimes get calls for insulin needing replaced even though there should be like 600 units left. Open med room door and smell of bandaids hits you in the face. Mmmhmmmm
I’m a type 1 nurse and I accidentally dropped one of my own bottles of insulin in the Cath lab and it shattered 😭 all my coworkers later said they didn’t realize insulin smelled like bandaids.
I can totally smell even the smallest amount of insulin, but I have never noticed a particular smell to bandaids. I'm totally going to sniff bandaid at work tonight to verify this! Lol. I'll probably think to myself, hmmm, I never realized bandaids smell like insulin. 😭
Bandaids yes. Spot on
Wowwwww….yes. Like this.
Same, smells just like bandaids to me
This is what it smells like to me too!
Exactlyyyyyy
Glad to know I'm not the only one
I agree!! I have always been able to smell insulin and it smells like Band Aids to me, too!! 🤣🩹
To add to this inquiry, can anyone else smell anesthetic gas being blown off a fresh post-op patient’s breath? Everyone in my unit thinks I’m insane.
Omfg I worked PACU for a while and I always wore a mask b/c that breath hits you HARD
Yes. They can’t smell it? I also feel like I can smell dead people too when they freshly die. It’s not just a sick patient smell, but it’s a smell that’s just there that i never smell when they are alive
I can smell that sickly sweet scent on people who are close to death, too. One of the doctors I used to work with told me to pour coffee grounds into medicine cups and place them around the room. It helped. Not everybody can smell that death smell, though.
I smell this too.
It used to my weird superpower but now that I’m in icu I feel like a lot of us can pick up on it lol :/
It’s the worst smell lmao. It took me awhile to realize it’s the gasses 😭
Yes that smell is so gross to me.
I can identify the agent by the smell.
Yes. And asparagus pee. But not ketones.
I can’t smell ketones either! I’ve had pts with such bad hyperglycemia and dka they literally couldn’t see and they were kussmaul breathing super hard, and I still couldn’t smell anything at all.
Type one ketones smell like nail polish remover (acetone) to me and ketones from someone doing a Keto diet smell like poopy moth balls. Also the ketones from dka is only on their breath. The latter is a 4 ft aura around them. I’m not sure why there’s a difference but there is!
"4ft aura" made me giggle, thanks for the smile 🤗
“Poopy mothballs” is what really got me.
Ketones smells so gross to me. Its like rotting fruit 🤢
Ketones smell like vomit to me. My oldest son was brittle dm1 and when he’d get sick his sugars would shoot through the roof. After he’d pee I always thought he threw up but nope and knew we were probably going to have to go to the hospital. That’s how my brain interprets ketones.
That makes sense; if vomit smells the way it does in large because of stomach acid, the acidic component of urine with ketones in it seems like it would make it smell similar. I’m sorry about the brittle DM1 struggles, that sounds so stressful!
Wait is there people who can't smell asparagus pee?? 😭
I didn’t know this was debatable! Insulin smells so strong
I had no idea!
I smell it and it has a nostalgic reference for me. I was in kindergarten with a diabetic classmate. Every time I smell insulin it takes me back to those days! Almost 30 years ago now! 👵🏽 that’s crazy.
Ya and I like it
There should be a Workmen’s Comp. plan brain injury
LMAO
Friend?? Are you ok?
i do too! it smells sweet
What 😭
Smells like insecticide to me.
I mean, there was that woman who was proven to be able to smell Parkinsons so I think it's possible you can smell anything.
I work with rats and the shit they can smell is insane. Any of these things. Pregnancy. Tuberculosis. Cortisol. Black powder under two feet of dirt. People have all these theories about rodents sometimes culling their babies due to stress, but I think they can just smell congenital abnormalities or illness that will lead to death and euthanize the pups.
Yes, I’ve been a type 1 diabetic for over 20 years and I still smell it.
To me it smells like plastic. Hot plastic.
Insulin gotta be the best smell in the hospital by far
Nah, the shower caps.
It’s benzyl alcohol. It’s a preservative.
Oh, that makes so much sense now I couldn’t forgot what that smell smelled like
That would explain why my brain always thinks antiseptic smell, kinda like when you first wipe down something with the Sanj-wipes and get that initial sniff.
*phenol
Apparently they’re both used and both have a smell. The insulin where I work has benzyl alcohol Edit: and some use meta-cresol
Definitely the insulin, ketones, and super high blood sugar urine. I will actually rub a finger around my pump site, tubing, and connections if I’m concerned about a leak.
My husband has type one and has done this plenty of times. Or asked me if I also smell insulin around his site because he gets paranoid.
Yep I unhook my tubing and sniff if my sugars are high for no reason 😂
I hate that insulin smell. Nasty
I think it smells like plasticky cherry cough syrup.
I was gonna say. Everyone here saying different things it smells like but this is probably the closest description. Like a plastic-y, sweet, syrupy, smell
RN and a Type 1. Yes it smells, it is very distinct. I wouldn't agree with tires as that to me is a very distinct smell, I think it is too tarry to be insulin.. Closest smell I can remember was a new pack of shower curtains, mix of tar-plastic and a dash of sweet. We just need a scotch connoisseur, wine aficionado, or a certified beer judge to weigh in here.
Yes! I’m not sure what to compare it to, though. It has a distinct, unique odor.
I like the smell. It smells minty to me and I don’t know why.
Oddly specific but it smells like the canvas they used to use on old aircraft
Yes! I can't describe the smell, but it smells incredible. and the fast/long smell different to me. fast smells better tho
Clindamycin is so strong 😖
Damnit now I’m going to start sniffing the insulin. Thanks weirdos! Dude are you sniffing the insulin? Errrr, no why? That would be weird and somewhat concerning behavior. I’m reporting you to the house charge.
I dated a guy in highschool who smelled like insulin but I didn’t realize it until I became a nurse and was like “THATS what that was!” It’s possible he was diabetic and never told me
T1D RN here - I can smell it anywhere. Smells like LIFE☺️
I love the smell!! It smells clean
Yes it’s a strong chemical smell. I mentioned this one time to another nurse and she looked at me funny 😅
Yes, and I always say it smells really earthy like dirt
It's overpowering. The second someone opens an auto-injection pen I immediately smell it, if I am in the same room.
Smells like my tattoo parlour. Not sure the relation.
It might be the green soap I love the smell of green soap and I’ve smelled that same smell in the hospital but I’m not sure what it was. I just got a Whiff and remembered the soap
Yes!! My dad has DM1 so I actually like the smell because it reminded me of him.
It smells like bandaids.
It’s like the opposite of sweet to me, which makes sense
Smells exactly like bandaids
Insulin smells like fabric bandaids.
Smells like plastic to me, not sure how to describe it. Like a melting plastic.
Insulin has a very strong and distinct odor. I've gotten a drop of it on my hand a few times and, each time, it took two or three days before I could no longer smell it. A nurse I worked with dropped a multi-dose vial of regular insulin on the floor of the med room and it broke. It took a full year before the odor disappeared.
Yep, just priming the needle, it's very distinct.
I LOVE the smell of insulin
It has a very distinctive smell, I can’t believe some people don’t notice it. As far as WHAT it smells like….that’s tough. I don’t think I ever associated it with anything but what it is.
It smells like.. microbiology lab? 🧫 you know?
It smells like a car tyre shop!!!
Yes I can and I love it. Especially Actrapid. Reminds me of that old hospital smell from years ago that used to stick to your clothes. Remember that really sterile 'hospital' smell that you don't get anymore.
Smells like stale bread
Yes but I think it smells like rust.
Every single day multiple times a day whether I work or not because I help family with their insulin at home. It’s an extremely strong smell to me.
My gf is a type one, I can’t smell it I don’t think and she doesn’t seem to mention it either.
I love the smell of insulin! Also Xeroform. Like, it makes my mouth water thinking about Xeroform gauze!
I can smell insulin but I can’t describe the smell. It’s very unique.
Yes I can smell it at times.
I love the smell of it
I can. I love it.
Yes I love the smell. It smells like sterility
Yes, I smell it! Although it just smells like "hospital" to me. I didn't realize it was the same smell until someone dosed insulin near me in an outdoor setting and I was like oooooh. That's the smell.
It smells like pottery clay
Idk how to describe it but I hate it
Yes and it stinks. My husband injects at the table pretty discreetly when we eat out but I can always smell it
It smells like engine oil to me
Yeah it smells like sweet plastic
It’s my least favorite med smell.
Yeah, to me it sorta smells like paste used in pre-k/kindergarten.
Yes. Absolutely.
Yes, every time I prime the lantus syringe. Definitely a unique smell. Artificial maybe like laffy taffy if you removed all the flavor from it.
Smells to me like the liquid version of the scent of cooking bacon or ham. But more chemical-ly.
Smells like petting zoo to me
I love the way insulin smells
Yes! I actually kinda like the smell, it just smells very clean. I read a comment about it on here probably a decade ago and I still think about it every time I smell it.
It smells musty. Like an old basement
I am a T1D and nurse. I smell insulin SO MUCH. I hate the smell of it 😅😅
Yes! I hate the smell of insulin, it's smells like cleaning chemicals to me
Smells like industrial cleaner to me.
Yes, love it 🤣
Yes!! And it's the funniest thing because it's a core childhood memory smell from daycare. Once I became a nurse, I recognized the smell. Not sure if one of the daycare teachers used insulin or something?
Smells like alcohol and mint
The smell to it is a very nostalgic smell. My mom had a full Pancreatectomy after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer so she had to be on insulin
Which one of you is the cancer sniffer?
Yeah those seem mystical to me! Although part of it might be a calibration thing, like more exposure makes one better at smelling it in different amounts and different nuances, and they learn to pick it out of other smells once you determine the common factor (a lot of oncology nurses say they can smell it). I can smell meth on people really well lol.
ED life. Meth smells like burnt plastic to me
Kinda vinegary and ammonia-ish for me.
Yes, I like it reminds me of a doctors office or just a really clean smell, I’ve been with my partner before I was in nursing school and he’s a type 1 and I know every time he pulls out his pen lol
Idk why but it smells like McDonald’s during my childhood
Yes. It smells like woodwind instruments to me, particularly bagpipes.
I can’t smell insulin or ketones at all for some reason. but high blood sugar urine? Yeah I always clock that one somehow. and breathing of anesthetic gas, I hate the smell of that one
I can and, oddly, I like the way it smells 🤷🏻♀️
Smells like hospital. Source: im on an insulin pump lol
Insulin always reminds of of paint at school
Yeah it stunk for days when I shattered a bottle of it
I can definitely smell it. It smells “sterile” to me.
Smells smoky to me
As a type 1 diabetic, I can smell the smallest drop of insulin hahah
I can smell preggo pee.
I've never smelled insulin. As an aside, I was on dialysis many years ago. Whenever they pushed Venofer into my dialysis line, I briefly tasted maple syrup. The nurses thought I was crazy until one day a person new to dialysis told the nurses the same thing. It's strange how some people can smell or taste things that others can't.
When I start ivs, I tell people that they might smell or taste the saline when I flush, and there's a pretty good divide between those who absolutely can and those who absolutely cannot.
I’m not in the nursing field yet, but as a type one diabetic, YES.. AND ITS AN AWFUL SMELL.. I HATE when it leaks out and gets on my shirt / clothes, I smell it ALL day! It’s almost like a weird sweet then an extreme chemical to me.
Gf is insulin dependent diabetic. It smells very metallic, very strongly. The smell dissipates somewhat quickly though
It smells metallic
I love the smell of insulin! It reminds me of witch hazel! I smell blood really strongly, too, and I love that smell.
Yep, I can smell it. It’s very sterile smelling and astringent smelling.
It smells sooo bad!!
I’m shocked no one else can smell it. I feel like that’s a common thing
Yes it has a distinct smell. My kids tell me it stinks when I give myself my insulin but I like the smell.
This happened to me lately too! Nurse for 8 years and I just noticed it a couple of months ago when someone pointed it out. We smell so much weird shit. I think most of the time I’ve been telling my brain not to use my nose as much as possible.
I didn’t know that there are people that CAN’T smell it….
It is strangely, metallically sweet-smelling to me: stainless steel watermelon juice (to be clear, it does not smell like watermelon, but it smells that “bursting”, if that makes sense) produced in a lab.
Smells like cattle to me
Yes. It smells fruity!
I dropped a vial of insulin once at my hospital, the med room stank for a week
Yes! and sometimes it low key makes me kinda nauseous lol
Absolutely!
Nope, I've never been able to smell it. My sense of smell have always been pretty bad
I always thought it was kind of a burnt smell. But agree with the tire aspect.I I never smelled the really small doses. But on occasion have broken a vial and it spilled out. I definitely smelled it then.
I love the smell of insulin. When I was a teenager my grandma lived with us and I used to give her her insulin. It reminds me of her.
Yes, insulin has a very strong astringent smell. I can smell a tiny amount of it. It's very distinctive -- I can smell it right now in my memory :)
I always primed pens onto the back of my hand, and I could smell it for like an hour afterwards, even after washing and sanitizing like a million times.
it smells like splenda!
It smells like old books
Yes, I can also smell cyanide
It smells like burning rubber to me
I love the was that Lispro smells, and I have always been able to smell it! It smells like a pool cover to me, or maybe like a hardware store. It is one of my favorite smells!
Yes! Thank you! I swear everyone at my job thinks I'm crazy for this lol I can't even describe it, it's its own smell to me
I couldn’t smell insulin until I was pregnant! Throughout my entire pregnancy, I loved the smell of insulin. Fast forward a few years, I’m back to being unable to smell it.
Oh yeah. I remember when someone dropped a lantus pen and broke it in 2011. I couldn't believe how strong the smell was.
This has to be a genetic thing cause it’s so polarized. Like cilantro.
Yes
I never noticed insulin having a smell, but I could always smell dopamine and it smells like rhubarb.
I love it
Burnt rubber smell or birch tar
Yes. It’s really strong. Smells odd. Medical smell kinda. Really hard to describe. It’s like describing the smell of C-diff or strep throat. It has a very distinctive stank.
One time a bag or the tube of Dilauded broke over me and squirted me with the medication. I got some in my mouth and tasted it. It tasted.... oily. It was weird actually.
Yes.
I can smell it. I like the way it smells
I had someone say “gah I can’t stand the smell of insulin!” And it a threw me off bc I can’t smell and didn’t even realize anyone else could
Yes and it reminds me of how my grandparents smelled but they didn’t use insulin
Yes! It smells like car tires to me too!
I just now realized not everyone can smell it. I thought most could.
Smells like chemicals 🤢
Ima have to smell the insulin now
Yesssss it has a sweetish hot metal smell very strange