Augmenting the Sense of Smell

So I can't seem to find any information on this, but I'm interested in greatly increasing the capacity of the human sense of smell. It seems like the best way to do that would be to chemically coax the olfactory epithelium into producing more olfactory nerves. Thoughts on feasibility/possibly methods?
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  • Very cool if it's possible
  • edited March 2017
    This study may be of interest:

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8256599

    I've read that NGF burns like hell injecting into far less sensitive tissue so I bet your entire face would feel like it's on fire, but hypothetically it could work.

    Edit - In addition I'm also reading that it can cause histamine intolerance which could be disasterous if you have seasonal allergies.
  • Interesting. Love Ngf.
  • Interesting stuff. So how would NGF be physically introduced to the sinus cavity? Would you have to inject it through the cheek?
  • maybe a wash, like a netti pot? This sounds interesting and painful as hell
  • Just thinking about an injection into the sinuses makes me cringe. I suspect a wash would probably do the trick. Would adding an antihistamine to the mix minimize the risks of histamine intolerance?
  • edited March 2017
    A quick but unfinished browse through some studies suggests NGF can "survive" DMSO solutions but at what concentration is unclear. An awkward time of holding your head back while using a large dropper to shoot in a buffered DMSO/NGF solution would probably do the trick, bearing in mind I haven't spent any time looking into what, if any, side effects DMSO itself could have on the nerves. I suspect none, but obviously it warrants a thorough looking into.

    We're also really close to the brain here and with DMSO's ability to absorb so easily that may be a concern as well. I know there was the whole eye drop thing but that was a tiny bit further away and with presumably less of a dose than you'd want for the nose.

    I also think the "burning" issue here is being severely underestimated. This could well disable you for awhile as the nerves experience abnormally fast growth, could prevent you from reasonably doing work, exercise, etc. I've read a few members here have messed with the stuff, they can probably offer a ball park duration. What burns in the hand or finger is going to burn so much worse in the nasal cavity, just pull some nose hairs out - I imagine the sensation being similar to that but constant. If so and you just sit there with watering eyes, you wouldn't even be able to drive. Maybe I'm the one overestimating this but... it could be a shit show lol.

    As for the histamine issue, I believe the problem is inherent with high levels of NGF. I've read that athletes are often more prone to allergies for instance because their training causes them to produce more NGF naturally. I would think any treatment used conventionally for histamines would be effective, not necessarily needing to be applied directly to the site (though that would be optimal). As long as whatever was added doesn't have a negative effect on the workings of the NGF it would probably be fine. Better yet, some studies on NCBI even suggest that corticosteroids can even help NGF levels increase, a solution that would not only beat back the side effects of excess NGF but help speed the process up. Hypothetically of course.

    Pretty much everything I've written should be looked into much further before shoving crap up your nose. :)

    Edit - Also, why not look further into the mechanism in play that makes us smell better when we're hungry and look for an exploit?
  • edited April 2017
    Its not a mechanism I imagine most people would want to try, but - I'm trans, and when I first started hrt, I had a lot of trouble getting a steady supply. I'd routinely screw up the process of getting my scrip refilled and end up having one or another thing - spiro (testosterone blocker), estradiol, progesterone, temporarily yanked, which really sucked and made me feel like I wanted to die a lot - BUT I thought I'd comment that at one point - and this is pretty subjective - I think I went through a bit of a kind of 'false pregnancy' due to my hormone balance being not-good and during the week or so where my meds were unavailable I had a few days where my sense of smell was really really intense compared to normal. I couldn't tell if I was simply more mindful of smells or smelling things more powerfully, but everything got to me - garbage trucks, people wearing too much perfume on the other side of the street, etc. A couple of times I'd find myself going into like spice or tea shops because I'd just never really paid attention to the different smells before and wanted to learn them a little better.  Also, re the mechanism that makes us smell better when we're hungry, I think I remember reading a study connecting the whole 'marijuana munchies' phenomenon to something like that. The endocannabinoid receptors triggered when our bodies release anandamide in response to stress/starvation can also get triggered by regular old cannabinoids, or something like that.
  • where can we buy ngf bc I  have some experiments I would like to try and if we can buy it in bulk as a group I think that would not only be easier but cheaper
  • edited April 2017
    katngreen, that's an observed trait in women during menopause when estrogen falls, the sense of smell increases from the ensuing hormonal imbalance. I had a friend tell me once that some women you can tell when they're going through that because they suddenly use so much perfume thinking they smell bad when nobody else can really notice! It would be interesting to dig around and find out exactly what happens there as well, could be a more specific way to manipulate that besides bombarding the whole system with male or female hormones.

    NGF nerve enhancement coupled with exploiting the two aforementioned techniques of sensitizing them could be really something. Or rather regrettable, depending on your every day surroundings. :)
  • edited April 2017
    I think that might have been it- maybe one of the times I had spiro and no estradiol. Also made my hair come in a bit gray :/.
  • When will NGF be available to the public to buy, or if it is, where can I get it?
  • Certain online peptide sellers should have it available. More likely you'll find peptides that aren't NGF itself but spur its production, I haven't personally looked plus I don't know if listing such sellers is encouraged here or not.
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