Does Death Have A Smell?

[AngelfireRN]

Just wondering if anyone else has experiences like this?

I first noticed it when I was in nursing school, and we were orienting on the floor. We would go in a room with a patient, and I would smell this sicky-sweet odor, and around a week later, the patient would be dead.

It continues to this day. I have smelled Lord knows how many smells, but this one almost defies description. The only way I can compare it to anything is to think of really concentrated Swish and Swallow, that nystatin stuff. I love the way it smells, but this other smell is like S&S overkill.

I finally started piecing it together when I noticed a pattern with the smell and the demise. My instructors never could understand why I would walk into a room to help, and get a weird look on my face. My co-workers later could not understand it, they just knew something was up by the look on my face. It was especially sad when the patient was thought to be improving.

It happened with my FIL. DH knew that SOMETHING happened to me when a person was about to pass, and I had already told him that I was not going to tell him if I sensed anything. The last time I saw FIL was the only time I did not hug him. I would have bawled, and given it away. I regret not hugging him, but not like I would regret giving my MIL and DH 4 days of a deathwatch. Afterward, as we were headed to the funeral home, DH looked at me, all teary, and said "You knew, didn't you? You've been weird since we saw him the last time."

Smelled it with my Grandmother, and squalled for 3 days solid, before there was really anything to squall about.

And I smell it still, with patients I see in the hospital. I hate this. It's as bad as getting that gut feeling to pull the code cart outside the lady's room. There is no more helpless feeling than knowing what is going to happen, and knowing just as well that you're powerless to stop it.

Anyone else gets this, or get an inkling as to the demise of a patient? I've heard about bad patients asking to have a BM, and nurses knowing that that was it, we've all heard about the "last turn", but does anyone else smell anything beforehand?

Or am I just a freak?

[NewRN'16, ADN, RN]

It is actually cells dying.. same odor late stage cancer patients emit. Not breaking any HIPAA .. my own mother had that smell in the last year of her life - stage 4 breast cancer. Nothing to do with hygene. It's very sad

[Kittypower123, BSN, RN]

I smell it too. It's actually kind of handy in hospice, I can let family members know their loved one is close to death. Help them prepare a little.

[Kelly Cristo]

Your not alone ! Started noticing the almost “sweet” but odor , several years ago, and numerous times followed by patient passing!

[Lorri Cook, ADN, RN]

I think some of us are more sensitive to our surroundings and changes in our surroundings, including in the people around us.

I've had similar experiences, I know the smell you're talking about, as well as getting a very tight feeling in my gut when I think someone is going to go bad.

Don't think it's weird, and don't fret about it, in fact, you should look at this as a gift, which it is for a nurse. Use your intuition to give even better care to your patients, whether we have this intuition or not, we are in a position to make our patients more comfortable no matter whether they are at the beginning, middle or end of life.

[LPN Retired, LPN]

WOW!. I wish now I could go back in time and see, connect and remember . I know there were many times I would get an odor stuck in my nostrils that would take days to get it out .