Seemingly perpetual body odor - Healthy Lifestyle Message Board

Lectus · 04-07-2005, 01:58 PM

That seems to be my problem. I can't smell it myself (It may be possible that I've become accustomed to it.), but I can kind of tell by the hints people try to drop, their body language coupled with violent fits coughing, sneezing, sniffling, and irregular breathing (carefully-regulated mouth-breathing). The intensity of these signs increases if I remain wherever I am (in a theatre, restaurant, reception area, etc...). These aren't isolated incidents that I'm zeroing in on and blowing out of proportion... These are just clues gathered over time. People act like this wherever I go, and it just seems unlikely that we're having some kind of wide-spread cold epidemic.

The sickest thing is that I'm not even sure what kind of smell it is... I wash up twice a day, wear fresh, clean clothes when I go out, and brush my teeth. Nobody has confronted me directly... The closest they've gotten was to give me cryptic, read-between-the-lines messages ('I'm might get into landscaping. You know, all that fresh air... *sniff* ahh....'). A former boss once gave me some mentos as well... which is confusing, because I was always under the impression that this was a body odor... Maybe I have bad breath on top of the bo? I don't know. It's hard to say, because no one will be honest with me.

As you might imagine, this has caused much mental distress, and eventually landed me in the psyche ward. My hospitalization led to a whole other hell, as the mental health pros refused to acknowledge any sort of odor (although I noticed them, as well as other patients, giving me strong physical signs of disgust.) Even, on the morning after I came, while I was wearing dirty clothes I'd taken a sort of hike in the day before (They were covered with sweat, and even I could smell them...), one male nurse smelled me up close and said that he didn't smell anything. I've been in outpatient treatment since then, and in counseling, and that's been the general stance of the mental health pros ever since. I suppose that they figure that, since they can't do anything about the odor directly (given that I wash up regularly and clean my clothes, and they can't do anything medically for me), they'll try to make me disbelieve it, since my belief that I have a body odor is technically irrational.. One doctor said that I don't have any proof that I smell, and all of my evidence is circumstantial. As if the human mind was a court of law. Of course all of the evidence is circumstantial... If a thousand people had told me that I smell and I couldn't smell it, and even if I could, it might be considered circumstantial. Idiocy.

So I'm forever stuck one step behind fixing this problem, and trying to get someone to admit that it exists, so the medical doctors will take me seriously... It's really rediculous the lengths people will go to to avoid talking about body odor. Is our culture so anal that we can't address a problem if only to fix it? Obviously I wouldn't be so upset to hear someone say that I smell since I so strongly believe it.

At this point I'm not even going to ask how to fix the problem... You are all free to make suggestions but, in all likelihood, I've probably heard them before. Right now I'm focused on getting an honest answer... I'm leaning toward doing a survey of monks... What reason would they have for lying, either way? I just have to assure them that I won't be upset if they admit that I have an odor. Maybe write up a little speech about how not being sure has turned me into a paranoid recluse.

If they don't admit it, then either I'm insane or the rest of the world is, and simply disappearing will be the best solution (not a suicide reference, btw... I just mean that I'll take to living far from any kind of civilization.).

Skigomaniac · 04-07-2005, 11:11 PM

man you seem pretty worked up on this whole deal. My sister had OCD when she was younger, she was convinced she smelled. No one else smelled her and she wouldn't leave the house and dreaded going to school. I highly doubt THAT many people would lie to you about an odor. It's probably in your head, you should just take cologne baths before you go out in public see if people are still "looking at you funny" and "talking about landscaping"

sneezydiva · 04-08-2005, 11:32 PM

Ask some kids whether or not you smell. Little kids are brutally honest about things like this, to the point that they embarrass their parents.

Blue102 · 04-12-2005, 01:53 PM

Hey, you've probably heard this, but I just wanted to mention that zinc supplements are supposed to help with body odor. I don't know if it works or not. Do you wear antiperspirant?

Maybe it's your breath. Some people have bad breath that they can't get rid of no matter how often they brush their teeth. It might have to do with acid reflux or a digestive issue. That's something that you should be able to talk to your doctor about.

I don't know if this was helpful, but I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. I guess the best thing would be to have a heart-to-heart with the doctor. You might have OCD after all, like the other poster said...?

DSM18 · 04-13-2005, 11:46 AM

Hey. I don't know if this in any way relates to you but ill share my own "odour" experiences! I had bad odour, and i could never figuire out what it was... like you i showered 2ce daily and kept my hegeine perfect. So what was it? I didnt know for so long.. It wasnt your typical BO, but it wasnt pleasant! Then it hit me! I eat a very strict healthy diet where I rigidly follow on a daily basis. Then I got into a very bad habit of "pigging out" on very unhealthy food. I'd be like a possessed animal who'd eat anything in sight!This was a complete shock to my system and my body didnt know how to handle all these different ingredients my body wasnt used to! So what happens? Naturally, when a body is hit with something it doesnt know what to do with, it tries to fight against it... and to rid myself of this food i'd eaten, my body would release it through my pours. Hence, the foundation of my odour! I realised where my odour came from because i didnt "pig out" for some time, then did it once and immeaditly within hours my body smelt! it was most severe in my shoes! my bad eating patterns stopped, and my odour sort of stopped.. it stopped, but from before my shoes still smelt. I thought **** i was wrong until i realised! Hope I helped you in some way... maybe your body is trying to realease something... have u been doing anything to your boyd its not used to... eating like i did, exesseive drinking/drugs can also cause this. I hope you find your own answer! You are probably sick of people telling you that its all in your head, i understand how it feels when people wont beleive u... people didnt beleive that exessive food could make your feet smell or when i was my digestion was poor it led to bad immunity... BUT, for your own sake, accept that may have a problem... if you never accept it, you'll never get better! Anyway, all the best!