Your body odor can change due to hormones, the food you eat, infection, medications or underlying conditions like diabetes. Prescription-strength antiperspirants or medications may help.
Trimethylaminuria is a disorder in which the body is unable to break down trimethylamine, a chemical compound that has a pungent odor.
Trick your olfactory system
Try this: sniff coffee or charcoal for a full minute. Then go back and take a whiff of your underarm or other potentially offending area. In a pinch, you could even smell the crook of your elbow, which contains few sweat glands.
During menopause, your hormonal balance shifts. This shift can also lead to stronger body odor. Estrogen and progesterone levels fall relative to your testosterone, while cortisol tends to increase. Higher levels of both testosterone and cortisol have been linked to stronger body odor.
ODOR AFTER A SHOWER IS DUE TO LINGERING BACTERIA
In addition to bacteria, oftentimes there is deodorant residue and other impurities that are trapped in the underarm pores and within the hair if you have armpit hair.
BODY ODOR: FRUITY BREATH IS A SYMPTOM OF DIABETES
D., chief medical officer at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. People with type 1 diabetes generally experience it more than those with type 2 diabetes do.
Thyroid problems.
Occasionally, an overactive thyroid can also cause body odor. This is because the patient tends to sweat excessively due to the hyper-functioning thyroid gland. This condition can also be ruled out by physical examination and blood studies.
Olfactory reference syndrome (ORS) is a psychiatric condition in which there is a persistent false belief and preoccupation with the idea of emitting abnormal body odors which the patient thinks are foul and offensive to other individuals.
Many drugs alter body odour, through various mechanisms. Some increase sweat production, including adrenaline, amphetamines, pseudoephedrine, tramadol, the antidepressants fluoxetine, paroxetine and venlafaxine, pregabalin, gabapentin, codeine, omeprazole, and drugs that trigger hot flushes.
The menopausal drop in estrogen also leaves our bodies with relatively higher levels of testosterone — produced by our ovaries in small amounts — than before. This can attract more bacteria to sweat, making it smell funkier.
This odor is different from sweaty odor and aging body odor. We call it "middle-aged oily odor." "Diacetyl" included in sweat is a key compound for middle-aged oily odor, which smells like old, used oil and is mainly generated from the back and crown of the head.
A drop in oestrogen levels in the menopause can leave some women with relatively more male hormone (testosterone). This can cause them to have more bacteria in their sweat, and that sweat may smell more.
Menopause and body odor: What's happening? Hormone imbalances and body odor often go together. Dips in estrogen can trigger hot flashes and night sweats, meaning you simply sweat more, which in turn can result in more odor.
Some people with diabetes compare the smell of insulin to the scent of Band-Aids, printer ink, Lysol, or new plastic shower curtain liners (4). Apparently, phenols are responsible for the aroma associated with insulin (5).
If your breath smells like acetone -- the same fruity scent as nail polish remover -- it may be a sign of high levels of ketones (acids your liver makes) in your blood. It's a problem mainly of type 1 diabetes but also can happen with type 2 if you get a serious condition called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
A smelly vagina is a sign of infection
If your vagina has an unusually strong and unpleasant smell, like onions, for long, it may be a sign of an infection like bacterial vaginosis, which is bacterial overgrowth in the vagina.
Body odor is caused by a mix of bacteria and sweat on your skin. Your body odor can change due to hormones, the food you eat, infection, medications or underlying conditions like diabetes. Prescription-strength antiperspirants or medications may help.
Apocrine bromhidrosis is the most common form of bromhidrosis in adults and is localised, usually to the armpits and/or anogenital area. Eccrine bromhidrosis presents as a generalised malodour, and may be associated with bad breath (halitosis), anogenital odour, and smelly urine.