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Update on ? Body Odour

(11 Posts)
Granless Thu 29-Oct-20 13:31:53

I started a discussion about body odour several weeks ago. GP prescribed antibiotics for sinus infection. Well, bringing you up to date .... it seems I am suffering (a very appropriate word) from Phantosmia: a smell that is not there . It’s driving me mad as you can’t get away from it plus sleep isn’t good. All I hope is that it disappears one day. The upside of this is ‘I don’t smell!, as my hubbie kept telling me.

GagaJo Thu 29-Oct-20 13:43:15

I get this at times. It is a known side effect of the menopause.

BlueSky Thu 29-Oct-20 18:20:02

Granless I’ve had that about 10 years ago but I never thought it was my BO. It was just a general quite unpleasant smell, I could even smell it at night, tried saline solutions, Vicks, etc but nothing helped. It eventually very slowly disappeared. Good luck.

Granless Thu 29-Oct-20 22:42:24

GagaJo. At 73 I don’t think the menopause is my problem grin?
BlueSky can you recall roughly how long it lasted?

Callistemon Thu 29-Oct-20 22:52:52

Granless I have noticed that having a cold or sinus infection can leave you afterwards with a 'smell that isn't there'.
Or perhaps it's the catarrh itself and the antibiotics should help.

B9exchange Thu 29-Oct-20 23:47:07

Phantosmia is also a symptom of Covid. My daughter recovered from Covid in February, but has been left with the problem that everything she eats tastes of rotten meat, and she still has no sense of smell. Might be worth having an antibody test, not that these are in any way reliable.

BlueSky Thu 29-Oct-20 23:50:20

Granless the unpleasant smell luckily didn’t last too long as it was almost unbearable, then I had a spell with weird smells but not particularly unpleasant. At the end of all this I was left with a poor sense of smell. All in all it did take a couple of years to phase out, sorry to say! Oddly enough I never had it investigated properly by the GP.

GagaJo Fri 30-Oct-20 09:29:19

I get it less now, since I'm post menopausal. The smells I got weren't even particularly bad at times. Just smells that weren't there.

I do get the sinus smell sometimes. For me, it's a sign of an infection. Nasal washing can sort that out.

Callistemon Fri 30-Oct-20 10:17:45

Try Sterimar nasal wash, it may help.

harrigran Fri 30-Oct-20 11:15:54

I developed this after an operation several years ago, six months after leaving hospital I could still smell the disinfectant which gave me flashbacks.

Granless Sat 31-Oct-20 12:08:12

Thank you all for your input here.
To be a little more explicit. My lips, nose and tongue can ‘tingle’; eyes can slightly water as though I’ve smelt something that has a vapour; facial skin can reacts as though a cream hasn’t agreed with me. All interestingly strange and all in the mind. confused