OMG, dip me in Eau de toilette!

OK, for the last 2-3 days, I have been noticing that I'm exuding a foul stench from my skin.  Not just normal body odor, but something far worse.  It is awful.  I'm not sweaty or anything like that... but it's so bad that my husband noticed it tonight when I got home, and he was standing 2 feet away from me.

I don't have a rash or anything.  I have no clue what might be going on.  The smell is worst where I have the most excess skin (belly and thighs), but again, there's no moisture, I'm not getting a rash, I don't know what it is?

Anyone have any thoughts?

I also posted in the RNY board....

Is it in the folds of skin? It could be a fungal thing. You can get a cream from your doctor for it.

no, it's not specifically in the folds of skin... I can also smell it on my arms and legs, just not as strong... I'm planning to call the Dr tomorrow... we'll see if they say anything.

I remember a guy on Oprah a few years ago who had lost a tremendous amount of weight and he had the same problem.  It was an odor causing bacteria that grew around the areas of excess skin.  I know this is not what you want to hear but, after trying everything he could think  of he ended up having to come up with funds for surgery to remove the excess in order to get rid of the odor. 

I think Lane's comment is a more technical approach to the "folds of skin" question.  My question to you would be to honestly and privately inventory what you eat, drink, and take medication/supplement wise.  Has any of that changed in the past month? What other complications do you still have now post surgery? For instance I suffer from a hormone imbalance that causes hyperhydrosis (excessive sweating). 

What comes to mind is people who drink to much or even ppl whose diet is completely different culturally often have a different body odor than we do.  My father is an airline pilot and had a friend who lived in Japan with his wife and they never ate beef or chicken, only seafood and veggies/rice.  One time he went to visit them for dinner and left, then realized he left his flight bag.  Returning after ten minutes they were airing out the house.   My dad is OCD about two showers a day and deodorant as I am, so it was just his natural odor which I would never smell but they found offensive.  So different may smell terrible to you, but it is just your body's shift. 

I know I have keener sense of smell since surgery bc my allergies went away. Though I still have congestion issues, it isn't near what it used to be and I can smell anything three rooms away...

My last thought is back to the alcoholic thing,  Not that I am saying you drink too much, but remember you liver works a lot harder now than it used to bc your intestines don't do the prefiltering they used to.  So your meds and/or alcohol could be causing this. If your liver is in total overdrive it could be using your sweat glands to help clean things up.  I had a friend with an issue that was similar but not quite as extreme.  She wasn't aware how bad it was to treat a hangover with Tylenol after surgery.  Since that is our only OTC pain killer, she used it. but it is also the only one that uses the liver (just like the vodka from the night before)...

Best of luck at the doctor today, it probably isn't anything too serious...

Your body might be in ketosis - which often causes a change in body odor.  You can google it to get more info, or maybe someone here can explain what happens with that. It's common with low carb diets and rapid weight loss. You might try the clinical strength deodorant, an internal deodorant (from a pharmacy), or cleansing with a cooled sage tea solution daily (a natural deodorant).  Good luck! 

I was just going to mention ketosis (Although I thought that was more specific to bad breath.)

People on low-carb, high-protein diets with rapid weight loss sometimes have unusual body odor from ketosis, not just bad breath!  Here's the explanation: 

"Ketones are organic acids...they have to be excreted as waste one way or another. Most often, they are excreted through the urine (making your kidneys not so happy), as well as through your breath and sweat. Thus, people in ketosis tend to have a really bad body odor... Since the absorption of glucose in a healthy person is near 100% and ketosis isn't nearly as efficient, someone on the Atkins, or similar, diet will excrete a whole lot of waste products, perhaps in some not-so-pleasant ways."
From www.ProgressiveU.org 

Here is a cut and paste I found, I remembered something about increased protein and body odor:

The most common cause of unusual body odor is a skin infection. An ammonia odor is caused by infection with Helicobacter, the bacteria that causes stomach ulcers, or by eating too much protein. Ask your doctor to draw a blood test for helicobacter. If it is positive, you can be cured with antibiotics. If it is negative, you may need to eat less meat, fish, chicken and dairy products. When you take in more protein than your body can use immediately, your body strips ammonia from protein to make you smell like ammonia. A fish odor is caused by taking choline supplements, by a hereditary condition called trimethylaminuria that requires avoiding fish and other dietary sources of choline, or by a vaginal infection caused by a bacteria called Gardnerella. People who have damaged livers can also develop body odor that smells like fish. Damage to the liver can destroy the chemical that breaks down choline.

You have got some good advice and I hope you find the cause of your unpleasant BO.

I would certainly get a medical checkup (to rule out E.I. Trimethylaminuria, Kidney- or  liver- problems and even tuberculosis!)  If you after ruling all these out and not finding a cause - you may want to mask the unpleasant BO. Dipping in Eau de toilette - seems a little extreme - some will find that even worse than the BO!

I am thinking taking Chlorophyll pills first and then perhaps ad Devrom. Drinking enough water and perhaps taking probiotics may also help.

I hope you will find a solution.