Post by jules on Feb 14, 2021 10:20:27 GMT
Hi All,
This is my first post although I've lurked here in the past. I have suffered from body odour that has got worse and worse since puberty (I'm now 40!). It's not TMAU, more a traditional combo of axillary bromhidrosis, halitosis and, until recently, vulvar odour.
This smelled kind of different every day, but always unpleasant - sometimes a bit fishy, or meaty, or like stale urine. I'd be fine after a shower, then maybe 4 hours later it would come back. I had swabs done by my Doc for BV etc but these came back negative.
I tried the following:
Going vegetarian
Using only pH balanced feminine wash
No longer using sponge or flannel to wash - only hands
Using hairdryer instead of towel to dry
Thrush treatment
General gut probiotics
But none of these helped. The only times the odour got better (for a couple of weeks max) was when I got a tattoo (weird!) and once when I got erythromycin for tonsillitis. Unfortunately that made my armpits smell worse! No other antibiotics had ever made a difference. I just had to use pantyliners every day to keep the smell in, as it were.
Anyway, I then saw an ad to join a randomised clinical trial, looking at whether probiotics could change the vaginal flora of healthy women. It was quite invasive with weekly swabs but I thought I would try anything so I signed up.
I was again swabbed for all sorts of infections and everything came back negative. So I was accepted onto the trial.
I was given two probiotic strains - lactobacillus acidophilus (LA-14) and lactobacillus rhamnosus (HN001). I took one capsule a day after breakfast for a total of 17 days. I don't remember the odour improving straight away but after I finished the trial, I realised the bad odour had gone. It's now been a month and a half since I finished the trial and it hasn't come back. I now notice a very mild "natural" odour but I can now go 24 hours without washing and there's still none of the unpleasant odour. I actually still can't believe it has worked!
Thank goodness I was given the active treatment and not the placebo - I knew this myself from the outset because it made my stomach rumble SO loudly. Thankfully this only lasted a couple of days!
Obviously I am worried it could come back so am keen to "top up" with more of the same probiotics. But here in the UK it's been hard to find, as the trial was all kind of anonymised. With some detective work, I found the trial was sponsored by Danisco, who make a product called Pro-fem. It has 8 billion LA-14 and 2 billion HN001. I think this must be what I was given. I can't buy it over here, but I found one called Nature's Aid that has smaller amounts but you can take multiple capsules, so I've ordered them.
My armpit and breath odour hasn't changed but it's made me think that all body odour is linked to the microbiome and it's given me hope that I can cure those in the future too.
Here's hoping the odour stays gone and I hope this information will help some of you :-)
This is my first post although I've lurked here in the past. I have suffered from body odour that has got worse and worse since puberty (I'm now 40!). It's not TMAU, more a traditional combo of axillary bromhidrosis, halitosis and, until recently, vulvar odour.
This smelled kind of different every day, but always unpleasant - sometimes a bit fishy, or meaty, or like stale urine. I'd be fine after a shower, then maybe 4 hours later it would come back. I had swabs done by my Doc for BV etc but these came back negative.
I tried the following:
Going vegetarian
Using only pH balanced feminine wash
No longer using sponge or flannel to wash - only hands
Using hairdryer instead of towel to dry
Thrush treatment
General gut probiotics
But none of these helped. The only times the odour got better (for a couple of weeks max) was when I got a tattoo (weird!) and once when I got erythromycin for tonsillitis. Unfortunately that made my armpits smell worse! No other antibiotics had ever made a difference. I just had to use pantyliners every day to keep the smell in, as it were.
Anyway, I then saw an ad to join a randomised clinical trial, looking at whether probiotics could change the vaginal flora of healthy women. It was quite invasive with weekly swabs but I thought I would try anything so I signed up.
I was again swabbed for all sorts of infections and everything came back negative. So I was accepted onto the trial.
I was given two probiotic strains - lactobacillus acidophilus (LA-14) and lactobacillus rhamnosus (HN001). I took one capsule a day after breakfast for a total of 17 days. I don't remember the odour improving straight away but after I finished the trial, I realised the bad odour had gone. It's now been a month and a half since I finished the trial and it hasn't come back. I now notice a very mild "natural" odour but I can now go 24 hours without washing and there's still none of the unpleasant odour. I actually still can't believe it has worked!
Thank goodness I was given the active treatment and not the placebo - I knew this myself from the outset because it made my stomach rumble SO loudly. Thankfully this only lasted a couple of days!
Obviously I am worried it could come back so am keen to "top up" with more of the same probiotics. But here in the UK it's been hard to find, as the trial was all kind of anonymised. With some detective work, I found the trial was sponsored by Danisco, who make a product called Pro-fem. It has 8 billion LA-14 and 2 billion HN001. I think this must be what I was given. I can't buy it over here, but I found one called Nature's Aid that has smaller amounts but you can take multiple capsules, so I've ordered them.
My armpit and breath odour hasn't changed but it's made me think that all body odour is linked to the microbiome and it's given me hope that I can cure those in the future too.
Here's hoping the odour stays gone and I hope this information will help some of you :-)