I'm 80% sure that I don't smell anymore

[jaxthemax]

Okay, I know this is going to be a long message so I am going to apologize beforehand. But, I'm at least 80% sure that I don't smell bad anymore and I think I've controlled the odor instead of curing myself from it. The odor I used to have was probably a Fecal Odor, but at the same time people would say that I smelled like ass or I smelled stank, so I don't know if the odor fluctuates. Also, I never know when I smell bad because I almost never can smell the odor that people say I smell like. Keep in mind that this is the third time that I've realized that I have reduced or gotten ridden my odor

How I found out that I didn't smell bad

The first time I found out that I didn't smell bad was about a month ago. I have a body odor friend that I would talk to and we would go to the mall and talk about our lives and how this body odor thing is ruining our lives. At this specific meet up I was determined to see if I still smell bad to people, and the way we would find out is by walking up to a person and start a random conversation with them. While the other person watched to see if they would give off an reaction to our odor, we did this several times and I couldn't believe that every time I did it, nobody acted as if I smelled bad. I was baffled by the discovery and only believed that I was 60% sure that I didn't smell. Fast forwarding through these couple of weeks, I still had incidents where I would think that I hear people talk about me when I walk passed them, believing that they were talking about how bad I smelled. I was so aggravated at the fact that I didn't know that I gave off an odor, that just this last week I was determined to confront someone so they could tell me if I smelled good or bad. So I would walk around a plaza and walk through stores to see if I can give off an reaction to someone, but nobody acted as if I smelled bad. I finally got the courage to ask someone and they looked at me puzzled and said no, then she started laughing and said I have never heard someone ask me that before. So that raised my certainty of smelling bad from 60 to 70%. Now this week I'm making it a habit to go out where they're a lot of people and talk to people to see if I give off a bad smell. I've talked to at least 4 people this week and they all say that I don't smell bad, plus the people that walk pass don't seem to be bothered about my odor. I know that you might be thinking that these people might be lying to you, yet I sincerely doubt that. However, it could be possible so that's why I'm only 80% sure that I don't smell anymore, I have to do more testing to see.

How I stopped smelling bad

I don't know if this routine can apply to everyone that has fecal odor so I will list the symptoms that I do have so if you have similar symptoms like mine then you should follow this routine.

I have coated white tongue

My body sweats more than normal

My body odor gets worse when I eat anything that has dairy or sugar in it

My family cannot smell my odor

My therapists cannot smell my odor

I get dry, cracked lips if I don't apply chapstick on daily

Diet
Now the way I've gotten rid of my odor is by following the no-sugar/fodmap diet. I've mostly followed the no sugar diet the most because I thought that eating fruit was still making me smell bad. The basics foods I've been eating constantly is oatmeal, blueberries, strawberries, toast, and a vegetable smoothie(carrots, spinach, kale or parsley, apple, and lemon). I'm trying to eat plain salad but the taste is still sort of gross to me

Supplements
I've been taking vitamin b complex, probiotics(at least 10 billion), zinc 50mg, vitamin A 200mg, magnesium citrate 400mg, and chlorophyll 120mg. I'm pretty sure that you don't really have to take these supplements to get results , but I believe taking supplements will quicken the process of alleviating the body odor. The most important ones I think you should take is probiotics, chlorophyll, and magnesium

Other stuff
You have to exercise everyday to sweat out the odor, this is not an option this is a must! From my experience I get less reactions from people when I exercise right before I go out into the world. If you have a sauna or any other method to sweat then use that instead.
Another must is to eat a lot of green vegetables, you need to have them for every meal you prepare. I personally hate to eat them like a salad so I blend them up and drink it like a smoothie, you can add fruit to it but only add one type. In addition, constipation is common problem for people who have fecal body odor so the best way to have multiple bowel movements is by drinking a lot of vegetables smoothies throughout the day and taking magnesium and probiotics daily. I've noticed the more smoothies I drink the more bowel movements I make

Final thoughts
Like I said before, I'm not 100% sure but I'm almost positive that I reduced my odor or gotten rid of it. I think I can eat whatever I want only for a extended period of time until I start to smell bad again.The reason I know this is because this is the third time I reduced my odor, the second time I reduced it I tried to go back into eating whatever I wanted and after the first week of eating this way, the odor came back unfortunately. I don't know if I will ever be able to eat whatever I want without consequence again. I do eat whatever I want on the weekend because that's when I don't have to be around people, but once the week starts over I have to eat a restricted diet again. Now since I shared my method, I want someone to answer a question I'm about to ask. My question is concerning the foods that you can eat on the no sugar diet, does anyone know if they can eat peanut butter, white rice, brown rice,wheat bread, and eggs on the diet and not
give off an odor?


Updated 3/25/2016


Ok I have to write this story because so much has happened to me in the last 5 years of writing this. I wanted to write this a long time ago, but I kept procrastinating about it. I do want to say that at this moment, I do not smell anymore or I have dramatically reduced my odor to the point that I have now been living a normal life for the past 6 months. The older post that I have made in July 21 2011, I don't really do those methods anymore and the method I was doing only worked for me for a week or so. So after a week of making this post on this website, I started to get reactions from people again. I think it had to do with the fact that I stopped doing the diet regimen and methods that I listed in the post, but that is besides the point because I need to tell my current story and try to explain how I got rid of my odor(in which I'm still trying to understand).

Here is an overview of what happened to me in the past five years

2011

• - I stopped going to school because I didn’t think I would be able to pass any class with this fecal body odor hindering my success.
• - I got a job at a call center, and was depressed because I had to deal with people. Also I got fired because I was a bad salesman
• - I decided to go back to school, but I wanted to do it online. The reason was because I didn’t want to be a nobody so I needed to have some sort of degree.
• - I got a temporary job as a seasonal employee at macy’s, one of the most embarrassing experiences in my life. People really treated me like I was nothing and they only allowed me to go to work for two days.

2012

• 
  -I got another job at a supermarket called the fresh market. It was fine for a couple of months until people really started reacting to me in a negative way. I got very angry with the people at my job because I told them I had a physical disorder that made me smell and I asked them if I did give off an odor to come and notify me of it. They never did, they just talked behind my back. I decided to quit the job after working there for 5 months

2012-2013

• - I decided to go in a different direction and get a job online. So I did, and I got a job as a customer service representative in a company called West at Home. The job was great for a couple of months until I couldn’t stand dealing with customers bitching to me about their bills or services. I did it for about a year until I got fired for lack quality in calls

2014-2015

• -Finally finished my online schooling and got a degree in visual communication and a specialization in web design. When I started to look for jobs I’ve noticed that I wasn’t well equipped with the knowledge to become a decent web designer. So I decided to transition my career choice as a graphic designer because I thought it would be an easier career to get into. But, I was mainly focusing on trying to become a freelancer and not having to get a job in a business.
  

2015-2016

Needed a Job

In 2015 I was trying very hard to do freelancing online and obtain clients via the internet, but I didn’t receive any luck to do it. I started trying to look for a job because I was now receiving monthly loan notes and I didn’t really have that much money to take care of it. Early on in the year I was working for another company that had to do with working at home and assisting customers with technical problems. But, I left the job real quick because I couldn’t stand talking to customers for long periods of time. Throughout the rest of the year, I was looking for a part time job while also looking for a job in graphic design. I did get a few interviews throughout the year for a graphic design position, but I didn’t obtain the position because of the lack of experience and also I think it was because I smelled. Fast forward my life all the way to the month August. I decided to change my job finding methods up by going to the nearest career center and going to a job fair. I felt like it would be a waste of time going there because once the hiring managers smelled me they would pass me up. However, I went there regardless and a week later I found out that I got the job. I was very excited because I was jobless for 5 and a half months. However, I was also hesitant about the job because I haven’t had a job at a brick and mortar establishment in 3 years. Also, the last job where I was working in a business made me very depressed, angry, and emotionally distressed so even though I got the job I was expecting the same results unless I did something extremely different. So I tried to initiate a plan where I would be able to reduce my odor before training started.


Getting back on the diet
So I started to go back to dieting and exercising because those methods worked for me in the past. I also kept record of the things I bought so that I can look back later into how much I was paying every time I went grocery shopping. The general things that I bought were carrots, apples, oatmeal, grapefruit, bananas, and rice. The majority of the time I would eat rice to keep me full, and I would eat the fruit as snacks. Once the first day at my job came, I was very nervous. I never been around people in a long time I was very watchful of how people reacted next to me when I was in rooms with a lot of people. In the past two weeks of working there I did see people rub their noses or sniffle when they were around me, but at other times with other people I didn’t really get any reaction. I couldn’t gauge if I did smell bad to people or not. It was very nerve wrecking being around people and my body would sweat constantly because I had a lot of anxiety. After the second week of working at a certain Harbor Freight store we had to work at other locations for training purposes. While working at other locations I did receive this unusual feeling that I did smell bad to people and as I kept working around people the suspicion grew more and more strong. The major signs that made me feel this way was when some people passed by me they would hold their breaths right before they were going to pass by me or exhale right before they were about to pass by me. That really got to me, but I tried to reason with myself that if I haven’t overheard a person say something about my odor then it might just be in my head. Fast forward to the third week, I finally had some sort of proof that I smelled bad to people because on a particular day we were unloading a truck to get some products in the warehouse. I overheard an employee say to someone else “He smells weird, yo”. That really took a toll on my self-esteem, but the day wasn’t done yet. I had to get in the truck and unload large package of products on a conveyor belt inside the truck. And I have to tell you the truck was sweltering hot. I was sweating so much inside the truck, subsequently when we were done I was drenched in sweat. Once I got out the truck and I had to be around people, they were treating me as if I had the plague. It really depressed me and made me very angry. Moreover as I continued to work, I got more and more angry, depressed, and hopeless. I felt pretty suicidal because I didn’t think I would be able to ever have a normal life ever again.

Off to the mental hospital
I told my mother that I didn’t feel like there is no point in living so she called some team called crisis…something. They did some analysis on me and transported me to the hospital. This visit to the hospital eventually landed me into the mental hospital for 6 days. During those days several doctors or patients came up to me and asked me why I was here, and I would explain my story of having fecal body odor and not being able to detect it. They would look at me puzzled and in some moments they would say that they couldn’t smell me. The doctors wanted to have a brain scan on me because they thought I was schizophrenic or I had an impaired vision on what is reality. But, the brain scan came back negative which means there was nothing wrong with my brain. The head doctor also made me take some type of medication which is used for people who suffer from schizophrenia, but the only thing that medication made me do was drool uncontrollably and made me feel weird mentally. In any case, once I left the hospital I felt very weird about my condition. I didn’t see anybody react to me and I had doctors believe that I was delusional. So much so, that I overheard the head doctor explain to his interns that though I seemed logical and mentally sound. He also met other patients who seemed just as sound and rational until the patient starts to explain why he eats his own feces. In addition to that, I was eating a lot of food at the hospital that I think would exacerbate my odor, yet I didn’t see anybody react to me in a negative way. In any case, with the lack of reactions I got from the mental hospital and the suggestions that I have some sort of psychosis; I started to question if it was all in my head. A day or so later, I went to a general physician and told them my story about fecal body odor, my attempts to treat it, and the experiences I had while dealing with it. Needless to say that she didn’t believe me, and she was more concerned that I was depressed and I didn’t have any friends to confide with. After leaving the doctor’s office, I had to decide whether or not I was going to go back to work or just quit the job. A huge part of me wanted to quit the job because I was tired of it, but a little part of me wanted to go back because I was starting to doubt that I smelled bad. I also rationalized to myself that if I go back to the job and I get negative reactions again, then I will quit on the spot and never come back again. However, if I don’t actually overhear a person saying something about me then I will stay at the job.

Shocking Revelation
The first day back on the job I was very nervous and I didn’t want to walk by people, I didn’t hear any negative comments about me when I passed by people but I was so prone to avoid people and felt that people were reacting to me when they walked passed me that I felt like they were doing so. However, when I was on my short break I talked to a fellow employee named zechariah. He wanted to know where I have been all this time and I told him that I was in the mental hospital for the past couple of days. He told me that he had a friend who was in the mental hospital once, and I guess he was telling me this to console me and make me not feel like I was not weird. But here is the most important thing about my interaction with him, I decided to personally tell him the reason why I was in the hospital and then I asked him has he ever smelled me. When I asked him that question he was very confused and responded to me saying that it was all about opinion, he said “if you think you smell , then you do smell”. He then goes on to say that he never smelled me and it is a weird question to ask him because he doesn’t go around smelling people. That response alone shocked the shit out of me, he said that he never smelled me and was trying to convince me that I should think that I smell good rather than bad. There was times where I did feel as though he was trying to avoid me because I smelled, but I must have misinterpreted his actions in a negative way. 6 months after that conversation with zechariah, I am still on the job and I haven’t heard a negative comment about me yet. Now within the six months I still had instances where people would breathe in deeply before they would pass by me or little things that kept made me feel insecure. But, I am starting to think that is just a involuntary reaction that they are oblivious to. Within the 6 months that I was working I started to go out more and feel normal again, I don’t get panic attacks or get anxiety when I’m around people and I don’t worry as much if I smell bad.

I don’t know anymore
Now the main part that I don’t understand is what really neutralized my odor? Did I ever had odor or was it all in my head? Was the diet or methods that I was doing ever worked or was that all in my head as well? Did I ever smell bad to people on the job and if I did when did it stop? These are questions that I don’t know the answer to, all I know is that I was doing dieting and exercising 2 weeks before I went to training on the job. During the training, I felt that people were talking bad about me behind my back and the diet wasn’t working anymore. The only thing that I feel that might be a reason as to why I stopped smelling bad is the fact that I was taking probiotics. And I’ve noticed that probiotics has had some positive effects in term of less reactions from people. In addition to that, the night before I was taken to the hospital I swallowed and excessive amount of probiotics because I didn’t think taking 2 a day was really helping. I any case, I know this story is not that helpful because I don’t have a valid explanation or solution to how I got rid of my fecal body odor. The only thing I can say is that I don’t have to worry about it anymore, and I don’t have worry about what not to eat anymore. My life isn’t in the best place I want it, but getting rid of this fecal body odor thing is a tremendous step forward in a positive direction.


Updated: 11/15/18

I had to update this, to give unfortunate news that my odor came back. I'm not sure when it came back, but I completely realized it a month or so ago. At this moment, I now work as a web developer to some small business in miami. I'm making way more money than I ever had before (even though it is only $12.50 an hour). But, I started noticing that I would overhear comments when I worked around people saying that I smell bad. Now, I did not really take those comments seriously because it sounded like they said it. In other words, they would say comments when I would leave and I would hear murmurings that sounded like it. In my head, I didn't believe it was the case because I didn't really have any reactions from people in a good year or so. Unfortunately, I started seeing people hold their noses, or rub them incessantly and once I saw that I realized that the odor has came back. Right now, I'm trying to eat a similar diet that I ate before but I don't think it is working. I will write more in detail about what I'm doing later. I just wanted to give an update

[healinghappens]

This is really great, jaxthemax! I think you've hit the nail on the head with your approach. I have found that when I eat mostly raw veggies, my odor is not an issue. And probiotics are a MUST. I've often wanted to go up to people and just flat out ask them if they smell anything, so I admire your courage. I got rid of my odor for 3 weeks doing something very similar to your method. I'm not sure why it's not going away this time, but I'm keeping at it.

As for your question about those foods on the no sugar diet, peanut butter I have found makes my odor HORRIBLE - maybe not the first day, but a few days after even, eggs give off odor immediately after I eat them, white rice is a no-no but brown rice I have found is tolerable occasionally (and really good for you). I have also found that occasionally I can eat a piece of wheat bread in combination with veggies and some cold cuts. But only once every few weeks.

Congratulations on getting your odor under control!!

[absgail]

I dont think eggs are bad at all. Im certain that youre following candida diet. so eggs are not a no no i i think. Im ff. candida diet,, I havent noticed some changes in my odor except that im getting signs that my Bo is bcoz of yeast growing in my body.. BTW, keep us posted with your success

[jaxthemax]

healinghappens

That's pretty funny that you say white rice is bad and brown rice is good, when in actuality, brown rice should be bad because it is high in fructose while white rice is not


absgail
your message is a little bit confusing, but no I'm not following the candida diet. The no-sugar diet is slightly different

[jcc34]

Hi Jaxthemax

Congrats on your successes mate. With the low fodmap diet, my understanding was it starts very restrictive then you can try adding different fodmap groups in one at a time so broadening your diet. Is that what you're doing?

Which low sugar diet? The one Lisa came up with on the old forum? I have my own low sugar diet, which is basically sucrose avoidance plus certain sweet fruit (but I haven't been following this recently). Brown rice is high fructose? It might be present but I wouldn't think high, there's no sweetness to brown rice?? I always eat brown rice myself as it is less refined and more nutritious.

[healinghappens]

I guess everyone just has to experiment for themselves, it seems. I think we all have varying odor issues that respond individually to different foods. Here's to experimentation!

[jaxthemax]

jcc34

Umm my approach to the fodmap diet wasn't that organized. I pretty much followed the no-sugar diet and ate the things that were low in fructose, which explains why I basically ate oatmeal half the time. I did eat fruit, but I only ate the fruit that was considered acceptable in moderation in this table
www.healthhype.com/nutrition-guide-for-fructose-malabsorption.html

The list also explains why I try to avoid brown rice because it is considered high in fructose on the table. And, yes I was following the no-sugar diet that was made up by Lisa,

[paige90]

Hey jaxthemax. Would you mind telling me how long you were on this diet before you noticed any results? I've been on the low FODMAP diet for two weeks now but I think I'm the same... possibly even worse.

[jaxthemax]

paige90
if this is the same person that messaged me on curezone then I will just reiterate that I don't really remember how long i stayed on the diet and realized that I didn't smell anymore. I was probably doing it for 8 weeks strong until I realized that I didn't smell bad or at least my odor reduced

[Searchingaway]

Can u tell me...did u just have body odor only or did u feel the smell was coming when u possibly would exhale or start eating something. Was it coming from 'inside" of you. This is my problem.

[jaxthemax]

No I don't think the smell is coming out when I exhale, but I do believe that the smell is a result of what I eat. I do believe that there is something wrong with me internally and that is what is causing my body to act this way

[trundlebe]

hey jax I'm on the same boat I have no clue what's wrong with my but I have stripped my diet of sweeteners and carbs and dairy. Now I'm terrified to eat normally again because I had a slip up (I had cranberry juice with vodka, some cashew nuts and oat cookies and a little piece of chocolate, diet coke and some salad dressing) I don't know for CERTAIN if my body odor is responding positively to my dietary changes but I like to think so so that I can maintain it strongly with hope. I have read a decent number of people who have changed their diets and cured b.o. What I want to ask is are your supplements expensive and how do you know if they're working?

[bean]

I followed your routine and it is working really well for me!
I am not positive whether I still have the fecal body odour or not, because I am not really putting myself into situations that I think will humiliate me.

I went to the doctors, and to the mall. Both times I could not smell anything....but still, sometimes I wonder. I will have to wait until I'm brave enough to go back to university and sit in a lecture to see if it really works.

I have been eating oatmeal, 2 apples, brown rice, salad (carrots, lettuce, tomatoes). It is a bit different to your diet...I'm kind of following the candida diet, by not eating sugar, but I am also avoiding most carbs

I have been on the diet for a couple of weeks, this week I am going gluten free. Because I recently read a post from some young guy on a different body odour website. He had fecal body odour, until he eliminated meat, dairy, but also he said that anytime he ate something with gluten in it or a lot of carbs that the fecal smell came back and would stay for at least a week. I think brown rice is gluten free and you can find oatmeal that is gluten free....so I think gluten could be a problem and causing the fecal smell.

I also am taking epsom salts every day to keep my bowels regular. Its also good to use for a cleanse every now and then. But wow does it taste disgusting.

I have also been running everyday like you suggested with exercising.


Overall I feel so much better about myself and I feel a lot more positive and healthy. My cravings are not that strong any more, so I am not cheating.

[mary]

hey bean, that's fantastic news. How long were you been on the diet before you noticed any results?

[Bean]

I was on the diet for about a month. I kind of did it gradual. One week I started being vegan, but was still eating things with sugar in it. I was baking a lot of vegan cookies... e_e

Then after about 2 weeks I cut out sugar (besides the sugar in fruit, but I still limit my fruit intake).

And after a week doing that I decided to cut out the carbs, because I was still eating a bagel or pita bread/roti/plain vegan scones for lunch or snacks

And now Im just eating the stuff I mentioned in my other post.

So yep! I think the epsoms salt and exercise really helps. You feel so much better getting rid of all the toxins. But still, Im going to stick to the diet for another month before I make myself go back to uni and sit in those awful lecture theatres for an hour. Then I will definitely know if my odour is still around or not.

Usually I can smell it when I go out, so me not being able to smell it, in waiting rooms and malls is a good thing for me. But its so hard to be 100 percent positive, because you are constantly interpreting a person breathing loudly or someone just coughing or sneezing as a sign you smell bad, when it is nothing or they just have a cold.

I'm just hoping I stick to the diet and do not give in. I have never lasted this long on the dier before. I think the exercise really motivates you to keep eating healthy as well.