Newsgroups: sci.med
Date: Thu,  5 Nov 1992 05:11:53 -0500 
From: Wendy Sherman <ws1d+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Offensive BO

If anyone out there can help me, please reply to this, as I feel I'm 
slowly going mad. Were it not confirmed for me by more than 
one person, I would not believe it myself. I have a horrible body
stench (worse than any mild body odor) that I cannot get rid of.
I've curtailed every activity that invites contact with people
because of this, and feel my already miserable life is 
getting worse. 

As implausable as this may sound, I think I "caught" this from
my neighbors.

When I moved into my, no other neighbors offered
to help while I was moving in, or made any effort to meet me. Seems
normal for any neighborhood these days, and atypical looking back that
they should have been so friendly. Anyhow, I'll get to the point. Well,
when my neighbors the Bennets invited me over, I could see why they were
so eager to 
make new acquantainces. Never have I smelled such a foul odor
before in my life. The stench from their house was indescribable
to me at the time. A mixture of, for lack of a better description,
an almost genital smell, mixed with filth. I spoke with my upstairs
tenant, who had similarly visited the place when she moved in, and
she claims she would never return, nor would she forget the smell.

But, being the idiot that I am, I was undaunted by this new challenge
for friendship in my new setting. My boyfriend had given me my walking
papers, and I was downright lonely. The Bennet's daughter Joy was
either a combination of emotionally disturbed and/or retarded, and
I was trying to help her improve her reading skills. You can say that
out of desperation, ignorning this smell, I began to frequent their
place, spending at least one night a week there, and stretches of time
during my weekends.

Well, soon my clothing began to reek, but even THAT didn't deter me
from going there. Finally, my mother in an anguished tone sat me
down and told me how horrible I smelled. She didn't know what was
wrong with me, and could no longer be silent about it. It was 
THAT SMELL she was describing. I recognized it immediately fromher
description of it.

Unbelieveable as it was to me, I had picked up that odor.
No problem, I thought to mysel, I'll just cease visiting them, and 
it will dissipate. No such luck, at that time, the smell lasted
several months until I somehow rid myself of it, a process I'll
try and describe to you. 

Once mom went public with this information, it was confirmed to me by
my friends, all of whom would lose composure while admitting to
me that I did have this odor. Meanwhile, other than my ballroom
dance partner, who I'm now convinced had no sense of smell, I
didn't have close contact with anyone for any length of time.

This all took place about 8 months ago. After approximately 4 months
time past since I'd had contact with them, the smell in my house and on
my body was no longer there. 

As an aside, I need to mention other medical problems that I have to
understand any background info that might help in solving this. (HA, I've
really given up at this point and feel desperate) I should mention that
whether 
coicidentally or otherwise, I had suddenly developed an acute
inflamation (beefy red) of my vulva area, which I finally
got rid of after visits to both my gynecologist (I went to several
before one could help) and a skin doctor. This all ties
into the smell, but I'll get to the point shorty if you'll
not hit your ctl-K's to kill this message just yet. Anyhow, 
the dermotologist treated me with Terazol cream despite my
negative yeast culture. She felt that the odor, if nothing
more would respond to the cream as she thought the smell I
had was very potent in my labia minora and vulva. Amazingly,
the redness and the odor disappeared, something my gyne
attributed to coicidence. My gyne didn't feel treating an 
already irritated vulva with creams was wise considering the
negative yeast culture. 

But finally, I'd rid myself of all these smells and irritations
and I was home free. I didn't go near the Bennet's house
anymore, and parked my car on a different street at times
to avoid them. I just didn't want to deal.......

until one day (last week)  I had what I now realize was a panic attack but
what I construed it to be an allergy attack. (I have a history of
allergy problems that flare up when under stress). I ran to 
the Bennet's house out of fear because Mrs. Bennet, in a past
life was an ER nurse.  Thinking back, I should have called
an ambulance or a friend. would have spared me much grief. 

So I was back in choke and gag from the stink city sitting on
their couch, happy to be alive, but gagging fast and thinking
of excuses to leave. Why the F*ck did I go? I ask myself now.

They inisisted that I stay for a while.  So I did.
And guess what? The stench is back and seems worse than ever.
My new ballroom dance partner whom I've only danced with for
a month suddenly began making excuses about why he couldn't
continue. 

The bottom line is  that I stink all over again. 
I especially notice it when I'm in my car, or if I put the
blankets over my head. Otherwise, I guess my nose has grown
accustomed to the smell. Belive me, that I'm
writing this publicly reinforces for myself that in addition
to having this odor, I must be suffering from an anxiety disorder
of the extreme, and I'm flirting with obsessive-compulsive
illness. (I used to suffer from an anxiety disorder and that
seems to be back to visit me too. I do have the confidence that
I can rid myself of that by taking Pamelor. Not so easy with the
smell though).

My question: How can I get rid of the smell. I've taken a bath
and shower each day this week (this all occured Wed. evening, a
week ago). I've washed the clothing I've worn there. I put
covers on my furniture. I'm beginning to feel like Howard Huges
as I isolate from everyone to avoid offending them with my
smell. The smell seems more potent in my vaginal area, something
I noticed while going to the bathroom.

What should I do? Could I be having a hysterical reaction equivalent
to an obsession? I know the smell exists and this has been confirmed
(once again) by a few people, but my anxiety over it this time
is incredible. I'm worried that I'll get an irritation of the vulva 
again as it seems to be occuring. (was this psychosomatic too?)
I phoned my skin doctor about this, and she thinks I'm crazy. I can
tell. But then again, she prescribed an irritating cream and cortizone
drugs at the same time (to counteract the effect of the cream). 
One other factor. Mrs. Bennet (false name BTW) has several medical 
problems but I'm not sure of the diagnosis. She has some thyroid and
liver problems. She also has staph irritations on her skin. She's
told me this when I asked what they were. Could her thyroid cause
her to have an odor?

So I have three questions:
1) How do I get rid of the odor assuming it's as bad as I believe it is?
2) Could such an odor be caused by a bacteria? this seems implausible to
me, as it doesn't make sense.
3) Could I be having a hysterical reaction of sorts? 
4) Could I have the odor independent of my contact with them, and if
so, what can cause this. If any MD's out there can take this seriously,
I'm really under duress, as ridiculous as this post may sound. I probably
should not have given so much background information, but I'm sometimes
unable to sort out the critical issues in a situation. 

Also, last but not least, how reliable are yeast cultures? I've recently
had to take an antibiotic and I'm wondering if I might have a mild
yeast infection even though I have no symptoms of this other than
the wonderful fragrance I reek from. Please help. sos before I jump
ship and set sail for a place where only I can smell myself. Or,
worse yet, decide to end it all in which case there would be a more
puitrid distinguishable smell, but at least I wouldn't recognize
it. (i'm kidding, but I am very distressed). Please help.

-wendy