Okay girls.......I wouldnt normally ever dream of posting something like this up on a community board but........I think you can probably handle it.......lol. I have noticed the last couple of months that when I void the odor is terribly strong and then at other times there is a bitter blech "aroma"...there I like that word better.....that seems to drift up from the vaginal area. How disgusting is this topic huh? It is really starting to bother me cause I often think....OMG can other people smell this?? Anyone else having a similar problem that might be able to suggest something other than hanging a car deoderizer from my naval?

Jadie xo

Hi Jadie;

Same Problem Here;

I think it might have more to do with your increased sense of smell during Peri. I know there are things that just smell awful to me now, including myself at times. By the way, nobody else picks up on the odors, and I have asked them (Husband, Sister, Son) because I know that they would be honest with me. My own odors change according to the time of the month. Sometimes sickly sweet, sometimes sour, sometimes just thick, {if you can figure out that smell} , sometimes no smell, Clean as a day in Spring.
Other things that bother me, Celery - Smells Awful to me, makes me gag, Pea Soup, smells like vomit to me, Candle Stores - the scents burn my nose and sinuses - too heavy, walking through the Fish Market in my local grocery at certain times of the month. I am sure that there are other things out there too, I just can't think of them right now.

Keep your sniffer workin'. It ain't you.

Linda
Linderful

Jadie. I have noticed a stronger vaginal odor when ovulate and also if I am sick (like if I have a cold or something) but definately I feel that it is to do with peri. When I was young I had the usual vaginal discharge and stuff like that but it was never with as much odor - must be our hormones.
Does that mean the older we get the smellier? - Don't even want to THINK about that!!!! Rita

roflmao......ummmm......I work long term care.......yea we get smellier...........trust me. But by then I just dont think I will much care.......who I am to impress at that point? Mr. Doe rushing by with his walker, his drawers falling down round his ankles? lol lol lol.

Jadie xo

Just a story, but it fits...

Last week a very regular customer came into our restaurant, ordered her regular Vegetarian Gumbo Curry. She sent it back, it smelled like "vomit" and she couldn't eat it.
When it came back, I smelled it, tasted it, tried to figure out what was wrong. Couldn't figure it out. It was as great as we always serve it and she had eaten it many times before.
About a half hour later I had finished my shift, met her in the bar in passing, and she apologised. She said she didn't know what was going on but she just couldn't eat her favourite foods any more. It was driving her crazy. I asked her to not be offended but, did she think it was a possibility that she was apperoaching "the CHANGE"(she looked a little older than me, so I felt comparatively safe) She said "NO WAY!!!"
Yesterday, she came up to me and asked what would be the signs if she was approaching "the Change", and what should she do. Was it possible, could this explain all these really wierd things that have been happening? She was expecting hot flashes to announce the beginning!
I explained that many symptoms can herald the onset of the "years of Wisdom", and she may be already there.
I gave her this website, told her of the support here, and promised NOT to serve her curry until she got her nose back in order!


((By the way, I got on Honey"s back a couple of months ago for not cleaning the bathroom, (it's his job, he's unemployed), cause whenever I was in there having a pee, the place was really stinky. Then we narrowed the stinkiness down to when I was actually sitting there. I have stopped complaining.))

oh yes, this is me also.. i smell so different to what i used to, and i don't like it.. sometimes i just want to crawl off into the shower and stay there...

but i hadn't thought it could just be my nose!! hadn't realised my sense of smell would change to that degree... gives me a measure of confidence tho..

Oh, Gawd...laughing and crying at the same time reading all of you, cuz I know exactly what you all are talking about...and smelling. Yep, part of it is that our smells change, and part of it is that our smellers change.

Several years ago I worked for 7 years in a small feminist women's health clinic. Our medical director was a somewhat old-fashioned appearing, but also very progressive, male OB/GYN. Once during a down time, we were talking about female odors, and he told me that the smell that always bothered him most throughout the entire duration of his career was UNWASHED FEET. So, even though your mama always told you to put on clean undies when you went out, Dr. K. thought it was more important to always put on clean socks before you went out

Oh thank god for that! Just found these postings and so relieved I did, I thought it was just me
I cannot find a deodorant that works and as for undies - well...sometimes I feel like checking in the morror to see that it really is me because I smell so different. Why I didn't connect this particular thing with peri I have no idea. It must be that other popular symptom - foggy brain.
Thanks Ladies

Oh Thank cripe it aint just me then............knowing I am not the only odoriferous one here helps.......lmao.

Jadie

Happened to me too.

You know when workmen smell a bit 'oniony'? Well I've even smelled like that from the basement!

At the moment my pee smells really strong (like a mans), despite drinking plenty!

No worries Jadie!
My picture is not on the hall of fame!

it's happened to my pee as well.. i couldn't believe it was me... (blush)

it's all so humiliating!! good grief.. i have to know this ends as well after a while?

EEK! I got the oniony smell last night and I thought of Alice's post...my turn. Then I realised my friend was cooking onions in the kitchen. What a relief

I can't eat onions though, so it wasn't caused by that...

It hasn't happened since that one time either.

Yep, I can relate...and it does vary depending on the time of month...one more thing to deal with.

Are you saying your hoochie smells like onions sometimes?

Tee Hee Hoochie! Never heard it called that before.
Don't know about alice but you could make French onion soup from my armpits sometimes! Yuk.

Pressed the wrong button...I really am going round the bend
When I was sitting on the lav the other night is when I got the oniony smell from...you know where, but turned out to be a lovely dinner in the making. Sadly, I couldn't fancy it after that experience. Sorry if I put everyone off onion soup.
Anyone recommend a good deodorant?

I just read today that there was a study done (I am sorry I forget where) on women’s odour and they found out that when we are fertile we attract men with our odour and when we are not we repel them. Why did they do this study and how did they do it?

Oh I couldnt resist answering this one. When "we" are fertile we are young and beautiful and naive.......when we are meno we are older, still beautiful but now smarter than we were. We repel on purpose................lmao. Hows that????? hee hee........................................

Quickie...thats the "Fermones"...(I dont rightly know off hand if Im even spelling this correctly) I think, that was for colonges and parfumes industries that actually started this study.

In the US there are numberous "scents" and frangrances" one can buy... for actracting the opposite sex...unless you want to actract the same...

It sparked from the studies on animals actually insects and fish have this too..and how the scents could actract the mating "readiness".... of a female

A male can just take a whiff of a females urine to see if she is in "heat or not, or when getting down wind from her,..and they go a looking for her...we all know that men are usually ready "anytime"...

Jadie lol I guess we do

DaMomma you must be right I remember (now that you mention that) that from a long time ago I guess some one just wanted to spend more money on another study and re named a study they already had done.

Jeepers,
You could have given that study money to my ex!
He could always tell two days before I started my period. Said he could smell it!
After the first time he said that, I asked him to prove it....and he did!
Even if I wasn't ornery or crampy!
Go figure!

Jadie and everyone,

I had this exact same problem a few months ago - not the armpits but a pungent aroma wafting up from down below as you have all so eloquently described .

Didn't matter how often I washed and deodorised and scented (and I was like a woman obsessed), it made no difference.

I couldn't stand it any longer, so went to our local FP clinic. I'm not sure what the equivalent is in the US and other countries but this service is totally free on the NHS here in the UK, the whole place is staffed by women for women, and you don't need to get referred through your GP, you can just ring up. I find them miles better than the doc's for all things woman including MENO, because let's face it, they are women!

Anyway, she examined me and I told her about the stink and she insisted she couldn't smell anything. I could tell she maybe thought I was being a tad paranoid but she took some swabs for testing and the results came back clear.

Another week went by and I was still humming, so I went back and saw her again. She kind of half rolled her eyes as I walked in, but she was very patient with me and at my request, she did another swab test. It came back showing Vaginal Bacteriosis. She explained this is a perfectly harmless vaginal infection that affects millions of women at any one time. It can be caused by any number of things, even washing too much ... and is easily cured by a five day course of antibiotics. The only way you know you've got it is if you niff a bit. It doesn't itch or anything, it just stinks!!

Did the course, and have been stink free ever since! Fresh as a Daisy! And I'm still 49 years old and I'm still going through peri!

What I'm trying to say here is that smelling down under isn't inevitable just because we're getting older and just because we're menopausal. It could (as it was in my case) be down to a simple, underlying cause that can be easily remedied.

I knew my own smell, and I knew the way I was smelling wasn't right so my advice to anyone who is bothered by this is trust your own instincts, cos no one knows your body better than you. If you think you don't smell right, it might be worth getting checked out for VB.

Hmmm (not hummm) interesting. Can we "mature ladies" attend the FP clinics here then? I'd no idea. And is it just for problems in the nether regions?

Why on earth not Peribelle? These are NHS clinics for women. They are fantastic. Totally staffed by women for women and any medicines (and er... other items!?!?) they give you are totally free!

Yeah they only deal with down below stuff I'm afraid, but the docs being women (and usually mature ones) have a wealth of knowledge about peri and are more than happy to chat, answer questions etc. There's none of this out of the door in 10 minutes malarky.

Well blow me down Thanks Jenilou, that's good to know. makes me wonder how much else I don't know about our NHS!

Okay ladies.....the urine smell does get stronger with peri/menopause as does the vaginal odor. No matter how much water you drink the urine will still have the odor at times. Seems to get worse right after the period. What's really bad though is the odor when you're on your period. No matter how clean you "think" you are the odor is still there. Drives me crazy.

Kathy,
I had to chime in...my husband can tell when I'm about to start my period too! Matter of fact, he reminds me to turn on the bathroom fan, so that the smell can waft away. It isn't pretty. LOL

Yuk
I work with captive wild animals and they can always tell when a woman has her period. We don't mind but it's a bit embarrassing for the public