Smelly smells
So I’ve noticed a new intensity/pungency in my personal fragrance—particularly when I get stressed, anxious, or even excited…
Once I notice my smell, I get more stressed and the smell gets stronger—or at least I’m even more aware of it! It’s really embarrassing.
Turns out that this can be one of the million symptoms of perimenopause. Why? Glad you asked.
A few days ago, I listened to a talk between Rachel Hughes and Dr. Kudzai Dombo from the myAlloy platform about the lesser known symptoms of perimenopause. After much debate—and swallowing my pride, I sent in this question:
“I’d love to know more about changes in body odor. I stress sweat when I have hot flashes while I’m out/working, in big meetings, etc. I’ve noticed that lately when I stress sweat, my body odor is NEXT LEVEL! Is this related to the menopause transition? Or is it that my sense of smell is heightened (and also related to the menopause transition)? Should I start taking body deodorant everywhere I go? Lots of questions there but it’s become a new struggle—which makes the sweat worse.”
Dr. Dombo shed some light on my concerns. She mentioned that increased sweating from hot flashes and night sweats may lead to more body odor. Also hormonal fluctuations during perimenopause can lead to increases in odor causing bacteria. The why is not certain, but the odor causing bacteria responds (happily in my case) to these fluctuations. What may be helpful is layering clothing so when the sweat happens, we can change out of the smelly clothes.
I personally have become diligent about carrying around body deodorant from Shea Moisture and Lume to help. I have noticed a difference and am thankful for that!
For a more details on this topic, check out Rachel Hughes’ IG page. The IG Live session was recorded on 6/11/24—so get your scroll on. It’s an insightful listen.
To note, the lesser-known symptoms are really just not discussed as often but the list can be long and impact a lot of women. A couple of them are anxiety, dry eye, tinnitus, frozen shoulder, burning mouth/tongue, ichy skin, changes in body odor, changes in food taste, vertigo, etc.
If you start to notice new, potentially unexplained, changes in yourself, they may have to do with the perimenopause transition. Not everything can be blamed on perimenopause but significant changes should be discussed with a trusted healthcare provider. There are solutions—hormonal AND non-hormonal!