I wish it is paranoia, but unfortunately it isn't.

Judging by the email I got telling me I smell, my friends buying me body wash for my birthday telling me they can smell me and even my family members saying I smell and the countless episodes of strangers on the bus, in class, etc. saying they can smell me, I guess it's not paranoia.

I just have to say on behalf of the true bo sufferers here, yes people will tell us they don't smell us to spare our feelings or because it makes them uncomfortable or us uncomfortable, some may even have seen us showered and we still smell and they know we can't do anything about it so they tell us we dont smell if we ask them. Some friends may even not say anything for the same reasons. Many doctors have told me I don't smell including the only 2 gynecologists I went to when I complained about the problem. Some doctors may even say we don't smell because they don't know what's causing it or how to treat it. For example I tell my gyn I wash with soap then I was prescribed metrodonazole and got a complaint while using it, then he said he doesn't smell anything, maybe it's them after I tested negative for infections. In that case, many bo sufferers have had people lie to them to spare their feelings. Im also on these forums a lot and I have read a lot about people who seem to be paranoid and they don't actually smell. These are the people who have never been told directly that they smell and usually bo sufferers have been told directly on many occasions. There are also a lot of indirect comments people complaining about a smell we experience as well but sometimes it's due to an outside source such as a smelly machine somewhere. There are people who have what is called "olfactory resonance syndrome" or "somatic delusions" and think they smell but they dont. Even non smelly people have been told they smell on one or 2 occasions, maybe when they didnt shower for a while or ate garlic, that's normal but some people get paranoid. This is a very rare condition so I can see how there are probably some people who have anxiety and have exaggerated it in their mind or have one of those conditions. I however, for the above mentioned reasons Know I smell. I'm not guessing or drawing some conclusion based only on indirect comments. There are some people in my family who tell me I dont smell and some who do. That's just what family members and friends do sometimes.

I wonder this every single day of my life.
For 3 years my family has told me "I really don't smell anything!"
But I KNOW (or at least truly think) it's there! It has to be.