Re: I can use a friend right now.

Hi 102899,

I'm sorry that you have been going through this crushing experience for so long.  At first, a positive self-image or a positive perspective can work to sustain you afloat for a while, but after a while, the response from the outside world can slowly but surely trample over you until you are in a total state of anxiety and depression.  Many, if not all, the people who visit and participate in these forums have gone through the same, and many are still battling with this issue. 

 There are 2 approaches we are taking to overcome this problem, the physical and the emotional.  The physical entails many facets including learning as much as possible about the various causes of body odor, the possible management protocols that may have worked for others, and the quest for research and a cure.  The emotional outreach effort is alive and well in our forums, our blog http://mpdela.blogspot.com/ our conference calls and meet-ups announced in the blog.  Some sufferers prefer to actively participate in these communication efforts, and others prefer to just read all the information and remain annonymous. 

You may do whatever feel comfortable for you.  You are invited to be a part of this community of sufferers and family members of sufferers at whatever level you like.  We are doing everything in our power to seek and participate in promoting research to find a cure for body odor produced by metabolic disorders as well as to reach out to each other for physical and emotional support. You are welcomed to participate in our scientist, Arun Nagrath's survey/questionnaire, http://www.tmau.shareaflat.net/ as well.

 I invite you to browse around and to write or to call whomever you like. Keep sharing with us, so that we can try to help you decrease and possibly even control your odor.  We would need information of what does your odor smell like, what part of your body is it coming from, when did it start, what is your regular diet, are you taking any supplements or medication?

María (mpdela)