Re: Olfatory reference syndrome or physical problem, advice & input (possible meet?)

Hi mtltmau23,

Can't say for sure whether its ORS or actual odor... I think in your case it will be good to treat it as both. Work on the anxiety (you're already seeing a psychologist, that's good) and also work on polishing your diet and health habits if you think there's room for improvement there.

What is your diet like?

A possibility is that an odor only develops when you sweat, in other words, when you get anxious. Nervous sweat is different from regular sweat as it comes primarily from the apocrine glands. These are located in your pits and genitals and the secretions are very oily as opposed to eccrine glands, which secrete mainly water (few other trace compounds) and are stimulated when you get too hot. Their purpose is solely to cool you off...

Apocrine glands are a different story, they are primarily meant for lubrication, excreting pheromones, and believe it or not... communication.

(Scenario: Group of cavemen are walking through the wilderness, they encounter a pack of hungry wolves or sabre-toothed tigers or what have you... instantly their anxiety levels shoot through the roof as they begin to bolt out of there. The apocrine glands quickly and efficiently lubricate the pits and genitals with the oily secretion so they can run efficiently. Its our bodies WD-40. So the cavemen are running as fast and efficiently as they can - they'd have the meanest rash ever by now if it wasn't for the apocrine glands - and they finally get back to the rest of their party/village (the slowest are already cat food). They're panting, out of breath, yelling at the other men to hide the women and children and pull out their spears and clubs. The other men are quick to prepare for the oncoming battle. Subconsciously, they have identified the others' anxiety levels based on the molecules excreted in their sweat. Although they haven't seen the ST tigers yet, the others have successfully communicated the emotional response via pheromones. This is obviously just one of many ways humans communicate (speech, body language, the written word) but don't think that it plays a "small" role in transferring "messages" to others around you.


So what may be going on is that when you get anxious sweats people around you identify the anxiety subconsciously (no maybe, this happens for sure). This causes a low level of restlessness that you pick up on and possibly get even more anxious... which leads to more secretions. Even if others aren't picking up on your pheromones, the secretions are perfect food for bacteria, so if you didn't have an odor before, you do now.


That's just one idea, it may be all ORS, or you may really have an odor (sounds like if you do its not extreme though), I encourage you to keep looking for answers and to get to know your body.
Better days are coming man, just keep treking.