Proper hygiene, glooming and diet. I love 'em to bits when they have these three attributes.
Body odor comes mainly from microbes which can be direct &or indirect, from an underlying medical condition or from all of that together.
Don’t get any deodorants but salts &or essential oils instead.
High blood sugar can cause acetone smell - foremost from breath though.
High blood pressure can be associated with acidic smell, but can come from struggling kidneys too. The pharmacist had immediately the phone in hand to call an ambulance for me. (at BP 180/110).
Get from the pharmacy pH-test strips to test urine, stool and saliva in any case. You have to test that several times over a few days, it changes a lot. If your urine is frequently or all the time clearly under pH 6.8 you kidneys are working hard. No worries, but it’s a hint we were looking for.
Forget antibiotics, they make things most likely worse and were most likely the cause of the trouble. But a few days of high fever or the pill can be the cause too.
Just unpleasant smell/BO tells us that your micro-biome is out for sure. Normal BO comes from LAB (Lactic-Acid-Bacteria) which smells like freshly baked bread or pop-corn, mildly acidic, actually not very unpleasant.
A strong and very unpleasant metallic smell comes from ‘sweating blood’ - iron actually and can be a precursor of anemia. The cause is a typical cascade of dominoes falling over.A mess in the micro-biome (dysbiosis) causes an inflamed gut lining. The microbial situation can, and often is benign but the smell will tell.An inflamed gut lining causes increased permeability of the small &or large intestine.Increased permeability of the small &or large intestine causes undigested food / proteins to get into the bloodstream.Additional foreign protein in the blood have to be excreted and the kidneys have to work harder = low pH. The protein also causes a reaction of the auto-immune-system. Sweating, elevated BP, too often too tired, . . . a whole laundry list that needs cleaning up.A reaction of the auto-immune-system includes an allergic reactions / allergies, another laundry list.A strong reaction to dairy, even without any further symptoms can cause ‘sweating blood’ and after further breakdown by microbes on the skin the pungent metallic smell emanates.
7 steps - or 7 dominoes and my best guess re. your BO as it is quite evenly all over the body, but clearly stronger where one sweats!
It took me over a year to find that cascade out in my GF. We stopped dairy and the smell went away. Hooray! Stains in the armpits of white T-shirts that became only visible after washing them were gone too. The stains were gray, and only putting vitamin-C on them lightened them enough to be wearable. ( vitamin-C = best trick for blood-stains and rust-stains)
We separated in 2012. By 2015 she had anemia. To the point where a blood transfusion was necessary. Due to my own misery I advised her to stay away from gluten years earlier, because I found out that gluten and dairy are always linked due to microscopic anatomic changes of the gut lining (lacking or stunted villi) one causes the other. This brought some overall improvement but anemia still happened.
Knowing the metallic smell link it was sure that microbes and inflamed gut lining are part of the trouble. So first line treatment = bone broth! A lot of other things like removing amalgam fillings from teeth, Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Kombucha, . . . as well as using off the shelve common pro-biotics as starter cultures followed. We got so far to: no more blood transfusions needed, but still low iron levels.
Some more smells:
Foul/rotten eggs = Hydrogen Sulfide. Is produced by opportunistic sulfur reducing microbes. On an elevated level this will cause low BP frequently or constantly. On a high level this will cause high BP. Hydrogen Sulfide on an extremely high level will kill and it is a method of suicide. But gut and microbes can by far not reach such levels. Only the stench from hell - to keep us informed that something isn’t right. The smell comes from farts but in some cases from breath too, not as general BO. Hydrogen Sulfide will always cause extremes. Too high or too low BP and people running away. This is because it is part of the very complex signaling and hormone system that regulates BP. So if needed the body can make it too.
Typical ‘bad breath’ actually comes only from the mouth. Here C.Difficile is a root cause as it can glue itself even to the tooth enamel. That glue helps other opportunistic microbes to stay in place too. Brushing teeth prevents the smell from the mouth and cavities but a glue that can stick to a smooth and shiny surface can stick anywhere: Throughout the gut, lungs, nose cavity, renal pelvis (kidneys), bladder and invite any other opportunists to stay that like any of these different environments. On a high but still not warranting antibiotics that can cause an amazing and diverse lot of trouble which was nearly for sure by frequent and prolonged use of antibiotics.
Well, that’s about it what our smell can tell and I happen to know about. Dogs can do a lot better. A well trained detection dog can even smell out skin cancer which cannot be detected by technical means. Specifically trained Assistance Dogs can warn before a seizure happens.
So for really detailed answers you will need Lab-Scans by a team of dogs.
The most precise technologies of man cannot truly compete.
The above gives some insight why a dog might approach you and try to comfort you by for example licking your hand or stay away from you because you might attack the dog out of fear.
Dogs can smell anxiety, depression and anger/aggression and as well pick up on your body language exceptionally well.
A lot of actually very precise information emanates from hormones, signaling compounds, asf. . . . smells.
Trust The Dog!
But a few we can smell too: My answer to Have you ever suspected a medical condition based on the way a person or animal smelled?
What to do?
It is never ‘just dairy’ and never ever ‘just gluten’ - see my answer to What is a simple truth about health that most people ignore?
Here’s a ‘good what to do for You’: Has anybody tried using fasting as a depression treatment? If so, did it help? YES IT DID!. It’s never ‘just depression’ either but always in between the ‘walls’ of depression - anxiety - anger and yes leaving ‘just gluten’ out is a start.
Overweight and underweight has the same underlying causes: Why do most overweight people remain overweight?
All the best,
Walter Hartmann Phd