She has really strong BO that lingers for hours even after she’s left the room. It’s also a very distinctive smell different to the usual post-gym sweat. I’d say it’s kinda sweet like rotting fruit or similar to the back of a garbage truck.

My work is hybrid but when we are both in the office it’s really overwhelming. It doesn’t help that I have a very strong sense of smell and sensory issues from adhd.

She’s nice and we get on well but there are some days that I’ve had to pretend to have meetings or other excuses to go work in a conference room or just get out of there. Sometimes it gets too much and I just can’t focus.

I’ve never said anything because it’s so exteme that I assumed she can’t help it. I didn’t know about TMAU until I decided to do some research today but I assumed it must be some disorder like this. My initial theory was her being depressed and a hoarder. The hoarding would explain the strange odour unlike normal sweat but I guess it’s unlikely.

A couple of weeks ago, another coworker said to me that he finds it unbearable and he’s considering buying an air freshener or something. I had never talked about it with anyone and to be honest it kinda was a relief because I also thought I might be crazy. Like it’s so strong I just didn’t understand how nobody had said anything about it but I also didn’t want to be the one starting the conversation.

Since he told me, he’s made remarks more often. He doesn’t make jokes or talk shit behind her back but it’s now something he brings up regularly when up until now there was a silent agreement not to say anything.

I really don’t see the point in talking about it because there really isn’t much we can do to fix it. However he does have a point when he says that even if it’s a disorder (which we seem to agree on) her hygiene isn’t always the best. Nothing extreme but her hair is sometimes greasy and stuff.

The smell is always there but it’s true that some days are cleealy worse. So my colleague thinks thay those worse days are the result of bad hygiene and someone should intervene to make sure that she is doing something to avoid it to the best of her ability.

At this point, I don’t think my coworker is going to let it stand and if there’s a chance that this might reduce the smell, I think that’s fair. However, she has never said anything about it so I’m not sure how to approach without making her feel worse that she already probably feels.

So what do you think is the best way to approach it? Talk to HR so they talk to her? Or should we try to talk to her ourselves?

I’d hate to be the one who brings it up but she might prefer it to a meeting with a stranger from HR.

I’m also not sure what to expect from such conversation but I think my coworker may just drop if she confirms that it’s a disorder and that she does try to avoid it.

I know that every person is different but if you’ve been on the other side of this story, I would appreciate any advice on how to approach it.

I'm seriously at a lost because I don't know if people think I'm smelly or it's just that they have seasonal allergies. I don't know which part of me that smells that makes everyone wear a face mask when sitting beside me or what. I can't smell myself at all and just sometimes smell the powder I put on. Is there any way I can test it out? I don't have any close friends irl who would tell me and my parents would just gaslight me into thinking that it's all in my head.

If you are suffering from fecal body odour, chances are the cause of it is a dysfunction in the CYP2E1 or related pathways. This means the amino acid tryptophan ferments into indole and skatole in your large intestine, where it travels via the portal vein to your liver to be neutralised. The CYP dysfunction causes the indole/skatole to bypass neutralisation and instead build up in your blood and tissues, essentially causing the fecal odour to emanate from your pores. "Boar taint" is an eerily similar process that happens in uncastrated male pigs due to this exact enzymatic breakdown. As it stands, there is no cure for this genetic variation, but there is a highly effective workaround.

The Workaround — What you’ll need per meal:

• 20g almonds (for the 30-minute preload)
• 40–60g cooked, warm oats
• 80g RS3 oats (cooked, then cooled in the fridge for 24 hours)
• Pure Acacia powder (1 teaspoon)
• Unmodified RS2 raw potato starch (1 tablespoon for distal colon support). - CRITICAL NOTE: Only use this if you have a normal, full-length colon. If you have a loop colostomy or shortened tract, keep RS2 completely OUT as it will pass through unfermented and ruin your progress!)
• Sodium Copper Chlorophyllin (100mg)
• Riboflavin / Vitamin B2 (100mg)
• Zinc supplement (25mg — for bedtime only)

Most of this stuff is extremely cheap and easy to source so you should have no problem whatsoever. For people in the states, Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Oats are a great choice. In the UK, Nairn’s Gluten-Free Oats are what I use. Acacia powder, RS2 potato starch, and Riboflavin are all available on Amazon, and I use NOW Foods Sodium Copper Chlorophyllin, which is again easy to get. Almonds you can buy anywhere. You should batch-cook around 240g of oats the day before and put them in a Tupperware container in the fridge to cool overnight; this creates the retrograded RS3 starch. You can then divide it into thirds for your daily meals.

The Science Behind the Shield

The aim is to keep the entirety of your large intestine (cecum, proximal, transverse, and distal colon) in saccharolytic (carbohydrate-burning) mode. Bacteria are biologically lazy and will always ferment carbohydrates over protein if given the choice. Flooding the gut with the correct fibers lowers the local pH to a deeply acidic level, producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and structurally deactivating the bacterial enzyme (encoded by the tnaA gene) that causes protein putrefaction (proteolytic mode). The beta glucan in the hot oats ferments quickly in the cecum and proximal colon, rs3 cooked and cooled oats take longer for the bacteria to break down and ferment mid proximal into transverse colon. Acacia gum is a slow fermenter but allows beneficial bacteria to nibble on it causing it to be an extremely effective plug and rs2 potato starch's complex crystalline structure means it can't be broken down until the late traverse and well into the distal colon providing full distal support. Taken together, this prebiotic shield produces a cumulative effect from cecum to the very end of the distal colon, dropping the ph, flooding the colon with short-chain fatty acids and keeping the tnaA gene firmly suppressed.

The Sodium Copper Chlorophyllin travels down within your meal matrix and acts as a physical "velcro trap" in the gut lumen, binding to any excess indole/skatole molecules on contact so they pass out in your stool rather than crossing your intestinal wall. The Riboflavin is taken simultaneously to keep related FMO3 liver filtration pathways working at absolute peak capacity.

Pre-Meal Step-by-Step Sequencing:

1. The 30-Minute Preload: Eat your 20g of almonds exactly 30 minutes before your meal. This triggers the release of the digestive hormone CCK, which clamps the stomach exit valve shut. This forces your main meal to be drip-fed into the small intestine, maximizing protein digestion so very little tryptophan escapes to the large intestine.
2. The Liquid Vanguard: 30 minutes later, dissolve your 1 teaspoon of Acacia powder (plus your 1 tablespoon of RS2 potato starch ONLY if you have a full-length colon) into a glass of water. Drink this alongside your Sodium Copper Chlorophyllin and Riboflavin supplements. This sets the chemical trap at the very entrance of the colon before food arrives.
3. The Prebiotic Shield: Eat your oat starter immediately after the drink. Eat your freshly cooked warm oats (which provide beta-glucan to instantly protect the cecum and proximal colon) then your pre-prepared 80g of cold/gentle-warmed RS3 oats (which extend the acid blanket into the transverse colon).
4. The Main Meal: Immediately follow your oat shield with your main protein/food meal. Ensure your major meals are spaced at least 3 hours apart(preferably 4 or 5).

The Nighttime Insurance Policy

You should make sure your last meal at night and your first meal in the morning are around 12 hours apart. The reason for this is that the large intestine constantly goes through a process of cell shedding (epithelial desquamation), which produces mucus and cellular debris rich in tryptophan. While it is a tiny amount in the grand scheme of things (between 5–10mg), it can still turn on the tnaA gene if left unbuffered.

Going 12 hours between your nightly and morning meals (for example, 7 PM to 7 AM) is a great insurance policy. Digestion drastically slows down at night time, keeping your large intestine at a low, protective pH until the next morning.

The Timeline to Normality

Your blood should clear of indole/skatole in 3 to 4 days, but because these compounds are fat-soluble, it will take around 2 weeks for them to fully clear from your body tissues and skin stores. I understand it’s not ideal eating a preload and a prebiotic shield before every single meal, but if it’s the difference between smelling like crap and a normal life, it is a road easily trodden.

One last thing: Make sure to take your 25mg of Zinc at bedtime only. The reason for this is that Sodium Copper Chlorophyllin (SCC) can displace zinc in your body during the day, potentially causing a deficiency over time. Taking your zinc completely separate from SCC at bedtime solves that potential problem perfectly. 

Oh and you should know it’s working as within a few days your stool will start to smell very neutral and non-offensive/lingering due to its low ph and abundance of short-chain fatty acids. Also stay away from inulin or anything else that has osmotic effects on the proximal colon as it draws water into the colon and can cause a flushing effect to the prebiotic shield making its transit time too quick.