r/TMAU

Hey y’all. Today I went to the post office with about 15 packages to have scanned. There were three employees working. Two of them know me because they’ve scanned my packages many times before.
When it was almost my turn, the employee I usually go to put up a “Be Back in a Minute” sign, even though she was still standing there. I went to the third employee, who I had never seen before. She told me I had too many packages and needed to scan them myself at the self-service kiosk.
While I was scanning my packages, I heard her whisper to one of the other employees, “She should have worn a mask to work.”
I have TMAU/body odor issues, so comments like that really affect me. I don’t know if she was talking about me, but it felt like she was. It made me feel embarrassed and uncomfortable.

Update: Lactulose is still working very well for me but I overdid it when I added milk of magnesium after I ate a bunch of bread and got constipated, I got diarrhea from adding it. I should not have done that one lol…. Ai says if you have diarrhea, it flushes the Lactulose out your colon where it works and you may have to get it built up in your system again to see full effects again, which makes sense…  It took almost two weeks to fully work... From research I’ve seen 2 weeks is the time for it to fully work in people... Good luck. Taking B-2 with it has been extremely helpful also… Research Lactulose effects on Tmau and see if it could help. You will need to get a prescription from your doctor. I was last prescribed to take it 20 grams, twice a day for constipation, ( I didn’t go down the whole Tmau rabbit hole. I feel it’s a waste of time…) but I split my doses up three times a day.

I have a few other posts in Reddit about my diet and products that I use, etc. if you look up my name, I think you should be able to find it, if you have any questions about those things. Good luck!

I am absolutely not alone in dealing with this exhausting, isolating condition. The rancia, musty, yeasty scalp smell that returns hours after washing—even with medicated shampoos, dietary changes, and derm visits—It’s been 6+ years since I first started having this issue and made living hell. This is an issue that many others facing, which I learned from post asking others for help. I’m constantly getting DM asking if I found a solution yet. Although I’m constantly ruining into dead ends, I want to help myself and these people who are also suffering.

I am officially making it my mission to find a real solution or underlying cause. "Just wash it daily" is an insulting brush-off when the odor defies every standard protocol.

To figure this out, I want to crowdsource our collective experiences. If you suffer from this or did, please drop a comment with:

1 What has temporarily reduced or removed odor (even for a few extra hours)? and Please don’t say Nizoral or Mct oil we tried.

2 What made it worse (specific oils, products, foods)?

3 Any specific medical/lab tests you’ve had done that showed abnormal results?

I have been posting in the bad breath thread for some time but something happened yesterday that makes me question if I have TMAU. No one has directly told me that I smell but since 2019 I have had the same reactions from people: sniffing, coughing, pinching of nose, sometimes gagging, when I'm on public transportation they will stare at me or keep turning around giving me a sour face look while sitting in the seat that's in front of me. If someone sits next to me they'll switch seats within a few minutes. With Lyft drivers they blast the air conditioner 5 minutes after pulling off or open all of the windows. The doctors that I've seen will keep leaving the room multiple times to breathe in the hallway or they'll put on a mask before entering the room. I've seen many doctors, an ent and a gastro doctor and they tell me that they do not smell anything when I explain my symptoms.

Yesterday my mentor gave me a personal hygiene bag with deodorant, soap, laundry detergent, pads, nail clippers, toothpaste, toothbrush and mouthwash. Now I am wondering how long has she been noticing this smell to just now say something?

The thing is I showered before I left, I used Lume acidified body wash, put deodorant and perfume on and brushed my teeth. I washed my clothes the day before. I question whether it's a body odor problem not a bad breath problem because my mentor to ask if I needed extra deodorant along with the two packs that was in the hygiene bag. I know for sure I've been to the doctor about stomach issues my stomach digestion is slow and I feel full after eating one meal or I can't eat anything at all for days due to feeling full. Should I ask my mentor what is it that she's smelling so that I can get to the root of the problem?

When I sleep or get nervous I smell horrible, I don’t just mean like casual body odor. I mean like stink up an entire building and seeping through the walls odor. The closest way I can describe it is rotting fried chicken. Pretty sure this is why my family kicked me out of their home. When I was sleeping in a parking lot the other day in my car I woke up to a lady by my car literally gagging from the odor. I don’t even know what this could be? Do I have a metabolic disease or am I leaking something? Im not sure. What doctor can I go to about this? Im going to get a colonoscopy on Wednesday to make sure I don’t have IBS. I honestly just need a medical professional that’s really good in the field of metabolic conditions to just spend a week with me and figure out where this is coming from because I’m lost. It almost feels demonic.

Hi!
I'm a 25 year old woman looking to make some new connections. I've been dealing with TMAU-like symptoms since my teens, and it's made forming friendships a bit challenging. I thought it would be nice to connect with people around my age who are going through something similar.

I'm on the East Coast, not too far from NYC. If you'd like to chat or get to know each other, feel free to reach out!!

Hi all. My girlfriend recently opened up that she has the condition mentioned in the subject, which is the reason why she is uncomfortable with public spaces.

I really am struggling to understand this because I do not feel the symptoms.

We are having conflict of interest when going in public areas meeting with friends group.

Anyone with partners with this condition how do you deal with

I never had this issue in my entire life until last winter (around winter 2025), when I caught mononucleosis. I'm not entirely sure if it's linked to my current TMAU symptoms, but after recovering, I started working out again. At the end of my sessions, my mom kept telling me I smelled like fish. I didn't believe her at first but after a couple of months, I went to prom, I sweated a lot because it was pretty hot in the venue, and everyone around me kept saying why it smell like fish. That really brought my confidence down.

The strange thing is that my girlfriend and another close friend say they don't smell it at all (but did say they smelt it once before) , and even my mom on that same day said she barley smelt it, whereas people who are relatively new to me notice it often. After prom (which was around May), I stopped going to the gym and didn't get a single complaint. However, I started back at the gym this past week, and today my mom complained that the smell has returned.

I can't tell if this is happening because I'm simply working out too hard, or if it's being triggered by what I'm consuming: I've been eating whole eggs, drinking Fairlife protein shakes, and having a 200mg energy drink the past like 3 days. Has anyone else experienced an onset after mono, or noticed these specific gym supplements making things worse?

Hello everyone ill just let everyone know abit about myself too see if my situation sounds similar if so maybe the cure too so ive been suffering for most of my life it started around puberty and im 24 m now ive tried everything b2 kefir kombucha I even made my own kefir and kambucha still nothing then I tried veggie diet didn't work i tried carnivore didn't work then I tried fasting and chlorophyll I tried s.boulardii and other gut pills nothing its been a rough time trying and trying for no results as I bet most of us live day to day but but I may have found something that might help some of you has anyone tried coconut kefir ive been on it for 2 weeks and let me tell you the reactions have almost completely gone obviously I can't smell myself to say its gone 100% but based in my experiences I know its 98% so ill say this theres a drink version and a yogurt version the yogurt version is shit dont even bother you need the drink one i have one every morning after my first meal I would like to another before bed but my store doesn't have alot of em this being said tho dont think you can just drink this and your fixed you still need to eat clean ans what I mean by that is try not to eat fast food to often I still stay away from redmeat but eggs are fine for me again what I mean is the things that made you smell the worse probably give it some time before trying I can't tell you exactly what that would be because as we know im worse might not be the same for you also when you first buy it from the shop the are probably not very thick this is probably because they are left out of the fridge too long i like to buy lots of em and put em in my fridge for a day or 2 and they should thicken up im not sure 100% if they work better when thicker but i feel like they do if you do leave em in the fridge for a day or 2 and they stay the same judt drink it should be fine i hope this helps you as its helped me ;)

Also a side note with this condition its all gut related so im just make myself very clear although it sucks sooo much

YOU CAN NEVER DRINK ALCOHOL EVER AGAIN IT KILLS ALL OF THE BACTERIA IN YOUR GUT GOOD AND BAD SO YOU WILL JUST DESTROY ALL OF YOUR PROGRESSION same with antibiotics but you can avoid em so good luck if you ever need em

Just wondering if I’m alone on this one. I was born with TMAU, so I’ve dealt with it my entire life with memories of being bullied as early as Kindergarten. Now I’m a lot older (30s) but I still haven’t figured out how to manage my life socially or at work. I have constant anxiety, mostly while I’m at work or in public, about someone saying something about me being smelly. It’s like I’m constantly just waiting for someone to say something to me or about me. It’s a paralyzing state that I exist in that I can’t escape in my head. In the past I never knew how to respond when people would bring it up or tease me. I didn’t have an official diagnosis growing up so I never wanted to tell people it was a medical condition when I had no official proof to back it up even though I was 99% sure it’s what I was dealing with. I officially got a diagnosis this year through a genetic counselor and it felt validating to finally have someone tell me I’m not crazy. I thought it would make me more confident in responding to and dealing with coworkers and people in general. I was hoping that it might also alleviate some of the anxiety I deal with on a daily basis. But so far, it hasn’t done that. I’ve been in therapy for a long time and my therapist was the one who pushed me to get a diagnosis hoping that might help me. I don’t know if this is making sense at all, I just feel so helpless still. I know it’s a condition I can’t control, it’s not my fault, and I shouldn’t care what other people think. But something about the shame and embarrassment of being the stinky person really drags me down. And people never are as sympathetic as I hope they might be. I usually get weird looks or kind of the “yeah right” vibe when I do try to explain. Can anyone relate to this? Advice for coping and stop being so fearful of how I’m being perceived in the world?

Hey!

I'm in my early 30s (engineer) (Asian × African) and I'd love to connect with more people around my age who are going through the same challenges. It doesn't have to be in person, virtual is perfectly fine too.

Oddly enough, this has taught me to enjoy my solitude, but I still feel lonely at times when I have no one to talk to or no place that truly feels like home.

It would also be nice to bond with someone who understands this while navigating adulthood, careers, and relationships together. Feel free to reach out if this resonates with you. Just seeing where it goes.

I got symptoms of tmau at 17-18 and im 19 its getting worse where and How to get tested in usa and does insurance cover it