8 y/o DD has pungent odour

[ThatisPoker]

Hi everyone, posting here for traffic.
My 8 year old DD has a very pungent, fishy odour downstairs. By the end of the school day, it's really overpowering and unpleasant.

She has smelt like this since she was at least 4 and over the years, i've taken her to the GP (three different GPs) three times. They have swabbed and tested her every time we've been, and can't find any reason for her being so smelly.

We've tried soap free shower gel, feminine shower gel, no soap at all, cool showers, cool baths, no knickers or PJ bottoms in bed, drinking live bacteria yogurt, pure cotton knickers only and the list goes on. (She showers/baths daily without fail).

Am I missing something really obvious here? Anyone else have any advice or experience with this? Thank you.

It could be an infection they are missing - have you been prescribed any antibiotics?

Go private and find a specialist

Nope never given antibiotics for this particular problem, but when she has been on them for other ailments, not sure there's been a change. And it's day in, day out consistently bad.

Unfortunately don't have the funds for a private specialist.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/trimethylaminuria/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Has this been ruled out?

Does she eat a lot of fish? Sometimes the enzymes in it can make the urine smell fishy after eating.

Thanks liz70 - never heard of that or been tested for it as far as I know, so will defo bring it up on next visit to GP - though to be fair she rarely eats most of the food on that list, but whose not to say it couldn't be caused by something else she's eating.

I have wondered about that boopsy - maybe she's not wiping properly, but i'm not sure it would equate to such a bad smell, you know? It's not weeey - proper fishy :(

Barely any fish - not even weekly.

Sounds like Trimethylaminuria (I think that is the right spelling. I have a mild version of it.

There's definitely an enzyme condition that can cause that sort of smell... washing yourself a lot makes it worse I think. I know doctors hate Doctor Google but might be worth it.... definitely seen it on embarrassing bodies

I think back to the GP with a urine sample to test for Trimethylaminuria - purplecorkheart - do you know if it's easy enough to diagnose?
And thanks everyone - you've been really helpful.

I was diagnosed at a young age so cannot remember the process exactly. As far as I remember I had to eat trigger foods (fish, meat cabbage etc) the day before. Then gave a urine sample either that day or the next morning, I cannot remember which.

As I said I only have a mild dose and fish (not shellfish or squid) is my trigger. I find drinking loads of water seems to dilute the smell. I never have fish on a hot date!!

It could be early menstruation - I had it too for a while between 5 and when I started my period at 9.

Sorry to be blunt.l but are you sure ah is wiping properly after she's been to the loo?

My DD was really stinky around the time of starting school for a couple of years. Drs couldn't find anything and in the end I realised that she was dribbling tiny amounts of urine throughout the day into her knickers.

In the warm environment by the end of the day it smelled really really fishy and nasty. I could smell her as soon as she got into the car.

She's 7 now and has learnt to hold her wee a bit longer and it's stopped.