Does your sweat smell different after covid?

[BlueLines81]

I had covid in September and thought that my smell and taste were pretty much back to normal. But for the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that if I need a bath and my armpits are getting a bit whiff, they smell completely different to how they used to. I brought this up tonight whilst talking to a friend and my 17 year old dd (we all had covid at the exact same time), and they have also noticed it, but again for them it only started in the last couple of weeks. So around 4 months after we became ill.

IMO my armpits didn’t used to smell that bad, but I really don’t like this new smell at all! And now I’m wondering if the smell I give off that really has changed, or my perception of it that has? Anyone else noticed this?

Yes, both DH and I have this. And like you we don't know if our sweat actually smells different or if it is that we still have some parosmia. If I try to describe the smell it is kind of "oniony". It's not very nice!

I find perfume smells weird and very fake and powdery. Coffee is strange too. There are lots of things that smell different but I do feel it is gradually improving (had Delta in July).

I have the same thing. My body smells of a strong odour but also any nasty smells like the cats litter tray, kids going to loo etc also have the same strong smell. I also had Delta in July and I was quite ill. It also started in November so not straight after having coronavirus

I wonder if your sense of smell has sort of been reset? So it's now quite sensitive hence the difficulty with perfume etc.. No science here, just musing.

I noticed it for a few months. I wondered at the time if it was peri menopause making me smell different. But it’s either gone back to normal or I’ve gotten used to it. Covid was last June so not straight away for me either.

Mine didn't start straight after the virus too.

I completely lost all sense of smell and taste for a few days mid infection (very disconcerting) then it came back a bit and what I could smell was normal. Then about 3 months post infection the distorted smells started. Apparently it is from the rebuilding of damaged olfactory neurons. In the beginning certain smells were unbearable (cooking meat was the worst).

Obviously I know that cooking meat smells normal to other people. But I really don't know if my underarm odor has changed or just my perception of it. And the only person I can ask is DH and he has the same issue!

Me too, my sweat smells of onions/curry to me, very weird. X

Had mild Covid in October
My sense of smell is very weird, so I have no idea if do smell different myself, OH has not complained and he would.
My taste is normal

Wow exactly the same, I don’t smell of ‘BO’ anymore (like after exercise) I just smell oniony. I also smell other people’s ‘onion’ smell - I don’t think that’s them, I think that’s my new perception.

I think I have rona back in April 2020, I didn’t have symptoms but I’d lost all taste and smell - which back then wasn’t a symptom.

I had it in March 2020 and in the summer I noticed this. I was having to shower twice a day it was awful

It did go away after about 12-14 weeks. I was part of a study of people who were experiencing odd symptoms after covid. The doctor who did it said he had heard it a few times. Not the majority, but enough for it to be noticeable.

And yes. The smell was kind of oniony absolutely awful.

This is so interesting. I was unwell over Christmas, head cold. I took an antigen and it was negative. Didn't do a PCR as they were all booked,no appointments. Since then I've had the worse BO. I literally have to scrub my armpits so hard with lots of shower gel to get rid of the smell. Sometimes it's still there after I wash. Tried lots of different anti perspirants but nothing is working. Maybe I did have Covid over Christmas.

Interesting that it seems to be happening to a few of us! YY to the poster who said that other unpleasant smells smell the same as their armpits. I have a horse and to me horse shit smells the same as my armpits now, neither smell like BO or horse shit, it’s a new smell.

And my friend I was talking to last night said a friend of his noticed that her BO smells like curry now. And she asked her friends if her armpits really do smell like curry, and they were like ewww yes they do! So now I’m paranoid that I really do smell the way I’m smelling myself now, if that makes sense.

My bf and I are in a LDR and he’s far too polite to tell me if I smell different. We need a long term married couple where only one has had covid to tell us whether we do really smell different or it’s our perception that’s different.

I know this is an old thread but my husband is experiencing the same issue and it’s still happening over a year later. Did anyone find a resolution to the onion BO issue. He’s absolutely fed up and so paranoid about it. We have to soak his T-shirts in white vinegar to get rid of the smell. Sometimes that doesn’t even work.

A friend was worried she smelled funny after having had Covid and she asked me to sniff her several times. She smelled perfectly normal to me but she felt her own smell as garbage-like. So in that case it was definitely something she was only experiencing due to her own altered sense of smell.

Incidentally I've noticed that lately people are using a lot more perfume, there are strangers passing me in the street fairly far away and I can smell them, they're fairly "loud" perfumes as well. I wonder if this is due to diminished/altered smell as widespread sequelae of Covid in the population.

@Babyboop things did eventually return to normal, BO smells like BO again! Did take long time, I’ve had Covid 4 times though.