I have an embarrassing issue - crotch/clothes smell bad

[SummersBreeze]

Every day when I go to the toilet and pull down my pants, I can get a whiff from the crotch of my knickers/pants. Then at the end of each day when I change out of Mt clothes, I can smell it and it smells bad. I don't know how to describe the smell.

When I was younger I was able to wear the same pair of trousers for 2 or 3 days. Now I have to wear clean trousers every day and even then I do probably do with changing during the day.

It's awful.

I went to the local church mass yesterday. I sat two rows behind the old head mistress of my school. She used to smell bad in school. Like some BO issue. Every time the mass had the mass goers stand/kneel, I was able to smell something bad. I thought it was the teacher I was smelling. Now I am not too sure if it was me.

This is so embarrassing.

I am wiping myself after going to the toilet.

The staining in my underwear is a dark yellow. I wear cotton underwear. My trousers are usually cotton but sometimes viscose. Even when I wear shorts or a dress for airflow, there can still be a bad smell.

I haven't been to the doctor about this.

OP, I'm in perimenopause and having a very similar issue. I think I'm sweating a lot more due to hormone imbalance. I'm starting HRT soon and I really hope it helps.

Washing your vulva and vagina too much will exacerbate the problem.

Can you describe the smell?

This happened to me when I was in perimenopause but stopped when I went through menopause.

BV, Trich, Thrush, leaking, sweat? Do you use a pad during the day? That'll give you some reassurance

Buy Mitchum roll-on antiperspirant and roll it along right at the top where your upper inner thigh meets your body. Kind of alongside the pubic area.
See if that helps.

Do you use shower gel or bar soap? Bar soap is much better and make sure you wear cotton or bamboo underwear.
I do think you should get checked for BV as well because of the discharge.

Fem fresh body powder to help the sweat. I know a lot of people are against gem fresh products but they were only for external not internal use. Make sure you are washing properly externally with something PH balanced as the build up of discharge sweat and oils will smell. You may have an infection, you can do a swab yourself or have the nurse examine you xx

Reusable ones? They have poppers that wrap around so there is no sticking issues

Sounds like bacterial vaginosis.

You could try reusable pant liners, or the modibodi pants for sweat/light periods. They are brilliant for sweating more during peri. Little makeup pouch in bag to store. Spray on antiperspirant (not deodorant), the strong type made for sports also helps, (but probably not great in sensitive areas?)
as others have said, probably best get checked out too.

I was diagnosed with BV decades ago. My god the smell is like nothing else I thought I had something horrendous until I got checked out. I would know I had it instantly if I got it again. Seems like a one off.

I am peri and find using anti perspirant around tops of thighs etc has been very effective. The peri excess sweating and BO is a thing I promise

You really need to see the doctor. They’re the only person that can properly tell you what’s going on and if you do have BV or some other issue they can give you treatment.

If you are peri menopausal that can cause the secretions of the vagina to change - either become more acidic or dryer and this can contribute to discomfort and issues. Your GP can prescribe Ovestin or Vagifem internal oestrogen which may help.

Also not all liners are created equal! You have to try some different ones. Always discreet liners despite being created for slight incontinence work really well for me as they’re longer and stickier than most.

Sounds like BV. You need to get a swab yest from the doctors.

*test

You can get over the counter tests for bv if you can't get in to see the docs x

This is a sign of a yeast infection.
Buy some canesten over the counter if you don’t want to go to the doctor.
Try always liners as they stick better than carefree and the like.

Being peri-menopausal does strange things to body odour, so sorry I went through a time feeling the same. Several tablespoons of ordinary salt in a bath seemed to help kill off any bacteria for me, shower briefly afterwards to rinse off a bit. I also found this really excellent for thrush and Bacterial Vaginosis ( it used to be sold as a treatment for either not sure why it doesn't say that now but it works brilliantly).
Multi-Gyn ActiGel -Link

Could you be pregnant? I had the same issue when pregnant.

I meant to say I was finally cured when I went on HRT, which took some effort getting but that's another story! However I would say when I got got hot flushes that seemed to trigger the prescription.

Try and get an appointment at your local GUM clinic- I find them much more helpful than going to the GP. I had to go recently and they swabbed for BV and were able to look under the microscope there and then- wasn't BV- they thought thrush instead and gave me the tablet and cream for it.

Don't suffer in silence OP, go along and get medical help for this.

Could be BV. About once a month I use a pessary called Balance Activ which I buy from Amazon and it restores the ph. Works for me.

You mentioned pads don't stick - I have the same problem if my pants aren't made of cotton. Are you wearing pants made of man-made fibres? I find my chuff kicks out a bit of a whiff if I wear pants or trousers that aren't cotton.

Can I ask why you are sterilising your clothes? Is this something lots of people do?

Would second the reusable panty liners, great idea. Poppers to hold in place. Etsy have lots.

@SummersBreeze I too get this exact same thing and have done for awhile but particularly worse this year. Before my daughter I was one of the ladies that had a fair bit of discharge. Also I do seem to leak urine and my underwear would get quite damp throughout the day. I don't wear any now due to I find it really uncomfortable as I have painful bladder syndrome and pants and pads used to really make me feel uncomfortable. I have also had BV a few times as well and had antibiotics but it often seems to come back.

That is usually a fishy smell so quite easy to determine if you get a sudden waft. Also because I'm overweight and particularly in this hot humid summer we've been having I seem to have noticed a lot of sweating down there. Also to the point sometimes when wiping it's almost like BO which is completely gross 🤢 I know so apologies for the thought. But i too have a scent shall we say but like you it's quite hard to say what it reminds me of. Sometimes can be almost a bit sweetish,just a general weird smell. I think I will need to go back to the gp again!!

I'm 47 in a few months and since stopping my contraceptive pill(thought I may be menopausal) about 6/7 months ago which I was on for about 15 years and didn't lose a drop of blood ever I now keep bleeding for 5/7 days stop only for it to start again about a week or so later and this has now happened a few times. So god knows 🤷🏼‍♀️. Being a woman with a vagina sucks 👎❤️.

I used to sit on vinyl chairs at work and realised that they were making me sweat around my crotch which made it smell, and then my trousers despite washing still smelt a bit and as I warmed up the smell would get worse .

I used a sports wash from amazon which killed the bacteria and subsequently the smell, bought new underpants and started using long panty liners. My undercarriage has never been happier and smells of nothing.

I blame covid for this because we were no longer allowed fabric chairs in case our backsides were passing it along!