What is that weird smell?

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Specializes in LPN.

We have a patient in a long term setting. The patient is very clean, edges on neuotic he is so clean and everything has it's proper place,and the labels are turned just so. No Mess, not fility. Yet he smells really weird. We keep the door closed, because if you open it, the smell wafts out and nearly takes you out. I was wondering if it could be due to a fungus. Have you ever seen this before, and is there help for this man?

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That's not a lot of information, but me first thought was cancer.We would have pts that had a distinct odor and they had cancer.Could be his meds.Could be his diet.Could be disease?Just not enough info to guess.

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could he be hoarding items. I had a "clean" ocd resident that would hide/ hoard food. Of course it was neat, but rotting.

Have you done labs on this person? What type of smell?

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

C diff?

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Well, he might be doing some odd things to himself... usually there is a lot more "strangeness" that they do when nobody is around.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Hoarding food maybe? I had a patient one time who would pour her milk in her potted plants where the milk then soured and smelled up the whole room.

What is he eating something he is eating can make you have an odor?

What is his skin like?

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What is his Bun and Creatnine?

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my gram had a friend that was meticulously clean but had the absolute worst BO in the world...she bathed etc but she just had an odor that could clear a building...

she passed away when I was a teenager but when Mary came over my bedroom door was shut tight and I went out with friends!

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Specializes in Med Tele, Gen Surgical.

liver disease? elevated ammonia? uremia fetor? Now we're all curious.....what's it smell like???

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Aside from the usuasl suspects... the bells are going off in my head trying to recall some (genetic, I think) malady that causes horrendous BO no matter how clean the person is. Has something to do with a metabolic disorder or inability to break down a certain chemical.

If I recall correctly, the only antidote is a change in some part of the diet and even then it is difficult to manage.

Grrrrr. Off to google...

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I had a patient one time who would pour her milk in her potted plants where the milk then soured and smelled up the whole room.

No kidding? Lol!

People are weird, and we in the medical profession are privvy to their weirdness in ways the lay person will never have the pleasure of experiencing. :)

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Trimethylaminuria ?

I remember this Primetime episode from a few years back about a teacher who suffered from this disease and faced cruel comments from her students and the public in general:

Here's an article about another teacher who also suffers from this disease:

Disorder causes smell that can't be escaped

...Cashman said the common thread is a failed FMO3 enzyme. It can't break down the compound Trimethylamine in the liver. Trimethylamine is the same molecule that give fish a fishy smell. For most patients, TMAu is a genetic condition, but some patients can contract it through liver or kidney disease.

Don't know if your pt. has this disease, but I wonder if his extreme cleanliness is compensation for his awareness of the odor.

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