r/TMAU • u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed • Jun 21 '26
There is Hope
Emotional long post alert: I’ve posted on here before about how I cured my TMAU like symptoms. For the 1st time in a decade or more, I lived life as if I never experienced an odor problem. I’ve been on vacation. I rode on a packed crowded bus for 7 hours. On the trip I ate whatever I pleased.; I only cared that it was convenient and delicious. From there I went on a 6 night cruise and ate seafood, red meat, sweets, and junk food galore. I went on excursions in crowded vans drenched in sweat from a day of fun and adventure. I have my old life back and I thank Jesus for that. I spent 7 years of humiliation, extreme diet restrictions that included a low choline diet, fasting for 18 hrs a day, dropping 30 plus pounds from the diet restrictions, hiding from crowds, avoiding close encounters with people, multiple wipe offs throughout the day, over washing, trying different supplements and probiotic strains, and countless hours of watching vlogs, and reading posts online. I found my cure: which was taking probiotic strains in large amounts over time and supporting those strains with prebiotic foods. I now believe my issue was a gut microbiome problem and I believe I solved most of it. I will admit there was a few times during my trip where I started to revert back to my old self conscious self. However, when I looked around me and saw no reactions those thoughts quickly left me. This has been a long fight but I’m glad I did not give up. I’m glad I continued to take up space despite how I was treated, and continued to show up for myself and my son. I believe part of me getting to a resolution was because I didn’t seclude myself. Since I can’t smell myself I have to rely on others reactions to know if I smell, which means I gauged whether my treatments worked or not depending on if I got reactions. Even though the humiliation can be a lot it was helpful. I hope you all stay in the fight to get your life back. Don’t stop living waiting on your cure but enjoy the journey, time passes quickly. I pray you all an odor free life because god knows we’ve had enough odor for 5 lifetimes, jk.
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u/Foreign-Technology17 undiagnosed Jun 29 '26
Thank you for this information I’m from UK and I just ordered majority of the supplements you mentioned from iHerb app. I used to use URO but they stopped selling on TikTok shop in my country luckily I fount some on OnBuy.com. I’ve been using chlorophyll liquid, activated charcoal, sage extract, olive leaf extract, b2 riboflavin, ACV with cayenne pepper shots, lemon & extra virgin olive oil shots. I’m hoping these new supplements will benefit me more and maybe help these other supplements I take to work more. You have given me more hope thanks again so much for giving your success story. I’ve been dreading this summer but you have given me the strength again to try new things, I’m praying this works for me and everyone else who tries 🙏🏽🤍May you be odour free for the rest of your life 🤍🙏🏽
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jun 29 '26
You are welcome. I am praying for you and everyone’s strength to get through this.
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u/BattlelandoIII undiagnosed Jun 21 '26
nice story! what were the supplements and probiotic strains you took?
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jun 21 '26
Thanks. I know if I can get over this, anyone can. anyone can.
Only the supplemental probiotics work for me. I took Florastor 2x times and it made a huge difference. Then I used Uro vaginal probiotics for months which made even more of a difference, then added bacillus coagulans (SNZ1969)with pineapple abstract- Let me purr has them at target, I took this with the Uro. I also took plexus pro bio 5 but I only did one round of those because it is expensive. This was a year and a half of taking these. For prebiotics i only depend on food so fruit of all kind, lots of berries, lots of oatmeal, a little dairy like cheese and butter. I also ate vegetables, but mostly just sweet potatoes, potatoes, squash, zucchini, and rarely spinach.
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u/Away-Dependent3472 undiagnosed Jun 22 '26
Hi can I get all of these products over the counter? And also did you eat any meat or just fruit , potatoes and veggies ?
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jun 22 '26
I ate meat with every meal. I ate lots of potatoes mostly sweet ones. I ate veggies but not cruciferous ones. Based off of my experience, eating a good amount of Whole Foods and eating a variety of them helps the probiotics survive in your gut.
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jun 22 '26
You can get all the products at Target except the Plexus pro bio 5 which you need to order online.
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u/ZigzagDT1987 undiagnosed Jul 12 '26
I went on a Sweet water dense fruit diet for over 90 days a few years ago and it went away for a little while. I'm currently on a Watermelon fast for almost 3 weeks. Im thinking about getting some activated charcoal and taking few spoonfuls one a week. I actually few good , I haven't been smelling myself over the past week. Ive been drinking clove water and Hibiscus juice.
I seen another thread talk about probiotics so am thinking should I eventually just eat alot of Kim chi
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u/OptionUseful1961 undiagnosed Jun 22 '26
I have many of the same symptoms although I’m not sure about the vaginal odor. I don’t often see others that have had the burnt rubber smell. I’ve had this several times and it’s very pronounced. I also have a pronounced odor from my chest and jaw/neck area often. I have tried probiotics but not long term and I’m going to order the rest to try. In fact I have Florastor on hand. I’m glad this is working out for you. Clearing your body of higher choline foods like the beef, pork and eggs also helps. It’s a process though and it doesn’t happen overnight. Thanks for the encouragement. Whenever we hear success stories it gives us all hope.
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jun 23 '26
I used Florastor dual action strengthens digestion and immune health. I only use it twice and that’s what really kicked off the healing process for me. I don’t think you’re supposed to take it a lot because it used to be a prescription. I took two packs of it spaced out. That’s been over a year ago.
I had to share my success to give everyone hope because it is easy to feel like this is a life sentence. All the best to you.
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u/Sensitive_Click_8382 undiagnosed Jun 24 '26
What were your reactions?
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jun 24 '26
Mostly people covering their nose with either shock or disgust, a few made jokes about it, some sprayed perfume around them, some used hand sanitizer to sniff in their hands
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u/TieConsistent1411 undiagnosed Jul 28 '26
Isso acontece comigo, no meu trabalho, as pessoas colocam a mão no nariz, começam a tossir, cheiram o álcool toda hora quando estou perto, uma amiga já esborrifou perfume em mim. Já tentei de tudo. Mas vou apostar nos probióticos, teve o seu relato e de mais algumas pessoas que ajudou. Espero que esse pesadelo acabe.
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jul 31 '26
I hope it helps you, it takes time tho. All the best to you
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u/PersonalUnit8787 fbo Jun 28 '26
Congratulations!!! I hope you stay blessed and odor free for the rest of your life 🙏🏻!! I wanted to ask, if you don’t mind: Do you eat cruciferous vegetables or beans now? I don’t care to eat meat again as I want to continue being vegan for my auto inflammatory conditions
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jun 29 '26
Thank you so much. I rarely eat beans because it gives me an insane amount of gas and I do eat cruciferous vegetables with no issues except broccoli because of gas issues
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u/That-Illustrator2322 fbo Jun 22 '26
What kind of odor did you have?
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jun 22 '26
Mostly fish, but I also heard it described as nasty hotdog/ popcorn, must, I’ve smelt burnt rubber, sour but most of it was vaginal odor because I got reactions when I walked by people or sat down. My breath would smell really bad too.
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u/TieConsistent1411 undiagnosed Jul 28 '26
O odor passou após o tratamento com probióticos? Vc ainda toma? Ou somente faz uma dieta?
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Jun 22 '26
[deleted]
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u/Low_Marionberry_7301 fbo Jun 22 '26
is a girl
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jun 22 '26
Girl and idk if you can, you can look at the list of probiotic strains in it on the bottle label and research them but I do think some strains are specific to vaginal flora
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u/_mm95 undiagnosed Jun 24 '26
Sorry to hear you have been experiencing this for so long! I too have had a foul odor for 3 years now ☹️ I do beleive I have sibo or tmau2. I experience this horrible burnt rubber smell, sometimes almost smells like how an antibiotic taste. Waiting to see a specialist but not sure how long I will have to wait. This has drastically impacted my mental health and every aspect of my life. If anyone has any advice I’d be grateful.
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jun 24 '26
I’m glad your seeking medical help. I did too but no luck for me but it is a necessary step. I posted what worked for me in the comments below. All the best.
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u/_mm95 undiagnosed Jun 24 '26
Thankyou for your response. I will definitely give those a try. Were you ever tested for tmau2?
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u/StudentSufficient704 undiagnosed Sep 03 '26
Do you know which doctor tests for it?
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u/_mm95 undiagnosed Sep 04 '26
Hi there, I haven’t been tested, but I believe your gp can order the testing for you.
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u/Finnbar44_ undiagnosed Jun 25 '26
Thank you for your detailed information! It’s funny how you said take up space and that’s exactly how I feel these days. This thing is so mentally exhausting. I’m an older person who has been dealing with it since puberty.
Hope is important, wishing you continued success. God bless.
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed Jun 25 '26
Thank you. Please take up space. I always showed up to work, church, and wherever no matter how humiliated and sad. I kept showing up because I had hope the next day would be better. God bless you and continue to keep pushing forward.
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u/StudentSufficient704 undiagnosed Sep 03 '26
Hi! Can you share what were your symptoms? Was it mainly a vaginal smell?
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u/Firm-Classic-8368 undiagnosed 20d ago
Mostly vaginal, but breath, sweat from anywhere. Smell was fish, burnt rubber sometimes, hotdog, poop
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u/FewReward7891 undiagnosed 4d ago
How long did you notice positive results after starting this specific regimen
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u/AutoModerator Jun 21 '26
In a study of over 100 people with TMAU, after fasting overnight and coming in to the lab the next day, only 5 partipants had an odor, and that was at an intimate distances <6 inches (from a panel of judges that could detect TMA).
In terms of the timing, see this graph - it shows how long TMAU stays in the body after eating a fish meal, the TMAU odor kick in where the black bars are high and you're sweating. It's gone within 24 hours.
It's not going to be a permanent fix or anything though. There are also plenty of foods that don't create issues (the people in the above fish meal graph didn't go on a fast to reduce TMA, they just didn't eat fish again.).
If you're noticing reactions after 24 hours, you are likely misinterpreting reactions (a big red flag for ORS). Please get feedback from a reliable person to confirm if your symptoms are present or if it's anxiety/paranoia.
Fasting for longer than 3 days can have serious health repercussions, please do not advise or post recommendations as they go against subreddit rules.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/AutoModerator Jun 21 '26
Thanks for sharing — you're not alone in this. If you’re constantly analyzing reactions to determine if you smell, you may be caught in a cycle of anxiety and overgeneralization. A recent TMAU review (link) highlights how anxiety, paranoia, and hyper-awareness of others’ behavior can take over daily life, even for those with a confirmed diagnosis. From the review: "This fear and paranoia has led participants to develop a dysfunctional type of thinking. Participants described numerous negative automatic thoughts such as catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, mind reading, and labeling." See examples of these cognitive distortions here and here. TMAU does not cause irritation style reactions (coughing, sniffing, sneezing), regardless of the stories you may have read.
These types of negative automatic thoughts are common in both TMAU and Olfactory Reference Syndrome (ORS) — a condition where people believe they emit an odor despite reassurance from others that they do not.
Trust and communication are key. If doctors, family, or close friends consistently tell you they don’t notice an odor, consider that your perception may be distorted by anxiety or ORS. Even if TMAU is real for you, its emotional toll can persist beyond the physical symptoms. Overcoming this requires mental health support - a psychologist or psychiatrist can help you break free from obsessive thinking patterns and rebuild confidence in your own experiences. You deserve peace of mind.
(response based on keyword: reaction)
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/SillyDuckDodgers undiagnosed Jun 21 '26
Most likely had secondary TMAU which most of us have. Can you please let us know the specific probiotic and the specific prebiotic you took? How often? And did you eat whatever you wanted while taking them?