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Do women smell different after menopause?

By Expert HERWriter December 15, 2008 - 9:41pm
 
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Do any of you who have gone through menopause think you smell different than you did before? By that I mean the way your body smells to you, not that your nose is working differently. I always thought it was just me that felt this way, but tonight I read an article about someone else who thinks she also smells different now that she's post-menopausal.

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EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I had vowed that, being of the hippie generation, I would take menopause naturally. It hit hard and sudden. Not sleeping for more than 45 minutes at a time because of 'hot flashes' was ruining my love life, my personality, and my job. If you know anything about sleep cycles you'd know why. It was NOT imagination or over reacting. I've always been a pretty mellow person. After 4 years of decreasing quality of life I was glad my gynecologist suggested hormone replacement therapy. It helped for a while and then my body adjusted and things were bad again. So, with the study that said HRT (with progesterone) led to breast cancer, I stopped taking it. Four years later I was diagnosed with breast cancer. No family history whatsoever. No other risk factors except being female and over 50. And HRT. You do the math.

May 26, 2011 - 8:25pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

It is not as simply nor as easy to adjust to, as some persons appear to have been able to. Yes, I do agree that it is a change one has to learn to take into perspective, and accept as another phase of life. It sure would help to be able to help everyone around to understand just how it feels each day. Some days, all I want to do is just sit around with nothing to do, some days I just feel like pulling all my hair out! I does really get crazy and I can't yet deal with the body odor changes. I wish i could find those products that really help.

May 22, 2011 - 7:43pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

I understand. I haven't personally tried but you might find some items by googling nonenal body wash or soap. Hope it helps :)

May 23, 2011 - 9:37am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I found that it's clinically proven that body odor changes with age, especially during or after menopause, due to weakened antioxidant on the skin and hormone changes. The odor phenomenon that changes body odor is called NONENAL. I'm 50 and notice my body odor change too. It's normal occurrence. I'm trying to find solution for Nonenal, but not found yet...

May 20, 2011 - 6:13pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

Re: Nonenal: It's bacteria that is supposedly specific to mid life aging, or something like that. Mirai, a Japanese company, puts out a body wash and spray made with a certain type of pomegranate that washes away nonenal, when regular soap and water can't. I don't work for Mirai, or receive any benefit from promoting their products. I was intrigued enough by their claims that I decided to try it. I think it works great as a deodorizing soap,..but too much usage makes me feel a bit raw in the genital region. Btw, it's for men and women: apparently, men have a similar thing going on during middle age! Good luck!

August 30, 2012 - 5:35pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

Sorry: Meant to say persimmon, not pomegranate !

August 30, 2012 - 7:23pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I'm so glad I finally ran across this post. I, too, noticed the change in my smell and thought it must be a figment of my imagination. I also blamed it, partly, on my disinterest in sex. If I was put off by my smell, surely my partner must also have noticed. I am 57 and have moved past the hot flashes (mostly) and am coming to terms with the changes in smell and have recently begun hormone therapy in the form of vaginal cream to combat the tissue degeneration and I hoped to rejuvinate my sex drive. I'm still holding out judgement on that last part. Maybe I hoped for too much?

May 20, 2011 - 10:16am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I'm not sure what you ladies mean by "coming to terms with the changes that come with menopause." Do you just accept it? Not being fertile is one thing but the profound physical changes that take place is another. It's not natural for us not to have any estrogen. That's why there is sudden bone lost and profound deterioration of the vagina and genital tissues. There needs to be active research into preventing menopause. You don't want your daughters and granddaughters to go through this. We need to start demanding that more medical research start being done.

May 19, 2011 - 7:41pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

Preventing menopause? You can't prevent it anymore than you can prevent the sun rising and setting. We do this for a reason. No one is meant to be 21 years old forever. Yes, perimenopause has aspects that suck (such as fibroids and heavy periods) but there are some good things too. We just need to embrace the positive more. That's my plan and I'm 53. I can't take madroxyprogesterone acetate so I'm going natural...and embracing. No other choice, really...

May 18, 2014 - 5:14pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

I have to agree with her. Going with out sleep and losing your bone density is not a good plan. Studies have been done and the whole philosophy on HRT has changed in recent years. If you start to take them before your own hormones decline too much, then you are at a very low risk of anything bad happening. Monitor with mammograms every year and you are OK. I think it is well worth the trade off. My grandmother lived to be 95, however, she lost 7 inches and was in constant pain. Her bones were like chalk. And she had a great diet and was proactive to take calcium. She could break her leg from standing on it. She lived alone, so this was problematic. Every time this happened (yep, more than once) she had to rely on others during the healing process.

I am not taking this laying down. I am fighting it every step of the way. Diet, exercise, and HRT as long as they let me.

However, I am researching this and am on this post. It isn't perfect! They need to find a solution. The meds are expensive and they don't work completely. I still do not sleep and this has been going on FOR YEARS.

September 4, 2014 - 9:54pm
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