11 Ways to Deal With Body Odor From Chronic Illness

Body odor, or as my fingers just inadvertently typed, “bodor,” is a taboo topic. No one wants to talk about it, even though no one is exempt. Everyone has smelled bad at least once in their life!

With chronic illness, however, this can be amplified for various reasons:

1. Hormone imbalance. Whether your chronic illness directly affects your hormones or not, these imbalances are fairly common with most chronic disorders. Imbalanced hormones can affect everything, including your production of sweat.

2. Detoxing. When detoxing, it’s important to let yourself sweat. For this reason, and a few others (including heavy metals), I stopped wearing antiperspirants and switched to a natural deodorant.

3. Side effects or symptoms. Increased sweating is often a side effect of medication or a symptom of a chronic condition.

4. PH imbalance. The pH of our bodies shifts with everything from the food we eat to the medications we take and the products we put on our skin. An imbalanced pH can change the way we smell.

5. Showering and basic hygiene can take so much energy or is even painful. Many of us have gone days and days without leaving our bed, wearing the same clothes and dreading even the thought of a shower. For many people with chronic illnesses, showering is painful and can even take your energy for the rest of the day.

6. Anxiety. Mental illness and physical illness can go hand in hand. The sudden life change of physical illness can contribute to anxiety, depression or other mental disorders. They can come from your body chemistry shifting with medication and hormones. There’s also a correlation between your emotional trauma and your physical trauma. We often hold onto more in our bodies than our brains ever let on. If you have an anxiety disorder in addition to your physical health struggles, sweat is often a byproduct.

All of these issues can make managing your hygiene and body odor quite difficult. Here are some things I’ve found that have really helped me:

1. Sweat more. Seems backward, right? Well as you detox more and are getting those toxins out of your system, you may notice that as sweating comes easier, your scent improves naturally. Start detoxing in every way you can. Drink lemon water and use saunas if you’re able. I recommend Epsom salt baths. Not only does the magnesium help with a lot of pain, it may help pull out some of those toxins from your system. Make yourself a drink full of electrolytes (I love lemon water or Nuun) and sip it while you soak!

2. Switch to a natural deodorant without heavy metals or antiperspirants. Antiperspirants decrease your ability to detox through sweat — one of the most effective ways to detox! A natural deodorant may not stop the sweat, but it can at least stop the smell. Some brands I like are Schmidt’s and Myro (a subscription service). You may notice your body gets used to a deodorant after a while, or at least that you get used to the scent and don’t have a great gauge on whether it’s actually helping, so I personally don’t buy in bulk and switch scents and even brands often.

3. Stainless steel. This is an odd one, but it’s been exceptionally helpful for me! Stainless steel has a unique ability to bind itself to odor-causing molecules and neutralize their scent. Some people keep a steel bar on hand for when they cut garlic to get that pesky odor off your hands, but I’ve found it exceptionally helpful to keep a stainless steel “soap” bar in the shower to rub on more smelly areas like armpits. With chronic illness, in particular, you should be wary of heavy metals. I don’t know enough about whether stainless steel is able to be absorbed or not, but keep that in mind should you choose to use it.

4. Balance your skin’s pH. I have found the best ways to do this are by eating a healthy diet and using a Ph-friendly soap. I love the Phisoderm body wash because it has a light clean scent and feels gentle on my skin. I use it all over and have found it is sensitive enough for the bikini area as well.

5. Use feminine wipes as a refresh all over. If you’re anything like me, you may find that baby wipes don’t do much to reduce the smell. But sometimes a shower just isn’t an option. In my experience, the perfect solution to this is those wipes made specifically for the feminine area. Not only do they help with scent much better than baby wipes, they are usually gentle and help balance your Ph as well! They even come in individually sealed packets to throw in your purse and keep on hand! I love Summer’s Eve brand.

6. Sulfur. Oddly enough, one of the stinkiest of earthly scents can actually help your own body odor! You can buy it in soap form.

7. Try feminine sprays. Ever notice your perfume does relatively nothing to cover that odor? A great alternative to this is feminine sprays! Again, in my experience they’re pH safe and much stronger — I find this scent lasts all day. I really love the Summer’s Eve brand for this again.

8. Dry shampoo. Greasy hair is a very specific smell that we sometimes forget about. Find a dry shampoo with a scent you love and use it on the days you aren’t able to shower. Not only will this help with the greasy hair, but many brands also have long-lasting scents that stay all day. I love Dove’s coconut scent.

9. Dress in layers. Many people with chronic illnesses experience extreme fluctuations in temperature. You might be cold when you expect to be hot, or hot when you expect to be cold. Being able to take a layer off may help with your sweating.

10. Change those sheets! When chronic illness has you spending more time in bed, your sheets absorb a lot of sweat in the night. If you don’t have the ability to change sheets often, invest in one of these cleaner sheet alternatives, like Silvon. Also, be sure to change your pajamas more often!

11. Work through social anxiety. If you notice your sweat gets worse situationally, is in odd locations, or you find yourself worried about others smelling you and how it may affect your worth in their eyes, it could be due to a social anxiety disorder. I am the last person you would ever suspect of having social anxiety, but surprise! I do. I find myself hyper-focused on preventing sweat, but every countermeasure I would try often made it worse. I found myself apologizing, avoiding discussion or focusing on avoiding situations where it might be present. If this sounds like it could be you, there’s a really good, short, instant download self-help workbook about this by David Carbonell.

I hope some of these tips help you. Remember there is so much more to you than your scent! It often is a bigger deal to you than to anyone else — your nose is closest! Regardless of how you smell, you are a wonderful warrior and we need you fighting alongside us!