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Sweat smell and going 'high'?

zacthedog

Well-Known Member
Over the Last year and a half, possibly longer, i had noticed that a few times when i sweat, i get a funny smell ! this was pre being diagnosed T2 and as i was having regular blood tests due to migraines i know i was not 'diabetic' at that time, but my wife said the smell was like the smell her farther gave off when he was having a turn (he was T1), would that be Ketones? and would that be a sign of being high or low? I usually got it when i had done some manual work,so not that often then... But still not Diabetic when it happened. Confussed.
 
Over the Last year and a half, possibly longer, i had noticed that a few times when i sweat, i get a funny smell ! this was pre being diagnosed T2 and as i was having regular blood tests due to migraines i know i was not 'diabetic' at that time, but my wife said the smell was like the smell her farther gave off when he was having a turn (he was T1), would that be Ketones? and would that be a sign of being high or low? I usually got it when i had done some manual work,so not that often then... But still not Diabetic when it happened. Confussed.
If you watch Law & Order or CSI or other US dramas then they often diagnose a perp as being diabetic from the smell of acetone on their breath or their underwear ( or some such plotlline). This smell is like acid drops from what I remember from school chemistry. It is supposed to be a sign of ketoacidosis, which can occur due to High blood glucose and is also sometimes connected with recent exertion. The reports I have seen speak of fruity smelling breath, but no mention of sweat. There are also other more obvious symptoms of ketoacidosis that would be more obvious. You do not report any other symptoms, so this is unlikely to be whats causing your problem. You should search ketoacidosis yourself to check it out for yourself.

There are some foodstuffs that can come out in sweat most notably garlic. Other foods that can affect this are onions, and eating lots of red meat.
 
If you burn ketones then you may smell it on your breath (hold your hand in front of your mouth and breath out). As a guess only you are probably burning ketones or have developmental dyspraxia (we used breath tests to check for this when I worked for an education authority. My wife, who is very skinny, not diabetic and does not eat many carbs, breathes out keytones early in the morning.
 
I haven't noticed any particular smell from high blood glucose, however when I first started to go LCHF (and finally got my blood glucose under control), I did notice that my sweat got a fairly unusual odour.

I assumed that this was something to do with ketosis. Interestingly though, it seemed to last for a few months and then just stopped happening. I don't test for ketosis, so I've got no idea what's happening there, but I'm still eating LCHF and getting the majority of my daily calories from fats. I guess my body has just got better at using fats and oils as my primary energy source and is metabolizing it better or something now. :)
 
Whatever the smell is, it is strange, not like B.O. strangly meaty? Probably the closest i can explain. Might be something i have eaten possibly, now that i am checking BG next time i smell it i will test and see what is going on.
 
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