Posts

The strategy of winning on the mental rather than the physical side

Based on reading the experiences of other people with this condition, I think the most hopeful idea is the idea of learning to care less about the reactions of others, (and the possibility of the odor being present) rather than actually curing this physically. Most likely, most people will try the path of dietary change and supplements for a couple years, and they will then exhaust that path. Most people will at best report some limited improvement of their condition (I am an exception to this), but nothing like a cure, or a profound reduction in the problem. The good news is that there is a second path to getting the same basic result, and that is learning to simply care less about this over time. Some people report dramatically improving their situation through this, which is the main reason I have confidence in this approach – this is not just an untested theory. The discomfort that people feel when out in public is not just because of the concern that there is a bad odor pres...
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Be sure to check out my associated YouTube channel for lots more information!

I have made an associated YouTube channel with lots more information and content at:  https://www.youtube.com/@tmausolutions I hope everyone will check it out, because I think it is a very valuable resource for anyone with a TMAU like condition.
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What a correct hygiene routine looks like - everyone needs to start here!

  What A Correct Hygiene Routine Looks Like:   The first thing for EVERYONE who thinks they have TMAU to do is to confirm that there are no problems with their hygiene routine that they may not be aware of. Because TMAU is usually a devastating, lifelong situation, it is essential to definitively rule out all the reasonable alternatives before accepting that you really do have a TMAU like disorder. The main alternatives to TMAU are a mistaken belief that you have a malodor condition (‘Olfactory Reference Syndrome’, which I cover elsewhere) or a possible hygiene issue that you are not aware of. I am including a possible dental problem that you are not aware of in with the hygiene topic - and that must be ruled out as well. Even if it looks like you probably have TMAU, you MUST definitively rule out the alternatives rather than saying that ‘probably’ is good enough. The younger someone is, the more likely it is that a hygiene issue is the real explanation for the malodor s...
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This is why I think long term outcomes vary widely for people with this condition - this is the most hopeful thing you will ever read about TMAU

  DISCLAIMER:  I am not a doctor or medical professional of any kind, and nothing here is medical advice.   So, I have been thinking for a while now about the long term life outcomes for people with this condition, and if they vary widely. My conclusion is that they likely vary in a truly dramatic way based on whether or not someone is able to find love, get married and have their own family, or if they are completely cut off from this. Most people posting here are young, and I don't think most people understand how what matters to them will change as they get older, in dramatic ways. It is certainly possible to understand this at a young age though. I understood it as soon as the unimaginable reality of this situation dawned on me at 18, and why I knew I needed a cure, which I was incredibly fortunate to receive through major dietary change. This is a long post, but I think its well worth taking the time to read, since the topics it covers are so important. For ...
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Important advice about visiting a doctor about this condition

  DISCLAIMER:  I am not a doctor or medical professional of any kind, and nothing here is medical advice.   One of the major problems people with this condition have is that doctors claim they can't smell them and dismiss them. I have what I think is some important advice on getting around this. The most important thing is to use correct medical terminology when describing your problem. If you just show up to the doctor and say that you have a malodor problem, there is a good chance that the doctor will not even be convinced that is a real thing. Combine this with possibly not being able to smell you, and they will likely dismiss you as having some kind of delusion. The term TMAU is mostly being used here as general term for any malodor condition. This is NOT the medically accurate term to use unless you have the true form of TMAU. The true form means you can't convert TMA into TMAO. You would respond positively or negatively based on the amount of choline in you...
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How to make doctors and family believe you - you need to get video evidence of people's reactions

  DISCLAIMER:  I am not a doctor or medical professional of any kind, and nothing here is medical advice.   This post is about using hidden cameras to record peoples reactions to you. Laws about this vary from place to place and you MUST research and follow them at all times. Openly recording people with a phone is an alternative option to this. Everyone reports that doctors and often family members say this condition only exists in their head. So my idea is to use hidden cameras (see the legal disclaimer at the top of this post) to get the video evidence you need to prove them wrong. If people say this is in your head because the psychological barrier to telling someone they smell bad is so high, this will force their hand. If the smell is intermittent, and that's why doctors say you don't have a problem, this should get around that. I don't actually have any experience with hidden cameras, so you will have to research this, after you research the laws concernin...
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Search for medical treatments, and then look for doctors who provide them - post about underarm sweat gland removal

  DISCLAIMER:  I am not a doctor or medical professional of any kind, and nothing here is medical advice.   So, many people go from doctor to doctor looking for a cure. In the modern age at least, there are likely no medical treatments where there is just one magic doctor who is capable of offering them. So look online to research what medical treatments are available for this, and then seek out a doctor who can offer it. The main thing that is available is to have your underarm sweat glands removed/destroyed/shrunk. Botox is a treatment, but something called Miradry seems to be the best treatment for this at the moment. There are serious concerns about going this route. I have read many horror stories about people with Hyperhidrosis either getting getting their sweat glands removed, or else the nerve controlling it clamped down (if my memory is correct), and getting massive compensatory sweating. So, after a few months the body finds another way to get rid of th...
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Idea that the problem may actually be milder than you think - very important post for everyone

  DISCLAIMER:  I am not a doctor or medical professional of any kind, and nothing here is medical advice.   Here is the idea I just had: I was wondering about the issue of how people usually report that different people have widely varying responses to being on the receiving end of people with this condition. When there is smell that is bad, but also SUBTLE, people tend to have very widely varying responses to it. I have always been quite sensitive to subtle bad smells, in spite of having a history of this condition myself. This is part of the reason I never blamed anyone for reacting badly to me. There is a subtle perspiration scent that only comes after doing physically strenuous exercise/work, and does not result from sweating from heat (I could do a post on this), when talking about normal people with no TMAU like disorders. This smell is subtly bad, but I personally hate it (if coming from myself) and can't stand it, and this is the kind of thing where peopl...
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Idea of making small, incremental changes to deal with this condition

  DISCLAIMER:  I am not a doctor or medical professional of any kind, and nothing here is medical advice. So, I have a new idea that came to me. It sounds like most people are looking for one single thing that is going to cure them. It occurred to me that a much more realistic approach would be to look for a large number of things that each make a small, but noticeable improvement, adding up to a major improvement. So instead of hoping that eating some probiotic yogurt is going to cure your condition, hope for a 5% improvement from it. Look for a large number of areas to get these 5% improvements, and it will add up to something major. In my case, I cured my problem 20 years ago through dietary change (see my profile for my posts if you are interested), but I think the approach I lay out here is promising for people who can't find one major thing that cures them. Here are ideas for things to look at with the goal of getting a large number of small improvements: - Suppl...
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Important hygiene area that most people don't understand - sweat from rear area

  DISCLAIMER:  I am not a doctor or medical professional of any kind, and nothing here is medical advice.   Hi, about 20 years ago I solved my problem through a diet that I recently posted about on this forum [Reddit]. Once I entered into the long term phase of the diet, I reached a point where I was able to make decisions about whether I wanted to do an extremely pure, clean diet where deodorant was not even needed, or a more moderate one. I learned some important things through this that most people are not aware of. One of the areas that you have apocrine sweat glands is in your anal area. There is one popular source claiming this is not the case (I forget which) but the real medical sources make clear that there are indeed aprocine sweat glands there. It is the apocrine glands that release sweat that will smell because there are some animal products in there, that are acted on by bacteria. What I have learned is that the smell of the sweat in the anal area do...
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Idea of Zoom friends for people with this condition

  DISCLAIMER:  I am not a doctor or medical professional of any kind, and nothing here is medical advice.  So, I had a post a couple months ago where I proposed that people with this condition solve the problem of their isolation by physically moving near other sufferers, to create real life social circles. This post is a much less extreme version of that concept (which I don't see any evidence is going anywhere). That original post is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/TMAU/comments/17q2xab/i_believe_i_have_found_the_solution_for_people/ My proposal is that people use Zoom, or other similar video chat tools to make online friends within this community. I am not talking about people actually moving near each other which I understand has all sorts of challenges and drawbacks that I won't elaborate on here. So, the basic idea is that the foundation for a real community of people exists here, but this potential is not actually being used. I do not expect that the broader soc...
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