Smelling cancer!

@lajohnson
Thank you for your lovely note---we're all in this together. Hoping your doctors will order an MRI or a PET scan...if there is nothing there, you can rest easy. If not, you can focus on handling this in an expedited manner. Sending you positive thoughts for a good outcome.

Ladies - thanks for sharing this. Anything is believable in our shared journey. Slightly divergent as a MBC patient - I had a very strong odor to my urine after my combo Taxol, Fulvestrant and Avastin treatments. Thought it was my cancer cells dying off? Then started my maintenance Avastin infusions and Fulvestrant shot. Same thing. Their cycles are off and I then pinpointed it to just my Fulvestrant shots. Docs thought I was crazy throughout the process because there are lots of side effects to these meds but not urine odor. Questioned what I was eating and various vitamins and supplements. Did some serious internet searching and found one study on Fulvestrant that had like 70 woman out of 15,000 report urine odor. No one was or is worried about it. Like to think it is a positive sign?

As a MBC patient, my docs are very clear about my cancer - it will ebb and flow. Can't be cured but can tone it way down. They told me the tools we would be using to evaluate where we are in my journey: 1) cancer markers (right now CA 27.29 and CA 125) - not one bad test but a pattern. I track and in truth there are lots of fluctuations; 2) scans (PET, MRI, etc.); 3) visual markers (my MBC spread to my skin. When my cancer returned, didn't return to skin but got Ascites so looked like I was pregnant!) and importantly 4) how do I feel? Am I going about my normal life? Do I have pain? Can I manage what I am feeling/experiencing on my own? We are often our own best advocate - take pictures, record on a calendar sensations, go back and track results to see if you can tie in any change to what you might be experiencing, use tools at hand - nurses, doctors, help lines at wherever you are getting care. Squeaky wheels. And don't be afraid to talk about what we are going through - on this site or amongst people. It helps!! Go luck sleuthing and please keep us updated.

I am concerned about the color change. What color? Did you call the breast care center as planned?

This thread has been really helpful. I thought I was going insane. For about two months I've had a strong odor coming from only my right armpit, and was experiencing some tenderness. I took to Google and couldn't find anything except one random medical journal from India linking that to breast cancer. I couldn't control the smell even after I'd showered, and I've never had issues with body odors before (not even in my teens), so it was really bothering me. I decided to just go with my gut and make a gyno appointment for a breast exam. Lo and behold, she found a lump there. I'll be going in for further testing next week. Whether it's something, or nothing, I'm super glad I listened to my gut. And I truly appreciate you sharing your stories about a similar issue with armpit odor and breast cancer.

I have nothing helpful to add here , Just wanted to say that every time a dog runs up to sniff me , I wonder if its the MBC that attracks them , LOLOL. Theres been an urban legend for years that dogs can smell cancer ( apparently not science based ) but LOL , Dogs just are natural sniffers . I just always freak out a little tiny bit , just wondering if they do . I think it might be nice to see a Dr Doggie for sniffs vs the PET Scans .

Dogs are being trained in places around the country to sniff out cancer. They're apparently particularly good at detecting skin cancers that haven't become visible. A recent news item was about a young woman whose rescued dog kept nudging her stomach and also pawing at it. A year later she was found to have ovarian cancer. The dolphins that people can swim with in Florida were known to detect early pregnancies, though that could be a case of hearing an extra heart beat?

I wouldn't mind getting a skin cancer check by some sweet Labrador retriever or Shetland sheep dog. You could pet the examiner afterwards, toss it a ball to chase and pay your bill in doggie biscuits...sounds like more fun than a lot of medical tests I've endured.

Welcome to the group, @hfminerva72. I, too, am glad that you followed your gut and sought a medical consult.

A lump can mean different things, like a benign cyst. So good that you are getting further testing next week. Please do check back in to let me know how it goes. And, in the meantime, the gang is here over the weekend should you have any questions or just need to talk.

Me too. I have a second primary breast cancer in the same lumpectomy and radiation breast after 6 years. I had my mastectomy May 20 but did not heal right. So another surgery Aug 4. I have hideous underarm smell. Never sweated much or hardly any bidy odor in the past. A little dove or secret worked fine. Nothing works now. I too have a super hypersensitive nose. I smell evetything!!! I thought maybe covid related not losing but messing with my sense of smell. However, it has only been that way months leading up to this diagnosis of breast cancer. I did read a study that shows a relationship of the hypersensitive smell and breast cancer. I cried when I read it and your talk about smelly armpits. I have to get some of that crystal deodorant to try because it is so bad it makes me cry. I see surgeon again Wednesday. Will bring up as I know now I am not imagining things or crazy. I too am worried it is somewhere else as my good side smells worse than mastectomy side. Not at all your normal body odor. I am having hot flashes and nightsweats too. Not helping. From my medication. Anyway, you helped me alot.

This is so strange. I am not one to post or share thoughts on sensitive subjects, mostly because I believe I could be mistaken or wrong. Several years ago I came across a person who had a particular odd smell (every time I saw her over a two month period) and I rubbed it off as maybe she just ate garlic daily or something. It was a disturbing smell to me (that is the best I can do to describe as I have difficulty describing smells). Shortly thereafter I found out she had cancer. During the next 10 years, I have come across other individuals with the similar disturbing smell, some I knew personally and some were passers by. Of those I knew personally, they all had cancer. I have had my dna mapped and I am not part of the high risk category for cancer, but just two days ago I started smelling that disturbing smell on me. My diet is mostly vegan and I can't think for the life of me what I could have eaten to give me a different smell (one that does not come off in the shower - I shower daily and the smell is on me after I get out of the shower). I am 6' and 200lbs and feel healthy and I have no symptoms that would cause me to think I have cancer, but this disturbing smell is unavoidable. Does anyone know if there a way to test for cancer through blood or urine when you have no symptoms? Please, no "go to the doctor", I have had sooo many acquaintances go to the doctor with valid concerns and were turned away only to find out months later they actually had cancer (so sad). I would really like to know if this smell is related to cancer and if this ability to detect it is a gift.

smellguy: Were the people, including you, past 40? There is one possible explanation that is not cancer. I've used Mirai products for it in the past.