Smelling cancer!

Posted by trixie1313 @trixie1313, Jan 26, 2019

Did anyone smell their cancer before diagnosis? For months I kept smelling a strong ammonia-type smell and would have prickly heat waking me in the middle of the night as well as my breast swelling. I'd ask family members if they could smell anything on me and they did not. I drank more water, changed my eating habits, but nothing stopped it. After my first lumpectomy, most of the smell had gone. After the second lumpectomy/partial mastectomy, it was completely gone. Now, 2 1/2 months post-surgery, I am starting to smell that smell again and getting quite concerned that maybe cancer is coming back somewhere. I have 9 more radiation treatments to go and finished my TC chemo in October, but was chemo resistant.

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@veenu

Hi there,
Can you plz, tell that what kind of smell were you able to sense. I'm actually doing a research over it so it would be a great help to me.
Hope to get your response.
Thank you

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@veenu
For me, it was like something rotting and just disgusting. I kept asking my husband and daughter if they could smell this but no one could. I do have a sensitive "snifter" and when my kids were young, I would have them breathe on me when they were sick and I could tell that something was not right but the smell of them sick was not like what my cancer smelled like -- completely different smell.

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I have had the same for years and was only diagnosed with breast cancer yesterday. I have seen an ENT and was diagnosed with Phantosmia. Mostly it's like a smoke smell sometimes like shoe polish. Comes and goes. Very annoying for sure!!!

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For about 4mo. prior to symptoms/diagnosis, I intermittently smelled a charred like smell. Double checked space heater, pellet stove, toaster many times. My partner never smelled it. I didn't associate it with my cancer at the time.

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I am also experiencing this. I noticed I was starting to get smelly before my cancer diagnosis and not just any body odor a bit like Onions and specifically my right side. I was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer and the cancer was on the right side. I have had a full thyroidectomy and 21 lymph nodes removed and I can STILL smell it. Getting targeted radiation in a few months I'll be curious to see if it goes away.

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I’m so glad I found this blog and the article. I’ve noticed the bo on my right armpit for awhile and no matter what I do it doesn’t go away. I never associated it with breast cancer. I’m scheduled for two different biopsies in a couple of weeks as there is a big mass in my right breast. I only noticed my nipple going inward over a month ago with dimpling and discoloration but the bo and rib pain have there since February/March. There is no family history of it either. I’m being optimistic and positive about the whole situation. I have also noticed my cats are always around me more now than ever.

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Interesting!! For the past several years I have smelled an ammonia smell after excersising. I have never been great at staying up on excersise and I have only ever smelled it after excersising. It definitely was a strong ammonia smell and I thought it to be very strange! I was diagnosed with breast cancer this past February. I am 43, found the lump myself and have been told it had been growing for a while. Who knows how long? I have not excersised since my diagnosis, but will definitely take note when I am recovered and can excersise again.

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@mglinkhart

Mine was a very bad BO smell like I forgot yo put deodorant on then took a five mile walk and the sweat dried. I could not get rid of that smell. It didn’t have it on my right side. Even after scrubbing and using deodorant the smell would not go away. After my mastectomy it was gone.

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Thanku so much for helping by replying to my message. I fell really bad to ask you but can you plz. Keep in touch and tell me more about it, of course if you wish to and get to know more about it from others.
It would be a huge favour for me.

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@veenu

Thanku so much for helping by replying to my message. I fell really bad to ask you but can you plz. Keep in touch and tell me more about it, of course if you wish to and get to know more about it from others.
It would be a huge favour for me.

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My cancer has come back and I should have known but it was in both armpits. I didn’t have breast cancer in my right breast, but I did have a Metastasis to the bones in my neck my ribs, my sternum, my back, my hips, and in my liver and my lymph nodes so now I am stage four and they say I have about two years. My dogs won’t come near me anymore. They smell it if I hold them they wanna jump down really fast, the first time I had it, my neighbor had a golden retriever, and that dog would not leave my side until I had my mastectomy. Once I have my mastectomy the dog came and smelled me and never came back animal skin sense it. Certain dogs have a real nose for cancer. Hope this helps Maria.

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Yes!!!! Mine smelled like ammonia and garbage 🙁 I wished I knew it was breast cancer. It took about 6 mo. later, going for mammogram, then biopsy to 1st find out. And its was huge- 9.4 cm.

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@mglinkhart

My cancer has come back and I should have known but it was in both armpits. I didn’t have breast cancer in my right breast, but I did have a Metastasis to the bones in my neck my ribs, my sternum, my back, my hips, and in my liver and my lymph nodes so now I am stage four and they say I have about two years. My dogs won’t come near me anymore. They smell it if I hold them they wanna jump down really fast, the first time I had it, my neighbor had a golden retriever, and that dog would not leave my side until I had my mastectomy. Once I have my mastectomy the dog came and smelled me and never came back animal skin sense it. Certain dogs have a real nose for cancer. Hope this helps Maria.

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I really feel sorry for you. But don't give up hope, one of my family member also had cancer she was at stage 4 and the doctors gave up saying that she has just 2% chance to survive, but she believed in her destiny and today she is totally fine.

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