Smelly feet - the medical name is bromodosis - can affect anyone. It can be embarrassing and uncomfortable. The main cause is sweaty feet and there are simple steps you can take to help prevent this.

What causes sweaty and smelly feet?

The function of sweat glands is to keep the skin moist and therefore supple, and to regulate temperature when the weather is hot or while you are exercising. There are more sweat glands in our feet than anywhere else in the body. However, unlike sweat glands elsewhere in the body, the sweat glands in the feet secrete all the time, not just in response to heat or exercise.

Feet smell when bacteria on the skin break down sweat as it comes from the pores. A cheesy smell is released as the sweat decomposes.

The main causes of sweaty and smelly feet are:

Wearing the same shoes every day. Feet become smelly if sweat soaks into the shoes and you wear them again before they are dry.
Poor personal hygiene.
Hormonal changes can cause feet to sweat more, so teenagers and pregnant women are especially prone.
If you are stressed.
A condition called hyperhidrosis, which causes you to sweat more than usual.
Not letting sweat accumulate inside your shoes is the most logical way of preventing smelly feet.

Preventing smelly feet

The best way to prevent smelly feet is good personal hygiene and not wearing the same shoes 2 days in a row. It's important to wash your feet every day and dry them thoroughly, especially between the toes. Teenagers especially should be discouraged from wearing the same pair of trainers all the time. You should also wear clean socks every day. Cotton or wool socks are much better than nylon.

If you're particularly prone to sweaty feet, you could:

Use a spray deodorant or antiperspirant on your feet. A normal underarm one will work just as well as a specialist foot product.
When you have dried your feet with a towel after a shower or bath, dab between your toes with cotton wool dipped in surgical spirit.
Put detachable medicated insoles in your shoes. These have a deodorizing effect.
Try foot-fresh socks. These are impregnated with chemicals to discourage the bacteria that break down the sweat and cause a smell. Some sports socks have ventilating panels to help keep feet dry.
Wear leather or canvas shoes. In the summer, wear open-toed sandals. Go barefoot at home if you can safely.
Sweaty feet can be treated with an antibacterial foot scrub, but avoid using these scrubs if you have broken skin or eczema.
These steps to prevent sweaty and smelly feet will usually help. If they don't, or you are worried about how much you sweat, seek medical advice.

Athlete's foot can also cause your feet to smell. You can treat this yourself with antifungal treatment available from a pharmacy. Seek medical advice if you're concerned or if the problem is not clearing up.

Causes and Prevention of Smelly Feet

Sweating is a normal function of the body, but some people sweat so much that their clothes are often drenched in sweat. Hyperhidrosis is a condition where the amount of sweat produced by the sweat glands cannot be regulated. It is characterized by excessive sweating commonly seen in the underarms, palms and soles. This disorder can affect a person at any age and if left untreated, can become a lifelong condition. Though this condition is not a serious threat to your health, it can be quite embarrassing and can hamper your lifestyle.

In many cases, there is no obvious trigger for Hyperhidrosis, and it is caused by the malfunctioning of the nervous system. This is known as primary Hyperhidrosis. Sweat is a function which helps the body cool itself. In cases of primary Hyperhidrosis, the brain sends a message to the sweat glands to produce sweat even though the body does not need to be cooled. A genetic mutation may also be the cause for some cases of Hyperhidrosis.

Hyperhidrosis with obvious trigger factors is known as secondary Hyperhidrosis. While primary Hyperhidrosis mostly affects the underarms, groin, palms and soles, secondary Hyperhidrosis can affect all parts of the body. Some of the common triggers for this condition are:

Pregnancy
Menopause
Anxiety
Low blood sugar
Hyperthyroidism
Medication side effects
Alcohol or drug withdrawal
Parkinson's disease
Hyperhidrosis can be challenging to diagnose and treat. Lifestyle changes are the easiest way to address this disorder. Some changes that can help you fight Hyperhidrosis are:

Avoid spicy food and alcohol
Replace deodorants with antiperspirants
Choose cotton fabrics over synthetic fabrics
Wear loose fitting clothes.
Try using armpit shields and wearing absorbent socks.
Anticholinergic or antimuscarinic medicines can also help treat Hyperhidrosis. This keeps the nervous system from activating the sweat glands. Dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation, abdominal cramps and difficulty in passing urine are some of the side effects associated with this medication. Iontophoresis is a more aggressive form of Hyperhidrosis treatment. This involves passing a weak electric current through a wet pad to the affected area to block the sweat glands. It is usually used to treat excessive sweating in the palms and soles. 

Botox injections can also help treat Hyperhidrosis by blocking the brain signals to the sweat glands. However this is not a permanent cure and may need to be repeated after a year or so. Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy or a surgery to remove the sweat glands may also be recommended in extreme cases of Hyperhidrosis. This is usually seen as a permanent solution for excessive sweating, but are relatively new procedures and hence not very common.

Hyperhidrosis - Making Summer Miserable

Excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis occurs due to the presence of extremely sensitive sweat glands in certain body portions. It is a condition in which you sweat more than the normal amount and this can be attributed to temperature, anxiety levels and daily routine.

Symptoms: If the excessive sweating is limited within the underarm, the feet, the face and the palm of your hand, then it is diagnosed as primary focal hyperhidrosis, which is relatively harmless in nature and does not presuppose any serious medical condition. However, excessive sweating might cause severe mental and emotional problem for the affected person. In most of the cases of primary hyperhidrosis, the person suffers from a very early age, but is too embarrassed to check it up by a doctor. Primary hyperhidrosis can also be part-hereditary in nature. However, an early diagnosis might eliminate Primary Hyperhidrosis completely.

But, if excessive sweating occurs at a later stage and all around your body that interrupts your daily schedule, then you should check up with your doctor, as that might be a warning sign for far more serious medical conditions like cancer, malaria, diabetes, heart attack, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, thyroid problems, serious nerve and hormonal anomalies, etc. Also, if you experience excessive sweating at night and that too all of a sudden, you must go for a check-up. This form of Hyperhidrosis, known as Secondary Hyperhidrosis is sometimes accompanied by symptoms of nausea, giddiness in the head, the sudden rise of temperature up to 40 degrees Celsius and an intense pain in the chest.

Treatments: Primary Hyperhidrosis is diagnosed with antiperspirants which have high aluminum salt content like Drysol, Xerac AC; these are to be applied to the affected regions at night with a suitable prescription from the doctor. A prescribed dosage of anti-depressants and Botulinum toxin injections can be used to treat excessive sweating. Surgical procedures like removal of sweat glands can be applied, if excessive sweating occurs only in the underarm regions. You can also opt for nerve surgery if Hyperhidrosis is limited to your hand.

Excessive Sweating - Know the Signs!

Everyone is familiar with the causes of body odor from sweat. Sweat itself does not have any odor; it is when it interacts with bacteria (underarm pits or groins), the sweat gives out a body odor. Although body odor brings a downslide during social interactions, the sources of body odor can be more serious than a person might consider and may not go away with regular baths or by applying deodorants. The article discusses a few sources of body odor other than sweat.

The Fish Odour Syndrome

Trimethylaminuria (TMAU) is a common body odor disease due to a genetic disorder. It is also commonly known as the fish odor syndrome and might be inherited in nature. The rare metabolic disorder does not allow the production of Flavin-containing Monooxygenase 3 (FMO3), an enzyme which generally converts trimethylamine (TMA) into trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) by the process of N-oxidation. This results in building up of TMA, which releases a fish odor smell through sweat and mouth. TMAU can be treated naturally in the following ways  

Keeping distance from foods, which have choline, carnitine, nitrogen and sulphur. For example, salt-water fish, eggs, etc.
Reducing the doses of antibiotics taken.
A medical study also suggested that in 85% of the cases, taking in charcoal or copper chlorophyllin helped to reduce the body odor.
There is also secondary trimethylaminuria (TMAU2), a type of TMAU where it is not hereditary.

Rotten Apple Smell

Diabetic ketoacidosis is a diabetic disease when untreated. When the body is not able to compose enough insulin, there is a metabolic disorder which makes the body burn or break down excess fat for fuel. This causes the person to exhale breath with a sweet but disgusting aroma similar to the smell of rotten or decomposing apples. This is the reason why doctors, specializing in body odor, ask the patients to go for a urine or blood test, to determine whether the patient has diabetes. Treating diabetic ketoacidosis is same as managing teeth disorder  

Brushing teeth regularly and flossing daily.
Drinking plenty of water to keep the mouth moist.
Following all the medical prescriptions to regulate the sugar level of the body as given by the doctor.
Stress Disorders

It is also reported by medical clinics that body odor can result from emotional stress disorders causing excessive perspiration. It is common among teenagers who are in the phase of developing hormones.

Conclusion

A man or woman who is looking completely healthy and fit from the outside can too have body odor disorders. This will affect their social relationships, and so it is always better to seek advice from the specialists so that effective actions can be undertaken as soon as possible. A doctor can prescribe appropriate medication and advise some natural measures to restrain the problem.

Body Odour - How It Indicates Your Health?

Sweating is a normal and natural phenomenon, which all human beings experience. When the weather conditions are humid or if you have walked for a long duration in the sun, sweat is bound to appear. Some people sweat much more than the normal rate. If you belong to this category, some questions may come to your mind like whether is it abnormal? What can be a possible remedy? Here are some facts you must know about sweating.

1. Sweating is a natural phenomenon, and everyone sweats
It is a normal function of the human body. It involves releasing of fluids from our sweat glands present in the skin. The body maintains its temperature by means of perspiration. Sweating may make you feel uncomfortable,but performs the important cooling function of the body. Composed of water, sugar, salts and ammonia, sweat does not have any smell of its own. The unpleasant smell produced from your skin is a result of sweat mixing with bacteria.

2. The rate of perspiration varies from person to person
If you find yourself to be sweating more than normal people around you, it's natural for you to get concerned. However, do not worry because there is nothing unnatural. Some people produce more amount of sweat than others and that is completely natural. The rate just varies from person to person.

3. Overreaction of sweat glands leads to hyperhidrosis
Some people have sweat glands, which are so over reactive and over productive that they actually suffer from the disease hyperhidrosis. People having this disease sweat abnormally. The rate of perspiration is very severe. There is no such cure for hyperhidrosis. The only permanent solution to fix this disorder is by surgery where the nerves to the sweat glands are cut off.

4. Sweating is psychological in nature
The process of sweating is carried out by the sympathetic nervous system. Once it is stimulated, more sweat is produced. Although it may seem weird, thinking of sweating can lead to more sweating in individuals.

5. Nausea leads to increased sweating
Nausea or motion sickness is another reason, which accounts for increased perspiration. Nausea stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, which in return produces additional sweat.

6. Sweating can be delayed at times
Suppose you are climbing up a staircase, but surprisingly you notice that even after going up five flight of stairs, there is no sweat. The sweating appears a little later and is quite intense. This is because your body takes some time to react to the thermoregulation which takes place.

Sweating is a very uncomfortable and irritating phenomenon, but it is actually helpful to the body.

Sweating: What's Normal, What's Not

Body odour is a problem faced by a lot of people from all walks of life. It usually arises from the combination of sweat and living bacteria that naturally dwell in the human body. There are certain factors that are usually responsible for triggering it. Thick fabrics, stress, dietary habits that include excess caffeine intake, use of onions and garlic in the daily diet, or excess fat in the body are just a few to name. The most annoying of all body odours are smelly armpits! However, it is usually possible to keep the odour at bay. Here s how we can control it.

Daily habits to practise

Stay hydrated throughout the day. It allows the body to free itself from the toxic products, which contribute to the chemical formations that arise as a foul smell.
Eat a lot of green vegetables and less amounts of onions, garlic and chillies in the diet, which will obviously increase sweat secretion.
Avoid too much of caffeine and alcohol, which contribute heavily as stimulants of the sweat glands.
Try to remain stress free; practice yoga and meditation as daily habits to keep your mind at a balance.
How do we recover from it?
The people, who generally do not have a healthy dietary or living habit, have to start living by the rules to get rid of this problem. Groom yourself:

Start exercising to release your body from that extra load, remember to shower after exercising, as accumulation of sweat will again form an ally to the problem.
Keep your underarms shaved. Although it is still not conventional for the men in the society to do so, it is very important, as there is more aggregation of bacteria around places where we have hair on the body. So shaving or trimming your armpit hair will definitely prove to be worthy.
Maintain hygiene. Keep yourself clean and wear fresh clothes.
Wear perforated fabrics that let your skin breathe, like silk and cotton.
If all the above mentioned steps have been followed, and the problem still persists, do not hesitate to see a doctor to strike a list of diseases off the list which also manifest in this problem, like hyperthyroidism, diabetes, Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), leukaemia, tuberculosis and others. Maintain a healthy environment around you, follow a few simple steps, and enjoy a happy living.

Smelly Armpits - How To Prevent & Control It?

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