help me about my smelly feet

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THE FOLLOWING IS OFFERED GRATIS AS GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY, AND, AS SUCH, MAY NOT BE APPLICABLE TO THE SPECIFIC QUESTIONER AND/OR HIS/HER PROBLEM. IT IS CLEARLY NOT BASED ON ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE AND/OR EXAMINATION OF THE QUESTIONER OR HIS/HER MEDICAL HISTORY, AND IT CAN NOT AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS DEFINITIVE MEDICAL OPINION OR ADVICE. ONLY THROUGH HANDS- ON PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH THE ACTUAL PATIENT CAN ACCURATE MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS BE ESTABLISHED AND SPECIFIC ADVICE BE GIVEN. NO DOCTOR/PATIENT RELATIONSHIP IS CREATED OR ESTABLISHED OR MAY BE INFERRED. THE QUESTIONER AND/OR READER IS INSTRUCTED TO CONSULT HIS OR HER OWN DOCTOR BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH ANY SUGGESTIONS CONTAINED HEREIN, AND TO ACT ONLY UPON HIS/HER OWN DOCTOR’S ORDERS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. BY THE READING OF MY POSTING WHICH FOLLOWS, THE READER STIPULATES AND CONFIRMS THAT HE/SHE FULLY UNDERSTANDS THIS DISCLAIMER AND HOLDS HARMLESS THIS WRITER. IF THIS IS NOT FULLY AGREEABLE TO YOU, THE READER, AND/OR YOU HAVE NOT ATTAINED THE AGE OF 18 YEARS, YOU HEREBY ARE ADMONISHED TO READ NO FURTHER.
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The most common cause of smelly feet is excessive sweating. If that is consistent with your problem, use the search function to check out my my previous reply regarding "Drysol." Read the one where I outline the instruction I use for my patients.

 

I am not a doctor or anything but I have heard that sometimes changing the way you eat (what you eat) can help. I also have heard that detoxifing your body is something to think about.

 

Cotton socks hold sweat and make a nice dark, moist, warm environment for rot to fester. Look for other socks the "wick" moisture away. That should help some.

 

i post this question in another forum and wanted to post it here... is it possible that toenail fungus can be the cause of foot odor or odor emitting from foot area

 

I m not doctor but I m Father. My 2 years old son used to have smelly feet really it smells like big guy. till I give him 100% cotton lisle socks without any synthetic. They are cotton but it has no hairy surface and feet can breath easily. I think you should wear cotton lisle socks without any synthetic and hair.

 

That is very interesting to know. I have never heard that before but if it works, that is even better.

 

its normal that you have not heard before coz nowaday most of socks producer calls their socks as 100% cotton but they contain synthetic stuff as a supporter in heels and toe section.
as long as I know one brand produces real 100% cotton lisle socks.

 

when you look at composition of socks you may thing that rate of synthetic is low but all off syntetic material is inside of socks. So synthetic materials have direct contact with skin.
if I start bad effects of synthetic materials it would take much time.
here are some headers

causes stress, skin cancer , neuropathy, extra sweating .....
you can google for more

 

I believe I have the answer to your problem and it is only because of first hand experience why I am able to suspect that you and some of the other posters here might be suffering from a very rare disorder or delusion. Please read with an open mind because I too was VERY skeptical and doubtful about this in the beginning. Some of the other posters may actually have some type of foot odor condition and so the following information does not apply to them.

I think you may have what is called Olfactory Reference Syndrome. Olfactory Reference Syndrome (ORS) is a condition whereby an individual is chronically obsessed with the belief that they emit an offensive body odor which the individual confirms based on the perceived reactions of others and leads to abnormal social behavior. I will post links to research papers below and you should especially focus on the clinical case/report sections. But PLEASE read everything, knowledge is power and you will get a better grasp of the condition. The experience might be very similar to yours as it was to mine. Like you, I had eventually concluded that I might have Plantar Bromhidrosis but I realized later that that was not the case. I had all the symptoms you guys have described: smelly feet with or without shoes, smell could be detected from a distance, depression, socially withdrawn, anxiety, tried every possible solution, etc.

Sometimes, and I am not sure why, but our brains will force us to believe that something is real even by stimulating our senses to make us think that we smell, see or hear things that are not real. I have strong reason to believe that you have absolutely NO persistent, foul-smelling feet odor and that it is all made up in your mind. The sooner you realize this, the earlier you can seek help or treatment and save yourself many years of unnecessary suffering. I endured this condition or delusion for 9 years! From age 14 to 23. Years that I will never get back. I suffered from this dreadful thing called ORS and even after I discovered my condition it was hard for me to let go of it. But in time, you will get back to normal as long as you stay positive and keep assuring yourself that there is NO smell.

People around you may seem like they are avoiding you or are disgusted by you but remember that this is an assumption that you are making in your head. You most likely have never gotten CONCRETE PROOF that you actually do have a constant foul foot odor. It is all made up in your mind because you choose to analyze things only from your perspective. I have reasoned that maybe it began when a person had a severe case of anxiety at the same time with an incident where there was actually a bad smell coming from the person. Thus, due to the humiliation, the person was left traumatized and a false notion of having a bad odor was planted in the mind even after the initial bad smell was long gone. Due to ORS, whenever I was in the presence of other people I was constantly anxious and concerned that they could smell my “awful feet odor”. I took anything as a sign that they could smell it and were disgusted by it to confirm my false beliefs. For example, people rubbing their noses, people sneezing, people putting their hands over their noses, someone moving to another seat, people choosing to sit somewhere away from me, people looking down and making facial expressions of disgust, etc. But in fact, I had NO certainty about any of these assumptions I was making, NO way to actually prove without a doubt that they were in fact behaving this way in response to a bad smell coming from me. NONE OF IT WAS REAL. It was only real in my mind because I was so fearful of it being true that I looked for ways to justify it.

So stop believing that you smell!! Save yourself the time! Don't waste your precious youth! Ask yourself this question: If there really was a bad smell, why wouldn't my friends, family, or colleagues say something DIRECTLY to me about it?? After all, they’re the ones who love and care about me. If they can say other more intimate or personal things to you why not tell you something as simple as that? So get it out of your head. Oh and one of the first steps to overcome this is to actually ASK SOMEBODY YOU TRUST. Ask that person if you actually do have a bad smell in whatever area that smell is coming from, and even describe the smell you think you have to them. Their answer might come as a BIG SURPRISE to you. But it will be someone you trust so you know that they are telling you the truth. Keep this person close to you and continue to ask them again and again whenever you have doubts because you will. It was my girlfriend who I finally had the courage to explain my supposed “foot odor” to and she was the one who assured me over and over again that there was no smell. As a matter of fact, she even started to become worried that I had this false belief of having constant, mysterious feet odor. Thinking back now, how on earth did I expect a girl to even date me if I thought I had this terrible, permanent odor? I guess I stopped caring and just let life happen. But that’s even more proof that I did not have an odor problem because I could get a girlfriend. She encouraged me to go to a doctor so that I could get medical confirmation that there was NO smell. I did and the doctor reassured me that I did not have foot odor, not even mild foot odor. Granted, everyone’s feet has a sweaty smell and so there will always be some trace of foot odor but that is completely natural and is not as extreme as we believe. Also, don't mistake hand gestures (rubbing or blocking nose with hands, making facial expressions of disgust, etc.) and movement (people moving away from you, people avoiding sitting near you) as evidence that you stink. People do all kinds of gestures and movement for random reasons (really and truly people can move away and sit wherever they want to or make facial expressions with absolutely no thought about you). Don't think that it has anything to do with you. Everything is not about you! lol. But all the best my friend and speedy recovery! Get your life back!! I did! I discovered the condition at 23. I’m now 26 and the depression, self-consciousness, anxiety, and false beliefs are gone! Don’t waste a second even doubting. Who knows how common this thing might even be because for some people it’s not just specific to feet; it could be bad breath, armpit odor, scalp odor, genital odor, etc. The main aspect of this condition is that it involves a false belief that quickly turns into an obsession. There might be some relation to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Anyway, if you think all of this describes you closely then dig deeper and find the answers. Get your life back on track!

Remember the MOST IMPORTANT thing: Find someone you can trust and tell them about your situation, ask them if they smell anything (get concrete proof!), ask them if you smell like feet, and be brave and open minded.


If you would like, I can explain more with personal examples about what I experienced and why I believe it was ORS all along. The ORS links are attached.

 

Socks: indeed merino wool socks or other very good drywicking socks

Shoes: geox, or make sure it’s breathable shoes like leather

Insoles: Cedar wooden soles

Then ask yourself if this is a bacterial overgrowth, fungus or sweat problem. Best to always check with a dermatologist!!

Bacterial overgrowth: You can check if fucidin lotion (note it’s a medicine, don’t overuse) can help you. Sometimes anti acne lotion can help such as clindamycine or benzac 10% . The bacterias causing zits can sometimes be same bacetrias causing smell. Do please check a dermatologist before proceeding with these lotions

Fungus: check for topical antifungus like clotrimazole . Again, check with dermatologist.

Sweat: Apply strong anti perpirant (15–20% aluminium chloride), iontophoresis with glycopyronium bromide, surgery only if you have plantar hyperhidrosis (lumbar sympathetomy)