Dating Disasters·
THE SMELL THAT BROKE US
After years together, a man confronts a haunting, persistent odor from his girlfriend, sparking medical twists and a relationship strain that tests their future.
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The first time it hit, he thought something in the room had died.
After five years with his girlfriend, the poster says he had never noticed any major hygiene problem. Then, while she hugged him, a "horrible, rotten smell" rolled over him so hard he pulled back. At first, he assumed it might be his own body odor, so he went off to tidy up and figure out what was wrong on his end.
It happened again soon after. This time, the pair were out grocery shopping when the same stink returned, unmistakable and close. He says he could smell it from about 3 feet away, and by then it was clear the odor was coming from her. He describes it as "bloodhound levels," like "rotten eggs," and later says it was so bad it made him "smell like literal diarrhea" and "it literally makes me wince and want to puke."
He brought it up as gently as he could. She took the conversation well, showered, brushed her teeth, and tried again. Nothing changed. The smell still clung to her, especially when she sweated or came home from work. He says this was not about ordinary dirtiness, "She showers everyday," he notes, and that her breath smelled the same even after brushing.
The poster started to worry it might be medical. What kind of smell comes from inside someone, not from clothes or a missed shower? He asked the question directly: "What the fuck do I do?"
The next step was a doctor's visit. In his first update, he said she had an appointment with a PCP and they were also getting her scheduled with a dentist. In the second update, the PCP didn't find anything obvious. They ran labs, including a blood panel and a PAP.
Then more pieces started to line up. In a third update, he said one of the antibiotics he was taking was making his own sense of smell unusually sharp, and the dentist told her she had gingivitis. The working plan was to treat the teeth and gums first, then check the sinuses, tonsils, and stomach if needed.
By the final update, the culprit was confirmed: gingivitis. The dentist gave her a heavy-duty mouthwash, and the smell began fading within days.
But the fix came with fallout. He said the whole process made her deeply insecure, and that she started acting out, blowing off the dentist appointment, refusing the mouthwash, ignoring him, and "blowing up on me over little things." In the end, he said, the five-year relationship ended because of her disrespect.