Woman forced to take four showers a day due to rare condition that leaves her smelling like fish
08.06.2022 - 12:57
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A woman who suffers from one of the world's rarest conditions says she's forced to take four showers a day and use a whole can of deodorant to mask her body odour.
Kelly Fidoe-White, 41, has lived with Trimethylaminuria (TMAU) her whole life - a disorder more commonly known as "fish-odour syndrome" due to the pungent smell her body omits.
The senior night radiographer from Oldham has suffered with depression due to the extremely rare condition, as fear of other people noticing the scent has at times left her housebound.
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Her condition is so rare it has only been recorded 100 times in medical records, although some medical professionals believe the real figure may be much higher.
People suffering with TMAU regularly produce a range of strong bodily odours with examples including rotten fish, onion and faeces.
Kelly first experienced her symptoms when she was just six-years-old, noticing that her urine would smell like fish. When puberty kicked in years later, she began to develop a prominent body odour.
In an attempt to curb the smell, she would shower several times a day but unknown to her at the time, this only sought to make her natural perfume worse. It wasn't until she was formally diagnosed in 2015, aged 34, that Kelly had an explanation to her unique aroma.
"People call it a curse, and I can see why. To sum it up in two words, it's confusing and isolating, Kelly told NeedToKnow.online.
"Confusing because people generally don’t like to confront body odour issues head-on so when you ask them outright they tend to tell you they don’t smell anything, but unfortunately you will then get the odd person who talks about it behind your back,