I’m Trying to Find More About a Medical Condition?

Question by Chrispy: I’m trying to find more about a medical condition?
that has a very long name, incorporating “ichthy,” from Greek for fish, and “meth,” referring to methane gas. Apparently it is the cause of a very peculiar, and unpleasant, body odor. Does anyone know what the name of it is?

Best answer:

Answer by locang
It’s probably TMAU (Trimethylaminuria)

Answer by Beth
Hello 🙂

I’m not entirely sure, but I think that the name of the condition you describe is ‘trimethylaminuria’. I remember hearing about this condition from one of my friends and it sounded dreadful! She said that people with trimethylaminuria are very smelly and no matter how regularly they wash themselves, they still stink! I feel so sorry for people with this awful condition, as it must be terribly humiliating to be told by everyone around you how smelly you are. I don’t think that there is a cure at the moment, but I hope that there are things that sufferers can do to make their lives a little less unpleasant.

I’m sure that as with so many things, it is largely because of us that conditions like this are so difficult to live with. I remember how cruel many of the children at my old school were and how they used to tease and make fun of anyone who was different or “stuck out”. It still brings tears to my eyes when I recall what happened one lunchtime to one of my classmates. I’m just really glad that there were enough of us to help protect her and comfort her after her humiliating ordeal.

People seem to be dreadfully judgmental of anyone who is a little smelly, and they seem to associate smelliness with dirtiness and messiness. There seems to be a perception that smelly people are dirty and unhygienic, and this must make things terribly hard for anyone with trimethylaminuria, since no matter how often a trimethylaminuria sufferer washes herself, she’ll still be stinky. I wince when I remember some of the names that people were called at school, and I desperately hope that most people would be kind and compassionate if they found out that someone they knew had trimethylaminuria.

I do hope that you’ll never suffer from this dreadful condition!

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

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