Ammonia like smell to sweat

[CathydsRNA]

Help!! I have recently noticed that my sweat when I am working out has an ammonia like smell to it. Why is this happening? At first I thought I may be burning muscle and not fat but a web site I visited said it may be that I am not getting in enough carbs before I work out. I don't have time to search the web now for more detailed info and am wondering if anyone has knowledge of this.TIA

 

[CurlyQ]

Well if you're not eating enough carbs your body will use protein as a fuel (ie, muscle) so it could be that. Ketone bodies are supposed to have a strong odor although I've never smelled it myself. Could it be from a new deodorant or soap? I assume you're drinking enough water...I'll try a google search...

 

[CurlyQ]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ammonia.htm

This explains it well. Basically you're not eating enough carbs before your workouts.

 

[smoogy]

Actually, Cathy, I wanted to know if what you are smelling is really an ammonia smell. Usually, people that smell that way are in end-stage cirrohsis. I don't know, maybe other conditions may smell that way. Are you sure you are not smelling some sweetness to it?

Marla

 

[CathydsRNA]

Nope, no sweetness. Definitely ammonia but only when I do cardio and not at other times. Yesterday, I was invited to a Master's Dance class that went on for 3 hours and I noticed it again for the third time in about a week or so. I am assuming that I don't have liver disease as I don't have any other symptoms. I do with both Hep C and Hep B but I get myself checked out routinely. I am immunized against B and have blood tests for C which have been negative. I also see a GI for ulcer disease and have had clean (except for ulcers) upper GI..no varices and have had clean liver function tests when they were done almost a year ago. Unless something else has happened fast..... but that is my only apparent symptom. Perhaps I shall make an appointment just to put my mind at ease.

 

[Skyeblu]

Hey Cathy, Just wanted to let you know I get the same effect if I go running close to or over an hour or if I do something like an intense spin class where my heart rate is at the high end for too long, which is why I don't do them often. I think in my body it happens when I have just pushed too far. There is a road I run on in the summer, door to door its a 4.2 mile circle back home. I always get that smell when I run it hard. I drink a gallon of water a day so it can't be from lack of water, LOL. But I am thinking that since I can't get any water until I get home from my runs that contributes.

CurlyQ ...thanks for posting that article, I wondered about it too, just assumed by body had been pushed too hard and it was some biproduct of that.

Skye

 

[CathydsRNA]

"I do with both Hep C and Hep B but I get myself checked out routinely"

Edited to say: I do work with this viruses. I evidently can't type without coffee which is what I am attempting to do now.

Thanks Skye...your experience makes me feel that this is perhaps a normal thing. I did schedule an appointment with my GI but it is a few weeks off. Let you know what she says.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[smoogy]

Ooh. Cathy, I didn't mean to say there was a possibility you'd have end-satge liver disease. By all means, you would know it by then. Actually, people that eat low-carbs & produce ketones give off a sweet smelling odor.

Marla

 

[40something]

Cathy, the first time I saw your thread liver disease immediately came to mind...because my father is in end stage liver disease. BUT...I knew that couldn't be the case for you since you seem healthy by all accounts. Indeed, if you were in end stage liver disease you would most certainly know it and you would be sick for years before it evolves to end stage and the ammonia is free flowing in their veins.

So, relax, don't worry. What you are probably experiencing is due to diet but considering you do work with Hep B & C it is worth your time to get a checkup. I used to work in a disease center and I worked with rabies, lepto. and enceph. viruses. I had an intestinal virus one time that laid me up for a whole week...I thought for sure I had stuck myself with a lepto needle because I was so sick I thought I was dying!