Key takeaways. A metallic smell on your body is typically a type of body odor triggered by handling copper or other metals. It can also result from your body burning protein rather than glucose during a workout.
Scientists have sniffed out the reason for the musty, "metallic" odor you smell after handling coins or touching metal objects. A new study finds that the smell of iron is, ironically, a type of human body odor, created by the breakdown of oils in skin after touching objects that contain the element.
While metals and metallic oxides are unlikely to have any odour, the same isn't true of organic-acid salts of metals. This is what is responsible for the bitter smell of bronze coinage, for instance, on which copper forms salts with lactic acid from human sweat.
Some studies also show that intense exercise can increase pressure on the lungs, which allows red blood cells to leak into air sacs, possibly causing that metallic taste.
When your body produces urea faster than your kidneys can excrete it, some of that urea is leached out into your sweat where it breaks down into ammonia. This produces a distinctive and unpleasant ammonia sweat smell.
Some compare it to the smell of fermented foods. In fact, yogurt, sourdough bread, and even some sour beer contain the same type of good bacteria that dominate most healthy vaginas: Lactobacilli.
Eccrine glands are all over your body. Apocrine glands are in areas like your armpits and groin. They produce a thicker, milky fluid. Sweat itself doesn't have a smell.
There is evidence that COVID can affect taste as well as smell. This loss of smell and taste may cause your favorite foods to taste and smell differently following your COVID illness. Food may taste bland, sweet, or metallic.
The researchers were also able to characterize another iron- type smell: carbon- and phosphorus-containing cast iron and steel develop a metallic-garlic odor when exposed to acids. Un- til now, metallurgists ascribed this to the gas phosphine (PH3).
While sweat from both types of glands is odorless, sweat from apocrine glands is more likely to smell when it comes into contact with bacteria on your skin. In addition to all those apocrine glands, your groin contains lots of bacteria, making it a perfect environment for odors, including those that smell like ammonia.
Period blood can have a metallic smell, like a copper coin. This is typically due to the presence of iron in the blood and is not usually a cause for concern. However, it should not persist much longer after the period ends.
Copper has a similar effect, accounting for the metallic smell created by handling coins made of copper alloys.
A metallic vaginal odor could be due to blood from menstruation or light bleeding after sex traveling through your vaginal canal. Blood contains iron, which explains the smell of metal. It could also be from coming in contact with semen, which can affect your vagina's pH balance.
Some people can detect a metallic smell or other odors that can't be smelled by anyone else around them because the smells aren't real. This condition is called phantosmia, an olfactory hallucination that's often triggered by a sinus condition. Other causes include: allergies.
Other signs and symptoms
There is a common myth that during a stroke, the victim will perceive the smell of burning toast. The medical term for this is phantosmia; an olfactory hallucination. In other words, a phantom smell, or a smell that isn't really there.
As a result of this research, they have found that iron deficiency changes the smelling behavior. 3 This study supports the fact that oddity in smelling behavior of our cases caused by iron deficiency. I believe that many clinicians have encountered or will soon encounter cases of desiderosmia.
“Healthy” periods can have a slight smell of blood. They may even have a slight metallic smell from iron and bacteria. Generally speaking, period odors aren't noticeable to others. Good hygiene practices can also combat normal period odors and make you more comfortable during menstruation.
All of the variants, including omicron BA.5, cause similar COVID-19 symptoms: runny nose. cough. sore throat.
Heartburn, acid reflux, and indigestion could be responsible for a metallic taste. Other symptoms you get with these conditions are bloating and a burning feeling in your chest after eating. To treat the underlying problem, avoid rich foods, eat dinner earlier, and take antacids.
One of the signs of COVID-19 disease is a loss of taste and smell. While most patients recover from this, some report an unpleasant new symptom following COVID-19 infection called parosmia. It's a condition where otherwise normal smells now smell and taste unpleasant or even disgusting.
This sweat produces a strong, sometimes even sulfurous odor when you're anxious or scared.
Hormone imbalances and body odor often go together. Dips in estrogen can trigger hot flashes and night sweats, meaning you simply sweat more, which in turn can result in more odor. This is also a time of life filled with high levels of anxiety or stress, which can make you sweat, too.
If your breath smells like acetone -- the same fruity scent as nail polish remover -- it may be a sign of high levels of ketones (acids your liver makes) in your blood. It's a problem mainly of type 1 diabetes but also can happen with type 2 if you get a serious condition called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
Bacterial infections:
Excessive panties are always wet vaginal discharge can be caused due to bacterial vaginosis. The discharge is thin, grey coloured and smells like a fish. It also causes itching around the vagina. Having multiple sexual partners and frequent douching are the common causes of bacterial infection.