Does cancer give off an odour

This may seem a strange subject and I dont mean to be offensive, just curious because i have read that sniffer dogs can smell cancer on people 98% accurate in some trials. Why is this tool, if I can call it that, under used by primary care. so much for scans, etc, in early diagnosis.

I have noticed this smell on me, onone else seems to smell it on me, its in my clothes, on my skin, in my breath. I can only describe it as musty or sweet,, sometimes like spice. Nothing unpleasant just different.

My doctor looked at me oddly when I told her 4 Months before I was diagnosed with colon cancer. I noticed an unusual smell with my Mother and a colleague, both had had chemo by the time I could smell it on them but Im on no therapy yet as I do not know what the prognosis is.

Have I got snigger ability 

any thoughts

tony

Hi Tony,

You might.  I remember reading several years ago another person who believed they could smell cancer.  That person described it as a "sticky sweet" smell.  Since dogs can pick up on it (which I've heard about before as well), there must be a certain smell we cancer patients get.

:) Jen

Tony ~

I think you are on to something.  You may have be able to sense the smell that most people cannot. 

On another note, chemo definitely gives off it's own odor that can be smelled after using the bathroom.  The strange thing is, that every time my husband had chemo I too had the smell after bathroom use, exactly like his.  I didn't know he had the strange smell until I mentioned a weird smell in the bathroom after I used it.  I actually had many symptoms he did while he went through treatment - symptoms he didn't even tell me about before I experienced them.  So we suspect the chemo smell was just one of those things - one of the many ways we are connected.

Much love ~ GDW

Thanks, i thought there might ne something. Doctors used to diagnose disease through breath before scans arrived

tony

Hello all,

My husband and I were talking about this the other day. I was first a nurse in the early 70's and when removing ascites from the abdomen or when someone had colon cancer it always left a smell in the room and from that time on the pt smelled and it never went away. Now this no longer happens, whether it is the meds or whatever there is no oder. I never smelled a lung cancer pt, it was the colon cancers, but SMELL NO MORE! Gayle

Hi Tony, I have searched and searched and cannot find the thread I want for you.  But a while back there was a thread from someone doing research on just what you are saying.  They wanted people who had not yet been treated, yet knew they had cancer.  What they needed was their breath in a jar.  They were using it either to train dogs or to find out if the dogs hit on them.  Just thought you might want to know, but it really disappoints me I can't find the thread.  I 've checked all around, and not found it, but I don't know what topic it was made under either.  Take Care, Helen

I noticed a smell too.  I even asked other people to sniff me and see if they could smell something unpleasant, but no one else could.  It was almost as if it was in my sinuses, but it was coming from me, I was sure of it.  I smelled it long before I was diagnosed with cancer.  I even asked my doctor and it is noted in my medical file that I could smell something.  My dog would sniff me and cry, she was a black lab mix and not trained for anything special, just to love the family.  

I don't think it's strange.  Some people are very sensitive to smell while others are not.  I also noticed the smell on my mother in law before she was diagnosed with cancer.  I think further consideration should be given to the idea that some people can smell cancer.

I'm so glad this was a topic on here.  It strengthens my own belief about it.

I had to actualy register when I read this. I have been reading in the Kidney cancer portion.

The reason I had to respond is because I have a Basset Hound that I rescued several years ago and he is truly my Buddy which haooens to be his name.

Well I had a large tumor in my left kidney which was removed in Oct 2009. Before I got diagnosed Buddy would always push his nose in under my ribs and cry, sometimes he would paw at my belly area. He would never leave my side and then I got diagnosed by accident. I had symptoms but ignored them.

I can smell a fever on anyone too, so I think that some people can smell certain things. I know my dog smelled my cancer first, and I am NED and he leaves me alone now. lol

So this is something I have been very interested in and my doctor wasn't impressed. Thanks for starting this thread. :)

I've never mentioned the odd wiffs of a sweet smell that I would occassionally get.  It reminded me of rotten apples/apple butter.  

I don't smell that smell anymore.  

For years, I knew there was something off in my body.  Even after they finally diagnosed sarcoidosis, I knew that something else was wrong.  

I still feel like something is still "lurking" but not sure what.  I keep connected with my body and I do believe that some people are more tuned in to little changes.  

On a weird side note, I can spot a pregnant woman immediately.  I have congratulated women sometimes before they knew they were pregnant.  It's not a smell because I can tell just by looking at them (for example on tv or at a distance in a store).  

Katherine

www.lifeaftergastrectomy.wordpress.com

On Jun 17, 2011 7:33 PM Katherine62 wrote:

I've never mentioned the odd wiffs of a sweet smell that I would occassionally get.  It reminded me of rotten apples/apple butter.  

I don't smell that smell anymore.  

For years, I knew there was something off in my body.  Even after they finally diagnosed sarcoidosis, I knew that something else was wrong.  

I still feel like something is still "lurking" but not sure what.  I keep connected with my body and I do believe that some people are more tuned in to little changes.  

On a weird side note, I can spot a pregnant woman immediately.  I have congratulated women sometimes before they knew they were pregnant.  It's not a smell because I can tell just by looking at them (for example on tv or at a distance in a store).  

Katherine

www.lifeaftergastrectomy.wordpress.com "" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.lifeaftergastrectomy.wordpress.com " target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.lifeaftergastrectomy.wordpress.com

Katherine

so you think sarcoidosis gave off this smell you describe, do you still have this smell you talk of

tony