StephEgan

I have seen others talking about this smell - I have noticed in the bedroom in the morning a smell that is sometimes like a billiards room and sometimes just sort of like BO. I've also noticed a bad breath smell at times - not booze just gross! Is this something to do with the booze too?! And the weird BO type smell- I thought it was just me but when my parents came home and moved into the room he was sleeping in, my mum said it stank! I agreed and said it was my husband!

trailmix

You might find these threads helpful:

https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...hat-smell.html (What is that smell?)
https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...ugh-smell.html (Ugh...the SMELL!)
https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...277-smell.html (Smell)

The threads are a bit older so not really worth posting in but the info might help.

In the first thread dandylion says:

StephEgan

That is the smell! But it only happens sometimes and not for well over 6 months now. The other smells sometimes come though in the room in the morning afte rsleeping in there all night. I don't sleep in the room with him anymore.

trailmix

You haven't been at your parents that long have you? Perhaps you are mentally blocking out the smell somewhat?

I googled as dandylion mentioned and saw one of the other symptoms when this syndrome is reached can be that consciousness is affected.

GoldenDog

I noticed a smell too and for the longest time I didn't associate it with alcohol. The morning after when the room reeks of whatever he drank the night before of course but there was always an odor and bad breath smell as well. I just started keeping my distance because I couldn't take it. Confined in a car was bad and I noticed his vehicles even relatively new ones would start to smell. He was always unaware.

dandylion

This all sounds consistent with :Fetor Hepaticus". You can google it. It is hard to escape....lol,

StephEgan

We have been here for 2 yrs now and I think his disease must have gotten a lot worse during those 2 years - well probably for the previous 2 yrs too but I hadn't noticed as I was dealing with a bedbound child who I slept with and basically who had 100% of my attention - I had to carry her to the toilet I had to spoon feed her she laid in her bed suffering for 2 years and all I did was care for her and research like crazy to figure out what was wrong and book flights and doctors appointments basically - oh and work FT most of that time too so I guess he was left to his own devices!

PeacefulWater12

Yep, my late hubby had that smell too. When he died it took several months to leave the rooms he used. I had the carpet professionally cleaned and also got rid of all the furniture he used, bed, bedding etc. All his clothes. Still it lingered.

Then one day it was gone! Fresh air flooded in!

StephEgan

See my husband's smell comes and goes - he doesn't have it really right now for example....i'm so confused.

PeacefulWater12

When my late husband first started to have that smell, it came and went as you describe. As his health declined, it was there all the time.

I never mentioned it to him as I knew it would be met with deep denial etc.

To my surprise one day he mentioned it to me. He had been out of his bedroom for a while then went back in and noticed it. For him to mention it he must have noticed it many times before he would ever say it. He would always deny anything and everything to do with his illness.

It was rotting smell. His body rotting on the inside.

SparkleKitty

Looking for consistency, concrete answers, or literally anything rational related to someone's addiction is not a great use of time and energy. Addiction is illogical, bodies are miraculous, and not even being 100% completely sure about what is going on with him will help you control or change it in any way. It will still be his problem to address. You can, however, look out for you and your daughter regardless of what's going on with him.

StephEgan

Interesting so it did come and go. I'm not sure if it's that smell of having had too much to drink then sleeping in the room - like in my old party days after a night in the club, or the illness rotting smell - maybe a mixture!

StephEgan

I think I am really struggling with denial and I guess the shock of all of this, which surely is understandable. I am sitting here reading forums etc and suddenly, his smell has seeped into me - it's like he's sitting right here next to me. I can taste it - that smell that he always has and I thought was a mixture of his natural odour and his hygiene products - so now I'm thinking that my intuition is screaming to me that that smell is actually vodka breath mixed with his hygiene products?! I am so confused- his smell - this smell of his that isn't particularly unpleasant - just his smell - and maybe that is an alchy smell all along?! But mixed with his soaps and creams?!

Floating

My ex would get a very specific smell when this liver would get very sick. Look up hepatic encephalopathy. It smells fruity, pungent, yucky. He has to take meds daily now or the toxins build up in the blood and it causes confusion, mental dullness etc.

StephEgan

Funny you should say that - hepatic encephalopathy was one of the diagnoses I had settled on via Dr. Google with my research - he had all of the symptoms of it but his ultrasound was clear.

dbyrer

Like addiction, it gets worse with time.