A strange smell. Is it death?
Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 5,937
So very sad. It's bizarre how powerful denial is. I don't think I was ever at the stage where you could smell it on me; for the most part I had surprisingly few physical symptoms compared to some. Who knows, maybe everyone could smell it and no one said anything? What strikes me though is the heroic efforts to try to fool people into thinking you don't have a problem. It's embarrassing now how hard I would work trying to look sober around family members.
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: California
Posts: 2,693
Originally Posted by LadyBlue0527 
That is REALLY scary to read. Before I quit when I looked at myself in the mirror in the morning I would think "jeese, I really need to get some sun, I'm looking pale". I wasn't pale, I was turning grey. I had big, black circles under my eyes. Talk about denial.
I'm almost 4 months in and although I see a big difference (actually look like I'm amongst the living now when I wake up) I know there's still a ways to go.
Get this, I only drank ONCE a week on the weekends and sometimes not every weekend. But, I binged. I hear that's just as bad as daily drinking and sometimes worse. Still, good testimony about how quitting is not only about the way it affects our lives emotionally.
Sometimes we don't even stop to consider the horrific things that are going on inside.
Ugh, gross.
I'm almost 4 months in and although I see a big difference (actually look like I'm amongst the living now when I wake up) I know there's still a ways to go.
Get this, I only drank ONCE a week on the weekends and sometimes not every weekend. But, I binged. I hear that's just as bad as daily drinking and sometimes worse. Still, good testimony about how quitting is not only about the way it affects our lives emotionally.
Sometimes we don't even stop to consider the horrific things that are going on inside.
Ugh, gross.
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 1,981
Originally Posted by Upstairs
There's alcoholic ketoacidosis. That is usually only smelled on the breath, though.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 121
This post kind of scared me and opened my eyes a bit.
Every time my AH drank (he just began recovery) his body emitted this odor. It wasn't beer and it didn't matter how much he had. It stunk. If he went to bed and I walked in the room it was nauseating. I always just thought it was how his body chemistry mixed or reacted with the alcohol. He's been sober for just over a week and unfortunately going it alone. He's doing well and very confident (seems over confident) but I really want him to see a doctor in case there is damage.
Every time my AH drank (he just began recovery) his body emitted this odor. It wasn't beer and it didn't matter how much he had. It stunk. If he went to bed and I walked in the room it was nauseating. I always just thought it was how his body chemistry mixed or reacted with the alcohol. He's been sober for just over a week and unfortunately going it alone. He's doing well and very confident (seems over confident) but I really want him to see a doctor in case there is damage.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Arizona
Posts: 147
There's a healthy looking pale, and then there is that light gray, kind of no color hue. It's definitely ingrained as an instinct, you know it when you witness it.
I saw it on someone that was recovered and sober, he was dead the next month. At a certain point, the body can no longer repair itself.
I saw it on someone that was recovered and sober, he was dead the next month. At a certain point, the body can no longer repair itself.
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Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Cypress
Posts: 56
Here's a super interesting article about what different illnesses smell like. It says that one day we might be able to diagnose illness using electronic noses.
Doctors reveal what different illnesses SMELL like | Daily Mail Online
Doctors reveal what different illnesses SMELL like | Daily Mail Online
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