Simvastatin and body odor

I have been on Simvastatin for 5 months now and noticed 4 months ago that my clothes were smelling funky. I smelled my wifes clothes and sons clothes and they smell fine.
I have had my wife switch laundry soaps and fabric softeners many times and I still have a strange smell. Its too the point I cant stand being around myself. I'm thinking of going off the Simvastatin to see if that is causing thisbefore I go nuts. Any ideas?

I'm having the same problem. Have you received any feedback on this?

I have the problem, also. It's becoming almost unbearable - clothing, bedding, home, car all affected. Smells kind of like cloves, only much stronger.

Good news, folks - we don't have body odor! The bad news is our "smell sensors" have been altered, and EVERYTHING smells that way (even your pancakes)!

Had numerous people smell a freshly-laundered shirt that to me reeked of this odor (like strong cloves), and everyone said they couldn't smell anything but laundry soap.

So we either live with it or stop taking statins. Maybe your sense of smell will return to normal, and maybe not. But if you DO stop the meds, your chloresterol will definitely go back up!

E-mail me if you want further info. sknywlkr@q.com

Yeah, that sounds like really good news, John. Are you joking? I think I'd much rather stink than not be able to smell anymore.

This sounds like quite the unintended side effect. Are you sure this is the extent of your issues with this drug? I think we can all learn from the news about Vytorin re: these drugs - trust no one.

Except for me, of course, and show your trust by reading my blog on the subject. We're always very hard at work on the latest drug news.

www.druginjuryblog.com

John - what you say makes sense. I can smell all other smells too. But this other smell butts it's way in quite often, and doesn't always make sense. I was sure it was me because I'd notice it more in the summer when it's warm and I'd perspire. I'd love to learn more about this.
Dani

I listed my e-mail address (see previous message), and a couple of days later it changed. It is now sknywlkr1@yahoo.com - feel free to contact me directly. Also, spread the word to friends, relatives, etc. We need all the input we can get!

I just posted a message, and it shows me as being in Denver. Not true - don't haven't figured out how to change it - but I'm in Silver City, New Mexico. My prervious inputs also show Denver.

I am recently retired with a little time to spare (I'm also ornery enough to do something like this), so if it will ease your minds, I have been experimenting heavily with this "body odor" thing, and it has been a real eye opener.

To attempt to prove a point, I took a brand new
T-shirt into a busy café, and after getting everyone's attention and explaining the situation, I got everyone in the place to smell the shirt and give me an honest answer. This included people I knew (it's a local hangout) and also a number of out-of-state tourists.

Absolutely everyone said that it smelled like new cloth, and a few also said they could smell the plastic bag that it was in. No-one could detect any strange odor. I then placed the shirt over my nose and inhaled deeply, and nearly fell over! But I get the same effect if I cup my hands over my nose and inhale.

Tonight I was at a kid's birthday party that was followed up with a house-warming, and the subject came up again. And once again, some of these folks knew me, and some were total strangers. Same results - no-one, young or old, could smell the odor, because it doesn't actually exist!

So take heart - we really don’t have an offensive body odor!

One person here in the forum says they can still detect other odors, and my question would be, "How long have you been taking the simvastatin, and what is your dosage?"

My experience started the same, and while the "odor" was noticeable, it wasn't a real problem. But at that time, I was taking a 40 mg dosage. Now I take the maximum 80 mg dosage, and it's a totally different story.

I consider this to be a critical safety issue, as I have discovered that I can't smell anything else. Everything smells exactly the same, which is a real problem.

Since my divorce a couple of years ago, I now live in a travel trailer, and I found that I can't smell propane - which feeds all my appliances. When working on my car, I couldn't smell raw gasoline three inches in front of my face. And if my trailer ever caught fire, I possibly wouldn't know it until it was too late, because I definitely cannot smell smoke. I also inhaled deeply over an open bottle of Clorox, and while I could feel the effect, it smelled exactly the same as everything else!

I have also noticed that even though my sense of smell is gone, it has not affected my sense of taste - yet. And I have always been told that the two go hand-in-hand. I think the reason my sense of taste hasn't been altered is because the "odor" is purely artificial. But that's just a theory.

We need to work together to come up with a solution to this issue. Stopping the medications is a knee-jerk reaction, and could possibly cause worse problems for some. For one thing, at this point, we don't know if the effect is reversible. Rather we need to work with our doctors and the pharmaceutical companies to remedy the issue.

So please help spread the word, not only to ease peoples' minds about the "body odor" issue, but also to generate as much feedback as we can get. The doctors I have contacted to date, as well as a couple of pharmaceutical companies that have e-mailed, are completely new to the issue.

I personally feel that we need to get this resolved before someone suffers from something more dangerous than high cholesterol!

sknywlkr1@yahoo.com (in Silver City NM)

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is broadening a probe into the cholesterol drug Vytorin.

It has demanded documents from chief executives of drug makers Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough, the Food and Drug Administration and a Webmaster. A recent study found Vytorin to be no more effective than a less-expensive generic, and that drug makers knew this for two years, profiting handsomely along the way.

The Webmaster’s records are wanted because on a site owned by CafePharma Inc., drug sales representatives speculated before the recent report that they knew of Vytorin’s shortcomings.

We’re constantly tracking the Vytorin case at www.druginjuryblog.com .

Good news, folks - after a little over a year of being off the statin drugs, I think my complete lack of sense of smell is finally reversing itself!

This morning, for the first time since this started, I noticed a different scent in the air. Have sniffed quite a few other things, and am able to just barely tell the difference in their odors - they actually smell faintly like what I remember (if I can remember anything at my age)!

Will keep you posted on any further developments.

I've been on Lipitor for only six weeks and I smell funky! It's almost a metallic-copper-musty smell. I have been taking two showers a day to no avail (as I've been sweating more, too). No one else seems to notice it, but I am getting to the point where I am worried that they do and are just too kind to point it out. Doubled up on antiperspirant/deodorant too. Yuck! I hope it's just my sense of smell being altered, although nothing else seems to smell differently.

My husband has been on both Lipitor and Crestor for over 10 years, and the smell that he give off is really funky, like rotten cheese or sulfur! This is a man who showers daily, etc, so this is not a hygene issue! in fact the worst is at night! Our bedding just reeks after a few nights! I am constantly washing sheets, blankets, etc. and if has definitely affected our intimate relationship! Who wants to cuddle when your partner smells terrible! I feel bad for him, and he is very defensive about his... not a good situation at all!

I'm on Zocor (simvastatin) and am having the same symptom of altered smell.
Have any of you been on another statin and had this side effect?
I want to be on a statin but I don't want this side effect.

My doc recently put me on it. HAve we figured out if it makes you smell bad or if it alters your sense of smell. I work with poeple in IT and this is not good. Thanks for any input

John wrote:

Good news, folks - we don't have body odor! The bad news is our "smell sensors" have been altered, and EVERYTHING smells that way (even your pancakes)!
Had numerous people smell a freshly-laundered shirt that to me reeked of this odor (like strong cloves), and everyone said they couldn't smell anything but laundry soap.
So we either live with it or stop taking statins. Maybe your sense of smell will return to normal, and maybe not. But if you DO stop the meds, your chloresterol will definitely go back up!
E-mail me if you want further info. sknywlkr@q.com

Are we sure about this?

hate to burst your bubble, but if you are on Lipitor yu probably do stink. my husband is on it and i have to add a whole cup of baking soda to our washloads just to get rid of the smell. he is fresh out of the shower then goes to bed and in the morning the bed stinks! it is a foul odor and is very difficult to get out of clothes. even our furniture is starting to smell.

John wrote:

Good news, folks - we don't have body odor! The bad news is our "smell sensors" have been altered, and EVERYTHING smells that way (even your pancakes)!
Had numerous people smell a freshly-laundered shirt that to me reeked of this odor (like strong cloves), and everyone said they couldn't smell anything but laundry soap.
So we either live with it or stop taking statins. Maybe your sense of smell will return to normal, and maybe not. But if you DO stop the meds, your chloresterol will definitely go back up!
E-mail me if you want further info. sknywlkr@q.com

Hi John,
Have you canged your e-mail address? I sent a message to sknywlkr@q.com and it bounced back as undeliverable.

I find some information about Simvastatin (Zocor) at http://simvastatins.com There is description of side effects, dosage, using of this medicine. Hope it will be useful.

I have been on Simvastatin for over a year now.(20mg) I have the clove metallic smell constantly. I've wondered what it was and it has drove me crazy. After reading the blogs the old Sim is in the drink. I'll cut back on cholesterol intake. Tired of smelling that mess.