personal- b.o.

[busterrufus]

Pardon me for asking this but has anyone noticed change in their body odour when having prolonged spells of anxiety? I don't usually sweat much but it has definitely increased, and I m sure my underarms smell much much worse. Personal hygiene not changed, bath or shower daily
Not eating as much but don't know if that's why.

[misslove]

I have noticed I sweat more when I'm anxious. Idk about smell tho. Only time I notice a stronger smell is when I have my time of the month.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Sweating more is an obvious one, when under stress we just do more of this. Anxiety is harder than stress is, it's more constant & intense, so sweating is going to happen. Starting antidepressants can mean this too as it's a common side effect of many of them.

Did you know Serotonin has temperature regulation as one of it's functions?

I remember when I first started looking up symptoms of my anxiety, I did come across body odour as one of them. I've experienced it a little but not too the extent I expected.

[Shazamataz]

I'm not exactly sure if I sweat more as such when I'm anxious but I do feel hot so probably do.





Did you know Serotonin has temperature regulation as one of it's functions?

.

This is very interesting to me. I've had constant issues with my body temp ever since the month I spent on new SSRIs at the beginning of the year. Before that I'd been on SSRI for long periods over the years.

I wonder than now my body isn't getting the extra seretonin it's having trouble regulating?

Of course it could always be my thyroid, hormonal or just plain anxiety and exhaustion causing it.

[MyNameIsTerry]

This is very interesting to me. I've had constant issues with my body temp ever since the month I spent on new SSRIs at the beginning of the year. Before that I'd been on SSRI for long periods over the years.

I wonder than now my body isn't getting the extra seretonin it's having trouble regulating?

Of course it could always be my thyroid, hormonal or just plain anxiety and exhaustion causing it.

I reckon it will be more complicate for you, Shaz, thyroid and the meds for it can cause things too and since thyroid issues can mimic some of the agitation-like symptoms of anxiety, that is likely connected to things like temperature. I don't know, I'm just guessing because if you are "amped up" somehow, your temperature seems to be up too.

Antidepressants can cause Hyperthermia, the heating up opposite of Hypothermia.

I don't pretend to understand this one but from what I can gather, Serotonin increases in certain areas of the brain can impact on changes in temperature to cool it or heat it. There is some old research out there about how temperature increase with an injection into the area of the brain that deals with this has in the case of virtually all species shown an increase. And drugs that block serotoninergic receptors cause a Serotonin based temperature increase. That's interesting because SSRI/SNRI's not only increase levels of Serotonin floating in the space between the sending receptor and the receiving receptor but their main use is "down-regulation" which is stopped the sending receptor from reabsorbing it therefore allowing it to stay in that space between for longer so that the receiving receptor can keep using it up for longer than normal. At a basic level, some of the holes in the sending receptor get "plugged up", a bit like how that happens to a shower head.

If you don't have the Serotonin needed to manage the temperature function, studies have shown how body temperature falls much quicker to meet room temperature, where room temperature has been reduced. In that study, and where they didn't purposely stop Serotonin doing it's job, the mice adjusted their body temperature to prevent it falling to that of the low room temperature.

And how about another interesting function? Serotonin regulates breathing too. I wonder how that works for all of us who have issues with needing to breathe deeply, yawning and feeling like we are struggling to breathe? Some of that is muscular tension but how much of it isn't?