My hair smelled like shampoo. My skin smelled clean. Nothing seemed off to me.
That's when the most terrifying part hit me: What if I'd been walking around with this smell for months, maybe years, and never knew?
What if everyone I met - at the grocery store, at church, at family gatherings - had been too polite to say anything?
The thought made me sick.
That night, I couldn't sleep. I kept replaying every interaction from the past year. Every time someone stepped back during a conversation. Every shortened visit. Every declined invitation.
By 3 AM, I was on my laptop, desperately searching for answers.
First, I typed "body odor after 60" - thousands of results.
Then "why can't I smell myself" - even more.
Finally, "old person smell" - and that's when I found it.