A Topeka woman is trying to increase public awareness of Trimethylaminuria, a rare disorder that causes her and others with the disease to smell like rotting fish.
"Even after I take a shower, there's still this foul odor," said Cheryl Fields, 30, a part-time instructor at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park.
Cheryl Fields, Topeka, has tried everything from home remedies to expensive soaps to try to control her Trimethylaminuria, a rare metabolic disorder that causes offensive body odor.
Fields is trying to start a support group for others with Trimethylaminuria.
"I've talked to some other people, nationally, and I've exchanged some e-mails with the people from the Oprah Winfrey show. But as far as I know, I'm the first person in Kansas who has come forward about this."
Fields said she is scheduled to take part in a March 15-17 National Institutes of Health conference on Trimethylaminuria in Washington, D.C.
"I'd really like to get the public to know that, sometimes, what they think is a lack of personal hygiene is actually a rare disease that the individual cannot help," Fields said.
A former manager and investigator with the Kansas Human Rights Commission, Fields said she thinks her body odor has kept some employers from hiring her.
Fields said she's contemplating filing a discrimination complaint against an area employer. She declined to identify the company.
Trimethylaminuria is caused by a defect in the enzyme that breaks down trimethylamine, a byproduct of protein digestion. The breakdown produces a molecule that, in large amounts, smells like rotten fish, and in smaller amounts, smells like garbage.
The odor is thought to fluctuate, depending on genetics, stress and diet.
Trimethylaminuria seems to affect more women than men. The noncontagious disease is a genetic affliction.
"I've had my co-workers tell me that it comes and goes," Fields said. "Sometimes it's not so bad, and other times, you wouldn't want to sit next to me."
Fields said she once was eating in a Topeka restaurant when she heard customers at a nearby table ask their mutual waitress if " she couldn't do something about that table over there, and then they pointed at me. It makes you not want to go out."
British studies show that Trimethylaminuria may affect one in 10,000 people.
"It's a dreadful disease," Fields said.
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