First, you are not my doctor. I do have a doctor, many of them in fact, and will discuss this further at my next appointment.
Twice in the last week I have experienced sweating episodes while laying in bed where my sweat distinctly smells of ammonia - sharp, prominent, and no doubt about it.
Dr Internet suggests this can occur due to a lot of exercise while on a low carb, high protein diet. Other suggestions are late stage liver disease or kidney disease. Each of these seems to revolve around a difficulty eliminating nitrogenous waste.
I am a male, in my mid 40s, very overweight, and I was not particularly exercising much those day. I have been having back pain problems, partially relieved by steroid spinal injections (most recently two months ago), though I have continued to have seemingly unrelated neurological problems. I am not aware of any particular signs of liver or kidney issues.
So, oh Doper masses, anyone have any experience with such? Anecdotes and wild speculation welcome. Is there some other metabolic issue I haven’t thought of?
Not a doctor, but how is your hydration? What color is your urine? If your kidneys are having trouble converting nitrogen waste into urea, maybe it is coming out in your sweat?
Plenty of pee, mostly pale yellow but at times a bit darker. I do live in a tropical environment and drink copious amounts of liquids to try to keep up with hydration. I rarely have to wake at night to go to the bathroom.
The first instance of this ammonia in sweat happened while I was still Stateside visiting family. And it’s been happening again since I’ve returned home.
I would expect high protein, low carbs to induce ketosis, characterized by the aroma of banana oil. Not sure about any effects of heavy exercise in such a state.
You mention “seemingly unrelated nuerological issues.” Anything that could be throwing your olfactory centers out of whack?
The other unexplained neuro stuff includes indications of repeated death and regrowth of nerve endings (per EMG/NCV test) in muscles in my legs resulting in muscular weakness. And I’m having disruption of autonomic nervous functions including inability to sweat at all from the waist down with resultant excessive sweating from chest up. Fun times.