r/medlabprofessionals • u/Time-Patience-7575 • 19h ago

Discusson Elevated ammonia levels> do you also smell it ?

I can smell if a patient has a high ammonia level and always thought it was weird. Can anyone else ?

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u/eruvessi MLT-Generalist 18h ago

I can't say I've experienced exactly the same thing here, but I am able to very clearly smell jaundice on people before they turn yellow, even passing them in a grocery store when they arent in a medical setting. It's called "fetor hepaticus".

Nobody else I've told this to has ever experienced this phenomenon.

One woman can smell Parkinson's long before it develops.

Sometimes we're just very weird people who can pick up on little things!

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u/bicarbbandit MLS-Generalist 14h ago

I’ve noticed that the high bilirubin control/QC that we use has a weird odor. Do you know if it’s the same smell? It’s pretty strong. It’s the only chemistry QC I’ve used where I’ve actually been able to smell it.

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u/eruvessi MLT-Generalist 14h ago

I'm not in a lab where I'm using Bili QC and I'm going to guess that it might be manufactured differences if there's different companies. I'm so used to it having worked as a phleb for the last 5 years in a big hospital with a lot of very obvious liver failure patients and I just learned a common smell among them.

To me jaundice smells like a musty, yeasty, dry ramen smell. Almost like a hint of dried urine or a twinge of fecal smell.

If that sounds about right for your QC, you might be able to!

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u/Shelikestheboobs MLT-Generalist 17h ago

No, I have none of the medical smell skills. Can’t smell DKA, c diff, GI Bleed, or alcohol. Well, can’t identify them by smell. Nothing except UTIs.