What Causes A Musty Odour In Body Post Intake Of Losartan?

Posted on Thu, 17 Mar 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 17 Mar 2016 Answered on

Fri, 20 May 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I just had my losartan dosage increased fro 50mg to 100 because of a spike in my pressure. I took
100mg in the Drs. office and noticed a musty odor in my car and on my body. Usually I will be taking
the pills at nigfht, but this was in the afternoon. I see on the web that this is a rare side effect.
Can it be helped in any way.

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
I would recommend as follows:

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!

Regarding your concern, I would agree with your that this is a rare effect of losartan. Nevertheless, before concluding that this is related to losartan, I would recommend consulting with your attending physician and excluding other possible causes of body smell.

I would recommend performing these tests:

- a complete blood count
- fasting glucose and HbA1C
- thyroid hormone levels
- blood electrolytes
- kidney and liver function tests

If all the above tests result normal you should consider the reduce of losartan dosage and add another anti-hypertensive drug like a calcium channel blocker to your therapy.

Hope you will find this answer helpful!

Kind regards,

Dr. Iliri

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar