Intermittent fecal/sulfur breath odor

Have you had a test to check how your stomach empties? It's called a gastric empty study. It is to check for gastroparesis. I too get the sulfer burps, bloating, fullness, and was diagnosed with gastroparesis in Nov. 2020.

I too suffer the same issues, breath that smells like feces, I had co workers tell me it’s smelled like a dead rat also and surprisingly caught a whif of it myself. After a couple weeks of nose rinses and some antibiotics cream to nasal the dead rat dissipated but the feces smell remains unfortunately I cannot smell it out here do. Like you guys I tried everything including fasting for a week in daytime only eating dinner started on a Sunday- Friday experiment ( this seamed to help I believe not sure as not everyone is vocal enough to say it smells like sh*t). I couldn’t keep that up for long as I felt week. I done some research and I am currently trying to detox the liver in hopes of cleansing the blood. My diet will remain the same but I will try to reduce foods that can cause high levels of yeast production in mouth. I believe the issue might be due to blood contamination and perhaps in lungs but they can also be correlated. Drinking Hepagaurd, lots of water with grapefruit seed extract and Yogi detox teas. Let’s see what happens... anyone else have any feedback please let me know.. this is very depressing as my work requires me to be social and speak with others daily.

Hello @mikepr101 and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect, a patient-to-patient support group.

I appreciate your posting about this difficult issue. I can understand your frustration as your job puts you in contact with people on a regular basis. While you mention trying various over-the-counter remedies you do not say that you have consulted a physician about this problem. Have you seen a GI doctor about testing to see how your digestive tract operates when you eat? Many in this discussion group have mentioned tests to see how long food stays in the digestive tract. There are also tests for SIBO which can help determine the cause of these odors.

Will you post again with an update as to how you are doing?

I will absolutely update on my condition. So I have had 3 endoscopy done, seen 3 different GI doctors, had esophageal Manometry test and they all checked out to be good. My dentist says my mouth is in good condition and does not see why I should have bad breath. The last visit to my GI doctor it seems they believe my condition to be mental, for some reason the fowl odor does not appear when I am at the doctors office, why I don’t know.. my ENT had stated that for some reason I have gastric acids in my esophagus which was the reason for me having esophageal manometry test performed.
I do get acid reflux so I currently take prescription for Pepcid once a day and this helps with the acid not the fowl smell. I am trying now over the counter remedies for cleansing see if I have any different reactions. I would like to consult with a bacteriologist at Mayo Clinic in Florida but that’s out of network for me and in my brief conversation I believe Mayo Clinic requires several thousand dollars to be seen.

Here is some information I literally just found I will be trying... I will update if it has helped.. see the link below.
wholehealthchicago.com/2020/02/23/my-breath-smells-like-poop/

Hey everyone and thanks to everyone who has posted here. I’ve been having the same breath problem for about 12 years now (I’m 32). Reading your posts and seeing everyone trying to figure this out does help alleviate the despair. I just wanted to add what I’ve been through medically to the discussion.

Around 2016 I started noticing people covering their faces when I talked, holding their mouths open as if they were trying to breath through their mouth when I talked, saying something smelled like poop. I never pieced it together before that it was my breath but looking back even my best friend at the time would ask “did you fart?” going all the way back to 2009-2010. I thought he was just being stupid because I could never smell anything. Then I was talking to my dad, who just recently tried to come back into my life. and he asked me, “I’m not sure why I’m asking you this but how often do you go to the dentist?”

That’s when it all clicked. But if I had such bad breath, why would people talk to me? Why wouldn’t they tell me? I asked my mom straight up, she said I didn’t. I didn’t believe her because she’s always offering me gum and holds her finger under her nose as soon as I start talking.

(2016-Present) First thing I did was go to the dentist. I got some cavities filled. Had a root canal done. Asked about bad breath. The dental assistant told me she never noticed me having bad breath. The dentist said everything looked good and in his opinion it was an internal issue.

I went to my doctor. He gave me RANITIDINE for reflux and referred me to an ENT to see about sinusitis. The RANITIDINE worked for reflux, but I was still seeing the social symptoms of bad breath. The ENT stuck a long metal thing way up my nose and took a culture. He said they found some staff and gave me 10 doses of MOXYFLOXACIN. Told me to come back in 2 weeks. I went back, he asked if I was better. I told him I didn’t feel any different and I was still seeing social symptoms at work. He suggested that I was imagining it because he couldn’t “smell a foul thing about me”.

I go back to my doctor who then refers me to a GI. I get an upper endoscopy. It reveals I have a Hiatal Hernia and gastritis. They also took a biopsy because I had what resembled Barrett’s Esophagus. The biopsy came back negative for cancer but revealed I had EOE (EOSINOPHILIC ESOPHAGITIS).
GI put me on PANTOPRAZOLE and a food elimination diet. This did not help with the breath.

I recently went back to my doctor. Told him I was still having breath issues. He sent me to a new ENT. He told me to do saline sprays and FLONASE. Neither helped.

I went back to my doctor. Got a blood test for liver failure, diabetes, etc. Negative. Got a scan done to look for intestinal blockage. Also negative but did show I looked constipated.

The next things on my list are to go back to GI and ask about diverticulum in my esophagus, which is extremely rare in someone my age, and I feel like if I had that they would’ve seen it when I got the endoscopy. Also I was going to ask about H. Pylori. Now after reading everyone else’s story, I realize I have a lot more to look into.

When thinking back to that time period when I remember my best friend start asking if I farted whenever I talked (2009-2010), I started thinking about what brought this on. What changed? I specifically remember a girl I worked with in 2005-2006 commenting on how good my breath smelled when I was chewing some gum so I know it wasn’t always this way. It doesn’t matter what gum or mints I use now, people still cough, hold their nose, clear their throat.

I did date a girl from 2007-2008. We were sexually active and I engaged in oral sex with her. I’ve been wondering if maybe I could’ve received some type of STI from that. But from what I’ve read bad breath isn’t a symptom of any STI. Is that something I should ask my GI or General Physician?

Also i feel it is important for me to say, no one has ever directly told me I have bad breath and out of shame and embarrassment, I’ve never asked anyone if I had it outside of my mom. The closest I’ve ever been was I was in a group. Someone asked me a question and I answered. That person then turned to the group and said “That boy’s breath STINK!” and everyone laughed.

Same exact situation here.. I am Tuesday with my primary physician trying to get a prescription for Metronidazole Mouthwash at a compound pharmacy to see if it works.. I asked my dentist and she didn’t feel comfortable prescribing me it because she never has 😑

I read the article you linked. Thank you for trying it out. I hope it helps and I’m truly looking forward to your results (good or not).

Let us know how it works!

Thank you for sharing your story