Intermittent fecal/sulfur breath odor

Posted by pbleonar @pbleonar, Jun 8, 2017

After scouring the web, I'm certain I'm not the only person with this problem, and not the only person who's been told they were imagining it. Anyway, the issue is I have intermittent odors when I talk (yes, I've been to the dentist 10+ times-- all say my oral hygiene is on point and xrays and inspections showed nothing). The only time it's practically non-existent is when I eat an unhealthily low-carb diet. Like others online, I've had CT scans, Barium swallows, endosocopy/colonoscopy, screening for parasites (getting one more from an IDS before crossing that off my list). All showed up negative. I tested positive for SIBO, but after researching that for the past 3 years, I'm certain SIBO is more of a symptom than a primary causal problem. Furthermore, even when I treated SIBO with heavy antibiotics, it did absolutely nothing for my breath-- and yes I was cleared of SIBO after a couple rounds of work. yet, the moment I eat carbs, I still get a "did someone just s*it themselves?" comment.

I guess what I'm getting at is I'm tired of doctors just saying it's IBS and SIBO and then proceeding to do zero investigating afterwards. I want to get down to the root cause of this, but most doctors are either too apathetic or too incompetent to do anything. Are there any researchers who specialize in studying and diagnosing hard to find problems in the GI tract? Between the 3 GI docs, 2 ENTs, 2 NDs and 1 IDS, I just can't take normal doctors anymore. I want my life back and I want a specific root cause so I can work on progressing from there.

Further notes: Diarrhea actually cleared up when I ate junk food and I had zero bloating, albeit the odor remained.

Xifaxan and neomycin did nothing for the odor, nor did the elemental diet. I actually think the elemental diet made the smell as bad or
worse than before.

*******Nitazoxanide********** worked wonders for the month I was on it. Solid stools even with foods that normally cause my ibs to flare up.
It's exactly the reason I felt there was more going on to everything than just SIBO and IBS.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Digestive Health Support Group.

Diddy890 | @yayofbaby | Apr 25, 2022

In reply to @pinkbird "I have this same exact problem. I've been told I smell like rotten eggs, sewage and..." + (show)

@pinkbird

I have this same exact problem. I've been told I smell like rotten eggs, sewage and poop. It is socially crippling. There are certain things that make it worse, for example, if I have an alcoholic drink, eat beans/hummus, bananas, chocolate, fried foods or drink lemon water and certain teas. I would say the alcoholic drinks are the worst for me - after 2 minutes of consuming a drink I emit the odor and it's just continuous from there (with several comments of "who farted").

Another odd thing is when I have a cold or sinus infection, the smell is absolutely horrendous....it fills a room and people can smell me from many feet away.

The crazy thing about all of this is that I can rarely smell it. There was a time when I went back in my car after being out of it for a couple of minutes and I smelled it then.

Some other info - my tongue is always a light white color with white chunks in the back. I've had a two candida tests (a swab from my tongue and one from a stool analysis), but they were negative.

I'm pretty sure this is related also - my thumbs and pointer nails have beaus lines (horizontal grooves). Recently had blood work done and I'm not deficient in anything. My doctors do not know what they are from (asked my regular doctor and dermatologist about them). Also, my hair became very thin and is always shedding.

Digestion related issues: I sometimes have heartburn and am constipated occasionally.

Some other background info - a year ago I was tested positive for SIBO and I was treated with Xifaxin for two weeks. The smell never went away. I believe I do have some sort of dysbiosis (maybe hydrogen sulfide dysbiosis), but I think it's a different bacteria than what was tested when I was tested for SIBO. The test results showed an increase towards the end of the test (which I have read can be a false positive).

My life is a nightmare because of this. It makes me depressed and literally not want to do anything. Going to work everyday or doing anything socially is a struggle. I'm on a mission to solve this. I'm going to order a stool analysis test and will hopefully gain some insight into what's going on. If I come across any answers or anything that helps, I promise I will post it here.

Jump to this post

Wow you explained what I have perfectly. Except without the horizontal lines on finger nails. I’ve been dealing with this for 20 years do you think it could be a hidden tonsil stone ?

Diddy890 | @yayofbaby | Apr 25, 2022

In reply to @smelly1 "Dear Pbleonar, I suffer from the same condition and feel your pain. I've been to countless..." + (show)

So when you went to the psychiatrist did they smell it?

lovelybones | @lovelybones | Apr 25, 2022

In reply to @riflemanz64 "Try flushing the nose with saline fluid." + (show)

I have been flushing for many years no it does not help

lovelybones | @lovelybones | Apr 25, 2022

In reply to @yayofbaby "Wow you explained what I have perfectly. Except without the horizontal lines on finger nails. I’ve..." + (show)

It is so bad in case people smell me from my car and house

lovelybones | @lovelybones | Apr 25, 2022

How are you doing now with this ? Did the odor return after finishing the antibiotics?

John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Apr 25, 2022

In reply to @yayofbaby "I have the same problem do you think it could be from a hidden tonsil stone..." + (show)

Welcome @yayofbaby, I think you may be right about the tonsil sone causing the bad breath. Here's some information I found on the topic.

"Tonsil stones can cause bad breath though they're usually not painful or harmful. They're also called tonsilliths. You can usually treat tonsil stones at home. But in some cases, you may need surgery to remove the tonsils."
-- Tonsil Stones (Tonsillolith): Causes, Symptoms, Removal ...: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21505-tonsil-stones

Have you asked the doctor about the possibility of a tonsil stone?

jenatsky | @jenatsky | Apr 25, 2022

When you’ve gone thru all the normal routes for an answer and have none I suggest you seek out a naturopathic doctor for a consult. Most likely not covered by insurance but you need to look outside the box. Sounds like your get health needs a checkup maybe?

chrioli | @chrioli | Apr 26, 2022

My son has the same breathe you describe. He also has scrupulously maintained his oral hygiene. He was found to have stage 2 fatty liver, though he is thin, athletic, and young. Not fitting the usual fatty liver patient profile. He has quit the PPI’s that his Dr ordered and was repeatedly told to keep taking though studies have linked them to fatty liver disease. He is now eating a very low fat plant based diet to try and reverse the fatty liver. His breathe has improved dramatically!! So has his “gerd”, his nausea, and his fatigue. He also had a weird skin peeing syndrome on his bright the red palms of his hands which was largely overlooked by GI docs. This has improved as well and we found on our own that it is liver related. He is scheduled for an endoscopy in May just to make sure he doesn’t have something else going on. Hope you get answers. Get another opinion!

Diddy890 | @yayofbaby | Apr 26, 2022

Do you think you may be dealing with a gluten intolerance celiac disease?

texasmimi | @texasmimi | Apr 27, 2022

For several years I had a severe undiagnosed hiatal hernia. There was a large "pocket" above my diaphragm in which food collected and basically rotted causing a very putrid smell of rotting food that nothing could cure until my condition was diagnosed at Mayo, Rochester and surgically corrected with a nissen fundoplication. After the surgery I never had this rotting food smell that others noticed nor did I experience any of the prior GI issues caused by this condition. I am 6 years post surgery and have no GERD nor GI issues. Good luck with determining the causes of your issues

View More View Less

Please sign in or register to post a reply.