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.

sooners365 | @sooners365 | Jan 12 7:33am

In reply to @healthseeker77 "I too have had this problem for most of my life. After reading sanclembeau’s message I..." + (show)

Chlorophyll capsules helped me tremendously

myhopeisinjc | @myhopeisinjc | Jan 19 1:32pm

In reply to @kimnicholson "Your dentist didn’t want to prescribe you the metronidazole? Why not?" + (show)

If your dentist did not find periodontal disease and treat it with scaling and root planing aka a deep cleaning then there was no need for metronidazole or Flagyl to be prescribed. That is normally prescribed to rid you of certain bacteria associated with perio disease after you complete the deep cleaning. The dentists I worked for would also prescribe Amoxicillin. I was a dental hygienist for 16 years and had anterior cervical spine surgery. My breath got a lot worse after. Not sure if it was from the incision or general anesthesia wreaking havoc or what? I am at a loss and tired of the failures of trying so many different supplements and diets.

susieq9923 | @susieq9923 | Feb 13 6:53am

Hey there, I have the same problem and have been doing research for an entire day I woke up thinking about how to treat this disgusting and embarrassing problem. Has anyone heard of tonsil stones? I think that’s the culprit. They smell really bad and can cause that sulphur type smell. I found some videos that show how to get them removed at home they’re pretty easy so I’m going to try it and see what happens.

kim1003 | @kim1003 | Feb 14 7:12am

In reply to @sooners365 "Chlorophyll capsules helped me tremendously" + (show)

Which brand so you use?

cj123 | @cj123 | Mar 3 4:58pm

In reply to @jojododo "No cure, just living with it. I check in once a year or so... And I..." + (show)

@jojododo

No cure, just living with it. I check in once a year or so... And I don't know why because I have given up on a cure. It's been 19 years of this condition.

I just started a new job, after being laid off for 5 months. I dreaded the job search process, afraid of in person interviews. But I got this job with only video interviews. Unfortunately the job isn't fully remote, I go into the office once a week. And all I think about is sooner or later, I'll have a fecal breath moment when I'm around someone on my team. And it happened yesterday after a month on the job.

My manager who works remotely in another state, came into town this week. Aside from one big team meeting, she also scheduled one on one meetings with everyone. I was so anxious about it. With the big team meeting, we were at least in a big room. With the one on one meeting, nightmare scenerio...we met in a tiny windowless room.

It was great for about 15 minutes and then I must have had an intermittent fecal moment because my manager remarked how hot it was and told me to crack open the door. Then, she changed her mind and said leave wide open...

And yeah, I got that dreaded feeling... It has happened again. And the awful thing is that there is the chance that she was hot but living with this shitty condition, you inevitably think no, the real reason is the shit breath.

You spend every minute over analyzing every detail. I should be sleeping and resting for another of work, but I can't sleep because my lizard brain can't let it go.

"reasons" why I don't think it was about the room being hot... 1) she had met with my other teammates all day and kept the door closed. I was the last meeting for her. 2) it's a one on one meeting to talk about my performance which is supposed to be a discreet discussion. Hence why she was holding meetings in a closed door conference room. But after telling me to open the door, she said, oh nothing we are talking about is all that private. Even though a few minutes prior, we talked about my salary. 3) she started off the meeting singing my praises, after the door request, she was much more quiet.

New job and now I have a new group of people to introduce my intermittent fecal breath to 😞

Jump to this post

I can relate to this all too well. I'm not sure if you have had any luck recently? But I've decided this is my last year to get this sorted, after dealing with it for almost half my life (I'm in my 30s).

As someone who is naturally social and has been part of many activities this condition has ruined so many key moments in my life, which I can't let it continue to happen.

Like you I never truly know when the smell might occur, as much as I watch my diet, take all the vitamins, and gone for countless dr/ dentist/ hospital examinations (they think I'm it's all in my head). Fortunately I have shared my frustrations with family and close friends who have been supportive but also can't smell/ understand my daily struggles.
Therefore this year I am determined to get some answers, as I had given up and just excepted my fate and been living with it for the last few years.
I will update the chat with any findings...

mleady | @mleady | Mar 4 9:07am

Trio smart breath test. Oral chroma test.

mleady | @mleady | Mar 4 9:11am

I have been living with this for many years. There is a test called Trio Smart breath test. It detects hydrogen sulfide in the breath. The 2 other volatile sulfur components are methyl mercaptan and dimethyl sulfide. It will not detect these. But at least it will show you there is something wrong. Also I went to the national breath center and they performed oral chroma test where they showed I have high levels of all 3 volatile sulfur compounds.

kim1003 | @kim1003 | Mar 4 9:39am

In reply to @mleady "I have been living with this for many years. There is a test called Trio Smart..." + (show)

How can they treat it?

mleady | @mleady | Mar 4 10:36am

In reply to @kim1003 "How can they treat it?" + (show)

They are unsure currently of treatment. There have been studies with some things (including antibiotics and other medications), but there is nothing definitive currently.