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.

kimnicholson | @kimnicholson | Mar 27, 2021

In reply to @mikepr101 "Same exact situation here.. I am Tuesday with my primary physician trying to get a prescription..." + (show)

Your dentist didn’t want to prescribe you the metronidazole? Why not?

kimnicholson | @kimnicholson | Mar 27, 2021

In reply to @ethos89 "Hey everyone and thanks to everyone who has posted here. I’ve been having the same breath..." + (show)

@ethos89

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.

Jump to this post

My foul smelling breath started about 5 years ago (I am now 32 yrs old). I too, tried to think back to what could have caused it. I was dating a guy who had extremely bad issues with his teeth. Like he needed a major deep cleaning and his breath was really bad also. He also had some sort of issue with his feet because they smelled REALLY bad! As soon as he took his shoes off, the room would reek of smelly feet. I also, was talking to a friend one day and she mentioned how when she first met me she never noticed it, and then I tried cocaine with her and continued to do it randomly here and there, and she mentioned how “what if it was from the cocaine because You never had that issue before then”. I have digestive issues where I am bloated and feel like I am going to burst after I eat. My belly will be hard as a rock lol. My breath is the worst in the mornings in my opinion, but also if I consume an alcoholic beverage or eat certain foods, or smoke. Definitely when I smoke because each time I exhale the smoke it like mixes with the poop smell, and the two together don’t smell great at all. I don’t smell is most of the time but of course based off of people’s reactions that I am around (and I know they can’t help it), I know that’s the odor is protruding out of me. I can get out of my car, and then get back in and bam I smell it. I’m like damnn this is what people are smelling all the time when I come around. I won’t even talk about the way that it makes me feel because that’s a whole different story in itself, I’m just focused on trying to heal/cure myself and others of this problem. It’s life changing and I know that once I get through this I will be unstoppable. Nothing will be able to hold me back!

ken82 | @ken82 | Mar 27, 2021

@kimnicholson It seems not much holds you back now... First thing to do is to cut out the really unhealthy things that input to your body chemistry ... Coke, smoking, alcohol... for awhile anyway to let your body get back to normal.. go for your teeth cleaning ... have you had a Physical exam within a year?...include the blood and urine tests as well..

mikepr101 | @mikepr101 | Mar 28, 2021

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

My dentist said she didn’t have much experience with the drug.. tomorrow I will be visiting an Periodontist to try and get an prescription for Metronidazole mouth wash and try and fill through a nearby compound pharmacy. I had Visited a different primary care physician to get the prescription because my old primary care doctor moved out of town... the new doctor wanted to send me to an ENT😤... i really don’t need to go around in circles wasting time. The metronidazole mouth wash I have not tried... so it’s a must have..😩

ken82 | @ken82 | Mar 28, 2021

@mikepr101 https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-6426/metronidazole-oral/details.. there are side effects that users need to be aware of ...

Valerie | @lacy2 | Mar 28, 2021

In reply to @mikepr101 "My dentist said she didn’t have much experience with the drug.. tomorrow I will be visiting..." + (show)

@mikepr101 having a sore mouth after tooth extraction and even throat a bit sore noticed your mention of metronidazole and looked it up..... oh it is also known as Flagyl and I remember being given this many many years ago. It does have side effects but in those days we didnt have computers to check meds and we were not given an information sheet either.. so if we were given a med for an illness and happened to get another illness, such as c diff, no connection was made!!! We have come a long way in consumer information but I still spend a lot of time checking. Also, some prescription drugs have six names by different manufacturers of the SAME drug... so confusing ! My spouse takes about 15 different meds a day and figuring out the alternate names of them is a challenge expecially with so many xxxxx's and zzzzz's you cant even pronounce them!!! ugh

unlimited | @unlimited | Apr 3, 2021

Hi all,

I wanted to point out, that there is an official rare disease group on RareConnect called 'Intestinal metabolic bromhidrosis syndrome' or IMBS in short.
Also the longer existing Trimethylaminuria group contains hundreds of posts around fecal odor / indole and not only posts regarding trimethylamine.

I hope that helps you at least to connect to other patients.

Best regards!

shongololo | @shongololo | Jun 28, 2021

Wrestling with the same problem, possibly precipitated by a course of azithromycin a few years ago (though possibly that was just coincidental). In any case, the one thing that works like MAGIC is crushing a quarter of a metronidazole tablet in a few ML of water and gargling with it. Problem eventually comes back after a few days or weeks, which leaves me frustrated at not being able to address the root cause, but at least it's something. And of course I would love to know if there are any long term affects from rinsing with something as potent as metronidazole...

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Jul 4, 2021

In reply to @shongololo "Wrestling with the same problem, possibly precipitated by a course of azithromycin a few years ago..." + (show)

Welcome, @shongololo. I’m glad that you’ve found something that helps to alleviate the symptoms. It is frustrating to not find the root cause of a medical issue. What tests or investigations has your medical team ordered to try to find the root cause?

jimmyg777 | @jimmyg777 | Jul 30, 2021

In reply to @pbleonar "Yea, Most everything under the sun has been tried, including probiotics and enzymes (pancreatic too). And..." + (show)

Be careful about antibiotics, especially some that are prescribed by dentists.
This stuff is handed out like candy and one in particular given to me without the support of a probiotic to be taken at a later time destroyed the balance in my intestinal bacterial flora, gut bacteria and leaving me with a permanent problem in my digestive track that seems difficult to decipher even by the most qualified professionals.
After seeing many specialists,
I finally found an amazing GP that nailed it down.
I still have problems but it is much less.
A friend as well had something similar and both of us benefitted from reducing acid foods and drink(colas etc), adding pro & prebiotics and using ginger based food and drink but it took around a month to get substantial and lasting change.