Extremely foul-smelling gas

[Chicago28]

Help!  I have been experiencing very foul-smelling gas that has gotten increasingly worse over the past year.  I now experience this everyday, several times a day.  It is the worst in the evening before I go to bed and in the morning when I wake up.  The smell is foul - almost sulfur-like and it certainly lingers!  I haven't had any major surguries, I am 28 years old, 5'4" about 130 lbs, and I run or go to the gym 6 days/week.  I don't eat much meat, except for fish and occasionally chicken.  I do eat a lot of soy-based "meat" products, however.  I also feel bloated most of the time.  My bowels are thin and only happen every couple of days.  My gas has gotten so bad that my family thinks there is something wrong with me, I keep a Febreez bottle by my desk at work, and its decreasing my social life!  Someone help!  I went to the doctor and he told me that it is probably just the food I am eating....He didn't think it is a big deal, but it is!!!    

[ashleyryan09]

Though this was posted 9 years ago I am so happy (strange way to describe it) that someone has the exact issue that I do! I have extreme issues with terrible smelling gas every day for years now. I recently had colon surgery to remove precancerous polyps and the gas temporarily went away, it is back in a big way :( I am just started taking probiotics and fiber and REALLY hope it offers so relief! I will update this post in a few weeks with (hopefully) progress.

[emerge28]

Any updates ashleyryan09?

[Alina15151]

Are you allergic to soy? Have you had any food allergy testing done? Food allergies and delayed food reactions can cause horrible had. Gluten and dairy can cause a lot of problems too. An elimination diet could be really helpful. Are you taking zinc and methylated B12 (methylcobalamin) with not eating meat? They are very common deficiencies in vegetarian and vegan diets. A diet high in copper can cause high copper and low zinc which can cause all sorts of issues. It's good to get your zinc, copper, and zinc/copper balance checked first. Vitamin D3 and magnesium are also really important. They are extremely common deficiencies even in developed countries. Some countries even add magnesium to the tap water.

Have you been checked for SIBO? It requires a hydrogen/methane breath test. It can cause  bloating, belching, bad gas, etc. It's the cause of over 70% of IBS cases. More GI doctors are testing and treating for it but most GI docs are clueless about it. They often only test for hydrogen producing SIBO, not methane or the third less common form that producing sulfide. Some GI doctors know how to treat it but many don't. If treatment fails or comes back, they don't know what to do. And they don't address diet, healing the gut (leaky gut), and motility to keep it from coming back or under better control. Functional medicine, naturopathic doctors, and integrated doctors who understand SIBO are much better. There are also natural antibiotic/antifungal treatments that have advantages over pharmaceutical antibiotics. Cost, less health risks, and also they can treat Candida which cam go along with SIBO and regular antibiotics make Candida worse. This link below explains SIBO and has the most update to date treatment options.  This ND is one of the top doctors for SIBO. She is involved in SIBO Summit. siboinfo.com

Lastly, look into the Low Fod Map diet. I need a more limited diet than a low fod map diet, a follow a SIBO diet. I also got tested for food allergies and delayed food reactions with USbiotek. It helped determine a lot of my food triggers. I also cut out gluten and dairy 100%. Gluten can make a lot of issues worse and dairy makes SIBO worse for many people.

Good luck!

[emerge28]

Here we are years later. Any relief Chicago 28?

[Willows2016]

I to, it may have affected my social life without me thinking it was it. I have foul  
Smelling gas,my mom even commented that something is wrong, that's not normal. It lingers to, that's the worst part! One day I was having gas in my room, went to store came back and odor still there. Just aweful. Obviously, it's depressing. The only thing that stopped it was eatting less and right. Smart ones from weight watchers didn't cause gas, even broccoli clears me up. If I even touch a slice of pizza I'm threw! I wish I could stop this though, it's really controlling my life.

[cookiegirl13]

Get rid of any and all foods that have soy or soy protein isolate. These products made me look 3 months pregnant and made my stomach hurt with uncontrollable, horrible smelling gas. Once I got rid of the soy and eliminated all protein bars - it went away

[upset_tummy]

metronidazole is what you want to get rid of bad bacteria in the gut, it's also called flagyl, pretty sure you need a prescription for it.

[augustus28]

For years, I had the exact same very foul-smelling gas as the OP described. Once I eliminated soy products from my diet it went away entirely. If you intend on trialling elimination of soy from your diet, carefully check the ingredients of everything you eat. Soy is added to many foods that you would not expect. Best of luck to you all. I hope my experiences may be of help others.

[Misschicka]

Parasites, Splenda, sorry for mistakes, it's not my native language, hope u make a sense of it, lol

[Misschicka]

So I dad the same problem and gas pills wouldn't help at all, so I read everything they got in inet and now experiencing huge relief, still passing excessive gas but much less and it doesn't smell THAT bad, just normal and its been only 4 days since i started treating myself. What I learned is you need to address your colon health- repopulate it with good bacteria-probiotics is your friend, detox your body, work on ridding off paradises, 98% of Americans has at least one type of them, and if you don't efecuate every day it creates a good environment for paradises, also 1 gallon of water a day, we can't efford not drink it if we have  colon problems, your body needs to be hydrated very well to efecuate normal, if you drink cofee you might need to quit as it dehydrate us inside out, at least for the time until you restore ur colon health, also splendor may contribute to the foul gas problem, sugar alcohol tends to, I don't know why but I did indeed consumed excessive amount of truvia, sugar substitute and desided to stop it for a while and see if it helps eliminate gas, so against the paradises I read clarkia works wonders and calcium bentonite clay which is natural supplement, it treats inflammation, fights bacterias and viruses, specially good for people with any gut problems like IBS, gastritis, etc, I didnt try it yet but ordered so will try soon, so what I did so far is probiotic enema my first day of treatment, you can't do those very often only once every 5-7 days if things are very bad and nothing else helps, cuz it can cause serious side effect, but I figured at least once won't hurt, what u do is cleaning colon and repopulate it with healthy bacteria at the same time, so after my 1st attempt I felt amazing I finally felt clean inside out, had a lot of energy, my gas diminished for a day and smelled completely different, at the same time I started taking probiotic pills and candida pills every day, as I read foul gas may be the symptom of candida overgrowth in your body, so after my first day of enema the foul gas returned on the second day, I felt different though, as something start working in my guts, I also increased water intake and drink emergen c 6000 mg a day, no cofee no sugar substitute, I also make anti inflammatory teas 3 times a day 30 min before meals on empty stomach, my tea is made of fennel seeds, hyperici herba, and some antiinflamatory blend I found in the store, all plants, and the last thing that really helped to efecuate every day is having at least 1 oz of spinach in my meals every day, it moves your bowels through the guts, so it s been 4 days and I feel as different person, I know I didn't get rid of the problem yet, but I'm sure I'm on the right track I feel so much better, almost back to be a normal person lol

[Petal111]

I have the same problem, every evening normally after an hour of eating dinner! It is getting ridiculous, I am starting to wonder if it has anything to do with hormones, I had it really bad when I was pregnant with both my children and also breast feeding, once I stopped breast feeding with my second the smell went away, then a year later I got a merina put in and it started up again! Has anyone else noticed anything similar?

[Alina15151]

You could try the copper IUD that does not contain hormones. However, you need to watch out for copper/zinc imbalance. Women often develop high copper and low zinc with it, which most doctors don't monitor or address. They rarely even check the levels. They need to check zinc, copper, and also the zinc/copper balance. Zinc/copper imbalance causes all sorts of issues. Most MD's don't learn about it in school at this point.  Functional medicine, some integrated MD's, and some naturopathic doctors are experienced with it though. It took a functional medicine doctor to figure out my zinc/copper imbalance.


Hormones in birth control products can affect GI motility and make GI issues like SIBO worse. They also synthetic and are not natural to the body. Also, estrogen increases histamines and can allergies and food sensitivities worse.  When I got on hormones my GI issues and allergies got worse. You have hormonal changes while pregnant and breastfeeding so it makes sense. It can disrupt your GI and cause issues or make underlying GI issues worse. Look into SIBO at siboinfo.com

I had to cut out all dairy and gluten for my GI issues. I also had to cut out all soy, eggs, and some other foods. Avoiding all artificial sweeteners and even sweeteners like stevia, xylitol, and other prebiotics can help with gas and GI issues.

[tootiebush]

I need help with this foul smell.

[nurselauren3]

I suffer from the same problem. I have taken antibiotics & even had a colonoscopy. I was told I had IBS. The only thing I was told was to use Benefiber 3 times a day & Miralax daily. Still have the same problem. Good luck!

[jimgil]

I've been getting this awful wind too so I tried a gluten free diet for a week. That seemed to help but then I ate (deliberately) a small amount of gluten containing foods and all seemed well.

However when I had red wine and or beer the pong returned in my wind and faeces, so I wondered if a yeast infection or parasitic one might be to blame? (The day before my first attack I ate an apple direct from a tree with only the most cursory wash, the tree I later found out had 'black spot').

It is very difficult socially -I'm dreading visiting family at Christmas if it isn't cleared before then! - and while people say here antibiotics, digestive enzymes or probiotics (I  tried vitamin tablets with 'friendly bacteria' and they helped but only briefly) I have no idea what tablets specifically you might mean?

Any, all, sensible advice welcomed! Avoid alcohol is easier said than done at Christmas, though I am not a heavy drinker atall.

[getfit96]

If you do take anitbiotics be sure to take probiotics or you could end up even worse.  The anitbiotics kill off all the "good" bacteria in your colon too.  These need to be replaced or you could end up with candida overgrowth among the possibility that another "bad" bacteria could get out of control without the "good" bacteria to keep them in check.  I would also suggest a test called a Comprehensive Stool Analysis.  This test checks for bacteria, parasites, digestive function, levels of good bacteria, levels of digestive enzymes, and more.  You might also try digestive enzymes, if the food you eat isn't getting broken down adequately it will ferment causing gas.  Keep sugar and food containing it and sweet fruits to a minimum, yeast and bacteria feed on sugar resulting in gas.

[Fuzzz]

One other possible cause of gas for some people who are dieting for weight control is the sugar alcohol they add to sugar-free foods.  Sugar alcohol doesn't seem to affect most people, but for those it does, it causes copious foul-smelling gas.  Watch for it in foods sweetened with Nutrasweet, Splenda, or any sugar substitute.  A small amount is in sugar-free gum also.  

[Chicago28]

Thanks for your help everyone!  I will certainly take your suggestions.  Is there a particular anti-biotic that I should request or would any one of them work?

[ayri]

hi, you most probably have a bacterial infection in your diverticular, anti-biotics will cure it, cheers.

[GaryGasman]

Hi,

I hope it is nothing serious and that you continue to go to the doctor to make sure it doesn't turn into anything.

In the meantime you could try taking a product such as CharcoCaps which is an activated charcoal tablet that helps relieve gas, pressure and bloating. It is available at many retailers and you can visit their web site at www.charcocaps.com to get more information.

Good luck and I wish you the best!!

[CalmBreeze]

Several years ago I had this same problem.  I would take something for the gas and it would go away for a day or so but when it came back it still had that same foul smell.  This went on for several months.  I got sick with something else and they put me on an antibotic.  After taking the antibiotic I didn't have the foul smell with my gas anymore.  I think I must of had some type of bacterial infection of some kind that was causing it.  When I had the problem it was just like yours, the smell had a sulfur smell to it and it lingered in the air for what seemed like a very lng time.  It was embarrassing.

[CalGal]

Did the doc do any stool tests? If not, ask to be tested for ova and parasites just to cover some of the possibilities. You didn't mention any change in bowel habits, but if you're experiencing any form of severe diarrhea, make sure they do a test for C. diff (in triplicate).

You may also want to consider trying some probiotics. They're the 'good' bacteria you should have in your GI tract and may not have do to lifestyle, drugs or a variety of things that can happen. There are very decent brands on the market, some of which are Culturelle, Digestive-Advantage-IBS and FloraQ. The only contraindications would be immunosuppression or pancreatitis.