sulfur burps, vomiting

Question

To those of you who are suffering from sulfur burps, vomiting, cramping, bloating, and diarrha I may have finally found the answer. I have had periodic boats of the above for the past 10 years. I have asked many doctors what could be the cause and got no answers. The "attacks" only last a day or two and don't occur frequently so I would just deal with it. Finally a friend / nurse told me that it sounded like H Pylori infection. It's a bacteria that lives in the stomach and causes all of the symptoms. It can be cured with a powerful dose of antibiotics, but left untreated can lead to ulcers and even stomach cancer. There are simple tests for this, blood and even a breath test can detect it. I am in the initial phases of diagnosing / treating this but am happy to have found an answer. Do yourselves a favor, search H Pylori, see if it matches what you are experiencing, then ask your doctor to order the tests. Don't ignore it.

This discussion is related to Sulfur burps, vomiting, diarrhea.

AzPunkr · Answer

Its such a relief to have found this discussion. Im 34 years old and when i was about 9 I had a horrible episode of stomach cramping that i thought was literally going to kill me. This was a time before cell phones so I was unable to contact my parents that had dropped me off at home a hour or so earlier. We had dinner at our usual pizza joint earlier and I later had found out that I was some what lactose intolerant. I could drink milk with no problems but certain cheeses would give me such bad stomach cramps that I would pass out from the pain of the feeling of someone gripping my intestines and twisting them back and forth then stopping. Then 30 seconds later doing it again and it would just continue on. 

After getting a hold of the stomach cramping demons, I was 27 i believe and Went through my first rotten egg warnings followed by 24 hours of "Lets get rid of everything plus more thats in your digestive system through these 2 holes" game. I was freaked but put it off to food poisoning. Then another episode about a month later, and another one. Ever since then I can count on 24-48 hours of loosing my insides  into my 5 gallon home depot bucket when the Smelly fart burps show. up.

Well after trying everything I could think of when they showed up Ive come up with a Immediate preventive system to stop the whole ordeal from continuing when i get that first burp. You must have these items in stock at all times to work. Cause rushing to the store when you are absolutely certain your about to have a moment just doesn't work every time. Trust me.

SHOPPING LIST:
1) Green Tea flavored or not is fine but a cold green tea drink.(Arizona ice teas has a few great ones)
2)1-2 multi pack of tums or Rolaids /peppermint(the foil roll packs)
Great to always have on your person to put the spark out when it ignites
3)GINGER ALE-GINGER ALE-GINGER ALE (This stuff has saved me and got me through the hell of this disorder multiple times. Its absolutely necessary
4) Baking soda(A teaspoon in 6-8 oz of water. Drink all at once and let it do its thing.

you can at least stop it when you burp up the tell tale smell that puts us through hell. But I haven't found the 100% cure yet and when I do I will definitely share.

Also my friends.... the one thing I would say has been the best help when I am in my I want to just die phases is having my absolutely awesome loving hot as wife to be there for me changing the trash bags in my bucket and reminding me to flush because it never goes down when you dont flush after the blast of rushing grossness. and for making some of the most horrible messes a single person can make disappear without me even realizing the severity of it. This is definitely a huge help if your so lucky.

Edger1 · Answer

You may have acid reflux from the Girardia we no want to hear bug in our gut acid reflux responds to ranitadine aka zantac. Hypiolri aka girardia left untreated can also cause ulcers which respond to same treatment antibiotics plus Benadryl for the belly as in zantac skip the mint flavor it aggravated the stomach as it produces histamines which you need to calm down hence temp stop coffee tea cola yes chocolate even the dark chocolate strawberries blackberries raspberries you can have handfuls of blueberries!!

20dts15 · Answer

Treatment of H.pylori helped me.  But I think have acid reflux

Ebeth65 · Answer

Hi, I had this for 20  years!  Would come out if no where, I would wake up with sulfur burps and knew I would be throwing up and diahrea all day.  Endoscopy and scams found nothing.  I decide to do a detox and bought a women’s detox kit.  I took all the pills for only 2 week course.  GONE!   I have not had an episode or support burps since and it’s been over 10 years. I highly recommend doing some sort of herbal detox.   Good luck !

LezleaR1 · Answer

Sulfur burps for me meant giardia. https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/general-info.html

laytf7 · Answer

People that have this issue with SVBD I believe actually have SIBO. It fits all the symptoms. And explains why one of the above posters has noticed so many food sensitivities.  It also explains why some people have symptoms similar to H Pylori. It’s due to low digestive enzymes/stomach acid and bacterial overgrowth in the small instestine. My grandmother has experienced it and she also has GERD and food sensitivities that have developed. I’m 34 and struggling with it. I am developing sensitivities too. People who have SIBO also need to look into Leaky Gut Syndrome.
I finally successfully warded off my last bout of SVBD by taking digestive enzymes when the burps started. Before it was neutralized,I did have gas building up in my stomach, which was painful as it worked  it’s way down at the other end. But, that’s the first time that an episode has never eventually turned into vomiting up food that I ate (like from breakfast day before) and subsequently diarrhea. Before I got the digestive enzymes I also got some hydrochloride acid and pepsin capsules, which I took at first notice of the sulphur.  I have helped a little in it so far as they draw the process out longer and I’m not vomiting and having diarrhea that same day, but they have not prevented the vomiting and diarrhea like the digestive enzymes did. Or perhaps it was because I took them both in concert. Whatever the case may be,  this time it worked. I first started taking the hydrochloric acid and pepsin capsules because I had read something someone else posted oh I want to say about six years ago, that the symptoms are associated with low stomach acid levels, and it made sense to me because the food simply does not digest. 
 So people who have SVBD, I hope you get to read this, and I hope it helps!

momijoy1962 · Answer

I think you are spot on with the cause of what I refer to as DRAGON GUT. You can burp and smell his sulpur breaths, then he roars and shoots fiery acid up into your throat, you can feel his claws squeezing and shredding your guts while his tail whips your colon into a frenzy and aerates it so bad you never know if you will get gas, diarrhea, foamy slime or any combination of such on your trips to the bathroom. I too have had the activated charcoal work after taking a few doses, but in reading allot about eating alkaline foods, and looking for a faster response, I put about 2 T. of baking soda in enough water to dissolve it and drank it down. I'm quite sure there is a medical reason to avoid drinking baking soda water but since this is such a rare occasion I decided to take my chances. Lo and behold the sulphur stopped immediately, I continued to burp for awhile (think about mixing baking soda and vinegar) due to the chemical reactions but by the morning I had a regular bowel movement and no excess gas :) I did follow up with some charcoal the next day tho just to make sure the toxins were eliminated completely.

icuredmysulphurburps · Answer

Just like all of the other posters here, I had these symptoms on and off for years and it was horrible. I cured myself by eating plain yogurt daily. If you don't have yogurt or are dairy intolerant, take a probiotic. This is a cheap solution and it works. Give it a try.

iceonfloor · Answer

I have had this problem a few times over the past year or so. I usually take a large dose (5 or 6 big pills) of activated charcoal (get it at a natural food store or health store like GNC) as soon as the burps start, and it seems to get things back in order fairly quickly. 

I have read posts from others about antacids sometimes working slowly and anti-histamines sometimes working, and I have a theory of what is happening and why charcoal works. I think what is happening is that some contaminant (possibly different contaminants in different individuals) is producing an auto-immune response in the stomach causing the pyloric valve to stay closed, trapping all the food in your stomach. The trapped food rots, becomes noxious, and produces toxins that eventually cause vomiting. In the normal course of the condition one would have to vomit until the original contaminants are removed so that the pyloric valve begins to function again. The charcoal works by acting as a filter in the stomach, absorbing both the toxins and the contaminants, thus allowing the pyloric valve to resume normal functions without the need to vomit. As soon as the valve begins functioning again the noxious burps end because the source has left the stomach. The diarrhea will still come because by the time the burps begin to smell the contents of the stomach are of no use to the rest of the GI tract and are passed through too quickly for the water to be reabsorbed in the colon. However, if you catch and treat the stomach problem early the intensity and duration of the diarrhea can also be reduced. 

CAUTION: Activated charcoal should be used only as a remedy, not as a regimen. Prolonged use may cause malnutrition due to its absorbency robbing the body of nutrients from your food.

I am posting this here because I am curious as to whether this will work across the board or if it is just coincidental that it seems to work for me. If it only works for me than my theory is probably incorrect. Please post a reply if you try this and let me know if it works for you.

dadrester · Answer

I may as well recount my tale here. I'm 33 and I've been a type 1 diabetic since the age of 10. Other than these bouts of "SBVD" and Diabetes I'm pretty healthy, exercise regularly etc.

I can't remember when exactly it stated but it must be at least 5 years ago. I'd have a few episodes a year, maybe 4 or 5. As people describe, starting with sulphuric burps bloating and flatulence, followed 3 or 4 hours later by violent vomiting (almost always right down to the bile) and diarrhoea. This carried on with bouts of it getting closer together but then longer periods where nothing happened. Usually I was fobbed off by doctors. One told me 

Then maybe 2 years ago on a visit to my dentist I was told I had gingivitis (a relatively common form of gum disease/infection). I was prescribed 3 months worth of very weak antibiotics. Hey presto! No more SBVD for at least a year and a half. Now I'm not sure if the bacterial infection was causing the SBVD, but certainly the antibiotics helped to treat it.

Then a couple of months ago it came back. Coincidentally the gingivitis had also came back, despite my best efforts at cleaning thoroughly, using antibacterial mouthwash and so on. This time though I seem to be getting it weekly, usually at night and just a violent, but a slightly quicker recovery time (either that or having started my own business is making me take it on the chin a little more).

Again doctors have been useless, telling me "It's probably just IBS", and giving me absolutely no advice on what IBS actually is, or how to treat it, so I've turned to the internet. I'll put some stuff as bullet points below:

# Keep a food diary to help identify if there's an intolerance/allergy somewhere in my diet.
# Cut out certain foods to see if it helps (worth noting is that for all my life I've drank gallons of milk, during bouts and when I've had none. I really hope it's not dairy related as I love the stuff).
# Keep a stock of Alka - Seltzer or baking soda. According to several other 'sufferers' this really helps with the symptoms.
# Ask about getting tested for H. Pylori
# Ask about them looking for stomach ulcers.

If I remember to, I'll post back with my progress - especially if the baking soda/alkaseltzer symptom relief works.

biologist_mom · Answer

I've had this for years, since I was 14. I'm 42 now. In my case this is all due to multiple food allergies. It took decades to figure it out. I'm allergic to eggs, garlic, cherries, dates, and a few other things. Right now, things are worsening - I'm getting my bouts a couple times a week these days. I'm trying to figure out why, as it's been pretty stable for a couple decades. Most likely there is a new food that I am becoming more sensitive to. I became more sensitive to garlic a few years ago, and I thought I might be becoming even more sensitive now - but whatever is going on, it's not just that, as I've totally eliminated the garlic and I'm *still* getting sick. As a teenager and young adult, my episodes started any time of day, but since then, they almost always start with sulfur burps, intestinal discomfort and gas in the wee hours of the night (2-4 am), leading to bowel movements leading to diarrhea, and then 99% inevitably several bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. Once I've vomited up absolutely everything, including the bile in my stomach, it's over. The sulfur burps stop when I'm done vomiting. It's all just so unpleasant and I'm really, really tired of it.

Anyway, I've never had H. pylori, and as a teenager and young adult I was certainly checked for absolutely everything. It's not all about H. Pylori for everyone.

As for the people who say the sulfur burps are due to things not getting digested in the stomach - sure, that could be. I find that when one of these episodes happens, my stomach virtually stops digesting, and I end up throwing up pretty much everything I'd eaten within the past 10-12 hours. And my stomach feels inflamed the whole time; that's the only way I can describe it.

The internet is really amazing. For years, having these symptoms, when I'd talk to doctors, you'd think I was the only person on the planet who ever had these problems. No one had ever heard of such a thing. Finally, as a young adult, I found and read a medical paper that described a handful of similar cases, although I don't recall that the detail of sulfur burps was mentioned. And now here we all are on the internet. I found it really hard to believe for all those years that with so many people on the planet that I was the only one with this. Sure enough, I'm not!

Good luck to all of you. If your problem isn't figured out, I urge you to consult a doctor to investigate the possibility of food allergies (or intolerances, or whatever you want to call them) as a cause for your case. When I eliminate the foods that I'm allergic to, my problem goes away. My task now is to figure out what perhaps new food is getting me now.

I wish you all the best.

nialer20 · Answer

I've gone round and round with the sulfer burps and diareah 
I had endoscope done and they tested me for H. Pylori Negative
also had stool tests done which showed possible H.P. infection never was conclusivly diagnosed 
after about 5 or 6 bouts cat scan run and about three months later ultrasound revealed gall bladder was totally shot (stones sediment possible infection) they took it out-that day I was great for about three weeks then had another bad bout with the sulfer burp/diareah/vomitting
or as I refer to it SBVD
gastro guy did a comprehensive barium x-ray deal-normal 
I have been journaling what I eat and the occurance of SBVD 
here's some things in common
1 usally begins with burps that eminate lower in GI tract than normal burps- they initially have a slight sufur garlic taste or smell  
2. burps often start durring day time 
3. evenining burps worsen stomach makes unbelievable gurggling sounds gas and and bloating typically common. 
4. late evening of SBVD attack worsens with extreme diareah have weakness and flu symptoms-NEVER Temperature though.
5. diareah is sometimes followed by vommiting but not always

As too foods- i am not sure it makes a difference I've had to adjust my diet because of gall badder but not in any drastic manner
one food thing that is common is eggs or egg containing products 
(mayo etc.) but again this is not completely consistent

SBVD symptoms line up almost perfectly with H Pylori.
and I have read that it can be very difficult to treat because it tends to have a high re-inefection rate which also fits the cyclical nature of these bouts.
I have decided make my own accute SBVD attack program
at first sign of symptoms get to doctor and make him do all the H. Pylori tests again- should these prove positive then make certian that I get proper treatment and establish a protocal so that should I become symptomatic again at some point. That I will immediately be treated again eg phone in prescription 
a lot of posters complain about the symptoms and some have found answeres but remember when you suffer with this it is the doctors Job to take the time to make you better otherwise find one who will.

tam22670 · Answer

i too suffer from sufur burps, flatulence, and diarrhea. i checked out the H pylori and i do not have the same symptoms listed. no vomiting. i attribute this to a sulfur sensitivity. i am also allergic to sulfur drugs. as far as food goes i know that wine will make me violently ill (the only time vomiting was involved and i only had about 1/4 cup worth of wine mixed into sangria, halved with gingerale). i also have problems with dried fruits, grapes and a number of other things. 

lately, i have had symptoms with foods that never bothered me before. the list of foods that contain sulfites is very long! i feel like i won't be eating at all if i follow the list. and it is hidden in many things as well, and only needs to be reported in ingredients lists if the amount is over 10 ppm (parts per million), however, many people react to lower amounts. to add insult to injury there is a cumulative effect with sulfites over the course of days. so small amounts such as that found in corn syrup can build up until a reaction occurs.

i do have asthma and plenty of allergies besides this, but the sulfur sensitivity is the best guess i can come up with.

anyone else feel the same?