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Sweet smelling stool - Bad smelling urine. 22/F/Scared

For the past month or so I have been having, on and off, 'sweet' or 'musty' smelling stool and flatulence. I am 22 years old, I do not smoke, drink, or do drugs. The foul smelling urine began about two weeks ago, though it also comes and goes (usually it is worse when I haven't drank enough water or sometimes it is very bad in the morning). Sometimes, in the morning, my urine is a terribly dark yellow/orange almost red (though, that amount of darkness is rare). I had a terrible UTI in high school with blood in the urine. I was prescribed antibiotics for 6 months, and it finally went away. I have digestive problems and have been diagnosed with 'spastic' gallbladder with sludge deposits. My blood was tested last year and there was nothing wrong with my glucose, thyroid, or liver enzymes. I also have severe IBS and hemorrhoids. I have IST (inappropriate sinus tachycardia) with no structural defects in the heart. I also have chronic ovarian cysts.

It is important to note that my mother passed away from Colorectal Cancer at 28. Her father fought with Colorectal Cancer  3 times in his life and finally died of a stroke when he was 75. Almost everyone that I can name off of the top of my head, (Aunts, Uncles, Grandmother, Grandfather, Cousins) on my mom's side have Type 2 Diabetes. Grandmother died of liver failure at 80.

Finally, I am 5'11 1/2" and weigh 180lbs (last doc said it was a healthy weight, but I can lose weight. Currently, I am dieting and have lost 5lbs in the last month.) I have not gained any weight. I have no been excessively hungry or thirsty. My skin is fine, there is nothing yellow about my eyes or skin. I feel FINE besides the strange smells.

Does anyone have any ideas? I don't have health insurance, but I can go to a doctor. I will have health insurance next Spring when I get married, but sometimes I'm scared that then will be too late. : (

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Avatar universal
I went through colonoscopy after colonoscopy, endoscopy after endoscopy...I was diagnosed with Microscopic Colitis. The inflamation showed from my upper digestive tract through colon...but otherwise clear - no growths. I was resigned to live with chronic diarrhea and thought it was a hereditary thing as Crohns disease is in our family. Anyway, I was put on steroids...and months passed. Fastforward, My husband and I move to Singapore a year later, go on a visit to Thailand and I get very sick...and I'm put on a course of medicine for intestinal bacterial parasites.Turns out I had not only been living with bacterial parasitic infection that the doctors completely overlooked...It had made the new thing I picked up in Thailand far more serious because of my broken down digestive system.  I took 2 courses of the medicine and felt completely fine...now after 2 years I'm still doing great and don't have any of the "colitis" I was "diagnosed" with. I had gotten sick in the USA. Do you eat out at sushi restaurants, mexican food places with salsa or raw food items (even vegetables). Many times kitchen practices aren't as sanitary as you would think and lead us to pick up terrible infections that doctors in the US aren't thinking about running diagnostics on. The people preparing our food are many times immigrants that haven't been health screened and are bringing diseases from their 3 world countries...passing them along by handling the customers food. Not only that the labs only look for the run-of-the-mill bacteria on samples. I suggest you visit a doctor, give a stool sample and ask them to look for amoebic bacteria and various other not so normal bacteria. In the meantime an initial course of Metronidazole could only help. If symptoms improve a secondary course may be required to completely cure your problem. If you any questions contact me.
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Avatar universal
"sweet or musty smelling stool"

I Googled this, in parentheses and got here. Everything you described sounds exactly like me, except I pass varying amounts of gray / amber mucus of sorts.
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Avatar universal
Let us know how it goes!  Good luck!
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Avatar universal
Thanks for a reply. I'm going to go to the doc on Monday and have bloodtests done, but I (and I also have a nurse friend who agrees with you) am personally leaning toward your opinion. I used to take probiotics for digestion--it never smelled like this when I was taking those. I'll surely ask about what you suggested though.
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Avatar universal
Maybe you have yeast overgrowth in your intestines - common problem!  That would give you a musty smell.  I always get that when I go on the gluten free diet and I get Yeast die-off!  Apparently, if you don't digest foods like gluten or milk products or have too much sugar in your diet, you can have yeast overgrowth - antibiotic use can also cause yeast overgrowth.  Just a thought.  Hope this helps.
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