# My Story IBS/LG/FECAL ODOUR



## hadenuff29 (Sep 18, 2007)

WHY ME? I have asked myself this question way too many times to count. This was not the life I had envisioned myself living. Out of all the bloody illnesses in the world to get, why the hell did I have to get this one!! I’m sure anyone who has ever suffered from a serious illness has had the same feelings at some time. With Eight years of hindsight, five of which have been spent on the road to recovery. The WHY ME questions have stopped. It’s now pretty clear to me why I became so unwell. I neglected my body’s nutritional needs for years. I never ever ate vegetables. I lived on lollies and junk-food. I rarely ever drank water. I overate. I binged on alcohol. I dabbled with recreational drugs. I overused antibiotics. The list goes on. Looking back, it was a recipe for disaster right from the start.In the heat of the battle, a couple of times I said that I’d rather have cancer. I now take that back. Although this rare illness is one of the most mentally crippling you’ll ever find. I now believe we are lucky in that we have a choice to recover. How many people don’t get a choice? Children die from cancer all the time. How is that fair? I know a guy who went on a world trip and came back a parapalegic from a car accident, in which he was a passenger and the only one hurt. OK I’m not trying to play down our illness because it really is an absolute beast of an illness which can detrimental emotional affects, But.. what I’m trying to say is, there’s always someone out there doing it tougher than me and you. It’s the truth.In the 5 years since I’ve been online and recovering, there have been a lot of new information come to light. There is more hope than ever about this illness. I believe it’s much more common than we probably know and it’s easier to get rid of than we think. It’s just that in the past we havent really known how. We are only just now starting to understand this problem. With the right dedication and resources I fully believe we can all recover back to live a normal life. This I’m sure about. The hard part is, it takes a lot of effort and determination. It’s a hard illness to turn around because it’s a serious systemic infection which has built up over years. In my opinion there will never be an easy quick fix solution. There are too many different parts of the body that have been overburdened and have broken down.While it is likely most of us a suffering from a similar illness, It is also probable that others could be getting emanating odors from a completely different problem. I advise people to always seek professional medical advice. I’m not a trained medical professional, nor a nutritionist. Although I have learnt a lot about this illnes, my blog is merely a place to tell people about my own personal findings and things that have helped me on this lonely journey. It’s important that people do their own medical testing and seek professional medical advice. Readers who particpate in any alternative therapies, do so at their own risk. I have personally experimented with a lot of alternative therapies, but I do so knowing and accepting the risks involved. I don’t advise people copy what I have done without first getting proper medical advice.So where am I at now? I will refuse to say that I’m totally free of this problem, because I’m aware now this problem can easily come back if you drop your guard. I will say though, that I have made huge inroads with my own health. I have only had LG issues on a couple of occasions in the past 6 months. My general body odour and breath is normal. I work full time. I was recently a groomsmen at a friends wedding, which was stressful but a good acheivement. I play team sport (AFL) and do my best to stay social. Mentally I have been through a lot and have some further healing to do. I know if I can stay strong on the diet for long enough, the problem with eventually dissapear forever. I’m confident that I now finally understand my problem. I have personally found out a lot of information which will help shed further light on this illness. I look forward to sharing the information and making a difference.Thanks for joining me. I look forward to interacting with you on the blog. You can read my story below. Sorry it’s so bloody long, but it’s been a long journey.It all started back in 2004 during a day at the horse races. I did what most people do at that age when they go to the races, I got drunk as all hell. Starting with a champagne breakfast and then drinking heavily a mix of beer, spirits and champagne all day and into the night. What started as a fun day out with my mates, ended up being the start of my nightmare!!“Did you fart” was the first thing a mate said to me. “No”, I replied, as clearly to me I hadn’t felt a fart come out. The comments from friends and strangers continued as the afternoon went on. My heart sank and I further drank myself into oblivion to mask the pain.The next morning I had a thumping headache and was feeling depressed, but was also confused as all hell. I always showered twice daily. I always wore deodorant. What the hell was going on! For some reason I had these faecal or urine smells emitting from my body and there was no way of telling when they were going to happen.At the same time the smells started, my bowels had overnight turned to mush, nearly all foods would send me to the toilet with diarrhoea and then I would switch back into a regular routine of constipation. My symptoms were what doctors commonly term Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Basically a blanket term for a bowel complaint in which they have no idea about. IBS is EASILY fixed by the way!!My mind became foggy and I started waking every morning with a ten-beer-hangover. Which would of been fine if I was actually drinking ten beers everyday. I was only drinking on weekends. This would go on for the next 3 years. I would later find out that when yeast (Candida) ferments it produces ethanol (pure alcohol). You can only imagine the affect that had on my body over time. It’s no wonder my face started going yellow and my hair falling out. I began getting severe mood swings, anger and started losing my memory. It was like I had the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Throwing my keys accidentally in the bin was a regular occurence. As was forgetting where I parked my car. I remember breaking down one day, when I went on a filming trip. I forgot to properly lock the camera base-plate to the tripod. The $6k camera hit the rocks. The rest is history. Tears were shed. Losing my memory was a real worry to me.I continued to drink on the weekends over the next 12 months, with smells emitting from my body like the first time at the races. I would get as drunk as I could every weekend to dull the pain. People would say stuff, but I’d get so drunk that I couldn’t even talk.Out of sight out of mind. It was the only way I knew how to deal with the problem.Inside emotionally it was affecting me deeply.My life began to unwind and attending university became an absolute nightmare. I continued to get hassled, as the smells started happening slightly more frequently, even when I wasn’t drinking. My mind became even foggier. For some reason, I felt like I couldn’t talk to anybody. In my head I had created a monster. I wouldn’t go and see a doctor for about two years. Actually, I think the first people I told were my family and I did it via an email. That’s how embarrassed I was.I finally visited my local GP, which was not a pleasant experience. I was anxious as all hell, which would make the odors come off the body even more. People waiting in the medical centre were becoming aware of a smell and quite clearly they were all looking at me. When I finally explained what was happening to me, the doctor said, “I don’t smell anything”. He had no idea about the problem I described. He insinuated that alcohol was likely to cause damage to the brain and not odors, which was possibly what had happened to me. HAHAHA. What a dickhead good doctor!From there I was put on to a gastroenterologist, who was recommended by a friend of my dad’s. Once again, he had never heard of such a problem. Off he sent me. With his final words being, EAT MORE FIBRE. Never heard that one before, champ. Thanks, great advice!So from then on, I continued to flounder. I still ate a Standard Australian Diet (SAD diet). It never really occured to me that my diet could be affecting my gut. I was too young and uneducated about diet to realise. By this stage my symptoms were deteriorating to chronic-fatigue like symptoms with constant tiredness, headaches and cramps in my tummy.As time passed, I became a complete social hermit. Smells were now emanating from my body very frequently. My armpits would smell like a raw sewerage pipe, even five minutes after I had just taken a showert. Deoderant actually made the smells more pungent. It was getting serious.Most of my friends had no idea what was happening, as I never talked to anyone about my problem. I just disappeared off the face of the earth at aged 25. I think friends started to think I’d lost my mind. I have no doubt it would have looked strange. I avoided people and even travelled twenty minutes to do my grocery shopping. Thinking back though, it was probably the logical thing to do for my situation. It’s just that it’s not a logical problem to have. Could you imagine talking to a friend or a girl you fancied, just as a strong faeces smell wafted past their nose and made their eyes water. Good times! It’s a wonder I ever left the house.2007 – Three long years later, I finally got some better news. My stepdad found a bunch of people online who were also complaining of the same problem. ‘Are you serious?’ I said. Wow! I was amazed. I honestly thought I could have been the only person in the whole world with this problem. I researched and read as much as I could online. A naturopath on the Internet claimed the problem was caused by Candida (a systemic yeast infection) and that it was curable in six months. Maybe there was finally some light at the end of the tunnel!It was around this time that I was recommended to see a well-known South American iridologist in my city. I thought what the hell, anything’s worth a shot. Mr iridologist shines his torch into my eyes. “You aren’t very well are you?” he says. “No, I m not. You have to help me or I’m going to die”, I replied. I wasn’t joking either. He replies that I had a fully body systemic fungus (Candida overgrowth) which had gone all through my body. Apparently I was in for a hard road back to full-health. Oh well. Better than not knowing at all. So off I went with a dietary plan and some antifungals, feeling and smelling like death, but with optimism about the future.I read up about the Candida diet - a sugar/carb free diet - and got straight into it. The first few days were difficult, as I fought off strong cravings for sugar and coffee. I had been consuming tons of both in the lead up to my sickness. Three days in, my body began shaking and the headaches were heavy. Eventually it passed, but I still didn’t feel the best. To make things worse the LG was pushing out of my skin full on now as my body started detoxifying. My poor old housemates, god bless them. Faecal smells would emit from my body after a hot shower in waves every five or ten minutes, as the hot water from the shower made the toxins rise to the skin’s surface.I continued to exercise – mainly running on the beach – which was a much needed release. It was painful both physically and mentally. I was running through a dark black cloud and my muscles would tire quickly. I was in deep depression or sickness. To be honest I was so unwell, I couldn’t tell the difference between the two. Chronic headaches coupled with deep depression and a fog that wouldn’t even let me think, meant this time was probably the toughest and loneliest time of my life.Three weeks into the diet, I got knocked down hard with an intense three-day fever. It absolutely KO’d me. Clearly my body was not well and too many toxins wanted to leave my body at once. My whole system had become overwhelmed. I was suffering from a Herxheimer reaction (a chronic detox reaction). Almost incoherent, I rang my dad in the midst of a bad fever. “You better take me to hospital”. I think he ignored me, but he dropped over some lemons being the true legend that he is. In my state, my way of thanking him was by mumbling and swearing some nonsense. I ended up bedridden for three whole days.On the third day my intense fever, something else important happened. I passed in the toilet bowl, what to me looked like a fist sized white jelly fish with long roots hanging off it. To this day, as strange as this may sound, I kick myself that I never took a photo of ‘it’. I could have been famous. No really. Getting ‘that thing’ out was good in a way, because I started to realise that I was clearly eliminating things that should not be inside my body.Around this same time, I was also noticing that I was having trouble swallowing. One day I was surfing and I had to get out of the water because I thought I was going to choke. Whatever was in my body was all up in the glands near my neck and was being eliminated as it died off. Eventually it passed, but the detox symptoms were on and off for the next six to twelve months. Actually during the detox stage the smells were definitely stronger and more frequent than ever. In the morning my bedroom would smell worse than public toilets. Things definitely got worse before they got better.A year after changing my diet, my body was starting to thank me. I was eating loads of vegetables and more natural whole foods with some chicken and fish. I slowly improved and started to get better. The brain fog that had troubled me, when I ate a lot of things began to slowly disappear. Things were definitely on the up and I started to socialise a little more, going out very occasionally. Leaky gas was generally a lot more under control, but still occurred on a couple of occasions which brought back some very unpleasant memories. It had become quite clear, that I was now suffering from bad social anxiety. My Illness was beginning to take its toll.In the beginning, I thought it was going to be super easy to repair my body and I went out full steam ahead for the first year or two. But the diet became very repetitive and it was hard to stick too. I had gone from 86kgs down to an extremely underweight 70kgs (I’m 6ft tall). I was all skin and bones and family and friends were letting me know about it too. It’s a hard thing to deal with, when you look super skinny and sick but it’s the only way you know of to heal your body. People don’t understand, they are too busy living their lives with their own set of problems to understand or feel any empathy for you.I tested the waters and added new foods into my diet like fruit and oats, but it didn’t have a good affect on my body. Knowing what I know now, there were so many things that I was doing wrong back then that slowed my progress for the first 2 or 3 years. Eating handfuls of almonds every day was one of them. Eating too many tomatoes was another.It became quite disheartening as 3 years passed by and I still occasionally struggled. Sure, there was no doubt I had improved a hell of a lot, but it was hard not to look at the negatives. What’s worse was there was an ever growing online community of sufferers who were also having no full time success in recovering. Although I did have contact with one guy from the east coast of Australia who recovered and moved on with his life. That was enough to give me HOPE. If you ever read this by the way mate, please get in touch. You know who you are. I have lost your email. I can’t thank you enough for giving me HOPE at a tough time in my life!Not knowing when the leaky gas would happen has been probably the hardest thing. You become paranoid and soon you’re analysing every smell thinking it’s probably you. It becomes even worse, when your own sense of smell starts diminishing with your intestinal problems. If you haven’t been through it, it’s probably hard for you to really comprehend the real complexity this problem can have on people mentally. I’m just thankful, I’m doing better these days and not over analysing everything I smell. It’s been a challenge.After doing some dead-end jobs like cleaning schools and toilets, thankfully I scored a job as a disability support worker. It has been a rewarding and enjoyable experience and luckily we have a great roster which allows me plenty of time to surf and take care of myself.Starting the new job was a tough time and it wasn’t easy, but I was lucky to have good understanding staff that I could talk with. Which gets me to the next point. By this stage, I didn’t care anymore about sharing my story. I realised it was much easier to talk to people about my issues and it really helped me. My job gave me an income and it came at good time, because my medical bills and herbs etc. were really starting to add up.August 2010 – Two family members had recommended I go and see the same local Gastroenterologist. I took some convincing, but I finally gave in. As with previous doctors, I thought he would find nothing. This doctor seemed to be different though. He had a real tenacity to find answers, which was refreshing. He was relentless with his testing. I was sent into hospital again for a second set of tubes in my throat and bottom. Results came back from an internal biopsy that I was sucrose and lactose intolerant. It was a start. I also did a bunch of blood tests, urine tests and stool tests. There must have been almost 15 vials of blood taken in one hit. More tests came back and he had some findings that explained a lot. They will be left for a future blog post. The main things he found was that the blood glucose test had showed my blood sugar levels had crashed one and two hours after consuming the sugar drink.It all started making sense. 4 years before, I used to have a job stacking shelfs at a supermarket. During the long nights we would eat bags of lollies and drink Coke out of the vending machine. Almost immediately after consuming them, I would sink into deep depression for no apparent reason. It would last a couple of hours and then slowly disappear. I’m pretty sure this explains what was happening. I think the excessive bad bacteria was gobbling up all the sugar.Back to the gastro doctor, “I know what’s happening. I have seen this before,” he said. I was SHOCKED! He then explained that my body was unable to break down sucrose and lactose, and when I ate those two things they would ferment in my intestines (hence my internal body heat). Although he tested for bacteria in my stools, he said it was impossible to identify all types of bad bacteria, but through my other tests he was sure I had a serious bad bacteria imbalance in my intestines and the bacteria were feasting on the undigested foods and fermented sugars, and the bacteria’s waste were being absorbed through my intestines and leaking into my blood stream (Leaky Gut Syndrome). This would build up in the blood and BAM, out of the skin she goes in the form of Leaky Gas or Faecal Body Odour. Crazy huh, fart odours coming out of the skin. Seems quite logical now, but let me tell you, I still have never heard of another mainstream medical professional giving an explanation for this problem. I was extremely blessed to find him and it totally restored my faith in the medical profession. My Gastro doctor is a true gun!So was that the end of the smell???I was put on an intensive 6 month antibiotic program along with some high grade probiotics, pancreatic enzymes and a few other things which I will go into greater detail on the blog. The smells definitely became less and less to the point where smells would sometimes not appear for a few months at a time. But eventually after finishing my course of antibiotics the odors returned, although they were pretty irregular. Although I had started to feel a hell of a lot better physically and mentally as my body continued to heal.In December 2010, my Gastro doctor gave me the all clear to go travelling for 6 months. I sold all my possessions and went to magical New Zealand on a surfing trip and a journey to find more answers and hopefully become a little more sociable. It was definitely a big step, and definitely not without some lonely times. But I did score some great uncrowded, saw some amazing scenery, had some memorable times and learnt even more about my illness. I even met an older English gentleman who had suffered from the exact same Illness. That was an unbelievable coincidence, but that’s another blog post all on its own.Returning home from NZ, I felt pretty good, but my diet had got a little out of hand. The last two weeks in the Cook Islands – where cabbages were selling for 10 bucks (outrageous!!) – I started to test the waters with my eating. Fruits were prevalent on the island, but the correct food for my diet was almost impossible to find. I slipped into old habits and ended up eating donuts, chocolate and other processed junk that kept me energised after a long day of surfing. One thing led to another, and once back home after my travels I continued to dabble with foods that were on the banned list. Although i would never recomend this to anyone, the results were not as bad on my body as I expected and I liked the fact that I put some weight back on. It’s very easy to get comfortable, especially when you start feeling so much better after four years of cleanses and detoxes. In the end I think you know what happened. The bad food caught up with me and the smells returned. Derr, thats a given hey!!My diet went up and down for the next six to twelve months as I got that “Fuc$ it” mentality in my head. It had been a seriously long slog and I’m not going to lie, the emotional damage had taken its toll on me. I guess it was the classic case of self-asassination. Thoughts of who cares, maybe I don’t deserve to get better, maybe I can’t get better. It’s easy to build monsters in your head.Shortly after returning from NZ, I went on a family trip to Bali for a mate’s wedding. I had another one of my freaky chance meetings with a pretty Californian girl at a Health Detox retreat in Ubud. She told me about an amazing diet which had turned her life around. It was a diet I had not heard of online previously, and even still as I write this one year later, I haven’t seen it mentioned on any forums. The diet is based around fermented probiotic foods and is specifically for treating systemic Candida conditions. I went home and tried the diet and it had some great results. While the diet is definitely a lot of preparation, it helped my anxiety subside a lot, and I started feeling happy all the time (I think I began absorbing feel-good B-vitamins). The shifts were very noticeable. Any my friend with the same problem also started getting some results too. Something was happening and, it was definitely a result of the fermented probiotic foods and beverages. The good probiotic bacteria helps to properly digest your food and absorb the required vitamins and minerals. I had found another piece of the puzzle. I’m definitely very interested with this diet to see if other sufferers have similar success . It’s the most intelligent diet I have read and i will dedicate an entire blog on it shortly.This takes me to where I am now, 31 years old young and a completely different man with a different perspective on life. My best years are supposedly gone, but I beg to differ. I’m certainly not the care free guy I once was, but definitely a much wiser one. I now have all the tools and fully understand my problem. My odour issues continue to reduce all the time. Just like they got worse over time, I have found the reverse to be true. My last 6 months has been the best yet, with only a couple of issues, and that was from eating some seriously bad foods! I defnately do have trouble battling the evil sugar addicition and there were periods where did I fall off the rails. But I know I can do anything if I set my mind to it, and only recently have started to truly deeply believe I can get fully better.Blogging for me will be a new motivation. It’s something I had to do, as my information has to be shared. I have tried ozone therapy overseas, multiple colonics, extended juice fasts, meditation, heath retreats, coffee enemas, silence retreats. You name it, I have done it. I want to let you know what worked for me, and what things I wasted my money on.Back in 2007, I enjoyed the community that developed on the BLG blog. Clearly we were all a frustrated bunch, but it definitely helped me cope. My diet was also better than ever through that period too, which is always a good thing. It forced me to strictly follow the rules as I hate to set a bad example. It has been a long hard road and I look forward to my new found motivation in the final stages of my recovery.“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn”. Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author.The above quote holds a special place in my heart and describes my journey perfectly.Thanks for reading my story, I look forward to hearing about your trials and tribulations and sharing info to get an even greater understanding of this problem.Thanks for readingPeaceJordan


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## I reject IBS (Oct 8, 2012)

Thanks for sharing your story Jordan.I myself have had problems which were diagnosed as IBS 20 years ago,after I had been suffering for 10 years.
My story is under the heading "MY 29 year long battle."
Recently I have again begun to try to find the answer after a long long time just trying to "live with" it.
From joining this forum ,doing my own research and reading,, I have come to the conclusion that my problem originates in yeast or candida overgrowth.Like you i believe that what I eat is fermenting in my bowel.
I have just started a Yeast balance 10 day programme which claims to rebalance the yeast and repopulate with friendly bacteria.I have softgels and tablets to take in the evenings. Tonight will be number 3.So far no miracle cure! But a problem which has been around for 29+ years isn't going anywhere overnight.
Regards


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## hadenuff29 (Sep 18, 2007)

Hi Mate,
100% it will be Candida or bacteria or probably both. How is the program coming along? Are you getting any die off?
You should try some green juicefasting sometime, that will starve it rapidly, but just make sure you are eliminating it all out with colonics or enemas or you will get very ill.
cheers
Jordan


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## hadenuff29 (Sep 18, 2007)

My blog is mytummytantrum.com
It got deleted out of my story i think?


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## Trudyg (Aug 16, 2002)

So, where do we find out more about the fermented food diet? I eat quite a few almonds for my osteoporosis--you indicated that was not a good idea. Why?


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## PYT (Jul 3, 2015)

Posted Today, 01:13 PM

I finally found the very inexpensive cure to my uncontrollable and very embarrassing condition. After spending thousands of dollars on doctors visiting, prescriptions, and trying different types of herbs, with no success. I accidentally discovered the cure when my daughter wouldn't eat her snack raisins. So, not letting them go to waste I eat them instead and notice that I've been having regular bowel movements, and such with no negative side effects. And notice that people wasn't standoffish, constantly rubbing their noses, and making rude remarks. Since then I've been eating them ever since, my symptoms went away 100%. I'm slowly getting over my fear of wondering if I smell bad when I'm around people. I don't see people rubbing their noses, and making rude remarks when I'm out in public. I hope that this forums will help others to over come their constant fear of suffering with their embarrassing condition as well. Good luck and eat plenty of healthy raisins. And start living life again.


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