# Possibly cured (for the moment at least)



## blorb (Oct 29, 2015)

For the past year I've been suffering from the most awful smelling and absolutely relentless gas I've ever experienced in my life. I didn't think much of it for a while because I had been working at a manual labor-intensive job (which I'm pretty sure causes gas even for normal, healthy people), but what really set it apart was the fact that it was happening from the time I woke up until the time I fell asleep, it smelled like raw sewage/something dying, and the smell would just hang in the air for HOURS as opposed to the 5-15 minutes gas normally dissipates in. Most of the time I didn't even realize I was passing gas, which I guess is why some people here refer to it as a "body odor" or a "leak" rather than flatulence.

By the end of the day my entire workplace (which I had to walk around in circles the entire day) smelled like a sewage plant and I heard everyone talking about it. I had to take drastic measures, and so far they're paying off noticeably.

*BIG DISCLAIMER: Talk to your doctor before attempting ANY of the things I'm about to share with you, this is no joke especially since it involves altering medications and I am not a certified physician of any sort. AGAIN, do not attempt this without consulting an actual doctor, in real life, and even then--proceed with due caution.*

With that said, here are all of the things I tried:

*DID NOT WORK AT ALL*

-Taking the full allowable dose of simethicone (Gas-X) every day

-Probiotic capsules

-Laxatives

-Eating MORE fiber

*APPEARS TO BE WORKING CURRENTLY (AFTER 2 WEEKS)*

-100% strict adherence to low FODMAP diet (no wheat products, HFCS, soluble fibers, etc.)

-Drinking AT LEAST 6 full glasses of water a day, MORE when working

-Refraining from eating ANYTHING for the last 3 or so hours before going to bed

-Waking up a few hours earlier than normal to give myself time to drink plenty of water before leaving for work (I always wake up extremely dehydrated but never feel like drinking water for some reason)

-Eating a small amount of low FODMAP food in the morning (usually a bit of dry cereal), even though I'm not hungry

-Stretching and relaxing (laying down, closing my eyes, and imagining tense muscles are melting into the bed/floor) the muscles around my groin, abdomen, lower back, etc. every morning and before bed time, since my anxiety naturally tenses them up throughout the day and while I'm sleeping

-Occasionally drinking tea with fennel seed in it, that DOES NOT contain any laxative ingredients

-Making an effort NOT to hold in any bowel movements for any amount of time, even when I'm busy at work and am afraid to go to the bathroom

-Sitting with better posture, since I slouch 98% of the time and it's probably obstructing my bowels somehow

-Eating in regular scheduled meals rather than grazing on snacks all day

*THINGS THAT MAY BE HELPING, BUT I DO NOT RECOMMEND TO ANYONE ELSE*

-I VERY SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY weened myself off 2 anxiety medications (one suppresses immune system, and the other is known to cause GI problems, rectal bleeding, etc.) *DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITHOUT PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ATTENTION, YOU COULD SUFFER SERIOUS MENTAL/PHYSICAL DISTRESS*

-I also weened myself off of a GERD medication I've been taking most of my life to see if it would help me digest my food more fully *SAME WARNING APPLIES*

*MY RESULTS SO FAR*

-First 3 days not much of a noticeable improvement, probably from FODMAPS lingering in digestive tract and from accidentally consuming foods that were high FODMAPs without realizing it

-By the 4th and 5th days, I noticed a VERY SMALL improvement in how my gas was smelling and how long the smell was lingering around me

-Every day since I've noticed a general, gradual improvement in smell and duration of smell, even though I'm still passing a considerable amount of gas (as any normal person will do)

-Had a few full days with what I would consider totally normal smelling gas

*I've still had some brief periods (usually only an hour or two) of relapse at work that seem to occur without fail whenever:*

1) I allow myself to become even slightly dehydrated

2) I'm subconsciously holding in a BM because I'm in the middle of working on something

3) It's early in the morning and I ate a lot right before going to sleep

I'm going to update this thread regularly in the hopes that it will help any of you guys overcome this mortifying health problem, and to keep a log for myself.

Feel free to share things that have or have not worked for you here. Thanks for reading!


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Really interesting. Keep posting.


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## blorb (Oct 29, 2015)

Just wanted to share a bit of positivity today:

Everyone I've spoken to who has this problem has agreed that they have some days where the smell is much, much worse than other days. When you think about it, that means the problem can be treated, because every day your condition isn't at it's worst means you've done something right that day or the day before to improve even a slight amount.

If it wasn't treatable through lifestyle changes it would be equally bad each day no matter what you eat or do. It's just a matter of being patient and slowly finding out what worsens/lessens your symptoms.

Don't give up hope!


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## mylifeisover (Jan 10, 2014)

blorb said:


> Just wanted to share a bit of positivity today:
> 
> Everyone I've spoken to who has this problem has agreed that they have some days where the smell is much, much worse than other days. When you think about it, that means the problem can be treated, because every day your condition isn't at it's worst means you've done something right that day or the day before to improve even a slight amount.
> 
> ...


Is your odour a fecal or flatulence smell mainly?


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

I agree with a lot of things said here. Leaky Gas for me is linked with incomplete evacuation and incomplete digestion; they seem to work together. So I eat as early as I can to give my digestion plenty of time to work. This means I have to go to bed fairly early otherwise I start to get hungry. The low FODMAP veges are important as they don't leave much residue in the colon. I'm certain that Leaky Gas is due to bacterial overgrowth, which is why we get a lot of gas that other people don't get. Overeating might have been the main cause of why I got LG in the first place. If anyone here has GERD symptoms as well consider that you might be overeating. The overeating means that too much food overwhelms the stomach and travels to the colon largely undigested, the last thing we need. I find eating smaller meals during the day helps, rather than 3 big meals. Grains and nuts are very dry, highly concentrated foods that seem to feed bacteria moreso than other foods, probably because they're hard to digest. It's hard giving up breads, cakes, pizzas etc but these foods are what bacteria loves. Very well cooked, watery vegetables and meat are the safest foods for me. It's a bland diet and difficult to stick with but if you do have bacterial imbalance this is what you have to do. Somehow the gas generated by bacteria seems to cause incomplete evacuation so the less gas the easier evacuation is.

Stool consistency says a lot about your IBS. We should be aiming for the type 4 on the Bristol scale. Initially you might be eating more proteins - meats, eggs, cheese etc and fewer veges, then gradually increase the veges as your stools become more normal. And stay on the toilet until you're finished, this is the most important thing of all.


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## blorb (Oct 29, 2015)

mylifeisover said:


> Is your odour a fecal or flatulence smell mainly?


It definitely smells fecal. If you've ever driven past a sewage treatment plant, it's basically that smell, which is scary to think about. It's like the undigested food is rotting inside you before you even get to pass it.

Now recently with my diet change it's slowly been changing to what I would describe as normal and it dissipates very quickly as normal flatulence should. Time will tell if my treatment continues to work.


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## blorb (Oct 29, 2015)

tummyrumbles said:


> I agree with a lot of things said here. Leaky Gas for me is linked with incomplete evacuation and incomplete digestion; they seem to work together. So I eat as early as I can to give my digestion plenty of time to work. This means I have to go to bed fairly early otherwise I start to get hungry. The low FODMAP veges are important as they don't leave much residue in the colon. I'm certain that Leaky Gas is due to bacterial overgrowth, which is why we get a lot of gas that other people don't get. Overeating might have been the main cause of why I got LG in the first place. If anyone here has GERD symptoms as well consider that you might be overeating. The overeating means that too much food overwhelms the stomach and travels to the colon largely undigested, the last thing we need. I find eating smaller meals during the day helps, rather than 3 big meals. Grains and nuts are very dry, highly concentrated foods that seem to feed bacteria moreso than other foods, probably because they're hard to digest. It's hard giving up breads, cakes, pizzas etc but these foods are what bacteria loves. Very well cooked, watery vegetables and meat are the safest foods for me. It's a bland diet and difficult to stick with but if you do have bacterial imbalance this is what you have to do. Somehow the gas generated by bacteria seems to cause incomplete evacuation so the less gas the easier evacuation is.
> 
> Stool consistency says a lot about your IBS. We should be aiming for the type 4 on the Bristol scale. Initially you might be eating more proteins - meats, eggs, cheese etc and fewer veges, then gradually increase the veges as your stools become more normal. And stay on the toilet until you're finished, this is the most important thing of all.


I think you're right on the money. I saw your other posts and they're spot on.


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## blorb (Oct 29, 2015)

My family suggested I have a "cheat" day from my diet last night since I don't work on the weekends and it doesn't matter if I smell bad at home. I had one extremely high FODMAP meal from a local pizza shop.

I woke up today smelling god awful, with terrible gas, pain in my intestinal area, and bad constipation. All it took was one poor meal to remove any doubt from my mind about whether or not my past diet was causing this issue--it absolutely was.

I won't be cheating again any time soon.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

This is what I do. I regularly cheat all the time, especially if I know I'll be working on my own the next day. But I know that certain foods like pizza, white flour foods, white rice etc aren't going to be evacuated easily so I really try and stick to my diet. I'm careful with high fibre foods as well, because these rush through the colon. Anything that rushes through will be largely undigested and leave residue. If I cheat it'll be with something like wholemeal bread or nuts, cheese & ice-cream as these are my weaknesses. You're right about differentiating normal digestion gas from leaky gas, which does smell faecal. I think the odour from leaky gas is from the actual stool itself. The anus tends to involuntarily open because of parasympathetic impulses due to pressure of stool in the colon. This is natural and the only real cure is complete evacuation. I know in your first post you mentioned having to go at work sometimes. Maybe try fully evacuating in the morning before you go to work, that is if you're not embarrassed to do this as it might take a while. My ideal diet (that I try to stick to) is porridge in the morning, usually left-over stew from the night before in the microwave for lunch at work, and fish or meat with veges for dinner. Because veges aren't all that filling you need to go to bed fairly early, 9.30 to 10.00 is good.

The gas from veges that you eat should be short-lived. Maybe one or two, assuming you completely evacuated that morning. This is the big difference with normal digestion gas and leaky gas. If you haven't completely evacuated, the leaky gas is never-ending, because the stool is just stuck there all day and your parasympathetic nervous system is perpetually preparing to evacuate.


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## mylifeisover (Jan 10, 2014)

Any updates?


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## blorb (Oct 29, 2015)

Still doing much better. As long as I stick to my routine my smell is hardly noticeable and dissipates much more quickly.

Only setbacks when I eat a lot of food right before going to sleep, or when I'm not properly hydrated.

Making an effort to not hold anything in, even when really busy at work, has also made a big difference.


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## shiro (Apr 27, 2016)

I am currently on antidepressant (which contains artificial sweetener) for anxiety partly due to the gas problem. Not sure if I should cut off my medication entirely so that I can adhere to the fodmap or stick to it for fear that being off it will make things much worse. Any recommendation?


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## blorb (Oct 29, 2015)

shiro said:


> I am currently on antidepressant (which contains artificial sweetener) for anxiety partly due to the gas problem. Not sure if I should cut off my medication entirely so that I can adhere to the fodmap or stick to it for fear that being off it will make things much worse. Any recommendation?


The low fodmap diet stopped working for me. I just posted a new thread about cranberry juice eliminating the smell and greatly reducing the amount of gas I have. Give cranberry juice a try for a few weeks.

Don't stop taking your antidepressant.


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## shiro (Apr 27, 2016)

blorb said:


> The low fodmap diet stopped working for me. I just posted a new thread about cranberry juice eliminating the smell and greatly reducing the amount of gas I have. Give cranberry juice a try for a few weeks.
> 
> Don't stop taking your antidepressant.


Thanks blorb, I'll give cranberry juice a try since it definitely doesn't hurt to do so. I'm looking at CBT as an alternative to medication because that antidepressant sort of pooped out on me over time.


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