# What causes bad smelling bowel movements?



## perretts

I am fairly new to IBS, since a strong dose of antibiotics took a toll on my digestive system in Sept/08.Since then, I have been taking high doses of probiotics, digestive enzymes, and a few other supplements. I have adjusted my diet, eliminating sugars, and fatty foods completely. Recently, I have added a fibre supplement. Although all these things appear to be of benefit, I still feel that something is still not right.I have been trying to gain weight, after going down to under 100 lbs last September, and although I have gained about 4lbs, I am having a difficult time with weight gain. I believe that part of the problem is lack of absorbtion of what I am eating.I am looking for causes to the bad smelling bowel movements, as I feel this is the result of something not being right in my digestion.I do have an appointment with a gastroenterologist on tuesday, so perhaps he can offer some explanation of what is wrong with my gut.Sherry


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## Kathleen M.

If you are eating more than enough food to gain weight and are still losing it (or can't regain it) your doctor needs to look into why that is and run a few tests.Everyone's BM's smell bad so I'm not sure if yours are abnormally so. If it is just normal reasons you might look at how much protein or things like onions that have sulfur in them you are eating. If your colonic flora rebalanced after the antibiotics to have more sulfur reducing bacteria that can make things smell worse than when your flora is low in those kinds of normal bacteria.They make smells out of amino acids and other things with sulfur in them. Pepto Bismol can help lower the smell if it is just from that.


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## overitnow

When I had daily D my movements smelled much like an open sewer. The smell was truly awful, embarrassing, and traveled everywhere.10 years ago I regained control with the flavonoids and that control has continued to improve over the whole 10 years. As that has happened, my bms have returned to a much more normal smell. The D and the smell seemed to go hand in hand.Mark


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## IanRamsay

HiRed meat does it for me. i dont eat red meat any more, havent for years, but i do give in now and then for a burger, and sure enough, it does the trick!cheersIan


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## perretts

Thank you all for replying.Kathleen, I'm not loosing weight, but I will discuss this again with my doctor. I am not eating onions, or anything else that I can think of to cause the sulfur smell, that is the smell though. I'm not sure what you mean about the bacteria and sulfur, can you explain?Mark, what are flavonoids and what do you take them for? What do they help with?I am not eating red meat, only fresh boneless chicken breasts and fish.


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## Kathleen M.

You eat no sugar and no fat, so you are not eating any protein at all either? Chicken and fish and eggs and stuff like that IS protein. It isn't just red meat that has protein in it.Most people eat a lot more protein than they need and excess can make the stool and gas stinky even in perfectly healthy people. Smelly gas and stool is a common complaint when people do a high protein diet to lose weight.In the colon there are bacteria.Every human has lots of bacteria in the colon.There are a lot of different species people have in the colon. Normal species in everyone, but some people have more of some kinds of bacteria and some people have more of other kinds of bacteria.Most of the really stinky smells in gas or feces are made by a kind of bacteria the reduces sulfur and makes hydrogen sulfide and other very smelly gasses from. If you have a lot of methane producing bacteria instead there is less smell because methane has no odor. The gases made when the bacteria eat protein which always has sulfur in it, are all very stinky when there are very tiny amounts of the gas. You dont' need much to make a huge smell.You could try the Pepto Bismol, it absorbs those smelly gases so they don't get into the air where you can smell them.That the smell changed a lot after antibiotics (if I read the story right) might mean the species in your colon changed and you have more sulfur reducing bacteria in there now than you used to.


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## overitnow

perrets, flavonoids are extracts from the seeds and skins of some fruits and vegetables. I take a grape seed and skin based mixture called Provex CV, designed for cholesterol control; but it has a number of off-label uses. For some of us it seems to control both D and GERD. (Because my experience is only with D, I have no idea if it would work with C or A types or not.) Recent experience with Amanda8 and reports from IanRamsay and Patman75 indicate that using it with high dose bifidus may dramatically speed the recovery time. This daily supplement has kept me D free for almost 10 years, now.http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=95757It may be just me, but it seems the less dense the stools--and at the stinkiest point mine were just like mud in the bowl--the worse the smell. I have now reached the point where I am just going once a day and the stools are becoming pretty compressed and there is little smell. Mark


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## perretts

Thanks again, the information is appreciated.I will certainly try your suggestions.Sherry


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## perretts

Mark,Is Provex CV available in most vitamin stores, or is this something I would have to purchase online?thanks,Sherry


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## Superfly

I had the same problem, antibiotics have a habit of wiping out gut bacteria, and probiotics won't help you. Fermented foods like Saukraut don't repopulate the gut, they only help your natural human bacteria reflourish. But that won't work if the antibiotics already killed them!

The solution is simple, but not very fun! Take healthy human, borrow their 'bacteria' and start again. Basically take their poop, blend it up and do retention enema with it, it's called an fmt and basically cured me of my gut problems, gas diarrhea and all that from antibiotics. Took a few months for the bacteria to stick, but slowly it was fixed!


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