To go to the GP for smelly wind?

[Jellyjoy]

NC as this is embarrassing.

For over a year I’ve suffered with frequent and very smelly wind. It affects my social life as I don’t want to go out because it’s so uncomfortable to hold in the wind, but it’s so smelly I couldn’t let it out. My poor DH is at his wits end with it too.

I eat a healthy diet with daily healthy bowel movements. I’ve tried keeping a food diary but the wind is constant so there’s nothing obvious there (excite I know sugar makes it worse).

i don’t eat dairy so it’s not a lactose intolerance.

WIBU to go to the GP for smelly wind? I feel like they’ll laugh me out and just say it’s normal, but believe me this isn’t normal.

I adore veg and eat really well but in the last few years I can't eat onions, garlic, beans, lentils, or even too much celeriac or cauliflower without terrible wind.
I'd drop the legumes for a while.

If I do go veg mad, I sometimes have a few days on just white bread and protein.

I had this and was at my wits end with it. It turned out that I am allergic to tomatoes. I stopped eating them and the smell and volume of wind disappeared within a day or two. I bet it’s something that you eat all the time that you assume you couldn’t possibly be intolerant to. Onion and garlic donut for a lot of people.

Apparently sugar substitutes can be dreadful for this. If you take artificial sweetener in your coffee / tea or drink Diet Coke or other fizzy drink with artificial sweetener in it, it might be worth cutting these out and seeing if it makes a difference.

Hi op, I suffered from this for years. It stopped at the menopause. I researched a bit and realised it had tied in with my monthly cycle. When you ovulate, the hormonal changes affect the (good) bacteria in the gut and not everything I ate could be ‘processed’ fully. I had thought I had food allergies, but it was just certain foods not being fully processed during ovulation. The wind was awful.
I don’t have an answer, but it’s always helpful to know the cause.
Your post made me remember how awful it was, you have my sympathy. I hope you can get it sorted. I’ve been totally free of it for many years now xx

I had this for a while after giving birth to my first child, so loud and it absolutely stank, when I honestly never really used to break wind that much and definitely not loudly, it did take about 9 months to a year to recover. I had a back to back labour and she was born face up and though I never had it investigated (too embarrassed), from Googling I seemed to find that loud and smelly wind can be a postpartum symptom.

This was about 5 years ago. Not saying that’s what has happened with you but could be a contributing factor. I follow an amazing woman - The Vagina Whisperer - on Instagram and her page is full of so much helpful information about your body after birth and pregnancy (as in months/years after) and how your pelvic floor being weakened can also cause rectal incontinence and issues that so many of us are too ashamed to discuss for fear of scrutiny.

@Jellyjoy
Our Whippet had activated charcoal prescribed by vet after a grape eating incident-
Dog’s poo was black afterwards but ZERO smell!
Completely odourless.
Maybe Activated Charcoal would work for whiffy farts.
as others have mentioned, Charcoal pants?
Good luck.

Beans and some other legumes, such as peas and lentils, have a reputation for causing gas. Beans contain high amounts of a complex sugar called raffinose, which the body has trouble breaking down. Beans are also rich in fiber, and a high intake of fiber can increase gassiness.

They did this on embarrassing bodies once. See if you can find the episode. They obviously sent her to posh private doctors rather than NHS but they found some things in her diet that you wouldn’t naturally associate with smelly farts (but the experts knew otherwise) and when she cut them out, it all stopped. Don’t be embarrassed about going to the doctor, if it’s that bad then go and see your GP.

www.dailystar.co.uk/tv/embarrassing-bodies-guest-says-loud-27194493?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

Definitely go to the Dr, something is obviously not right and needs checking.

I’ve always had gastro problems, nothing bad in the past but man I could let off some killers. As I’ve got older and developed more health issues my gut has got worse. I’ve become more intolerant to so many foods I use to love eating. Anything hard to digest I’ve had to give up, broccoli, onions, cabbage, pork, anything remotely spicy.

ive had some bad wind in the last few weeks, really embarrassing when I let one off just when closing the boot of my car as this poor man was walking behind me, he actually started choking 😬 Last night I spent 12 hours with bad V&D, I’m hoping that this has cleared the problem. If not I will definitely be going to the Drs. I also take medications which can have adverse reactions to certain foods.

For me I’m fully aware that I have the potential for other problems, chrons disease, bowl cancer, diverticulitis are all common problems in my family. Grandad had chromes, eventually he died of bowl cancer, 2 of his sisters did too, my aunt died of bowl cancer last year, another currently in remission, mother has diverticulitis. Both my DVs have also had bowl problems. I’ve had colonoscopy’s and all ok at the moment but it’s something I do make sure I keep note of any changes.

I forgot to say green tea is my go to gut setting drink. I don’t like peppermint. Make sure no honey or sweeteners though.

@Jellyjoy you mention BF, how old is your baby? I have the same and I think it roughly started when my babyw as born (now 12 months) and has been getting progressively worse. I wondered if hormones could have triggered a food intoleranceor something. I'm also BF so not tried too many remedies yet.

It's just becoming really debilitating. I mostly work from home, I'm usually OK in the morning but by afternoon I'm passing wind every 5 mins or so for hours on end.

When I'm in the office and have to hold it in I get horrendous pain and after a while it feels like I can't keep it in and it's all going to come out. By 3pm I could cry from the discomfort and look about 9 months pregnant from how bloated I am.

I think I'll bite the bullet and see the GP, but worry they will turn me away as its not life threatening, just bloody ruining my life.

What are you eating during the day?

From the point of view of having Celiac Disease, I'd say that if you're starting the day with toast or cereal, then having a sandwich for lunch, for example, it would make sense that it gets worse over that time, whereas in the evening, you're more likely to have potatoes/rice instead.

Given that sugar makes it worse, I’d second the poster who suggested a low FODMAP diet as sugary foods affect your gut balance and give you really smelly wind. I’d also suggest a course of Symprove as this is brilliant at calming it all down.

@NeverDropYourMooncup thats a good point, I thought I felt better in the morning purely because my system's empty and it gets worse as I start putting food in it but yes, I almost always have cereal or toast for breakfast. And sometimes a sandwich for lunch too.

I have at times felt like oats may have been the culprit but not conclusively.

I'll try a non gluten breakfast tomorrow and see how I go!

Not sure if relevant (and definitely TMI) but with coeliac would the smell always be really bad? Mine can be bad, but generally it's fine, it's more just the sheer quantity of air. I can hear it going through my bowels, constant loud plumbing noises. Sigh.

I didn't eat tonight as I couldn't face the risk of being even more uncomfortable than I already am. Like an inflated balloon ready to burst.

My gas didn’t always smell, but it was constant. I thought it was normal to pass wind 100+ times per day. Turns out 10 is more where you should be (and where I am now!)

it took a few days of cutting gluten to feel better.

i do now get smelly gas if I eat too many processed foods - gut bacteria not happy!

I forgot to say, oats are not gluten free due to cross contamination so don’t go for that? Unless you buy gf oats.

same therefore for things like oat milk.

gluten is in the strangest of things, like walkers crisps, oven chips and even some store brand own Coca Cola. So read every label, do not put gf bread in the normal toaster, and trust no one!

Well, some celiacs cross react to the protein avenin that is in all oats, including 'gluten free' ones - and standard ones are frequently cross contaminated with gluten in manufacture. I definitely found that some brands made me feel sick before diagnosis, even when I was making them with water instead of milk (lactose intolerance can also be a common thing for celiacs because the disease destroys the part of the intestine that produces lactase, the enzyme that digests lactose).

I was a sickly child with constant issues - on top of autoimmune stuff that was diagnosed, I had constant stomach pain, constipation and headaches and my mother believed I was a faddy eater because I refused to eat 'normal' food - all of which I now realise contained gluten.

It was only after accidentally not having gluten containing things for about a month that I noticed just how much of a difference it made to my waist measurement - as I was thinking 'maybe wheat has something to do with this?' I had something with gluten in - and then I encountered the Smell of Death, but the other most noticeable things is that there isn't anything to hold in. I have lost weight since going GF because I'm not able to just buy something without thinking about it, but my waist (I say waist, it was more the least round bit of me) went down by several inches in a week and a full 12 in the first two months.

If it's any help, the sort of things I have for breakfast at the weekend are more brunch like, but I'll have a lot of egg dishes (mushroom omelette, bacon or smoked salmon and scrambled egg, boiled eggs/asparagus, poached egg and spinach), sometimes coconut yoghurt, dates/other fruit and nuts, I've even had prunes with absolutely no side effects, despite their reputation - and technically, my lunch at work is breakfast, so it'll be something like salmon and rice with veg/salad. And a 100% beef burger is just as nice without a bun if you still add the extras.