IBS question! Is this normal!

[Allnighter]

MN can confirm I’m not a troll. I’m not asking for personal stories or details just asking if this is normal or not as I’ve never had it before.

I’ve got IBS which has been under control recently- until the last week or so ago. Since the beginning of the week I’ve had diarrhoea and just a generally upset stomach. But I’ve noticed that when I’m going to the bathroom, it smells exactly like vomit. Is that typical in IBS? I’ve never had it before so I didn’t know if it was normal or not and was just a bit freaked out. It’s happened several times over the last week and the smell is identical to vomit. I’m not going to go into details obviously as it’s TMI, but on the stool chart (I think it’s called Bristol chart?) it’s around a 6 and I’ve noticed a much paler colour and a lot of undigested food.

as I said, it’s probably just a bad IBS episode but it’s completely different to anything I’ve had before and wasn’t sure if it was possibly a bug or something, just not sure. Any help would be great fully received.

That ain’t normal-

What has your doctor said?

i haven’t been to the doctor for it yet, I was planning on going this week if it didn’t improve by this weekend which it hasnt I kept meaning to go last week but I was hesitant as I kept thinking it’ll be fine by tomorrow (and then the day after, and the day after, and so on!) basically I kept putting it off. I also wasn’t sure about going because I thought it’s probably just an IBS thing and not worth going about.

Im going to go this week though just to get it confirmed that it’s normal, but I just thought I’d ask on here because I can’t sleep and I was slightly confused about what it could be and whether it’s just IBS or not x

I'm interested to know what your doctor does say because I have IBS (diagnosed over the phone based on just diarrhoea symptoms and lack of blood in poop sample) and sometimes get what you describe (plus every other shade, shape and stench you can imagine), but I've never bothered to seek advice about it because it's a nightmare getting any help from my GP practice.

I unfortunately wasn’t able to get a GP appointment today but I’m going to try again tomorrow. I’ll repost again once I’ve spoken to them!

Do you have an acid reflux problem?
I know when mine flares up alongside my IBS the poo can smell really acidic, like vomit does.

I have IBS and sometimes experience the vomit smell too. 🤢

It sounds far more like colitis to me. Make sure they do a sample test. I’d want to know what calprotectin levels are.
when you do your sample, include any mucus, undigested foods etc.
Hope you feel better soon.

Have you had tests for various conditions? I wonder if you might have Crohns disease?

Agree with this. It might be inflammation which smells horrible and a bit strange.

Do you have any other symptoms such as needing to go urgently and more frequently?

I'd be pushing for stool sample tests including calprotectin.

Yeah, I’ve had calprotectin, blood tests and a sigmoidoscopy but none of the tests were ever done during a ‘flare up’, they were done when everything was ok at that time. I was told it doesn’t make a difference when it’s done though and that it’s definitely IBS.

It can make a difference. I have had a flare where my inflammation levels have been 14. Way below inflammation markers (blood test) in fact that was the day before my panproctocolectomy. I was also told I had IBS initially.