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Smelly stool? Onion like smell

Posted , 6 users are following.

katykat1234
katykat1234

Hi. I'm wondering If IBS can cause this onion-ish smell in stool. I just had a quite large BM. It was a bit flat, but the width is normal. The color is light brown/medium. I don't see blood or any odd with it except flat stool but I had that before and apparently it's a sign of IBS. I think I had this oniony smell from my stool. It's not excessively bad, just has more of an onion/smellier smell than usual. My dad gets this a lot, actually. I heard diarrhea can cause the smell but my stool is formed. My anxiety is acting up again because I read someone's comment somewhere about how her mom has colon cancer and had blood in her stool which would smell like onion. I still have not gotten diagnosed with IBS yet and last time I went to the doctor was 2 and a half ish months ago. I had this smell before but I read this one comment somewhere and now I'm scared.

0 likes, 17 replies

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  • pippa58442
    pippa58442 katykat1234

    Posted

    Have you been eating onions?  Maybe once again, they may not be digesting properly.  Some people with IBS.find they can’t digest onions.  Remember, anything serious would be very rare at your age. If you don’t see blood in your stool, you should not worry.   There are several things you can do to help yourself:

    Firstly, do not google your symptoms; you will not get an accurate diagnosis on Dr Google.  The only thing you will get from this is panic.  

    Try to think of non serious explanations for your symptoms.  Try a food diary to work out all the foods that are causing you problems.

    Monitor your stress levels to see if stress triggers your symptoms.

    Don’t constantly examine your bowel movements.  Constantly examining them will cause you unnecessary anxiety.

    Go back to your doctor again and again and push for tests.  See several doctors. This is the only way you will get an accurate, firm diagnosis. Getting a diagnosis and treatment will help to clear up you health anxiety and improve your symptoms.  I went to several doctors on eight occasions, had tests and finally after three and a half months, I got an IBS diagnosis.  My health anxiety cleared up and my symptoms went into remission.

    Try distraction techniques such as a hobby or light exercise such as walking

    If you follow all these tips, it will help you massively.

    • doglover2005
      doglover2005 pippa58442

      Posted

      I just recently ate onion. A lot of onion on my salad on Saturday (it's weird but I like onion..not the after breath though). But wouldn't it be out of my system in like 24 hours or something. I was a bit constipated, however. Today is when I feel like I actually empty my bowel since last week or something. The stool is flat though. I didn't really look up onion smell in stool but I accidentally came across an IBS post and someone said her mom has colon cancer and blood in stool which has an onion smell about a month ago. Again, I don't see any visible blood. It's actually well-formed today and not a lot of undigested bits. Just the weird onion-y smell. My dad has really foul smelling stool and mine is nothing compared to him so I'm a bit relieved. I can smell his...waste from my study room sometimes! 

    • pippa58442
      pippa58442 doglover2005

      Posted

      The smell may also be from bowel gases produced from the fermentation process in your gut.  If stools remain in your bowel for a while, they will be in the gassy environment of your colon for longer and may well hold onto the smell.
    • camham1111
      camham1111 pippa58442

      Posted

      Hi Pippa! I’ve been having flat/thin-ish stool like Katy. Today, it’s not skinny but a bit flat. It’s been like that for a few days. I don’t think it has the “onion” smell like Katy but a bit smelly like normal. It also has this yellow/orange/brown substance around the stool. I haven’t been taking in a lot of water nor fiber for the past few days so would this be the problem? I’m a female, 16. I have severe anxiety and I’m worrying about every little thing since my anxiety started to flare up again. Does the substance and flat stool sound like IBS? I have a lot of the typical symptoms of it as well. Maybe it could just be my anxiety.
    • pippa58442
      pippa58442 camham1111

      Posted

      Flat stools are common with IBS; the yellow substance is likely to be mucus. The orange colour may be from an orange vegetable that you have eaten such as carrots which has not digested properly.  If you are constipated, eat more fibre.  However,  I don’t know if not taking a lot of water would cause the stool changes.  I don’t take much water either and I don’t get these symptoms with my IBS.  Everyone is different.
    • camham1111
      camham1111 pippa58442

      Posted

      I'm not sure about the water either. Somtimes I don't drink a lot of water and still nothing happens. What Im saying is that fiber. If I drink more water, I get more fiber. I have this Benefit supplement thing because I tend to forget to always eat lots of vegetable and fruits so my doc said to take it as a "replacement" kinda and to relieve constipation.

  • ekin25085
    ekin25085 katykat1234

    Posted

    Hi,

    Sometims mucus comes with your stool, which happens frequently if you have IBS or even time to time it happens to all even you dont have any issues. When you have mucus in your stool then you will get unusual smell since mucus has its own smell. Probably you are naming it as onion smell.

    Regards

    • doglover2005
      doglover2005 ekin25085

      Posted

      I'm not exactly sure it even smells like 100% onion but that's the closest I could think of. It doesn't really smell metallic so that's good I guess. I have these yellow substance around my stool (if it sits there for a long time). Sometimes it's this white-ish thing covering my stool. Could this be mucus? I'm not sure what mucus looks like in stool.

    • ekin25085
      ekin25085 doglover2005

      Posted

      Yes, looks like mucus. Mucus can be yellow white or no color. And this explains tge strange smell. Sounds like you have IBS _ might be temporary situatiin as well.

      Regards

    • doglover2005
      doglover2005 ekin25085

      Posted

      Many people think I have it's the anxiety or IBS. I didn't know IBS can be temporily?

    • pippa58442
      pippa58442 doglover2005

      Posted

      If you have IBS, you are likely to have anxiety with it.  The two are linked.  IBS is not temporary; it is chronic. The symptoms can be managed but not cured.
    • ekin25085
      ekin25085 pippa58442

      Posted

      Ibs is not temporary. But if you manage to get over your anxiety, then ibs will not be in the center of your life. Considering your age, it may go away for good.

      Regards

    • pippa58442
      pippa58442 ekin25085

      Posted

      I don’t think my IBS will ever go away completely because I am hard wired to be anxious because of my Aspergers.  The best trick I have up my sleeve is to satirise stressful situations in my poems and manage my IBS that way.
    • ekin25085
      ekin25085 pippa58442

      Posted

      That ia great that you find your ways to manage your situation! I suggest you also invest some time on meditations/yoga. It takes time and effort but you can build your inner peace even with aspergers. Just please do not underestimate your potential...Best of luck!
    • pippa58442
      pippa58442 ekin25085

      Posted

      I have found great peace already by going to an Asperger support group and finding other people who fit in with me and who have similiar talents.  Writing also gives me a great boost. Walking and gentle swimmig I find the most beneficial exercise because I suffer from joint pain, neuropathy and a back injury which are made worse by anything more strenous than this.  I try to avoid a lot of stretching in case I flare up my back injury.
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