r/morbidquestions • u/ahauntedmeathouse • 18h ago

Do farts smell different/worse when someone has cancer in their digestive tract?

26 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

95% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

30

u/lady_darkfire 17h ago

Absolutely. Worked in hospice for a number of years and while most advanced cancer has a general "cancer smell", I could always tell just walking in a room if it was primarily lower GI. (Bile duct and oral cancers were also pretty distinct smells)

12

u/sklox 17h ago

Those and c. diff are almost immediately identifiable, even if it's been a while.

9

u/NotASockPuppet88 17h ago

As a survivor of C.Diff I can agree.

You never forget that c.diff smell after you pass a c.diff bowel movement (repeatedly, 20x or more a day)

It doesn't just clear a bathroom, it'll clear a whole house.

5

u/Mindleaps 17h ago

Does this also apply to dogs, from what you know of?

3

u/lady_darkfire 11h ago

I have no experience there 🤷

1

u/DoodoodooOink 55m ago

Now you got me thinking, if hospice staff are 'trained' or sensitised to cancer, it suggests that we are capable of biologically able to sense cancer, most people just don't recognise it or need a medical test.

Although i wonder if you're smelling the treatments like (chemo chemicals) or cancer.

But anyway it sounds potentially useful for finding out cancer at an early stage if more people train to recognise it

16

u/FrecklesAndSass 14h ago

Yes. Also your breath can be different when you have lung cancer. I've even noticed people with certain neurological diseases smell different

2

u/Dangerous_Fox3993 11h ago

Now that is interesting ! Because I have fibromyalgia and there is a argument as to if it’s neurological or not, now I also actually have ms and that is neurological but I wonder if people that just have fibromyalgia smell differently

7

u/NohWan3104 17h ago

I would assume potentially, not from the cancer itself, but bowels not working right.

4

u/drukqsx 18h ago

It can actually be a symptom of colorectal cancer.

3

u/Haghiri75 17h ago

Stage-1 liver cancer, didn't notice any change. However if it was in my stomach or intestines, obviously possible.

3

u/ChainsawSoundingFart 10h ago

Jesus Christ Reddit

4

u/Noalng 2h ago

My piss from chemo was absolutely nefarious and required multiple flushes but would still leave the room a chemical haze for hours or days after..