Why does my poop smell like burnt hair? (2023)

What does it mean when your poop smells like chemicals?

Bad-smelling stool can be caused by diet, a medication, lactose intolerance, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, or an infection. Monitor what you eat and treat the underlying conditions.

Foul-smelling stools have an unusually strong, putrid smell. In many cases, foul-smelling stools occur due to the foods people eat and the bacteria present in their colon. However, foul-smelling stools can also indicate a serious health problem. Diarrhea, bloating, or flatulence may occur with foul-smelling stools.

The foods you eat can cause changes in stool odor. Even foul-smelling stools can be due to changes in your diet. However, atypically foul-smelling stools may be a symptom of a health condition. Examples include celiac disease, Crohn's disease, cystic fibrosis, and intestinal infections.

If you have Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection (CDI), it can result in diarrhea that has an unusual odor that some might describe as sickeningly sweet. High risk factors for CDI include being over the age of 65, having recently been hospitalized, and having finished a course of antibiotics.

Blood from higher up in the bowel doesn't look bright red. It goes dark red or black and can make your poo look like tar. This type of bleeding can be a sign of cancer higher up the bowel.

Appreciable amounts of ammonia are generated in the large bowel through bacterial degradation of proteins and peptides, and experimental studies indicate that ammonia may select for neoplastic growth.

Many factors can cause stool to smell foul. Such factors include the food that people eat, their allergies, the medication they take, infections, and any underlying medical conditions. If a person suspects that a milk allergy is causing the problem, they should stop consuming milk and products that contain milk.

Healthy Poop Should Sink in the Toilet

Floating stools are often an indication of high fat content, which can be a sign of malabsorption, a condition in which you can't absorb enough fat and other nutrients from the food you're ingesting, reports Mount Sinai.

Melena appears as black, tar-like, sticky stools.

The black color is caused by enzymes breaking down and digesting the blood as it moves through the GI tract. This color is often accompanied by a strong, foul odor.

What does sulfur smell like in poop?

Foods that are high in sulfate content such as veggies, dairy, eggs, and meat can cause poop that smells like rotten eggs. “Sulfur is a necessary component in our diet, and certain foods high in sulfates increase sulfur gas as the byproduct of foods being broken down,” he says.

If you have, you may have experienced phantosmia—the medical name for a smell hallucination. Phantosmia odors are often foul; some people smell feces or sewage, others describe smelling smoke or chemicals. These episodes can be sparked by a loud noise or change in the flow of air entering your nostrils.

To digest foods high in sulphur such as meats, garlic, dairy, broccoli, kale and cabbage, your gut has to work overtime. This produces a lot of gas, which makes the poop smell bad. These foods, even if the digestion works fine, can make your poop smell bad.

We'll give you the TL;DR first: yes, of course, girls poop. Since they have the same number of chromosomes and basically the same digestive system as guys, male and female humans experience the same bowel movements. So, if you count pooping among your bodily functions, you can assume the women around you also poop.

What are the symptoms of C. difficile associated disease? Frequent, foul smelling, watery stools characterize mild cases of C. difficile disease.

Foods that are high in sulfate content such as veggies, dairy, eggs, and meat can cause poop that smells like rotten eggs. “Sulfur is a necessary component in our diet, and certain foods high in sulfates increase sulfur gas as the byproduct of foods being broken down,” he says.

High ketone levels cause your blood to become acidic and your body odor to be fruity. In the case of liver or kidney disease, your odor may give off a bleach-like smell due to toxin buildup in your body.

Smells like sulfur or eggs and you have diarrhea. It may mean: You could have giardia. The parasite tends to hang out in fresh water, so if you went swimming in a lake, have gone camping, or drank unpurified water recently, you may have picked up the bug along the way. The issue isn't always as obvious as you may think ...

Melena appears as black, tar-like, sticky stools.

The black color is caused by enzymes breaking down and digesting the blood as it moves through the GI tract. This color is often accompanied by a strong, foul odor.