flatulance and bowel movements are very odiferous

Hi, and thanks for your query on eHealth forum!

I am really sorry to hear about your wife. One possibility is that the chemotherapy has affected the gut flora. Taking probiotics may help. Also passage of foul smelling gas can be due to some bacteria in the gut that produce hydrogen sulfide gas. Sometimes this gas is produced in such huge quantities that the sulfide oxidase enzyme in the wall of the gut is not able to oxidize all of it and convert it to thiosulfate. This gas has a smell of rotten eggs.

Your wife will need to cut down food items that contain sulfites. Most of this gas comes from sulfites a person consumes, which is a part of all preservatives. Sulfites are present in all juices, molasses, yellow dye in ready made food stuffs, and red wine. Sulfites are present in lesser amounts in mashed potatoes made from dry powder, pickles, tinned shrimp, cookies, crackers, and readymade pie dough.

Certain food items like cabbage, radish, turnip and certain meat products too cause a foul smelling gas; cutting down these food items also helps. If it persists, then talk to your doctor. Other causes will have to be looked into such as intestinal infection, celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, short bowel syndrome, malabsorption syndromes, chronic pancreatitis or hepatitis and cystic fibrosis. Cancer metastasis is another possibility.

You will need to consult a gastroenterologist then. Please discuss with her treating doctor. Hope this helps. Take care!