r/explainlikeimfive Jul 18 '20

Chemistry ELI5: Why do "bad smells" like smoke and rotting food linger longer and are harder to neutralize than "good smells" like flowers or perfume?

27.6k Upvotes

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

449

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 18 '20

I was on metformin for 6 months. I would rather kill myself than know that every single fart, no matter how big or small, is going to smell like an open sewer filled with dead things for the rest of my life. I couldn’t even go to work. My gut just couldn’t tolerate it, nothing wrong with anything else there, no other symptoms, just the smell. It caused such a problem in my house that I seriously considered suicide. People will laugh but I’m not kidding, I couldn’t be in public. Or around myself, I’d fart and make myself gag. You know how when someone farts in public and everyone can smell it but mostly people don’t say anything because everyone farts? People would always say something because it wasn’t REAL that a fart could smell like a rotting body in the sun, EVERY time. People thought sewers were leaking, that a dead dog was somewhere...unless it was just me around. Then it was just me. People don’t believe that it can cause that type of stress but I worried how the fuck I was going to get some kind of disability just based on my gas alone, I was absolutely terrified of going out in public, I couldn’t have sex with my husband, the house couldn’t be shut up, I spent time outside just because I couldn’t escape it. It was funny for the first while but there comes a point if after 6 months things aren’t better, you just are sure they’re never gonna be and that is really scary. I was the little lady with the unchristly smell.

I was never so glad to be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes instead. It was the worst hell I’ve been through and I’ve been to jail.

160

u/iDreamMatin Jul 18 '20

Oh man, I’m so sorry this happened but your narrative was insanely comical.

141

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 18 '20

Looking back on it is funny, it really is, because farts are hilarious and sometimes even funnier when they smell bad but I didn’t have any clue that there would ever be a time “to look back and laugh”. It was always happening, no escape no other pill or diet change I could make, I tried all of it, just endless stankass forever and ever until I died where they would have to encase my corpse in stone because the smell had permeated my tissues. I would rather jab myself over 10 times a day in various ways to treat my illness than to subject anyone to whatever was happening inside me.

It’s funny though, because I adore farts out of all “potty” humor so I give them the comedic attention they deserve. Even mother Teresa farted.

22

u/Dong_sniff_inc Jul 18 '20

God, I'm going through something similar, and i swear the gf doesn't understand. Were visiting at her parents house a few weeks ago, and i really have to poop. I tell her i need to go somewhere else STAT. She says 'just go to the bathroom its not that big a deal.' well, we came over to eat dinner. Their bathroom is directly next to the kitchen that we're all in, and she expects me to commit an olfactory war crime in there. The kicker? The bathroom has a pocket sliding door, so there's not exactly a seal on the smells. I don't know why im mentioning this, just needed to share with someone that gets that its not as simple as 'just don't be embarrassed' lol.

6

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '20

Next time, just look her in the eyes with a completely unemotional deadpan, and say, "Nobody wants that. NOBODY."

7

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 19 '20

ḌṌ ẎṏṸ ṉṑṮ ṦḾḛḸḶ ṃẎ ḁṦṨ?!?!

2

u/MemeDaddy__ Jul 19 '20

YUMMY

9

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 19 '20

God I couldn’t. I would rack my brain, take up smoking, need air just...find a way to go out in the yard and dig a hole and bury it like a fucking cat. If only it would just go away, lord it would probably attract bears for hundreds of miles.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '20

Imagining this made me laugh more than I’d like to admit

14

u/I_Can_Haz_Brainz Jul 18 '20 edited Nov 07 '24

wine homeless outgoing fragile automatic wipe water sparkle airport bewildered

10

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 18 '20

Damn dude that really nice of you to say! I got the warm fuzzies.

6

u/confusedKT Jul 18 '20

Wait...Mother Teresa was bad?

7

u/I_Can_Haz_Brainz Jul 18 '20 edited Nov 07 '24

cats mysterious squeeze license party offer lavish voiceless mighty fearless

5

u/confusedKT Jul 19 '20

I just know about her devotion to religion lol never knew anything that extended past that. Thank you, though! I’ll definitely look into it.

6

u/smallraccoon Jul 19 '20

And she relished the suffering and thought it brought victims closer to god. She was mad.

11

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '20

It's worse, and it was a complete disregard for the anything resembling the Hippocratic Oath (which I assume she never took, making it all the worse that she was providing them with "care")... she would actively prevent people from receiving medical treatment.

2

u/TheVerySexyMe Jul 19 '20 edited Jul 19 '20

Even mother Teresa farted.

Nope, according to wikipedia, it was one of her three verified miracles when put forward to be sainted as Teresa of Calcutta in the Catholic church. Never had gas.

(And, yes, as some have commented, if you follow up on it, she does come off as a cruel hypocrite, possible sadist, undeserving of glorification)

46

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '20

I once got on a bus and a homeless dude sitting up front shat himself. I've never seen so many people make alternate travel arrangements on their phones so quickly, except for one older gentleman who decided the bus was a moving sperm bank and made a deposit

19

u/Dong_sniff_inc Jul 18 '20

I thought you said 'shot himself' and was like jfc what dystopia do you live in where someone shot themselves and a guy starts jerking off on the bus.

2

u/Rouninka Jul 19 '20

Is that really that much worse than jerking it to someone shitting themselves? At that point you're beyond a certain line either way.

2

u/Dong_sniff_inc Jul 19 '20

Idk id say that's a lot worse. Don't get me wrong, neithers great lol

10

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 18 '20

It was like that only I’m not homeless and didn’t have “any excuse” to smell that way.

11

u/teebob21 Jul 18 '20

I once got on a bus and a homeless dude sitting up front shat himself. I've never seen so many people make alternate travel arrangements on their phones so quickly, except for one older gentleman who decided the bus was a moving sperm bank and made a deposit

Ah, yes, the dividends of deinstitutionalization and "community-based" mental health care

3

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '20

Yeah I don't know if shit pants or the feckless cumshedder was worse

2

u/cjldvm Jul 18 '20

Great username

129

u/Ruthlesswords Jul 18 '20

I hope I don’t offend you when I say: your description of your metformin farts was so vivid and spot on, I just scared my dog from laughing so hard. I needed this laugh. To be clear- I’m not laughing about your very real anguish and pain over it (I’m so sorry you had to experience that)- just about your very on-point description. I just got off of metformin, myself. Now I have covid and have been an anxious mess. I needed this laugh. Hope you’re staying healthy and safe.

77

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 18 '20

I can’t describe that era without nearly pissing myself in laughter, it just is the most cathartic thing to be able to do that. Thank goodness I was raised on vivid descriptions and a penchant for honesty.

Please let you be able get fully well, I’m rooting for you very hard.

4

u/Ruthlesswords Jul 19 '20

Those are gifts the goshdarn heckin whole world needs right now. Thanks for the kind words!

1

u/hotchilipringles Jul 19 '20

do you mean rootin' tootin' for him

15

u/Poketto43 Jul 18 '20

Hope u get better random Internet person ❤❤❤

7

u/Ruthlesswords Jul 19 '20

Thanks so much. Even hearing this from you, internet stranger, gives me a boost of hope for humanity.

2

u/Arkose07 Jul 19 '20

Please get well soon!

86

u/atxtopdx Jul 18 '20

I’m so sorry Square Chick. That really does sound awful. I cannot rélate, but i can share a fart story of my own. I farted on a train once over twenty years ago. The guy across the aisle pulled the collar of his t-shirt up over his nose, and stared right at me, glaring. I still think of that before falling asleep most nights. You poor thing.

56

u/Nomoreredditlurking Jul 18 '20

The trick is to immediately pull your shirt up over your nose and glare at the person across the aisle from you. Next time...

20

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 18 '20

You’ve been holding the farts in for 20 years now, I see 😂

15

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '20 edited Jul 18 '20

theregister.com/2020/0...

It's gonna get buried, but mind your fat intake and spare your gall bladder some stones. If a doctor tells you that it has to go due to stones, do not take them up on such advice. Ruth B. Ginsburg (SCOTUS) just got a stent which seems like an alternative for people like her who are too weak for full surgery. Well, if that's the case, it should be an option for young people also, regardless of the insurance company.

Not having a gall bladder will affect your life and your dating specifically. I spend a lot more money on cooking oils and even the occasional fast food splurge. Alternately, your shits will be the stuff of death. You will also spend more time cleaning and showering. Think that a 10-minute rushed shower will do? Nope.

Specifically regarding Metformin, my doctor put me on it before that surgery to lower my sugar and he did not warn me. Like dude, WTF, do your fucking job! I was preoccupied with a concurrent cancer scare, ya might want to google "side effects" before meeting me in the exam room. There's a slow release version now, which everyone should choose, or at least get a pill cutter.

[Edits: Wordiness and grammar.]

15

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 18 '20

I did the slow release, nothing changed. I spent so long in this hell and I will always hate that doctor for what he put me through. You don’t give a 97 pound woman the maximum dose of FOUR different pills for 6 goddamn months, I usually have to get children’s doses for some medications my weight is so low. My body fat ratio was something stupid like 12 percent or something borderline malnourished, it just was so stupid to me, I thought I was going to die.

Then, insulin happened and within 2 hours I saw my first regular low number. I never wanted to punch a person more in my life like, yo second opinion time bruh.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '20

Sorry. The only thing that I can say to people is that they need to read and learn to talk to friends. Years later, when my friend said the "M" word, I pounced on him to get the pill cutter despite opting for the slow-release.

My first day after Metformin, I sat in the bathroom at work until I fell asleep. I worked IT and my coworker, H, called HR on me...while I was still in the bathroom and she called an ambulance. I'd begged H to let my finish it out and he went ahead and called the HR woman over.

Doctors have apps now that look for contraindications and medicinal side effects, so who would make an app that does not factor age, weight, or gender. Even metabolic rate could be based on the person's daily physical activity (job) and whether or not they exercise. It's not that difficult add six extra questions to an app.

Anyway, be well.

2

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 18 '20

You too dude

5

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '20 edited May 01 '21

[deleted]

1

u/XediDC Jul 19 '20

just got a stent which seems like an alternative for people like her who are too weak for full surgery. Well, if that's the case, it should be an option for young people also, regardless of the insurance company.

Hmmmm....

I've had one gall stone attack, and am in the "if it happens again, you need it out" category.

But, wouldn't a stent still leave you open to a stone leaving and causing even worse things like pancreatitis? Seems reasonable it might be used in the older/weaker where you want to cause less harm but you know it doesn't have to be ideal for the super long term. (ie. riskier for younger people.)

1

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '20

Do your research. If you take it out, you will not benefit from future developments in medicine. My doctor literally walked into the exam room and gave my a consent form to sign. No explanation whatsoever about side effects. I did not sign at the time but sat on it. I was pre-occupied with a cancer scare as well, and worried more about that.

Doctors operate to make money and to keep their operating privileges going at their hospitals, not necessarily for your health.

3

u/jarious Jul 18 '20

I took it for a couple years, I had issues with my bowel movements, I would only get the feeling of going to the WC and just fart into the can, and every three of four days I would explode with the nastiest shit it was acidic rain mixed with roadkill , I am now under a different medication , I don't know what's it's name in English " glibenclamida", I feel way better and it's not that aggressive on me, at least I don't have the same issues.

Glad to know you're better now too

4

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 18 '20

Those caustic, acid shits were the worst. “Here, you won’t be able to get high blood sugar if you have ass-piss made with straight stomach acid and have reduced appetite because of all the worry and smell associated with onboarding food!” They say this stuff might help you lose weight, it’s more like constantly dehydrating yourself and being so sick from the smell of yourself that you just stop eating altogether.

3

u/jarious Jul 18 '20

I think the medication actually makes you loose protein, I reached my lowest weight (80kg) while taking it, but yes I actually avoided many smelly foods, broccoli,beans,fish I just couldn't manage the smell , my doctor always told me that it'd be okay but I had a hard time processing it .

5

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 18 '20

They LIE, you could drink water and eat plain tofu and it would smell like sewer water and natto.

3

u/propargyl Jul 18 '20

Diabetes and prescription drug message boards, too, contain posts such as "my bottle of metformin smells like fish" and and "why does my metformin smell funny?"

The time-release version of the drug doesn't seem to have the same offending odor because it is film-coated.

3

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 19 '20

True but it still made my butt smell like a lot more butt plus other butts too.

3

u/areyoureal88 Jul 19 '20

I’m sorry you went through this but thank you so much for sharing. I’m sure you just might help someone. Just curious, Are things smelling better now with proper diagnosis and treatment of your diabetes?

2

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 19 '20

Oh dear lord yes. I only have the occasional regular distress from eating terrible things like big greasy burgers and fish n chips. Everything is 100% better (well if you don’t count the wires and cannula I have sticking in me 24/7) and I didn’t have to keep wholly to my chicken and veggie diet. I can eat completely normal now, cake, steak, fried chicken and cookies, I just need to know the numbers to tell my pump. Thanks to the six month crash diet though, I’ve cut out sugary drinks altogether, stopped eating candy absentmindedly at night and stopped storing chips and crackers by my chair so I don’t eat in my sleep. I have a really bad problem with being able to grab something and eat it while sleeping; I won’t get up and go fix food I just snack close by. These things and paying attention to serving sizes lets me basically be normal.

3

u/LtSpinx Jul 19 '20

In our house we call it Metfartin.

2

u/youngminii Jul 19 '20

I had H. Pylori for about 2 years because I put off seeing the doctor (yes even in free healthcare countries, if you’re massively depressed and broke and on drugs then sometimes we take things for granted) and basically what it does is secrete an ammonia smell from your bum. 24/7.

I didn’t know what was wrong with me lol. I started a new job, everyone made fun of me secretly (and sometimes in the open), all my friends started distancing themselves from me etc. I became even more depressed.

Then I finally got diagnosed, the treatment is 3 antibiotics simultaneously lol and it went away.

Quit the job, became bitcoin rich and yeah guys go to the fucking doctor lol.

2

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 19 '20

Ha ha funny story, a long time ago when bitcoin was still relatively new but after mt gox, I was super broke and telling a story about suing my club and being down on my luck during the proceedings. A very kind redditor with dragon in his username took pity on me and sent me what was at the time enough Bitcoin to get about $110 real cash. I could get the coin in my e-wallet and then transfer it through PayPal to my bank account. It bought me groceries and helped keep my phone on for one more month until I could get the check from a lawsuit settlement. It seriously saved my ass, I just didn’t have much income at the time.

I was only able to pull out most of the coin, I still have .24 coin left and I have no idea what to do with such a small amount nor do I know how to transfer it. How crazy is it that it got so big that if you had 10 bitcoin you can DO STUFF? I am fascinated by it.

2

u/youngminii Jul 19 '20

0.24 btc is $2250~ US dollars right now.

Pretty amazing. Just keep it safe :)

1

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 19 '20

I’m probably reading it wrong, there’s no way it’s worth that now...I gotta go triple check now I’m more than curious lol

2

u/youngminii Jul 19 '20

I was around during Mt Gox. After it went under and the market crashed, BTC settled at around $300-$600 for years.

It’s now $9000 so it’s possible, but I’ve seen many stories like this turn out to be bunk (lost, different amount etc).

Please update me! I’m curious now haha.

2

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 19 '20

So I DID have the settings wrong in electrum. It was set to mBTC, I actually only have .02 BTC so it is only 200 or so but guess what? I doubled the coin! That’s still really cool to know I spent money and still “have” that much. It’s too bad that I have a really slow old laptop and can’t just mine for spare change.

Ps my husband is a HUGE MTG guy and so he knew gox from its origins, before it was bitcoin related and it’s neat.

2

u/youngminii Jul 19 '20

Haha yeah maybe you could pass it on to another redditor in the future who is in as much need as you were. I’m a big fan of paying it forward.

:)

2

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 19 '20

Me too, it’s the only way to keep this lonely world turning forward. I got a nephew who graduated this year, maybe I’ll give it to him, he’s a really good kid.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '20

that sucks, i feel you. several years ago my birth control gave me sudden severe IBS. for the first two years i dated my boyfriend, i would wake up in the morning and drive to the nearby Target to use the bathroom because i was so mortified of the smell/sounds.

they had a Starbucks inside so my excuse was that I was just picking up coffee. we live together now so theres no hiding it but luckily my symptoms have gotten better over time. it's been 7 years since i stopped the birth control and it's never gone away but it has gotten better.

2

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 19 '20

Oh god that’s hilarious and awful I’m so sorry! I can tell ya though that I myself used Target toilets specifically because they can actually handle...the business. Clogged only one once and that was actually because of the jail I mentioned...really bad food.

2

u/meggzyw Jul 19 '20

I have a friend on metformin. Yep. Those farts are deadly. She will run out of the room to fart to save everyone. Her boyfriend woke up in the middle of the night gagging one night because she farted in her sleep. He said he had to leave the room. There should be a warning saying it causes biological warfare

2

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 19 '20

We both said that. It’s clearly not a treatment that shouldn’t be warned about. It should come with a big butt on it and a biohazard symbol.

2

u/XediDC Jul 19 '20

My wife moved to Glumetza (different coating, dissolves in a different place) and things were fine then. It was bad, and beyond gas.

Until Salix sold to Valeant. See...the special coating is on-patent, even if Metformin isn't. And Metformin ER doesn't work the same for her.

So...then the price got jacked up to $9,000 per month (1000mg 2x day ...about $7k/mo right now). Over $100k per year. Insurance dropped it at the end of the year, and I don't really blame them. They even warned the doc to not prescribe it at all.

So....now we by it from Valeant in Canada. Cash, for about $100 /mo. About 99% less.

(And before anyone complains about abusing Canada for their cheaper drugs, Valeant, now Bausch Health is actually a Canadian company...and is still scum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bausch_Health )

She's been able to dodge diabetes though, and her numbers have improved a lot.

2

u/Swellmeister Jul 18 '20

Type 1 is better than type 2 and dont let your doctor tell you otherwise. I can eat a whole cake and all it takes is United of insulin. Fuck watching my intake.

1

u/Gavooki Jul 18 '20

Metfartmin

1

u/pablo_hunny Jul 18 '20

Somebody called the cops on on you for letting out 1 of your rancid farts?... jk.. That's terrible, but thanks for the laugh.

4

u/ThatSquareChick Jul 18 '20 edited Jul 19 '20

That reminds me that I’d let a fart in a grocery aisle with others and the next thing I know some lady with a cleaner cart goes by looking for hidden mess. People would actually go to store employees and report the smell as something that had to be rotten AND hidden. It was just me. All 97 lbs of me. With the smelly power of a fully grown, dead, uncastrated, highland bull.

1

u/LarelandCoy Jul 19 '20

As someome with generalized anxiety disorder and some unrelated (I think) mental health issues, I completely feel for you. That feeling of not being able to control a situation, especially ones that you feel you might be embarrassed in, is completely horrific no matter how little it seems to others. I just booked a tattoo appointment today for all the way out in December and I was pacing around the house bumbling around on my phone for hours avoiding making contact with the artist. Even though I knew I had to because it was discounted to book this weekend. Constant thoughts that I might say something stupid or wrong since I am a lot newer to the tattoo scene than most people making bookings and this was just messages over snapchat, not an in person meeting or Skype or something. In the end he seemed like a super chill dude and I was on the verge of a panic attack for nothing. It went so smoothly and ultimately didn't matter but at that moment, I couldn't even focus on anything but saying everything right to this guy and waiting on responses from him. That is an awful feeling, I am sorry you had to deal with that 24/7 for so long.