Awful smell around buttocks but no fistulas

[Koolin]

I am a college student of 23 years old and I had food poisoning in May of 2019 and after many unproductive visits to the general practitioner I was sent to the hospital and was diagnosed with a light variation of Crohn's disease. It has been said that Crohn's disease patients can generally have a normal life, and I am glad that my medication is helping to relieve stomach aches and that I am generally able to eat whatever I want, but I have a few serious issues that so far no one else with Crohn's disease has mentioned online, not that I know of.

My butt smells awful every single day and it is incredibly sweaty when compared to how it was before. I understand that feces from Crohn's disease generally smell awfully sour as compared to how it normally is but this smell always persists even after I take a shower. My life has been completely turned upside down by this because the smell is so bad that it goes right through my clothing around the butt area. I refuse to sit on couches and the likes in my family home and always sit in the same chair because of this. I also sometimes leave a sweaty trace behind on certain chairs. Sleeping is fine but I shower parts of my body every day when waking up because I have been rolling around in this horrible smell.

I know the smell only exists within my personal space as strangers do not seem to notice it, but it still makes me nervous and because I am sweating much more than before I had the disease I feel like I just cannot concentrate anymore when working in small project groups. I hate it when people are looking at me because I look so nervous and sweaty. I also don't cycle anymore because that results in an incredibly sweaty butt to the point where the entire area on the pants is wet and it once again smells like sour diarrhea.

I have had a colonoscopy and an MRI of both my rectum and small intestine but no perianal fistulas were found.

I am wondering whether anyone else has this problem.

 

[sashaz]

Hi.
I can sympathise. I do not have that problem but I did use to get abscess around there. It helped to use an antibacterial soap every day. Try that and it could get rid of some bacteria that might cause smells maybe.
best of luck.

 

[Black Cat 15]

I understand about the sweaty crack. Have you tried Neat 3B Action Cream? It’s for between&beneath the breasts, buttocks & legs. I have found it amazing where it sweats, rubs or is sore with a smell. It’s good for under fat sweats and boobs too, if you have that too

 

[Lady Organic]

Hi and welcome to the forum,
Im wondering if your disease is fully under control now? Have you been declared in remission?
Those sweats, could they be related to fever, which can be a CD symptom of disease activity?
Only a colonoscopy with biopsy can confirm a remission. Improvement of clinical symptoms (ex: stomach relief) does not sign a remission.
My feces smell completly normal when I am in remission. They only smell bad when disease is very active. I have always thought the blood and the mucous play parts in this bad smell. Are you positive it is only sweats and may be not mucous coming out of your rectum? This can be common with rectal disease activity. Passing gaz for instance, becomes very hazardous when disease is active in the rectum: accidents of leakage are common. Aways safer to do that on a toilet. Mucous leakage is highly possible when passing gaz, even with very small ones or with a anus which has lost its muscle strenght and full capacity to retain fecal matters. When my disease is active, I have to be very careful with leakages.

In the meantime, if the issue is truly sweats and not mucous, I may have an idea, a bit weird, but still. Its been years I no longer use commercial deodorant or antiperpirant for my armpits. I avoid every chemicals possible on my body. Instead, after I shower and wash, I dry my skin and I use plain baking soda that a blend with a drop or 2 of water and apply this watery paste directly on my underarm. less than a pea size amount of BS for each arm pit, so that is becomes even invisible. it woks like magic: no sweat, no smell. Could this work for butt area? I have no idea, but maybe worth a try. keep in mind that anything new you put on your skin, especially such a delicate region as anus, i suggest experimenting on other parts of body before and to go with a very small amount to make sure there is no undesirable reaction. You dont want to irritate the region. And also for safety, if ever tempted, never insert anything in the anus or rectum, aside from medication prescribed by a GI. White cotton underwear could also be good to try. Organic fabric if possible, no dyes, especially not black which I heard to be the most toxic dye, and underwear not too tight on the body so it can breath as much as possible. Cotton pants or bottom piece why not too, always better than synthetic fabric for breathing. Without traditional antiperspirant, it is now impossible for me to wear a shirt made with synthetic fabric. It will smell horrible on my underarm. I only wear cotton shirts and loose as much as possible to assure a bit of ventilation. Hope this help and that you will feel better soon, let us know

 

[Bufford]

My sollution is simple wipe the anal area with mouthwash applied to a piece of paper towel. It will leave you fresh and clean. I talked about doing this with my GI and he agreed it was a good practice, that was long ago. Anything that can be taken orally such as mouthwash is safe to use topically in the private area. I've been doing this for over 20 years.

 

[junae 11]

I am a college student of 23 years old and I had food poisoning in May of 2019 and after many unproductive visits to the general practitioner I was sent to the hospital and was diagnosed with a light variation of Crohn's disease. It has been said that Crohn's disease patients can generally have a normal life, and I am glad that my medication is helping to relieve stomach aches and that I am generally able to eat whatever I want, but I have a few serious issues that so far no one else with Crohn's disease has mentioned online, not that I know of.

My butt smells awful every single day and it is incredibly sweaty when compared to how it was before. I understand that feces from Crohn's disease generally smell awfully sour as compared to how it normally is but this smell always persists even after I take a shower. My life has been completely turned upside down by this because the smell is so bad that it goes right through my clothing around the butt area. I refuse to sit on couches and the likes in my family home and always sit in the same chair because of this. I also sometimes leave a sweaty trace behind on certain chairs. Sleeping is fine but I shower parts of my body every day when waking up because I have been rolling around in this horrible smell.

I know the smell only exists within my personal space as strangers do not seem to notice it, but it still makes me nervous and because I am sweating much more than before I had the disease I feel like I just cannot concentrate anymore when working in small project groups. I hate it when people are looking at me because I look so nervous and sweaty. I also don't cycle anymore because that results in an incredibly sweaty butt to the point where the entire area on the pants is wet and it once again smells like sour diarrhea.

I have had a colonoscopy and an MRI of both my rectum and small intestine but no perianal fistulas were found.

I am wondering whether anyone else has this problem.

I know all about the SWEATY butt. 24 years again I termed the neame "Sweaty Butt Sygum" to me I believe its from having to go to the bathroom every minute, makes the body work up.. I have to use 4 sheets of paper towels in the underwear just to feel normalist the sweating is very miserable,, I DO UNDERSTAND you , you are not alone

 

[Koolin]

Hello,

I forgot that I posted in this international thread as well. I am doing much better now. A year's use of Budesonide has helped to get the pain away and my feces are almost completely normal as well. Their smell is not so bad. No confirmation of remission, though I haven't spoken my CD doctor in a while. I no longer feel incredibly sweaty and hot (not even during summer) all over my body so that's great.

Unfortunately my butt still smells horrible. The sweating is on/off, mostly because it is now fall instead of summer. The entire area in my buttcrack is usually filthy, so I could have some leakage, but that does not account for the bottom half of the buttcrack, which I think is sweat. Also, when I exercise I sweat about 3x as much as usual in that area. So my life still sucks because I feel limited in what I can wear and what I can do / where I can sit. I still take a partial shower every morning because my bed smells terrible in the butt area.

I shall try a few of the options provided here, thanks. I was just hoping such an issue could be more medically demonstrable so that a permanent solution can be applied.

 

[junae 11]

Hello,

I forgot that I posted in this international thread as well. I am doing much better now. A year's use of Budesonide has helped to get the pain away and my feces are almost completely normal as well. Their smell is not so bad. No confirmation of remission, though I haven't spoken my CD doctor in a while. I no longer feel incredibly sweaty and hot (not even during summer) all over my body so that's great.

Unfortunately my butt still smells horrible. The sweating is on/off, mostly because it is now fall instead of summer. The entire area in my buttcrack is usually filthy, so I could have some leakage, but that does not account for the bottom half of the buttcrack, which I think is sweat. Also, when I exercise I sweat about 3x as much as usual in that area. So my life still sucks because I feel limited in what I can wear and what I can do / where I can sit. I still take a partial shower every morning because my bed smells terrible in the butt area.

I shall try a few of the options provided here, thanks. I was just hoping such an issue could be more medically demonstrable so that a permanent solution can be applied.

Hello, Im glad you feel better, but, so sorry about your problem, I want to ask you you , did you have a lot of test ,,,,that up your butt????? Me I have had to many, but, with that come tearing on the external skin of the anus which make "cracks" in the "WALL" of the anus" were waste can collect, I for real spend more time wiping than going" this is a devistating disease we just need to learn how to [if possible] find a WAY" to get by each day..... I will say a pray ,as a mason I will ask for HOPE for you.. Rodney

 

[Koolin]

Hello, Im glad you feel better, but, so sorry about your problem, I want to ask you you , did you have a lot of test ,,,,that up your butt????? Me I have had to many, but, with that come tearing on the external skin of the anus which make "cracks" in the "WALL" of the anus" were waste can collect, I for real spend more time wiping than going" this is a devistating disease we just need to learn how to [if possible] find a WAY" to get by each day..... I will say a pray ,as a mason I will ask for HOPE for you.. Rodney

I do not have any cracks, maybe some other kind of inflammation in the membranes, but I still have to see a dedicated proctologist about all of that. Sorry to hear about your condition, and you are right in that whatever this is, it makes life quite difficult and a lot of people, doctors as well, don't understand that.

Hi and welcome to the forum,
Im wondering if your disease is fully under control now? Have you been declared in remission?
Those sweats, could they be related to fever, which can be a CD symptom of disease activity?
Only a colonoscopy with biopsy can confirm a remission. Improvement of clinical symptoms (ex: stomach relief) does not sign a remission.
My feces smell completly normal when I am in remission. They only smell bad when disease is very active. I have always thought the blood and the mucous play parts in this bad smell. Are you positive it is only sweats and may be not mucous coming out of your rectum? This can be common with rectal disease activity. Passing gaz for instance, becomes very hazardous when disease is active in the rectum: accidents of leakage are common. Aways safer to do that on a toilet. Mucous leakage is highly possible when passing gaz, even with very small ones or with a anus which has lost its muscle strenght and full capacity to retain fecal matters. When my disease is active, I have to be very careful with leakages.

I have not been declared in remission. My last colonoscopy with biopsy was a year ago and it was used to diagnose whether I had Crohn's or not. In the meantime, the smell of the feces seems to be almost normal, sometimes it is worse. I am beginning to think the smell comes from around the butt area itself. I have no blood in my stool, so it could indeed be mucous, in combination with sweat because my upper buttocks are wet as well and that area is obviously nowhere near the anus.

 

[junae 11]

I do not have any cracks, maybe some other kind of inflammation in the membranes, but I still have to see a dedicated proctologist about all of that. Sorry to hear about your condition, and you are right in that whatever this is, it makes life quite difficult and a lot of people, doctors as well, don't understand that.


I have not been declared in remission. My last colonoscopy with biopsy was a year ago and it was used to diagnose whether I had Crohn's or not. In the meantime, the smell of the feces seems to be almost normal, sometimes it is worse. I am beginning to think the smell comes from around the butt area itself. I have no blood in my stool, so it could indeed be mucous, in combination with sweat because my upper buttocks are wet as well and that area is obviously nowhere near the anus.

This remineds me when I was 11ish, my cousin started smelling like crap, so everyone throught she just needs to wipe better, after 4 more years thing stayed the same , later she was found to have sound wrong internaly and had a operation and was ,perfect from then on ,,, I dont know what she had I was little and didnt pay attention to it............... I know if you keep going to the doctors these guy[even though most dont fully listen to what you tell them , so may like to think for themself, and this is what makes thing take months to years to find,,, by patient, you will get better , if I did,, you will.......

 

[junae 11]

Oh, her smell came from the belly area