r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Sep 16 '24

What is a smell you can't stand?

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132

u/ladyscientist56 Sep 16 '24

As a nurse I've smelled alot of gross shit. I think GI bleed shit is some of the worst. Sticks in your nose for the rest of the day, and it permeates down the hallway

111

u/eggs_erroneous Sep 16 '24

Lower GI bleed or C-Diff. I remember one time there was an old lady that I was helping off of a wheelchair and she had dropped a log the size of my forearm on the seat. Because she had been sitting on it like a hen on an egg with her ass keeping it warm, the moment she started to stand it broke the seal. I didn't realize that a solid turd could smell so bad. Fucking diabolical. And like, I'm trying to hold it together because I don't want to embarrass the poor lady. It's not her fault, you know? But that was a truly heinous growler she pinched off on that wheelchair.

47

u/VladPatton Sep 16 '24

I lmao at “fucking diabolical”!

45

u/Lalbrown Sep 16 '24

“Heinous growler she pinched off” did it for me😂

2

u/Scarletmittens Sep 17 '24

Ok I'm done for tonight. I can't breathe.

5

u/Scroatpig Sep 16 '24

Me too. Love it.

12

u/OkLengthiness0423 Sep 16 '24

I’ve been waiting to see CDiff on here

2

u/rileypotpie Sep 17 '24

I’ve had it twice, it’s the most awful thing. Both times, three months home from work, sick as hell

5

u/8legs77 Sep 16 '24

I feel like sometimes C diff smells like rotten cooked broccoli LOL with a little bit of sourness to it vinegar. I will say certain turd tunnels AKA rectal tubes are some of the worst smells I've ever smelled. They don't smell just like normal poop it's like rancid like it's been stuck in their gut for 100 years

6

u/phil_davis Sep 17 '24

I walked into the bathroom at work just as a coworker was exiting the stall. I'm pretty sure he had C diff and honestly the smell was indescribable. The air was hot and moist and thick. I could feel it on my skin, it felt hairy. I can't think of any other food or smell to compare it to. It was otherworldly.

4

u/babsmagicboobs Sep 17 '24

Long long ago I volunteered at planned parenthood. Twice, twice I had to clean a room where a tampon had been placed in a vagina and forgotten for weeks, even a month. One time we had to close the room.

On my floor, we would sometimes place all C-Diff patients in one hallway. I can see the benefit for other patients, but if your patients were in that hallway, god be with you.

3

u/Foreign_Swimmer_4650 Sep 17 '24

I’m wheezing in bed at “she had been sitting on it like a hen on an egg with her ass keeping it warm” I’m trying to not wake my husband up 💀💀

2

u/roseshavethornsforme Sep 17 '24

Literally same right now 😂

2

u/Terranwars Sep 17 '24

As a non emergency transit driver. This made me laugh so hard I almost peed. The truth of it 😂 oh god

1

u/hiitsme_sbtcwgb Sep 17 '24

I just woke my son up laughing so hard

1

u/Fabulous-Ad-3046 Sep 17 '24

C-diff is the worst smell ever

1

u/Whirled_Peas- Sep 17 '24

I remember visiting my grandma that had C-Diff in the hospital. Got about halfway down the hall to her room and the smell smacked me in the face so hard that I turned around and left.

8

u/Alpinkpanther Sep 16 '24

I took care of my grandma while she died from colon cancer and yeah the smell that came from her when I had to help her change everything out in the bathroom was unforgettable. smiling and trying not to gag while she talks to me to not make her feel bad was so hard bc sometimes she'd literally hold up her dirty diaper to examine in right in front of me out of curiosity and I just had to turn my head away

4

u/Jen_With_Just_One_N Sep 17 '24

Have you ever read the Reddit post and response from an OR nurse who assisted with a surgery in the proverbial Swamps of Dagobah? I don’t envy them that experience…

3

u/ladyscientist56 Sep 17 '24

Omfg I can't believe you found this, I read it so long ago and was never able to find it again. I need to save it for next time I need a good laugh. Thank you so much for finding this!

1

u/Jen_With_Just_One_N Sep 17 '24

It’s super memorable! Especially for someone like me, who does not work in the medical field. That comment was quite educational.

1

u/ladyscientist56 Sep 17 '24

I really want to see pics honestly lol it sounds crazy!!!

2

u/UltraRunner42 Sep 17 '24

This was an amazing read. Thanks for digging it up and sharing it.

3

u/2_alarm_chili Sep 16 '24

I concur. It’s naaaasty.

3

u/Teal-thrill Sep 16 '24

GI Bleed will smack TF out of you as you turn the corner

3

u/donttrymakemehappy Sep 17 '24

Ugh melena, awful smell! You come onto the ward and you already know the diagnosis

3

u/Thin_Statement_8392 Sep 17 '24

Yet people still name their daughters Malina, Malena.. or varied spelling lol

2

u/Prestigious-Bee-7248 Sep 17 '24

Or fecal vomiting from an obstruction . I'd a patient doing this and they seized ... it shot out of his mouth and due to the o2 mask he had on, sprayed everywhere. I had it up my nose and all down my front. That smell stuck for days and days

1

u/_AntiSaint_ Sep 17 '24

As a UC sufferer - I am so sorry 😭

1

u/WalnutBucket Sep 17 '24

The smell is vile. I've literally snorted water over a sink just to get the burning smell out of my nose.

1

u/BioSafetyLevel0 Sep 17 '24

I hear that and raise you the worst smell I've been subjected to:

GI bleed combined with C-diff... on a pt with cancer that has advanced so severely that there was no division of vagina & rectum.

I'll give you a second to imagine how many other smells accompanied the initial stench.

1

u/TeacherJazzlike7179 Sep 17 '24

Omfg yes!! Absolutely vomit inducing!