The worst smell you have ever experienced

emtashleyb

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while on a call?


We got called to a house for a sick subject right when it started to get hot it was 80+ degrees outside. We got to the house they didnt have their a/c running and told us their brother had been staying with them but they had not seen him for 3 days and wanted us to make sure he wasnt dead. He was up the stars and down the right hallway. As soon as you got to the second step the smell hit you like a ton of bricks. It smelled like a decomposing body but somehow in the filth and nausea causing smell this man was still alive and of course had defecated all over himself just adding to the smell. Even the paramedic who had a good amount of years in was gagging. I swear that was the worst thing I have ever smelled in my life. I dont think the poor man had a shower in ages he turned the sheets on the stretcher black. I had to shampoo 4 times to remove the smell from my hair, the uniform had to be tossed I tried everything even febreeze and gain.



So whats the worst smell you experienced? Doesnt have to be off an actual pt mine just happened to be
 

Sasha

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while on a call?


We got called to a house for a sick subject right when it started to get hot it was 80+ degrees outside. We got to the house they didnt have their a/c running and told us their brother had been staying with them but they had not seen him for 3 days and wanted us to make sure he wasnt dead. He was up the stars and down the right hallway. As soon as you got to the second step the smell hit you like a ton of bricks. It smelled like a decomposing body but somehow in the filth and nausea causing smell this man was still alive and of course had defecated all over himself just adding to the smell. Even the paramedic who had a good amount of years in was gagging. I swear that was the worst thing I have ever smelled in my life. I dont think the poor man had a shower in ages he turned the sheets on the stretcher black. I had to shampoo 4 times to remove the smell from my hair, the uniform had to be tossed I tried everything even febreeze and gain.



So whats the worst smell you experienced? Doesnt have to be off an actual pt mine just happened to be

A patient vomitting fecal matter when they havent pooped in a good while.
 

medicdan

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Premium Member
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Nursing Home + Summer, NO AC, + Incontinent Patient + Diarrhea 2-3 days ago, unnoticed, un cleaned by CNAs + some sort of lower GI infection + 25 min transport= nasty smell. NTL, i wore a N95 the entire transport- it was the only thing that kept the smell noticeable. AC went to max, exhaust fan went to max, and even then the driver was gagging.

We walk into the hospital both wearing N95s, and the staff freaks out. It was quite a sight to see.

I have always been sensitive to the smell of fecal matter. Rumor has it (by way of my mom) that when she changed by diaper as a baby, I gagged at the smell.
 

NESDMEDIC

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We were dispatched with law enforcement for a welfare check to an elderly man's residence because he hadn't been seen in 5 days. LEO gained entrance to the residence and you just knew without going any further what would be found. The man was in his bed under an electric blanket decomposing. The stench was so strong you could almost taste it just breathing, a smell I will never forget.
 

el Murpharino

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A morbidly obese man who had been decomposing for 3 or 4 days in a 20 X 20 apartment (on the third floor, nonetheless) in the summer, was bloated from all the trapped gas, no AC running...when we moved him, a rush of fluid came from his groin area that still has to be, in my opinion, the most putrid smell I have ever experienced. We had to leave the room and ask the fire dept. if we could borrow some SCBA equipment to wear while we placed him in a body bag and dragged him out. Thankfully, the fire dept. obliged (with snickers and laughter).
 

Oregon

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Guess the stench

This last summer, going deep into the backwoods (I swear I could hear banjos playing:ph34r:) into the yard/parking lot for every dying chevy product known/trailer home landing zone of some private property to go searching for some kid swept away by the river.
We stepped from our vehicles, sidled past the piles of dog poo bigger than our boots and started down the trail when we were assailed by the thickest, warmest, oiliest miasma ever.
When we all got done swallowing our own vomit, we ventured to guess what exactly it was, none of us quite getting it right.
We learned the truth when we got back from hours of scouring the riverbanks, as the homeowners had returned. It was deer offal, they had butchered several deer a couple of days ago and just left the innards in a pile to rot in the sun.

Nice people, didn't mind us parking 10 cars on their property to look for a kid, quite helpful...just didn't seem to notice their wall o' smell.
 

abriggs

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Nursing Home + Summer, NO AC, + Incontinent Patient + Diarrhea 2-3 days ago, unnoticed, un cleaned by CNAs + some sort of lower GI infection + 25 min transport= nasty smell. NTL, i wore a N95 the entire transport- it was the only thing that kept the smell noticeable. AC went to max, exhaust fan went to max, and even then the driver was gagging.

We walk into the hospital both wearing N95s, and the staff freaks out. It was quite a sight to see.

I have always been sensitive to the smell of fecal matter. Rumor has it (by way of my mom) that when she changed by diaper as a baby, I gagged at the smell.

LOL - your mom told you that? that's funny!!!
CNA's make me mad. I used to work the certification program for CNA's and they really aggravate me... the education required is a 6th grade level, and they get to take care of our parents! argh!!!:glare:
 

NRCCEMTP26

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I'm sorry, WHAT???? Is that a normal call??????????<_<

Yes it is not uncommon for a clogged colonostmy bag to overfill. And yes the pt do vomit their own fecal material, smell, and chuncks and all. VERY DISTURBING
 

Ridryder911

EMS Guru
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A patient vomitting fecal matter when they havent pooped in a good while.

This is not usually caused by constipation or even a colostomy bag overfillled, rather a bowel obstruction. This is a common event.

One of the worst smell was a call where there was a ileostomy (before the large colon) became obstructed and decided to open up. It literally "popped" the bag from the escaping gases.

The other "bad smell" is when one's liver is diseased it disintegrates and the patient literally starts vomiting it as it goes back through the gall bladder (think of spinach soaked in motor oil) the other was gaseous gangrene (which smelling is harmful).

R/r 911
 

Sasha

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This is not usually caused by constipation or even a colostomy bag overfillled, rather a bowel obstruction. This is a common event.

One of the worst smell was a call where there was a ileostomy (before the large colon) became obstructed and decided to open up. It literally "popped" the bag from the escaping gases.

The other "bad smell" is when one's liver is diseased it disintegrates and the patient literally starts vomiting it as it goes back through the gall bladder (think of spinach soaked in motor oil) the other was gaseous gangrene (which smelling is harmful).

R/r 911

Yes, but with a bowel obstruction, they dont poop for good while, yes?
 

LucidResq

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While we're on the topic of fecal vomitus.... one of the worst ways to die imaginable: aspirating your own feculent vomit -

The aforementioned fatality, described by Drew and
Herdson,3 occurred in a 49-year-old man with paranoid
schizophrenia who was treated with clozapine (500 mg/day)
for 2 years. He died unexpectedly in a psychiatric ward.
Postmortem examination revealed severe pulmonary
edema secondary to inhalation of feculent vomitus. Extensive,
severe fecal impaction was found, involving the entire
large bowel with feculent fluid extending all the way to the
stomach.

Death From Clozapine-Induced Constipation

Worst thing I've smelled in recent memory... D&C of a pretty old miscarriage in a woman with bacterial vaginosis... she should have been about 10 weeks along but not sure when fetal demise occured.
 

mycrofft

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See "What grosses you out?" thread.

uuch!...........................
 

daedalus

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While we're on the topic of fecal vomitus.... one of the worst ways to die imaginable: aspirating your own feculent vomit -



Death From Clozapine-Induced Constipation

Worst thing I've smelled in recent memory... D&C of a pretty old miscarriage in a woman with bacterial vaginosis... she should have been about 10 weeks along but not sure when fetal demise occured.

That is...very bizarre.
 

Ridryder911

EMS Guru
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Yes, but with a bowel obstruction, they dont poop for good while, yes?


Not always, hence the misunderstanding from medics sometimes and missed L.B.O. Actually, many times the patient may have diarrhea (fluids go around stool).

The other worst smell is a tampon that had been left in for >8weeks (she forgot?).

R/r 911
 

Sasha

Forum Chief
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Not always, hence the misunderstanding from medics sometimes and missed L.B.O. Actually, many times the patient may have diarrhea (fluids go around stool).

The other worst smell is a tampon that had been left in for >8weeks (she forgot?).

R/r 911

As a woman I am still trying to figure out how a woman forgets she had a tampon in. Does the string hanging out not give any indication? Or the fact she just finished her period? Omg. I imagine it smells horrible. I have yet to experience that either as a medical professional or personal experience.

Why doesnt the woman go all shocky? My mom used to tell me if it was in more than four hours youll die from toxic shock.
 

LucidResq

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Why doesnt the woman go all shocky? My mom used to tell me if it was in more than four hours youll die from toxic shock.

TSS is really, really rare and the instances of it have been on the decline. Although it's associated with tampons, it's actually more correlated to high-absorbency tampons rather than longer usage time. In 1997 only 5 cases of tampon-related TSS were reported.
 

Ridryder911

EMS Guru
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Don't forget TSS can be produced by anything that can be grown in the wet, warm, sticky area.. not always tampons. i.e. bandages, packing, etc.. left in from post surgery, etc/

R/r 911
 
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