Hacker News Reader

Comment by conductr | Hacker News Reader

I spent a lot of time in hospitals and got a lot of exposure to everything they do in my early adulthood, a few smells are permanently burnt into my brain including the smell of the GI wing.

Fast forward a couple decades, and my dilemma right now is a coworker that I share a restroom with. It’s a low traffic restroom so I have seen and know it’s coming from him, but he has some serious GI issues. Likely he’s digesting blood from my memory of the ailments. And so the dilemma is, do I say something to him? He looks like he is in awful health and high probability with an awful diet (based on profiling him). But I don’t interact with him or have any type of relationship and saying something would be incredibly awkward. Surely he knows I tell myself.

View on HN

You'd be surprised how much discomfort people get acclimated to as just being normal and never end up diagnosing until something finally reaches the breaking point to forcing them in to see a doc. If it's been weighing on you for a while, you could probably gently broach it with something to the effect of "Hey man--I know there's no non-awkward way to put this, but I think your body might be digesting its own blood and I was worried about you and wanted to see if you were feeling alright."

Absolutely tell him. There's two options, let's see what's the worst that can happen in every circumstance:

* He is indeed sick. In this case the worst that can happen is that they will die.

* He isn't sick, you are just imagining things. In this case the worst that can happen is that you made a bit of a fool of yourself. Potentially embarrasing yourself in front of a fellow employee. I guess there's a small possibility of him taking it the wrong way, I suppose.

It's death on one hand versus a personal embarrassment/awkardness on the other. To me the choice is clear.

Maybe he will get so offended you were smelling his shit and commented on it that he reports you to the top ranking officials of the organization resulting in the death penalty.

ThisHappenz

Reminds me of this story: fan spotted a mole on a hockey team's staff's neck - https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriaforster/2022/01/03/hock...

I handled a lot of biopsy tissue back then, and oddly enough had a sexual encounter several years later where I implored her to go get a mammogram afterwards due to something I felt. She didn’t take it seriously and I hounded her about it. She finally went in and within a month had a double mastectomy and started chemo.

Somehow a random person’s poop feels more awkward to discuss.

If he looks sick, that might be enough to nudge him in the right direction, in private. "Are you okay? You really don't look well. Having worked in a GI wing at a hospital, I've noticed a few signs that might point to serious GI issues. I would suggest you see a doctor ASAP, just to be safe." If he asks what signs, you can say "among others, you look ill". That way, you can avoid talking about the smell. You can also say you don't feel comfortable getting into the details, but that you nonetheless felt morally bound to let him know based on your experience.

Or perhaps mention it to your manager. He can then tell your coworker that there has been concern about his health and that he recommends seeing a specialist.

What he does with that information is completely his responsibility after that. You cannot make anyone happy by force, and it isn't any of your business.

There was a time when medicine put a lot of focus on the smell and consistency of bowel movements. There's probably something to it but we have better diagnostics now. That said, normal bowel movements can have a bit of an odor but it should not be strong or particularly foul-smelling. If it is, consider changing your diet or getting it checked out if that doesn't help. I found that just cutting out fast foods made that particular bodily function nearly odorless.

Doctors have better tools than smell and consistency. However you as a layman don't normally have/use those tools.

No, poop is meant to smell repulsive. This is evolution's way to discourage you from doing anything unhealthy like touching it or eating it.

Diabetes was originally diagnosed by having sweet urine.

You can make poop smell horribly by eating healthy stuff. Broccoli smells bad as vegetables, eat enough and it will smell similarly. Fart smells changes too based on what you eat.

Krauts have a terrible smell and the resulting poop is as terrible...

"Nearly odorless"?

I call bullshit.

Honestly just a fairly mild earthy smell. Nothing terrible. When I was a kid my dad could render the bathroom unapproachable for 15 minutes. But he drank whiskey and smoked.

"Listen, I'm no doctor, but your shit stinks in a way that makes me think you need to see one," said while you're in the stall next to him, or any other time, couldn't hurt.

Well said lol

> do I say ... ?

YES. Private, verbally. Intro with your long-ago medical experience in the area. Disclaimer with "obviously that experience is strongly biased toward illnesses, since they were in the hospital". Dunno whether you should mention anything as specific as "Likely he's digesting blood". Close with something about "not my business, but if you have not seen a doctor, then please do so, for your health's sake". Make it clear that he doesn't have to say anything to you in reply - not even a "thank you", let alone an answer or follow-up.

> And so the dilemma is, do I say something to him? He looks like he is in awful health and high probability with an awful diet (based on profiling him). But I don’t interact with him or have any type of relationship and saying something would be incredibly awkward. Surely he knows I tell myself.

It's an interesting question—if you have knowledge about human health based on a person's appearance, do you share that information? I think a physician may not do that for a stranger, but I imagine you aren't a physician.

As part of a speculative fiction project I have imagined this scenario playing out many times over as people who wear AR-style displays have, eg, melanomas pointed out to them on bodies of people who don’t wear and are unsure if they should say something.

Anonymous note maybe if you really don't feel like talking to them.

I think the not knowing who sent it would make it worse, at least for me. I’d assume everyone knows and be awkward around everyone.

Yeah, and make sure you cut out letters from magazines and paste them onto the note so you can't be identified by your handwriting.

This is my top ranking option , he’s actually the building door man so he will be able to view the cameras if he wanted to track me down but I doubt he’d confront me out of similar awkwardness and my positive intent.

Think I will move forward with it and try to do my part to help the guy out.

Likely Chron's. Yes, please proceed. But make some effort at being tactful about it, just so the information will be received and faster. This could be life changing for them.

How about a general chat and then asking him about his health? If he comes out saying he's not feeling great, that would be an opening for more pointed advice. If not, maybe you could say something like you thought he was looking under the weather.

Highlight that you have hospital experience and this isn't coming out of nowhere. "Your body is digesting it's own blood" sounds specific enough he might take it seriously.

Yes, say something. It's worth the awkwardness to potentially save someone's life. Just approach it delicately.

Wait, hold on. Are you saying from lingering smell you're able to determine that there's pathology?

If that sounds fun, you gonna love the story of Joy Milne who can smell the Parkinson's disease.

There are a lot of reports of people, and animals, who can smell some cancers and other diseases. It's not very well studied but I don't think it's far fetched

You can tell something is going wrong at least. I had a university roommate with a hereditary gut issue. I was able to recognize who he inherited from after his father visited.

It's not difficult for many conditions. Digested blood has a metallic and vile odor. Ketosis and diabetes can cause acetone-smelling breath. Kidney disease can cause ammonia body odor. Liver disease can cause a fishy, musty smell. Unhealthy diets and GI issues can cause bad odors.

In the past, I have often wondered what is wrong with people given how badly they smelled in the locker room or after leaving a restroom. Truly unnatural odors.

Wait, can you expand on the ammonia odor? Is it constant?

My sweat when I exercise very intensely, smells like ammonia. Probably since I was 18 (before I played waterpolo, so I can't tell). Normally it does not, only with very intense exercise (zone 4 or 5).

Edit: a kagi search suggested this is normal

May be normal but also no reason to not get it checked out. Or at least mention at your next regular doctor appointment. Kidney disease is not binary and has phases, you might be getting an early warning sign with your sweat. You might just need to hydrate more as you sweat more.

I worked in the kidney industry for a bit after the hospital thing and it’s something you don’t want to mess with. You can significantly delay the need for transplant if you catch it early.

I will mention it for sure, thanks. It's unlikely the lack of hydration, I drink an entire liter if water in 30 minutes workout, lol

It’s sufficiently foul and is heavy in the air, as in you can smell it for an hour or more after he’s left. The foulness reminds me of the GI wing we had, were the hospital put all these cases in a single cluster so as to try and contain the smell. A “GI bleed” has a uniquely poopy smell, that is what I remember quite specifically. Hard to explain other than it is more than a smell, I have a strong stomach and never got sick myself, but it almost makes even me want to vomit.

FWIW, other smells that I recall quite well - child birth, or, more specifically the odor of women in labor (there’s a specific smell some women in labor produce, not all maybe half, that found it quite gross), gangrene and necrotic/rotting flesh, formalin, the morgue (it’s a weird mix of chemicals and rot), all come to mind.

You could leave a note (printed) addressed at them on their desk, folded, if you want no interaction

Leave a note in the bathroom???

Are you sure your coworker hasn't been eating a lot of corn or pineapples lately(possibly leading to visible sores in the mouth?)

If it's so low traffic maybe whenever y'all run into each other you could just do something subtle like a visual cue like a nod or just a "hey how are you?" if they seem to be in a good mood whenever you happen to pass by each other in the workplace.

Not saying you have to be friends with this person but maybe after a few of those small interactions(and a little time) bring it up in a non-direct way...

Best case scenario if he replies to a "hey how are ya?" with "oh good, how about you?" you could casually bring up something like "oohhh, had a patient that came in with (same symptoms as the guy) - we figured out it was this. Don't see that often!"

Hopefully he's drinking at least 50 gallons of water a day, and eating tree bark seems to be a good remedy for GI issues.

Oh wait, is your coworker a human or an elephant?

have you considered writing a brief but anonymous letter, printing it, and putting it on his desk in a concealed envelope?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com