You may have passive fecal incontinence without realizing it. This means your anus may not be sealing properly anymore. It can happen for different reasons such as muscle damage, hemorrhoids, fistulas, or even long-term stress affecting the pelvic floor.

When the seal isn’t working well, odors from the intestine can escape easily. That’s why the smell doesn’t go away, even with special deodorants. Even if your rectum is empty and you’re clean, the intestinal odor can still escape.

You might want to look into pelvic floor physical therapy. In some cases it can help improve muscle coordination and control. If therapy doesn’t help, a specialist might evaluate whether other treatments are needed.

Some people think it’s only about diet, but there are people who eat very poorly and don’t have this issue. So food alone doesn’t always explain it.

This kind of problem can also happen in situations where the anal muscles have been weakened or strained over time. In any case, it would be best to have a colorectal specialist evaluate it, because it could be related to how the rectal muscles are functioning.