Another poop/gas question - I'm so sorry!

Mdae, thanks for you input on your experience with this.  It sounds like its just going to be a matter of being careful about food choices, with which I'm totally fine. 

**** happens.  Parse that any and all possible ways - I mean them all.

You will fart in public.  It will happen.  EVERYONE does.  You will apologize, most briefly, perhaps with a whispered "not feeling well today" if you care what they think.

You will likely be most at risk in the first couple of months, and then again when you get ****y that you can ignore the possible issues.  And maybe if - and this happens - something that was safe a dozen times before, turns on you.

I use the potential social issue as a motivation to ONLY eat protein and safe carbs (for me, potatoes or corn) during the window of shame - i.e., between the AM and about 4 PM (I usually work late).  Longer if I'm going out to dinner.  But at dinner, anything goes!

If you are really really REALLY concerned, you can take a small dose of Flagyl before a really important all day meeting or courtroom session.  But really, so long as you have decent sphincter control and can get to a bathroom to fart in peace, you don't need to worry too much.  Older male lawyers with prostate problems have to pee frequently, don't they?  And misusing Flagyl can cause much worse problems.  I have yet to use Flagyl for even an SFO to Frankfurt flight - I can just abstain from flour and milk and mitigate most of the concern.

BUT - YMMV.  And nobody can make you any promises.  I think the VAST majority of us are able to control farting by controlling what we eat and when.  And I almost NEVER poop anywhere but home first thing in the AM, and very occasionally, late in the evening, if I have been indiscrete earlier in the day.
 

Thanks to you too, Diana!  I get that there are no promises.  It's just a matter of wanting to know the odds.  I just want to identify the risk so that I can make an informed decision.  I'm still at a loss for what the study referenced on DS Facts dealt.  It sounds like there really isn't anyone who doesn't experience some abnormal "gastric emptying" (as it was referred to there).  After re-reading the blurbs regarding the studies referenced on DS Facts, I think my understanding of that phrase must be incorrect.  I think it must only refer to the frequency of emptying, and not the other characteristics associtated with it: meaning most people will get to a "normal" number of emptying events, but those events may not be "normal" in odor or consistency.  Nothing's perfect, but from what you and others have written this does appear manageable, at least, as you wrote, in the vast majority of instances.  Again, thanks very much for your help.

I find that I can't get up and run out the door before going to the bathroom.  I need about 2 hours to make sure I'm empty before going off to work.  I have never accidentally had gas in public.  YET!  :)  I was mortified as a pre-op that they would just "fall out" of me without control.  They don't for me.  I also don't eat carbs at wor****il most of my day is over.  I don't want to be bloated and holding in gas all day.  My motto is "if you hold in gas for hours, it will eventually come out and it's going to bring all the **** in your colon with it." It's never  fun. 

In my almost one year of work I have only had to poop at work 2 times and it was the "talk of the office" and I work at an animal shelter.  I was mortified and no one figured out it was me.  This is why I make sure I am up early and give myself plenty of time to go before I leave the house. I always carry spray in my purse and a pen sized Good Air in my pocket just in case.  It's my security blanket.  The first few months after surgery were much less predictable and less controllable. 

 Once the first one or two BM's are done I'm pretty much done.  Only the first one of the day is urgent.  If I have another it is much more controlable and I can wait if I need to.  90% of the time.  I don't have any body odor from surgery nor do the dozens of people I have met that had the DS.  The poop smell however can be atrocious.  Seriously.  Like raw sewage.  It can be less horrific if food/carbs are in check but I can't ever, ever, ever imagine it not smelling pretty damn bad.  Afterall, we don't have normal guts.   

I understand why you might be concerned.  I always wondered how anyone could be a paramedic or firefighter with this surgery.  I am often on dispatch and can't leave the desk.  If I get nervous about it then I get a nervous gut and have to go.  So, I literally have a conversation with my body and say "Done for the day" and I swear it works.  Good luck.  I'm a long winded writer but thought I'd share the personal stuff with you.  We do that around here so no need to feel uncomfortable. 

Cheers,
Cathy

Cathy - thanks!  I really appreciate your candor and the amount of time you took to respond.  This is not going the way that I had hoped, but it is what it is.  Just needed to get a clear idea of what the downsides are.

I'm almost 3 weeks out and I haven't had a rogue fart in public yet.  HOWEVER, once I rolled out of bed and went to the grocery store with my mom who was visiting.  I BARELY made it to the bathroom.  What got me going was the walking.  I almost never ever poop until I've moved around a bit.  So early out if you are going somewhere, make sure you do a few laps in your driveway and take a nice long time in the bathroom to empty out.  You'll probably be fine after that.

As for the smell.... yeah.  It's everything they say it is.  Call me crazy, but I'm proud that I can FINALLY out gas my husband.  It's payback time, honey! 

Thank you, halbingefrau!  I wish I could find anything funny about the whole smell thing - and I'm not criticizing anyone who can - but I cannot.  It simply horrifies me.  Again, thanks for your help and candor.

I'm over 10 years post DS and one of the 20% that still has very smelly (and I mean death cloud) gas and poop.  I use Devrom internal deodorant and limit the food that cause issues like fatty, cream and milk based foods and  carry a spray air odor eliminator to the bathroom.  Weekends at home I eat anything I want.  The devrom really works, it was a lifesaver.

Hi Teriyid.  Thanks for the information - I really appreciate yours and all of the responses.  With diligence, are you able to avoid the public episodes?  Is Devron a prescription?  Thanks again.

Now I have gas issues BAD even after all these years it's the worst of the worst, but I don't pass gas uncontrollably. As long as I take the devrom (otc) and I have spray, I can go in a public restroom.  I do flush before, during and after going to make sure there is no odor.

This doesn't compare to losing all that weight and keeping it off for over a decade and I can eat pretty much anything I want.

Teri