Gas

I'm 1 yr out and all of a sudden I'm having problems with gas. I hate to be gross but it smells really bad.  Is this normal?  Is there anything I can do to stop it from happening?

What are you eating? I notice that when I ingest sugar alcohols, the gas is alot and it stinks to high heaven.

I've used Gas-X to no avail...I just have to avoid the culprit. I think I've read of people using Devrom (or something like that) to eliminate the smell.

Sorry I couldn't be more of a help.

I have some problems with gas....I usually find that is when I relapse to my old habit of wolfing my food...if I eat slowly and really chew it--I seem not to have too many gas problems.  You also might want to chart the food you are eating when this occurs...that might also help.

Rosemary

*Some ideas:
http://www.parthenoninc.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=10&idproduct=119
http://www.devrom.com/

Devrom is safe and effective and gives you immediate and total odor control. There's no need for a prescription, no worry, and no exorbitant expense. FDA-approved Devrom is now available in either "Chewable Tablets" or "Tasteless Capsules."
Gas/odor is related to the malabsorbtion and we can not do much but eat more protein and less carbs. Sugar isn't digested completely and ferments actually causing this! It is an unpleasant side effect of surgery unfortunately. (I am a RNY not DS but it happens to me and I can't stand to be in the room with myself at times! DH has learned to live with it! A fact of life!) I've heard this before on many groups:

Ø Eat sugar get gas
Ø Eat sugar free get worse gas.
Ø Drink sweet - get stinky gas
Ø Eat carbs - get gas.
Ø Eat chips - get gas
Ø Drink Wine- get stinky gas.
Ø Go on a high protein diet and have NO GAS AT ALL.

AND another good post was this one on the EXPLANATION!!

Yes, the carbohydrates are the founders of the feast when it comes to deadly flatulence innermint pills are chlorophyll tablets, which help break up some of the stinker-oos. Here's the easier solution: you know the hole in the center of your face? Just be more judicious Of what you put into it and when. I know I have two hours before it's 'bombs over Baghdad' time if I do choose to indulge in my crunchy carb friends. We both know that two things cannot occupy the same space, so reaching for an extra piece of cheese or chicken roll first is going to leave you no room for an overabundance of carbs. I think I told the group of how I brought in a bag of Cheetos, a bag of lunch meat, a hammer and two funnels to support group one night. I smashed the heck out of both bags and them poured each into a funnel to show why we find no satiety from the crunchy carb powder (those suckers just about disappeared!), and a nice sense of fullness from the meat. There are certain laws from which there is no escape:
Ø Obey the laws of physics (space limitation)!
Ø Obey the laws of thermogenesis (calories in will become either calories used or calories stored)!
Ø Obey the law of gravity (to burn more calories, bear your own weight during activity...take a post-dinner walk)!
Ø Obey the law of osmosis. The high density glucose chains of complex or refined carbs are not exposed to an acid bath in the stomach any longer. We have anon-acidic pouch if we are RNY patients. Carbs are presented to the small bowel exactly as they appeared in the mouth, now mixed with a little saliva and amylase during the process of chewing. Because the molecular chains have not been denatured by acids and enzymes, the bowel mis-interprets the relative concentration of glucose and starch and recruits water into the bowel space to dilute the carbohydrate. It has always done this as a small bowel task, but now the carboydrate chains are presented to the small bowel as the whole train, not separate boxcars, and there is a shorter length of bowel along which the uncoupling of the train can take place before it's time to hit the colon. All A-BOARD!!! Chuga-chuga, TOOT, TOOT!! By the way, these carb calories are available to be absorbed IN THE MOUTH, not the gut, and are yours to keep. The same is true of the calories from protein and alcohol. It is only the fat content of food that needs the common channel of our bowel, however distal that might be from the pie hole, in order to expose a fat to the combo acid, enzyme, bile, pancreatase bath needed for fat digestion before these calories can present into the bloodstream as available energy. That is true no matter which of the WLS you might have had (RNY and DS alike). There are no free rides on the WLS train. We have to work at long-term success like little soldiers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Info from Julia Z on grads:

Devrom is a GREAT product, but it must be used with caution.
It's active ingredient is bismuth subgallate. Bismuth is a poisonous
heavy metal. Chronic users of Devrom can and likely will experience
bismuth poisoining.

Personally, I will take the tablets for one day (three tablets in a
day) or single doses for up to four days in a row if I am going to be
in crowded spaces where personal odors could be a real problem, and
then take an entire week off (at least).

However, for all the reasons cited below, I do not believe that this
is a product that ANY of us should take on a regular basis. I also
think that the FDA should require the Devrom manufacturers to label
their product with advisories against chronic usage, since one of the
patient populations, those with fecal incontinence, could be expected
to use the product regularly for long periods of time (it's cheap,
OTC, and it works, after all!)

On the positive side in bismuth subgallate's favor, it appears to be
VERY effective in killing dangerous gut bacteria, including E. coli
and H. pylori. Maybe short-term usage of it in those cases is a good
thing.

========================================
From Merck Source/Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary:
bismuth poisoning, poisoning from excessive or chronic ingestion of
bismuth or its salts; symptoms include anuria (complete cessation of
urine production), stomatitis", dermatitis (an inflammation of your
skin that usually involves swollen, red and itchy skin), and diarrhea.
Also called bismuthism and bismuthosis.

* Stomatitis has many definitions and presentations. It is essentially
a chronic, debilitating bacterial infection and inflammation of the
oral tissues that usually begins in the periodontium, which is the
soft tissue surrounding the teeth (the gums) or facial area (the
oropharyngeal area). Other names include lymphocytic - plasmacytic
stomatitis complex and recurrent, severe periodontal disease.

Though viruses and immune disorders have been implicated in the cause
of stomatitis, it appears that this disease complex is a progressive
oral bacterial infection, which leads to a prevalence of gram negative
anaerobic bacteria. The intense granulation tissue that forms can
actually act as a walled-off bacterial reservoir that is impenetrable
to antimicrobials (drugs that kill bacterial).
========================
From the MSDS http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/b3438.htm :
Ingestion:
Low toxicity. Bismuth salts are poorly absorbed. Should absorption
occur, symptoms may include loss of appetite, headache, skin rashes,
kidney damage, and rarely mild jaundice. Neurologic disorders may
occur after prolonged ingestion. Symptoms, which are reversible,
include confusion, clumsiness and the inability to walk.
Chronic Exposure:
Repeated or prolonged ingestion may cause a "bismuth line", black
spots on the gums, foul breath, and salivation.

Here's the less cautious UK material safety data sheet (worth reading
in its entirety; it's short and interesting):
http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/BI/bismuth_subgallate

Here's information from a report commissioned by the UK Department of
Health http://www.intox.org/databank/documents/chemical/bismuth/ukpid49.htm
:
Moderate/substantial ingestions:
- Nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain usually occur within
hours and precede features of nephrotoxicity and
neurotoxicity. These may be delayed for several days and
include renal glomerular and tubular failure, muscle cramps
and weakness, blurred vision and hyperreflexia. Liver
transaminase activities may be increased transiently.
Bismuth encephalopathy is more typical of chronic bismuth
poisoning (see below).
- Chronic excess ingestion of bismuth chelate (either the
daily ingestion of more than the recommended dose or
exceeding the advised duration of therapy) may lead to
bismuth encephalopathy with insidious onset of
incoordination, behavioural changes, memory deterioration
and psychiatric symptoms progressing to fulminant
encephalopathy with myoclonic jerks, confusion, dysarthria
and in severe cases coma and convulsions. Those who survive
the acute phase can make a full recovery.

- Other features of chronic bismuth poisoning are erythematous
rashes, renal failure, thrombocytopenia, bone
demineralisation, spontaneous fractures of the thoracic
vertebrae and a paralytic ileus-like syndrome.

BONE DEMINERALIZATION??? Do we not have all the problems we need
already? They're just stinky farts, for crying out loud! Cut the
carbs, and/or see your doctor for treatment of a possible medical
problem if you really are producing unbearable gas 24/7. I find it
hard to believe that all distals in perfect health are incredibly
malodorous continually. If that's true, then either my nose has been
burnt out by their effluvia, or they are VERY good at hiding it,
because I know a LOT of distals now!

Look at it this way, you can finally pay back your significant other for all those times he tried to gas you out!

(Ok, yes, I'm speaking about me -- this could be fun!  Payback time for the DH!)

I get gas too.  This seems like one of the only bad side effects to this surgery.  Its annoying at my office, I don't wanna let it go in front of my coworkers so im constantly going to the bathroom just to fart.  oh well, beats being unhealthy ^_^.  Ask Dr. C on your next visit.  I know I will.