How Bad Are Farts And How Do You Guys Deal With Them?

Well for the last couple of weeks I've been at the VSG board looking and studying the surgery and all and I wanted to come back to the DS board to see how everything is going. Well I just saw a couple of posts about eating alot and have things full of carbs and I thought about potent gas and it seems bad for a DSer. When you fart, is it like you had a mini accident on yourself and it is like a horrible smell and color that permanently ruins your underwear, pants, etc. How do you deal with it if you have a fart coming and you can barely hold it in? Has it been embarrassing or does it feel just natural? Have you had any crazy experiences with your farts. Sorry for all the questions and thanks for reading!

I haven't been at this long but I've yet to soil myself (knock on wood that I won't ever).  A fart is always better out than in but I can normally step outside....they do linger and follow me back in tho ;)

Mine is so bad because I'm new to the DS, my plumbing is brand new and has to be broken in.  Let some of the vets let you know how it really is.  I've yet to have carbs so I can't tell you about that either :)

How long does it linger, only 5 minutes? And is it one of the worse smells you ever smelled? Sorry for all these questions, I just wanted to know.

I've never had any accidents and I've never been able to not hold it in, even on my carb ***** days.

Farts stink...period. Preop, postop, no-op they all smell like what they are ... fermenting **** lol. They do linger sometimes but it's not an all-the-time thing.

I'd rather fart and be able to walk away from it than to get a surgery that will land me right back where I was in the beginning. Seriously, the gas is really not that big of a deal.

Depending on what I eat, my farts have become leathal weapons. With that said, when I am upset at my kids or DH, I threaten to eat carbs

I will admit that I have soiled myself once or twice but this was when I first realized I had become lactose intolerant and was not expecting the sudden surge...lol

I had only been married to my current husband for a little over 1 year when I had surgery...and up until my DS I hardly farted in front of him and if it did accidently slip out I was so embarassed.... now.... ohhhhhhhhhhhh how things have changed.... how I have changed.... my sons can tell when I am about to let one go and quickly run for cover...lol

There's some misconceptions floating about when it comes to DS gas and poop.

Despite what you've heard, having the DS will not make you incontinent. You'll be able to hold it- both gas and poop.

However, in some cases, yes the poop and farts stink worse than before. This is a case to case issue. Some people discover that foods that give them gas post op- for some this is carbs, but this varies from person to person. I can eat carbs without any gas, but soy really makes me fart post-op.

As for the orange goo, well that's called an "oil slick". During the first few months your intestines are desperately trying to adjust to the plumbing changes, and the DS makes you malabsorb fat, which means it passes through you- oil in, oil out. So in the beginning you may find more oil slicks in your poop, and until your intestines settle the rule is "don't trust a fart" because sometimes a little oil will dribble out along with the fart without one realizing until it is too late. Again, this doesn't happen to everyone with a DS. Some have never had an oil slick. 

In my experience, yes I did fart out an oil slick on 3 occasions and it was during the first 2-3 months when my intestines were frantically healing and trying to adjust from the surgery. I felt the urge to fart, I thought they would be dry but SURPRISE! Heeeeee! So from that point I never farted unless I was in a bathroom just to be safe, and yes it was easy to hold the farts. At around 5-6 months my farts were dry. I do find oil in my poop sometimes but that is to be expected due to the fat malabsorbtion. However it's just like a normal poop otherwise, I can hold it as long as I need to and I'm not usually sprinting for a bathroom.

Never had any accidents here. My undies are all in top notch condition 16 mths out, lol! I can also hold them, no problem there. Now as far as the smell, oh gosh, if my kids are in the room we'll just say they grab their noses and take off running, lol. It's mommys secret weapon :P I let one go yesterday and I told my 9 year old that it could kill a small animal, and he said "more like a rhino!!!"   LOL

 There is this horrible stereotype that all DSers crap their pants!  This is so untrue!  And our farts are bad. Have you ever met a fart that is good?

Those that eat the healthiest....all the whole wheat products, lots of veggies and fruits, have stinky gas. And lots of it!  All that roughage works its way out throughout the day!

If you eat lots of carbs, you will have stinky gas. Eat a lot of white bread and rice, sweets, junk food.....yes, your gas will be rancid. I dont know if it will be worse than before, but it will smell different!  Bad gas is bad gas. 

The real problem with how much gas you will have depends on the final length of your common and alimentary channels (small intestine) after surgery. My total length is 295 cm. My doctor, and all are different, makes shorter channels if you have more weight to lose. I had about 100 lbs to lose.   He told me I would not have gas, and I dont. My dads channel is shorter, tho I dont know by how much. He has bad gas and walks "downwind" if he has to pass it. His gas is a direct result of the carbs he chooses to eat. He would rather have his carbs and gas than to change his eating. He is 5 years out and is doing very well. 

Look thru the last months posts. This topic came up not too long ago and had lots of replied. 

 It does happen to some people,  especially early on,  that passing gas is accompanied by some oily discharge.  It's commonly referred to as an "oil slick."    It happened to me a few times in the beginning,  but has not happened in many years.  I am 11.5 year out.

I have never ruined any underwear.  I remember maybe one or two times that gas escaped very early out.  Early out the gas smell lingered and lingered.  Once I was past that point, I am going to say around 3 months out, maybe 4,  the problem started to get better month by month and now my gas smells no worse than anyone else's and the poop smell is no worse than anyone else's.

UNLESS, I eat a bunch of simple carbs, then the gas and poop will smell bad and there will be a lot of gas.  Otherwise, I am just like a normal person. :)