To Addicted

I own restaurants and work a lot of business meetings and stuff.

Here is the main issue http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/DS/3858456/Sharing-the-poo -smell-with-the-neighbors/

Wow, I never realized it could be that severe.  But, after reading the whole thread, there seemed to be some medical grade sprays that work very well.    It also sounds like you can learn which things you eat make it worse, so you can avoid them when necessary.

I think, in the beginning, teleconferencing might provide some time to get used to your body.  Do you have an assistant that can bring a laptop with a webcam to meetings for you while you "recover?"

I know I've been tough on you because your posts worry the heck out of me.   If you are going to go through with the VSG, you should talk to a psychiatrist about getting some anti-anxiety meds or anti-depressants.  You sound terrified today, and that's a hard place to start a hard journey from.

I am chief patent counsel at a biotech company.  I have business meetings ALL DAY LONG.  I am 5.5 years out from my DS.  I DON'T FART IN MEETINGS. 

I am 55 years old, have had 2 babies, and 13 years ago, I had a sphincterotomy to cure an anal fissure.  I obviously don't have superhuman sphincter control.  I just don't eat stuff that makes me fart when I know it will be inconvenient to do so a few hours later.  I eat white flour carbs at night and on weekends (when I don't have somewhere to go 4-6 hours later).  TiVo'ing carbs, rather than DENYING myself carbs, is entirely doable.  I have a big poop every morning (kinda stinky, but it can be dealt with if I'm visiting somewhere) and I'm done for the day.

Best of all, I get to eat more NOW than I ever did pre-op, and guilt-free.  When I am hungry, i crave protein, and after I eat my protein, I eat pretty much whatever I want.  Having the DS was the best thing I ever did for myself.

I don't worry about failure.

Marshall, the woman who started this thread later posted that it WAS indeed a dead animal and not her DS poo - the neighbour found a dead squirrel!!!

 We all have fears before surgery.   Follow your surgeon & NUT plan & call them when you are not sure.    

Take one day at a time.   We are here if you need to talk. 

Yes Marshall...It is possible to be so addicted to food that you can never break it, even if you have surgery.
The fact is, the first 6 months, you are almost guarenteed to lose weight...after that time, the amount of food you can eat, greatly increases...and then it comes down to disapline.  How you chose to handle that, will determine whether or not you are successful.
This is a restriction only procceedure, so you have to work at it, more than if you had some kind of bypass proceedure.  For some lightweights, the sleeve is enough...for a lot of us, it is work...but the work isn't as hard as it was pre op.
I have been working at it for the last week...really working at it...trying to get back on a plan, so that I may someday see my goal...whether I actually get there or not, is completely up to me, and how hard I work at it.  And I have come to the conclusion that I will forever have to work at it. 
If you use food so that you don't have to face your issues now...chances are, without some kind of therapy, you will also use food post surgery.

 That was very well said even if it was muffled because it came out your arse...lol  Thank you I think he needs to know its ok to be scared.

carmelita, now that is the most honest, coming from the heart (and arse) answer I have ever read on this site! You summed everything up very nicely!!!!

I hear you Marshall.  I'm an addict through and through and have been in recovery from the alcohol and drugs for 19 years using the 12 Step programme approach.  I did go to Overeaters Anonymous 18 years ago, but it didn't help me that much as another poster has pointed out - We have to eat every day, to stay alive.  The very act of eating triggered my addiction and once started I often found it hard to stop.  Once I got the idea of a packet of potato chips in my head I just had to have them, one or two large packets, no matter how late.  I have spent years trying to control my eating and to a certain extent I succeeded, becoming the equivalent of a 'binge drinker' just breaking out now and again.  Sugar has been off the menu for the last few years because of the diabetes I developed.  So I never got to be super morbidly obese, but I could have easily done.  The strain of 'controlling' my eating everyday was taking its toll and I had sunk into a deep depression.  Anyway, my VSG was 3 1/2 weeks ago - not long enough for a full report I know, but that insane hunger thing HAS GONE!  Yes I think of food - but it is different.  I'm on mushies now and had the most satisfying and delicious meal of a quarter of a cup of poached fish, mashed up vegies and cheese sauce. Yes a quarter of a cup - I could not fini**** it was too much. This is honestly the most blessed experience of my life.  Please Marshall..hang on in there and find a tiny scrap of faith.  Just believe that this will help you too, that you deserve it after the years of misery.  Its a massive physical change and the ghrelin hormone being removed for me is the key I think.