Passing gas

I am researching as I hope to get a revision band to bypass. I found a couple articles saying with bypass you tend to pass a lot of horrendous smelling gas. One site even sold charcoal filled pass for your underwear. Is this true? Is it true I will need to buy charcoal pads?

I had all kinds of intestinal distress the first few months after WLS so I'm prone to say "yes, it is true, at least in the beginning." I did not buy charcoal pads but I did buy gas-x pills, DEVRON odor-reducing pills, special spray for the toilet, used what it called the curiosity flush and stayed close to home those first few months. What you choose to eat does make somewhat of a difference, as well. Two common food groups that tend to give off foul odors are meat and diary.

I am a band to bypass as well. I have not had an extreme change in gas. Different foods do create odors, but in my personal experience things were not much different.

nope. I know some people do if they overdo it on sugar alcohols or certain carbs, though. But that charcoal thing in your underwear sounds pretty extreme. I would think those kinds of cases wouldn't be very common.

Thank you everyone. I didn't know if I was prepared for that one. :-)

Nope. Fresh as a daisy.

I used to have the deadly gas. I still do sometimes.

My diet controls that. Some food - or food additives can cause the deadly gas. Or when I get really constipated. What most of us doing realize is that the food that sits in or gut in a very warm temperatures starts fermenting due to bacteria in our gut and that can cause really bad gas. The longer the ,"leftover" food sits inside is - the more gas is created.

Some foods are worse than others. Sugar alcohol (SA) , Beans, onion, high fiber foods, some raw veggies (cabbage family,) or even raw nuts ,- can cause a lot of problems.

Not eliminating but limiting some of that food, or taking some digestive enzymes with it (i.e Beano) helps some people. For me - I can tolerate some of that food, but not it others?.

Sugar alcohol- even the small amount in some chewable vitamins gave me horrible gas.

Most grains - I need to avoid- or limit. (Specially high fiber wraps). Corn was deadly to me even before WLS.

Sweets and desserts - really messes up my gut.

So really- it is up to me how much gas I am willing to tolerate. Some gas is normal, and we all have it. But the pain due to gas and some of the smell,,- not worth the 5-15 min of pleasure eating.

high sugar alcohols do this to me. I stay away from them if I can help it, or try to limit. also chewing gum etc.

I also have smelly gas problems and diarrhea with Sugar Alcohols and other artificial sweeteners. When reading labels, look for ingredients that end in -itol (e.g. xylitol), and stay away. Chewable and gummie vitamins tend to have them, as well as many low carb products and beverages.

Soap Box: Another reason to stay away from artificial sweeteners is they make you gain weight. Many studies with rats have shown that ones fed artificial sweeteners gain more weight than rats fed sugar. This has also been observed in humans. They are bad chemicals so do what you can to eliminate them from your diet entirely.