Loose bowels and fowl smelling flatulence can spoil a good time even if a person is a size 6

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Many DS/BPD patients complain of loose bowels and flatulence with a bad odor.  What does this really mean on a practical level? As seen below, it can devastate a patient:

The DS is most similar to the JIB. I assure you there are many 'bathroom' issues too embarrassing to ever be talked about. I've read it though on that DS list when I used to get their digest. The gas is horrible. You're constantly bloated and the smell is like nothing you've ever experienced. People will talk about you if they go into the bathroom after you've left or worse while you're in there. I'll tell you a story about my experience with having most of my short bowel bypassed.

We had planned a family weekend to canoe down a long river here in Michigan. It was a 4 hour canoe trip. At the end you're picked up by a bus and driven back to the beginning. My husband and son were excited about doing this.

It was a beautiful day. We started out canoeing and I got the most awful gas and cramping. They had to canoe over to the shore where I went behind a bush and had a huge BM the constancy of thick mud. Nothing to wipe with. I guess I wasn't thinking well before we started the trip not to come prepared. I was hot and flushed and crampy but I tried not to complain as I didn't want to spoil everyone else's good time.

At least once every 45 minutes I had to pull over and repeat the same scenario. I was miserable :( I couldn't wait to get to the end and get to a real bathroom and clean up. My bottom was burning because a bypass's stool is more acid or something and just galls you to death if not cleaned right away. I was tearful but I paddled on.

My son and husband knew I was suffering which made them feel bad. Once again my WLS was spoiling what should have been a wonderful family memory. Finally we got to the end and I boarded the bus. I thought for sure I was going to defecate in my pants. I tried my best to hold it all back. It was about a 20 minute drive back to camp........maybe more. It seemed like an eternity. I tried not to breathe hoping I could hold back the BM I had come to loath.

Finally, we were at camp. I ran for the ladies' room. As soon as I sat down there was an explosion of the most foul stool ever..........and the God awful smell took over the whole bathroom. Some other campers started in and took one whiff and screamed and ran out. It was that bad. I sat there as tears rolled down my face. Their disgust stung deep to my soul.

The day was ruined. I was humiliated. I was still crampy and my bottom was raw and painful. I cleaned up the best I could and walked back to our campsite and told my husband I wanted to cut the weekend short and go home.

We left. No one protested. My husband and son had gotten used to my being sick all the time and not being able to participate in life as other normal wives and mothers could. I became reclusive and only felt at home where I could be near my own bathroom and all my various 'preparations' to take care of my bathroom issues. If I had to go to some function I just wouldn't eat that day so I'd be 'cleaned out' and hopefully not have to have a BM while there. It was the only way I could cope and function socially. I could never have held down a full time job. I spent many days resting and laying around because I'd be cold or tired or crampy or dizzy..........you name it. The worst days were when I'd be in pain from the multitude of kidney stones my body kept forming as a direct result of the small bowel being shortened.

It is all like a bad dream that I've come out of thanks to my WLS reversal.

B. L. of Michigan