# New to this and not coping



## bent&broken (Aug 26, 2013)

Please be warned that this post is going to be quite whiny to complement my whiny, melodramatic username, but this LG issue is just pushing me over the edge.

I'm 19 and I've had IBS since I was 13. I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy when I was 17, which ruled out anything more serious than IBS. Every day at school I would long to get home so I could go to the bathroom. I was in horrible pain for at least half the time I was at school from trying to hold everything in. Now, I'd give anything to be in pain again and not smell like ######. My LG problem started earlier this year when I was just cleaning myself as usual, but this time I felt like I might have inadvertently damaged my anus while washing in the shower. For the next few days I had this weird sensation in my anus, as if it was open, and I could feel air bubbles slipping out even though I couldn't feel the gas pressure. I had read stories about LG on this site before and I knew what was happening to me. I panicked and dropped out of uni and came home to live with my parents.

Now I'm at uni in my hometown, and things aren't going well. I thought I had my leaky gas under control by taking Devrom and wearing My Shreddies, as I had been back to work with only minimal feelings of leakage and I never smelled anything, nor did anyone complain about a smell. Then, in my first tutorial at uni (I had had onions and steak before class) this AWFUL smell just filled the room. It smelled like a mix or rotting garbage with undertones of feces. I knew it was coming from me. I tried to change my diet but gave up after about a week and a half as LG attacks continued to occur. I can smell it myself, but I don't know if others can smell it at times when I can't. The smell doesn't even seem to coincide with the feelings of leakage. And although I haven't smelled myself at work yet (tonight I might have, but it only occurred when talking to one particular person, so it could have been her), I have smelled it numerous times in different rooms at uni, and the only common denominator in all those locations has been me. I know other people can smell it because of the looks on their faces and the fact that they stop talking or get annoyed with me when I can smell it.

I'm currently taking Florastor, Apple Cider Vinegar, Nullo, Devrom and wearing My Shreddies, and yet I still get attacks that even I can smell. I guess at least it doesn't affect me 24/7, but it affects me often enough to make my life hell. Although I'm more introverted, I'm still a generally sociable person and get along with people quite easily (before I smelled like a walking turd, anyway). My opinions of myself are heavily reliant on other's opinions of me, so I just know this is going to destroy me.

How do I deal with losing all my friends? I just know that one by one, people are slowly starting to realise that this smell is coming from me, and I feel that all I have to look forward is ridicule and isolation. I have no motivation to work or study if my life is just going to be years upon years of this hell. My life was already pretty miserable to begin with, having IBS and mental health issues from an early age, and also a mild neurological problem that hit me this year shortly before the LG.

I can't deal with being all alone. I can't deal with having no friends and being ridiculed. I don't generally smell around my family, and if I say that I smell or have problems with this issue they're just going to think I'm crazy and expect me to move on with life even though I'm quickly losing the will to live. I worked very hard in school and got excellent grades, but all that time and effort doesn't mean ###### now with me being completely miserable.

A beacon of hope is that I saw a Colorectal surgeon today who said I have haemorrhoids and he's going to do rubber band ligation on them next Monday to try and fix them, as well as doing tests to determine my sphincter tone. I'm just worried that the procedure could make my problems worse instead of better. If that happens, or if it just doesn't help and I still smell, what next? I'm not saying that life isn't worth living if you have LG, but I feel that I've dealt with my fair share of ###### at quite a young age and have gotten next to no enjoyment out of life so far, and I'm just tired of living. I feel I'm kidding myself by saying it's going to get better, because things only ever seem to get worse. I'd rather not die, but I've just about had enough of living like this. Having LG on top of everything else is just more than I can bear. How can I go on when I fall into deep despair every time I'm with a group of people and smell this awful smell?


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## westr (Jan 27, 2012)

man up you flamin galah. just kidding. some people have got cured, some have the problem under control to a point where it doesnt affect them. may i suggest a fodmap diet, take apple cider vinegar just before food and make sure youre getting 40 billion acidophilus probiotic per day. stay away from caffeine and too much raw fruit/veg and maintain a good posture when sitting.

i went through what you had, went through an ibs stage and had pain holding everything in, then lg and fbo (the trashy smell, the sewery smell, then the sweet smell). now its almost completely under control.


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## bent&broken (Aug 26, 2013)

Thanks for your reply, westr. I hate feeling weak like this but I don't feel that I have any people in real life who I can talk to about my feelings on this issue. When I first started feeling the symptoms of LG I was so terrified, I could not believe it was happening and I'm still just accepting that I actually have this problem.

Did you just use ACV, probiotics and diet or was there something else to your case?


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## thickthighs1 (Apr 12, 2013)

Most of us have been there and done that..but we are on the road to recovery/in remission whatever you want to call it.

I never used shreddies ,but I did have charcoal underwear for a time...they worked for a week and then when I got up the smell of poo would be in the air..even when I left the room the smell would still be around..cost me a job.One time I washed them and the room smelled like poo. Never tried shreddies, but if they are more than a week old,they may not be doing their job anymore.

ACV and Florastar helped me,but maybe you need another kind of probiotic..it took me three kinds to find a probiotic that worked for me....also,the smell will get worse before it gets better.

If you have an overgrowth of yeast, they make quite a stench when they are dying off

In two months,you should feel/smell better.It will take time,but you will get better.

Make sure not to eat any High fructose corn syrup(candy,cookies ect with it in them)


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