If you are having issues with ballooning gas and/or noise in the months just after surgery, rest assured that is very very normal at that stage and no reflection whatsoever of life down the road. within 4-5 months it will drop way off, and within 6-12 months the remaining amount will drop way off too--- well, that was my experience.
when working, I have learned which things will trigger gas. I can eat or drink pretty much anything anytime, but if I eat a ton of sweet sugary stuff or a bunch of highly fermented stuff like saurkraut and pickles or something rich in lactose, I will balloon up. However, noise is pretty much a total non issue for me even then lol, and absent that kind of crazy pigging out, my stoma is a churchmouse whereas it was noisy just after surgery. (And if you look at my pre obsessive pre surgery posts , noise was indeed an obsessive fear of mine lol).
Oh, as far as the pouch inflating when you do want to pig out on something that you know will cause ballooning (avoid those foods or drinks when at work, or ho easy on them anyway), simply go to the bathroom and empty your pouch or if it is just all gas, then even just go to some private place and "burp" it by standing up and gently unsnapping the very top portion of the pouch (This is only possible using a 2-piece- yet another reason I only use two piecers) and let it vent out, then snap it back. you can do the simple venting without emptying even if the pouch has a bunch of other stuff in it, just be careful to be always standing up, and dont do it if the pouch is more than half full. Odor is no an issue at all if you use M9 drops in the pouch which basically annihilate any smell whatsoever when emptying or burping the pouch. A squirt of hydrogen peroxide works too but I find that it reacts with stuff in the pouch to create a but more gas, whereas M9 drops do not. My ten cents.
I bike, hike and play tennis and lift moderate, but not heavy weights with my pouch with no issues at all but I would avoid weights until a year into an ostomy and then gradually build up, and never exceed weights that you can do with proper form.
Oh as far as dressing for men.... depends on your dress code. I wanted and got my stoma low enoigh that slightly high rised style formal pants work for me and allow my beltline to stay clear above my stoma, so that works like a charm. for casual wear it dosnt work well for me nowadays because casual wear is mostly very low rise in style now, sadly lol, so for low rise casual wear I buy looser but have modified the sides of ,y pants so it is tighter around my hips but looser around the front so it wont slip down, then I stick to having shirts, be it polo, tshort or buttoned short, worn loose over my pants. I use ostomy secret mens boxers to smoothly protect the stoma. I am planning to get more casual wear customized as more high rise or find more high rise pants, and wear shorts over them so I dont look like Mr Rodgers. But my work pants are more formal and have the higher rise looking normal, and with tucked in shirts.
Post Edited (Probiotic) : 8/24/2016 1:42:09 PM (GMT-6)