Hi Marcie, 

Welcome to the forums. 

Sounds like a frustrating problem. The liners could be preventing air from escaping - do the liners themselves balloon or does your entire ostomy bag? Are you using a filtered bag? 

Probiotcs gave me terrible gas, so I wouldn't be surprised if stopping them helps. 

Have you been able to identify any particular foods that cause more gas? I'd personally not want you to be too restrictive in an effort to reduce gas, but being able to identify problem foods can help you build a plan around it. 

My suggestion would be:

• Keep a food diary and identify foods you can work on. 
• Go with a standard ostomy bag with a built-in filter. No liner for now. 
• Use M9 when you can. There has been some anecdotal evidence that it can help to prevent ballooning. 
• Discontinue the probiotic and give your gut a few week to adjust. 
• Consider using something like the osto ez vent to help release gas in your pouch more easily. 

Let us know if any other clues come up that might help to explain what's causing excess gas. 

Hi Marci,

Have you ever tried making a vegan yogurt? I found that eating yogurt helps to reduce my flatulence. I believe you can make a 24 hr. variety, which will give you all the probiotic you need. I am not vegan, but I have made a 24 hr. milk version (which supplies one naturally with over 700 billion good bacteria). This process of fermentation gets rid of the lactose, which a while ago, was causing me problems. (Since my surgery, I've been able to ingest milk and wheat with no ill effects.) Anyway, it's something that you could research.

Stella

Hey Marci...I have had terrible experiences with gas build up in all the wrong places. I would be so embarrassed I would just go home. I do not use what you are using, but I did change from what I had to one with a built in charcoal gas filter. However, after two days, that too would clog and gs would build up. Watching one of Erics videos, I realized that he had this little cap thing on the bag. I looked into it and there is a cap that you can order and attach yourself to the bag. You lift the little cap, release the air, and shut the cap...done. It has been a real blessing that Little thing. Have you tried this at all? 

I think you are referring to these Osto EZ Vent

https://amzn.to/2zGDwNC

I think there is quite a lot about them on VO. Mine are supplied by my ostomy supplier. You may have to ask.

They work GREAT! One thing  I absolutely have to have.

Thank you everyone for the ideas and suggestions! I truly appreciate it.

I am going to try only one thing at a time, so for now I have stopped taking my probiotic supplement (I'm getting probiotics through a vegan kefir).  If I don't see a difference after a few weeks with no probiotic, I will try another idea.

Thanks again,

Marci