A girlfriend is struggling to convince her partner that gas is not that funny.
QUESTION:
What can be done to stop someone making foul-smelling farts? I know everyone passes wind, but it seems some people produce particularly smelly emissions. I can’t help thinking there must be something wrong with their insides.
I recently discovered my boyfriend (23) has terrible farts. He managed to hide it from me for the first six months but now there is no escaping the great clouds of putrid gas.
I am convinced he has a problem. He just laughs it off and blames this or that food.
There is a very long list of foods he thinks he shouldn’t eat but does anyway, such as bananas, dried fruit (particularly apricots), roast vegetables, roast anything really. His family makes a great joke of it. His friends moan about it, especially when he lets one rip in the car during a night out.
I’ve tried to feed him De-Gas pills, with little or no effect. I’d like to get him to go to the doctor and see if anything can be done, but I think I need to be able to convince him it would be worth doing. Can you help?
ANSWER:
The panel is sympathetic to your problem about your boyfriend’s flatulence. It is true that some people do pass very smelly wind.
The frequency of doing so varies enormously (one study determined that the range is between seven and 200 times a day). If he wants to do something about it, he should see his doctor and possibly a dietitian.
However, the problem seems to be that he is not interested in trying to reduce or control the foul emissions.
He obviously can control it to some degree as he did for the first six months of your relationship.
If he refuses to see a doctor or in some way control his flatulence, you might like to consider whether this relationship is right for you.
Submit Your Questions
Have you got a question you’d like us to tackle?
Fill out the form below or send questions to Family Forum, The Advertiser, 31 Waymouth St, Adelaide 5000.
We treat communications in strict confidence except when the law demands otherwise, as in child abuse.
Relationships Australia (SA) appoints panels of general practitioners, medical specialists, lawyers, therapeutic and financial counsellors to discuss each letter before the appropriate professional answers it.
