Weight Gain...

Glad to hear  The valve is perfect! I recall reading and was told by the surgeon not to gain as much is 30 pounds because that's one of the leading causes of valve failure.    Good luck losing weight and please confirm back if weight-loss makes a difference in the oder incontinence.  I know others have that problem and you might search the site for some background information. Janet

Thanks Janet. Yes I was a little nervous my valve may have slipped, but Dr. K showed me on the live feed that it had that normal textbook look. 

I did search the site and found an old thread about the serotonin-gut syndrome from another member who cured his problem by weaning off SSRIs. So I plan on weaning myself off some antidepressants.

I'll keep you guys updated.

 Another thought I had was about exercise in general. I had been doing a considerable amount of Pilates and core exercises   Lo and behold I also developed of hernia next to my valve. This is been confirmed with a scope and the solution is surgical.   Until the surgery the doctor told me to cut back on the Pilates and exercising.   Apparently whatever you're doing is not damaging the valve, which is great. Who knows how my hernia developed – – I'm not so certain it was because of exercising, but I'll never know. 

Sorry to hear that surgery is your only option Janet. Yup before surgery I asked my doctor if lifting weights was ok once my pouch had fully matured. I was told it was fine as long as I avoid any abdominal-related exercise as it could cause the valve to slip or result in a hernia.

Just an update, I had surgery a month ago to fix this issue. It was a very difficult diagnosis where not a single diagnostic test could detect what the problem was. I had CT Enterography, Pouchscopy, Pouchscopy with Retroflexion, Pouchagram (aka Fistulagram) with contrast fluid all tests coming back negative.

My lone but highly distressing symptom was malodor incontinence. I had no frank leakage, no problems with intubations, I emptied/irrigated frequently, all to no to avail. My surgeon Dr. K finally agreed to do Exploratory Laporotomy. Once inside, it was discovered that a staple line in the valve had encroached the lumen of the pouch that led to a nipple valve-pouch pinhole fistula. The staple was removed and the area repaired with sutures. And just like that life is good again. If this sounds like you, with no clear-cut signs and symptoms of valve/pouch dysfunction, but you're having incontinence issues please look into the possibility of a pinhole fistula.

I'm not sure what caused this whether from lifting weights or technical problems during the valve/pouch construction. But I'm going to play it safe and no more lifting from now on. Well not at least for 1-2 years to let scar tissues form and valve/pouch settle in.