The smell 🤢

[mynamechangemyrules]

I work with someone who has started their weight loss injection journey and we are all trying to be supportive. They have a lot of weight to lose, in excess of 8 stones they said. The issue I have is the smell. It is week 3 or 4 now I believe, but they have noxious burps and farts which stink out our whole work zone. It’s extremely hard to even carry on working when it happens, as it’s so intense. Most colleagues simply have to leave the area and return, which can be fairly subtle in this weather but won’t be in winter! No one has mentioned it to each other or to them but I’ve noticed a pattern of us leaving the room/ opening windows etc as the smell spreads.

I was considering using a private prescription myself to lose approx 2 stones which I need to shift, but honestly I don’t think I want to be another stinky person in our work place. It’s not a big enough space to handle it!

Does it get less? Can I offer any subtle tips? Will I get it too if I use an injectable appetite suppressant?

Thanks for any tips!

I am a terror for the sulphur burps. I get them badly on day 2 and 3 plus trapped wind. The wind doesn’t usually smell but it’s very noisy. The sulphur burps stink. I have tried loads of otc remedies, tried to work out what foods trigger them (eggs is the main one).

I am regularly mortified and leave rooms of course. The only plus for me is that I inject on a Thursday night, wfh on Friday and can usually manage my interactions on weekends. I am on the end of my second 7.5 pen and only now are they slightly easing (was fine on 5mg).

your colleague does need to be gently told. I didn’t think they were that awful until one of my teens walked into a room I’d been in alone 5 mins post burp and asked what had died

Side note really….

Can/do people really hold in farts/burps? I’ve been we been able to, and believe me I’ve tried. Not even for long enough to get up and run outside to do it! It’s a natural bodily function, why are people suggesting HR? It’s not like the woman is forcing out burps and yelling “god that’s an eggy one, come and smell this fucker” or dropping her knickers and shitting on the desk.

OP if she’s aware it’s an issue, which it sounds like she is, could you talk to her quietly and say something like you’ve been thinking about her comment about the side effects (you could say here you’ve been thinking about trying them yourself and that’s why) and how she must be feeling with them, so you’ve done some research and you’ve found a few things that could help if she’s interested? Then just hope she says yes please and tell her what you’ve found! Obviously you’ll need to actually come up with these solutions in advance! If she says no, you could then ask her if she’d mind stepping outside whenever possible to do them until the side effects calm down a bit. I appreciate that bit might be harder and if you can’t ask that yourself, I guess ask her manager to have a quiet word.

The main thing is to try to not shame or embarrass her or you might end to with a complaint against you, which is why I’d personally tell her I was considering them for myself and that’s why you were looking into it and just offering help as she brought them up. Keep the conversation just between the two of you where no one can over hear you, maybe tell her she’s going amazingly well and you’re pleased the side effects haven’t put her off her efforts and make sure she can tell from your tone you are offering out of a willingness to help her.

The alternative is you get the injections too and turn it into a competition as to who can first force someone to leave the room from the smell 😉 (kidding before anyone gets their knickers in a twist).

Thanks for the useful answers. They actually mentioned it today as we made tea and I said I’d heard probiotics could be useful, so thanks for the good ideas. @pharmerand @Hotmoodle
I’m as supportive as you can be to a colleague on a weight loss journey and I’m sorry if I sound judgey but I do want to know for my own purposes whether I’ll still be craving the junk I eat now or whether it might steer me to choose healthier things. They were saying today that they eat healthy things when they first have the jab and then as it wears off, they crave more comfort food, so that was useful to know. I think it was good us all talking about it all a bit more openly today tbh.

Taking fat loss injections doesn’t automatically steer you into eating healthier things, it’s a choice you have to make and must continue with, just like any other heathy eating regime. It reduces your appetite, so if you carry on eating junk food then it’s pointless going on them as you’re not changing what you eat.

Sulphur burps are gross. Even more so for someone who is in the room. My 6 year old gagged and said about my ‘eggy burps’ 🤢 for me I only had them in the first couple of weeks though.

I had one day in my second week with nausea and horrible burps. Nothing since then.

I've had awful sulphur burps on MJ and thankfully discovered that pepto bismol sorts them out immediately! They are awful 😖

Bizarre take, why wouldn’t you want a friend to lose weight if that is what they wanted for themself?

This has really put me off ever taking it. I work in a tiny office with my two (pretty strict) bosses and I just couldn’t have this happen :(

I've had a couple of instances of the sulphur burps and they are quite brutal. Unfortunately I had a brief spell of them in the car one day and it is not pleasant for other people.

If your work colleague is aware of it, I would recommend Pepto Bismol. Tastes almost as disgusting as the burps but it really helps.

It definitely affects people differently.

I started mounjaro yesterday and i have had about thirty sulphur burps today. I can't hold them in.

The smell off the burps is so bad, it makes me feel sick.

How do you know it's you colleague that's farting though? Could be someone else in the office.