I just noticed this post is from 2004. I wish I had seen it before. Well, I have been suffering from exactly the same thing for years and years. And I can't smell it either, it's like a blockage. I thought I was the only one in the world suffering from these conditions. After many years on therapy, I did not overcome this, but I kind of learned to deal with it. I try to go to the bathroom regularly so I can "empty" myself, that is, I have to go to the bathroom as soon as I feel like it, it diminishes the gas. Unfortunately, I haven't found a cure yet. But I don't suffer as much as I used to by trying to accept it and that's important for the decreasing of the social situations you described.