gas and bloating
#163404 - 03/23/05 01:57 PM
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MT
Reged: 03/16/05
Posts: 20
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I have had ibs d for 18 years and it has been a sad life. I am 39 and have tried all medicines and around December I got excited about this web site a friend told me about, I bought the book, acacia and fennel. I had high hopes. I tried this diet for 3 weeks. I did feel somewhat better while reducing my foods to white rice bread and pasta. But it did not stop d or bloating and gas. Even on only those foods, my body continued to have the horrible bloated gas that is stuck in my intestines and in order to get it out each day it is like labor and delivery every day of my life. Is their any other reason my body can be producing so much gas that is getting trapped and won't come out without tremendous force to the point where I am in such a sweat. This goes on for hours every single day no matter what. Even on bread and water. I know it takes time with making changes. But I know that after three weeks of cardboard and still having all that discomfort and pain, I could tell the gas wasn't going to magically disappear if I kept eating bread and rice another couple of months. I admit the symptoms decreased somewhat, but nowhere near enough to want to continue on that diet. I hear so many positive comments from people, but is there anyone else that this diet does not help. I think possibly I am carbohydrate intolerant, which does not fit well with this diet. I could live and have lived with D all my life, but I feel like cutting a whole in my intestines to just relieve the pain of this gas. The acacia made me feel even more gassy and I did start at the lowest dose. As for the fennel, I makes me want to throw up, I just can't stomach it, though I do drink the peppermint tea. Help!!! The gas is killing my every ounce of happiness. Today before going to work I took Librax, Lomotil, immodium, pepto bismal and I am starting on Wellbutrin, with all this I am still in the bathroom at work with terrible bloating and gas. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
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Bloating is a killer! You have to try fennel tea with another tea if possible and with sugar or honey too. It does work well and you need to drink it often. I mix peppermint in with mine. Also if the acacia didn't work for you did you take another SFS? That is crucial. It sounds to me like your guts get into a 'twist' like mine do. Hopefully the meds will help, also exercise, eating often but small amounts, no gum or straws, drinking enough will all help. Primarily you should vary the diet some and try some foods besides rice, bread and pasta. I would get bloated with that too. But fennel and fiber supplement are super important. 
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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Hi MT,
Little Minnie gave you some great advice. Pardon me if I repeat some of it, but really want to stress on some things that might help you.
Diet - Make sure you're keeping a food journal documenting what you eat and how you're feeling. Sometimes we eat something without realizing that it was cooked in butter or has a high fat content that our IBS can't handle. A food journal was a life saver for me at the beginning because I could tell which foods were causing me to feel the worst.
SFS - Soluble fiber supplements are very important and unfortunately, some of them do not work for everyone. I have personally tried Metamucil, Benefiber, Citrucel, and Acacia. All of them gave me horrible gas, with the exception of the Citrucel. However, the citrucel caplets gave me bad stomach acid so I had to stop taking those. Right now I am taking FiberClear and am having no problems with it - and can tell it is working for me. It's all about trial and error, unfortunately, and is going to take some time to see which fiber best suits your body. But know it is a worth while investment when you finally find that one.
Water - I know this one sounds funny because I personally always feel bloated when I first start drinking water in large amounts. However, this will improve once your body gets used to the amount of water you are drinking and also help stabilize your body.
Exercise - This one is VERY important in controlling gas because it gets your digestive system moving to push all that gas out. Try taking a walk when you're feeling really gassy, or do some sort of exercise whenever you get a break at work - even if it is just up and down the stairs a few times. Any amount will help, although obviously the more exercise the better you should feel.
Stress - Finally, watch your stress level. I noticed sometimes I get horribly trapped gas when I'm extremely stressed. When I relax, my body is able to let the gas go.
I noticed you mentioned a bunch of medications you've been trying. Have you tried Bean-o or Gas-X? Those have been known to help many IBSers.
Sorry if some of this is repetative of what you've already read about the diet. Sometimes it helps to be reminded of something that you might have missed.
Hope this helps!
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- Jennifer
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Quote:
Hi MT,
Little Minnie gave you some great advice. Pardon me if I repeat some of it, but really want to stress on some things that might help you.
Diet - Make sure you're keeping a food journal documenting what you eat and how you're feeling. Sometimes we eat something without realizing that it was cooked in butter or has a high fat content that our IBS can't handle. A food journal was a life saver for me at the beginning because I could tell which foods were causing me to feel the worst.
SFS - Soluble fiber supplements are very important and unfortunately, some of them do not work for everyone. I have personally tried Metamucil, Benefiber, Citrucel, and Acacia. All of them gave me horrible gas, with the exception of the Citrucel. However, the citrucel caplets gave me bad stomach acid so I had to stop taking those. Right now I am taking FiberClear and am having no problems with it - and can tell it is working for me. It's all about trial and error, unfortunately, and is going to take some time to see which fiber best suits your body. But know it is a worth while investment when you finally find that one.
Water - I know this one sounds funny because I personally always feel bloated when I first start drinking water in large amounts. However, this will improve once your body gets used to the amount of water you are drinking and also help stabilize your body. Yep just today I was getting bloated and gassy after lunch and I wanted to drink water! It seems to cleanse it somehow and then I was fine. I think it took 20 oz.
Exercise - This one is VERY important in controlling gas because it gets your digestive system moving to push all that gas out. Try taking a walk when you're feeling really gassy, or do some sort of exercise whenever you get a break at work - even if it is just up and down the stairs a few times. Any amount will help, although obviously the more exercise the better you should feel.
Stress - Finally, watch your stress level. I noticed sometimes I get horribly trapped gas when I'm extremely stressed. When I relax, my body is able to let the gas go.
I noticed you mentioned a bunch of medications you've been trying. Have you tried Bean-o or Gas-X? Those have been known to help many IBSers.
Sorry if some of this is repetative of what you've already read about the diet. Sometimes it helps to be reminded of something that you might have missed.
Hope this helps!
--------------------
IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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Its may be your body doesnt like wheat. Both bread and pasta is made from wheat!
Try cutting them out and introducing more rice products like rice cakes etc.
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Quite a few people have trouble with the diet until they realise they are wheat or gluten intolerant (I'm assuming you've had all the tests to rule proper celiac out). But this diet is very possible on wheat or gluten free! You can get tests done to check for this, but the most foolproof method (if the most tedious  ) is an exclusion diet. This involves cutting ALL of the food (eg. gluten or wheat) out of your diet for 3 weeks to a month, seeing how you do, then reintroducing it and seeing how you do. It's a bore, but reliable. My doc had me do both the tests AND the diet to check they tallied! 
My other suggestion is that 3 weeks isn't actually a very long time to be on this diet. It took me about 6 months to stabilise!
And getting a SFS is VERY important. They are amazing.
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I eliminated all wheat products and only ate french or white bread. What foods contain gluten? I have never tried the gluten free diet. I also have never been tested for celiacs either. I have had upper gi, Barium Enemas and sigmoidoscopy tests numerous times,Lactose intolerance test(which came back negative even though I had D the whole time after they injected me and I was in the bathroom the whole time between blood withdrawals) also this test where they put a balloon up my butt and measured something when they blew it up and deflated it. How humiliating.I swore off any GI doctor again after all that torture because they have never found anything. Maybe I should research gluten free diets. I have gone on complete elination diets in the past, where you drink only water, brush your teeth with baking soda to eliminate tooth paste etc. I remember doing this around 9 years ago. Even on a very limited next to nothing diet I still had gas bloating etc. There was nothing left to eliminate. There has got to be one food item in this world that no matter what it will not give you gas and bloating. Do you know of any food that couldn't possibly give anyone gas no matter what?
Edited by MT (03/24/05 09:30 AM)
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Thank you for the advice. I have tried beano and gas x, I have tried everything. The gas just won't come out unless I lean forward on the toilet and put my fist in my left side and push with all my might. I feel it slushing around back and forth making gross noises inside and it fights to stay in there, but as I keep pushing and pushing I feel it moving and I know it is getting close to coming out when it moves down to the far left lower side going toward my back and then it comes out like no tomorrow. But this takes like a 1/2 hour and then I do this 3 to 4 times a day. So you can see that it is alot of time in the bathroom. But man when that gas comes out it is the difference of feeling like death to feeling great. It is just it wears me out so to have to do this every day, day after day year after year until I don't even remember not ever doing this. I have to wake up 4:30 every morning so that I can do this to be at work by 8:30. Even while on this ibs diet I still had to do this. My stomach starts out looking preganant, and after this ritual, it is semi flat. How is it possible that so much gas can accumulate every day. I think I am just allergic to life and breathing. I have thought about taping my mouth closed and doing nothing but breathing through my nose and see if I still get gas. That would be the ultimate test huh. Believe me I have tried most things suggested but can't seem to bare to continue after 3 weeks without some sign of hope. I am longing for the day that I can walk into the bathroom and sit upright, instead of my face to the ground and my fist in my side, sweating so much I have to take all my clothes off and on the verge of crying and praying to god to make it stop, but he won't listen.
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All normal breads have both wheat and gluten in them! So you haven't tried eliminating wheat yet.
Celiac disease needs to be ruled out (along with loads of other things) before IBS can be diagnosed. You need to get your doc to do the antibody (blood) test at least.
And nope...with IBS ANY food CAN possibly give you gas...sorry! It all depends on what you eat, how you eat, how you're doing in your life and personal tolerances/intolerances. Personally, a small portion of SF like white pasta, white rice, white bread etc has NEVER given me gas. But then I know for sure that I don't have celiac or a gluten/wheat intolerance.
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You really shouldn't even be certain that you DO have IBS yet, so don't despair...there's lots to investigate and try yet!
Given your symptoms even on this diet, I would say that a colonoscopy, celiac antibody test and possible another test for food intolerances are pretty neccessary! I know you've been through alot with your docs, but you really haven't had sufficient tests yet. I'm amazed they did the balloon test on you (which I've only ever heard of in research studies) but NOT a colonoscopy! 
Until you know for CERTAIN that you have IBS and nothing else, it's a bit hard to really try this diet! If you are celiac or gluten/wheat intolerant then this diet is still possible, but it would need modifying.
good luck.
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I'm amazed they did the balloon test on you (which I've only ever heard of in research studies) but NOT a colonoscopy!
They actually did the balloon test on me before the colonoscopy too. I think it depends on your doctor. In fact, they did the colonoscopy on me LAST.
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- Jennifer
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He doesn't seem to be listening to me either! Or for some reason, I'm suppose to be in this pain and gas and bloating for which I am not aware of.
I also spend a lot of time in the bathroom expelling gas! Isn't that a nice place to spend our lives! 
I was told that sitting upright is best for going to the bathroom, not bent over. NOt sure if this is for C or for gas or for both. Keep your back as straight as possibly and breath. Sometimes I twist at the waist or push my tummy in too. But again, not sure if this advice was given to me for the Gas as well as the constipation, or just the gas. I think it is recommended as the best way to sit on the pot all around.
GL and please keep posting. You are not alone, unfortunately. We need to keep each other going. This is too hard without the support. 
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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A doctor I went to years ago who was a complete A, sorry, also told me to stop bending forward, that I needed to sit up straight, and that only let me believe even more that he had not a clue about what I was telling him, how I had to push with all my might and with physical force to get the gas out. I would like to see him try that sitting up straight. Didn't he ever see a women giving birth when she is in that final push, laying down but leaning forward and pushing. Well believe me, i have just sat there up straight for hours and tried to let my body do it's own thing, but it doesn't. Direct force and leaning forward is the only way to give birth to that life destroying gas.
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