Why am I bloated?
#176691 - 05/04/05 08:02 PM
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I don't understand it. Last week and up through Sunday, I felt much better. I could see and feel improvement. I had noticably less bloating. When I was bloated, the bloating was shorter in length and not as severe as it was.
Then starting Sunday night, I have been bloated as I was before. I have felt most of the time bloated, it has been severe, I have looked pregnant, and it has made walking uncomfortable as well as impaired and frustrated the living you know what out of me, because it makes me look so out of shape.
I changed my diet and I thought things were getting better. I can understand a gradual improvement, but I can't understand why there has been a regression and why I am bloated.
Two possible things come to me, the first is that last week I had potatoe bread. On sunday, I came back to college, and they don't sell the same potatoe bread here. I had 2 slices of the new potatoe bread on Sunday, and 4 on Monday, then I looked at the ingredients and saw that it has nonfat Milk, but could that do this to my stomach to this extent?
I have been having peppermint tea, but it has helped only a small amount.
The other thing is that I have been sweating more, and drinking less water. I notice when I sweat, my stomach becomes bloated. Is it possible this is why?
The combination of nonfat Milk, butter, and sweating, could this be?
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Yeah that could do it. You really do have to follow the diet 100% while you're trying to stabilise.
Also, make sure you drink LOTS of water ESPECIALLY if you're sweating more. If you get dehydrated, it'll make you more C and that'll make you more bloated.
Keep it up! You're getting there.  At least you now know you CAN feel better. 
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I found out hte hard way that while trying to stabilize, the SMALLEST amount of milk product could make me sick the next day. Sometimes if you cheat, it will not catch up to you till you do it a couple of times, I have found. So, the first time or two you may eat the potato bread you could be fine, but eventually it will come back to get you.
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-Sheri
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The other two are so right -- that milk will do it -- and so will dehydration. So - keep the fluids up -- and avoid ALL dairy.
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Formerly known as Ruchie
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Bloating is my special quest. I have been trying to understand more about it for some time. The problem is that it is a mystery to doctors! and nothing really helps it 100%. You have to drink fennel tea though- lots- at least 2 cups. I find 1 cup doesn't do it. And stick to the diet well. Getting dehydrated is a big cause of bloating. Sometimes if I get bloated out of the blue I drink lots and it goes away. Other important things are, exercise, not eating too much at one time and never letting yourself get hungry. I bloated the other day before dinner because I got hungry before I realized. Beyond that bloating can sometimes be inexplicable and just a rut I get in. It feels like my intestines are twisted up like a magician's balloon figure. Fennel tea is awesome as well as heat on the tummy, but staying strict on the diet and staying hydrated and as regular as possible are very important too!
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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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This is interesting. I saw my doctor yesterday and asked him on why I am bloated. I asked about water, if not drinking enough water or having water at or too near to meals could cause bloating, and he told me that was all piss posh not to listen to. I don't like the doctor that much, and now I'm confused because of what he told.
Here is what I don't understand, if having that potatoe bread caused this, how come I did not feel this badly last week? I know last week I did not have potatoe bread with milk, but on one night I did have cheesecake, which made me bloated until the next day, and then I felt good.
Why is it that having cheesecake last week caused me to get bloated only for a short amount of time, and I quickly recovered, but this week I have been bloated for much longer?
I want to add, I found out that I Can't Believe It's Not Butter contains buttermilk, which I assume is dairy, and until today I had been having this each day this week, maybe this is why.
Is it possible that the reason I am bloated this week and that last week even though I had cheesecake I was less bloated is because on Sunday and Monday I had four slices of bread which contained nonfat Milk and I was using I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, and that I have been exercising with little water?
To give you an idea, last week I did not exercise, this week I have been and that I run several miles, I have been having perhaps 50 oz of water.
If I give it a couple of days with no dairy, and have more water, how much, will this do what I would like or should it?
I have not been c, I don't know if the whole dehrayation applies.
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in your gut. This can cause trapped air, bloating, and gas. If you have IBS, by definition you have altered gut motility - the muscle contractions in your GI tract are irregular, too strong and fast, too slow and infrequent, or a combination. IBS is also by definition a disorder with intermittent symptoms - so one day you can be fine, as the muscles in your gut function normally, and the next day you're bloated, as the contractions are suddenly irregular.
Your best bet is to try and normalize your gut motility - base your diet on soluble fiber, add in a prebiotic soluble fiber, use fennel and/or peppermint and/or anise on a daily base, practice yoga regularly, get daily exercise and drink plenty of water, etc.
You'll drive yourself crazy if you try and pinpoint every single episode of IBS symptoms to one particular cause. Sometimes, your gut is going to cause you problems no matter what you do, because you have an underlying bowel dysfunction. But, you can try your darndest to head off symptoms on a daily basis (diet, supplements, yoga, etc.) and the more you can get symptoms under control, the more likely that they will stay that way.
It's not fun to hear, but you have to take a long-term view and not be discouraged by some ups and downs on a daily basis. IBS just doesn't work that way. 
Best,
Heather
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Thanks. That is quite a useful bit. I currently take Digestive Advantage Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Lactaid Pills, and I will try to have 2 cups of peppermint tea, does this cover the prebiotic?
What prebiotic would you recommend aside from acadia, I would rather go and buy it so I can use the prebiotic instantly.
I'd like to ask, how long will it take to stop the bloating and can long term curing of this occur? Nothing will drive me insane than having it where one day I feel no bloating, and then the next I feel pregnant, I can't stand the inconsistent, constant up and down nature of the bloating.
I find it striking that you brought up how Irritable Bowel Syndrome can leave you this way, feeling alright one day and bad another. This is exactly what happens with me and drives me mad. I was told however that certain foods can trigger Irritable Bowel Syndrome and noticed that when I do have foods I can get bloated.
I guess that the bloating can be partially stopped and blamed to certain foods but this is not the only reason and will not eliminate it?
I thought after reading that it was the diet which caused the bloating and if I didn't have some foods I would no longer have it, now I hear differently.
I'd like to ask, if I diet, take the prebiotic, have water, exercise, and do yoga, how soon, how likely is it I can control and not get bloated?
How much water should I drink a day, should it be an hour before and after I eat my food?
What about yoga, if I do all except yoga should I get where I want to have?
Is there any time table.
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Quote:
Is there any time table.
I'm afraid not. Every person with IBS is different so everyone's 'road to stability' is going to be different. I know you probably don't want to hear this, but you just need to be patient and keep focussing on daily maintenance.
It doesn't seem like you're taking a prebiotic or a probiotic. Have you considered acidophilus (probiotic)? Probiotics help to increase the good bacteria in your gut. As for PREbiotics, the only prebiotic fiber I know of is acacia but maybe someone else can suggest another one. (FYI acacia is available in stores now, but you may have to ask an HFS near you to start carrying it).
Also, since you're staying away from milk products there's no need to take Lactaid at all - all lactaid is is a digestive enzyme that only helps you digest lactase (milk products). So need to waste your money on that!
Quote:
I thought after reading that it was the diet which caused the bloating and if I didn't have some foods I would no longer have it, now I hear differently.
I think it's really emphasized on this site that managing IBS is a combination of things - that includes as a big point diet but also a number of lifestyle changes (i.e. when you eat, how much you eat, exercise, drinking water, stress relief etc.). Diet is a big part of it but it's not the only part of it. So yep diet can really, really help with your bloating (staying away from triggers, always eating with SF etc.) but it's only part of the game, so to speak.
Can I ask why you're not interested in yoga at all? I'd highly recommend it, personally, both for stress relief and relief of IBS symptoms, and more generally for wellbeing.
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