Yet more on one of our favorite subjects...
#103942 - 09/05/04 07:48 AM
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ptillen
Reged: 06/27/04
Posts: 406
Loc: Milwaukee WI
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Hello... I experience the kind of bloating that many of you share, I know, and ain't it fun? It's the scenario in which I wake up with a fairly flat stomach which begins to inflate the minute I eat something, no matter the size, and continues to expand over the day until I'm an inflated balloon by bedtime.
Portion size helps some, but nothing, not fennel, not simethicone, not anything, has alleviated this problem. Doesn't even go away after a bowel movement. (about which, BTW, I'm fairly regular)
I've read some things that indicate that this may be due to bacterial overgrowth.
I also read a rather archly written article yesterday that seemed to imply that it doesn't really happen, but women imagine it. (of course)
I'll take whatever advice from fellow "bloaters". Has anything worked for you, or is it just a matter of acceptance? (I think that's one of the phrases they teach male medical students to say to female patients: "that's something you're just going to have to learn to live with, dear.")
Regarding the bacterial overgrowth issue in particular, I've started on a probiotic this week in the hope of addressing this. How long, in your experience, before I can see some effect?
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Hi,
I get bloating, too, but Phazyme does seem to help me. I think if it is bacterial overgrowth then the probiotic should help. Don't know how long it will take, though.
Could you have water retention? Just a thought.
Good luck,
Barbie
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Well, that's another story; yes, around PMS time I do have some water-retention type bloating, although I have been able to relieve that to an extent with diet (especially curtailing salt intake).
But this happening day in, day out, all month long.
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somethings that reeaaallly helped me (I am ibs c generally):
never drinking with eating - except if I need to take a swig to wash down a vitamin pill. that includes not drinking for at least 20 minutes before and one hour after a meal.
not eating fruit with my meal, before OR after it. i tolerate fruit best on an empty stomach...or with plain toast crackers its ok..but with any kind of meal...even soup...noooo waaaay.
no more then 500g of fruit a day.
keeping my starches and proteins seperate. I don't eat chicken and potatoes/rice together....just chicken and vegies or starches and vegies...this is to keep my meals really really simple...I cannot eat anything complicated. I can't have a two course meal!!! just one course at a time!!
these really really helped me get regular and keep that morning flat belly!!
hope it helps!!!
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Feel the fear and do it anyway!
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So you CAN do rice & veg but not rice and protein huh? Interesting. And to think one of my favorite meals is fish/rice, chick/rice, turkey/rice (you get the idea). And this really makes a difference for you? Cause I'm pretty sick of being a size 10 in the morning and a 16 by 5pm.
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Your story sounds soooooo familar I could have written it myself! I used to have a flat stomach in the morning when I'd get up. It would get a little larger after breakfast. Then, after lunch, I looked 5 months pregnant!!
I noticed it go away when I #1-eliminated brocolli and whole grains from my diet, #2-drank tummy mint tea before bed each night, and #3-took Phazyme when I felt any gas pain coming on.
I think the tea may be the key though!
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eating very simply makes a huge difference to me. its not sociable to graze like a cow during the day and people stare at me during meals when I don't really mix lots of foods together (eg have some brown rice with cooked carrots = a meal)...
I am ibs c so I don't feel I am helped by eating soluble first ie I can have a chicken breast with vegies and not need to eat it on a base of rice. although carbs make up the vast majority of my diet.
I eat little and very often (probably eating every 90 minutes). I NEVER ever drink while I eat, for half an hour before and for an hour after (this reaaallly helped).Never eat fruit with my meal, just on their own or with a few dry crackers. I never eat more then 500g of fruit a day. I never eat different kinds of fruits together ( like a fruit salad).The sad part is also that sugar makes me bloated...so I really don't eat cookies, cakes etc with sugar. I still haven't reached the stage of stabilising where I try to eat a little sugar and see what happens but I KNOW that sugar makes me bloated.
so there you go. oh and lots of mint tea between mini meals helps too!
This seriously works for me...I go to sleep most nights with a bikini belly now and fit in my clothes. I just worked this out with trial and error.
good luck
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Feel the fear and do it anyway!
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now that the rest is under control its better, but not gone for me too... so finding the suggestions below helpful.. I'm IBS-A and will have to experiment.. mom tried to tell me it was all in my head... but I pointed out when I have relatively bloat free days I can wear my 6's, most days I'm stuck in my 10's and they are tight (my solution- draping dresses isn't a true and valid one)
Amie
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Dietetics Student (anticipating RD exam in Aug 2010)
IBS - A
Dairy Allergic
Fructose and MSG intollerant
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By sugar, do you mean refined sugar, or any simple carb that's sweet... like fructose, cane juice, or honey?
Cause I do very little (we don't even have any of it in the house) refined sugar, but I do use about a tsp of honey a day on my morning cereal.
Not trying to say this to be combative, but if you don't drink for an hour after eating or 1/2 hour before, and if you're eating every 90 minutes, when do you drink?? (Just really trying to figure this out cause you seem to have a system that's working.)
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ha ha ha sorry!! really put my foot in it, didn't I? I MUST drink sometime and I know I do because I pee a lot.
Ok, the 90 mins thing was an average...I have been using this system for four years now so I am familiar with the feeling of when my belly is too full of liquid so I know not to eat for another number of minutes or so...I used to do it religiously ie half an hour before and not for an hour after to the clock, but now it is less so.
I realise that its not always eating every 90 minutes...sometimes two or three hours can go by...but in general I am grazing a lot.
So I DO drink....and it IS between snacks (I don't call what I eat 'meals') and it really does work. food should not be so salty that you HAVE to drink afterwards.
Is that making any sense or did I just make it worse?!
As for sugar, at the moment I have absolutely no simple sugar (apart from fruits of course). I really hope I can have mollasses, honey, maple syrup and a bit of sugar but am not stable enough yet to reintroduce it and see what it does (had a massive regression in my ibs in the last four months!).
I am sure your teaspoon of honey is not bothering you, but hey, how bout taking it out incase.
oh, another thing that would make me really bloated is cereal with milk (another solid, liquid combination)...same goes for soup with solids in it...I simply can't eat it without getting bloated.
so thats me, a bit of a weirdo, but it works for me.
let me know if you try it.....hope I didn't confuse you more!
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Feel the fear and do it anyway!
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I get the idea, and my eating patterns are much the same. I rarely have a real "meal" any more. That does help some but doesn't alleviate the problem. The bloat creeps up no matter how much or how little.
How about vegs and starch (like rice)?
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I find that too much white starchy stuff, be it white rice or white bread clogs me up, bloats me, and constipates me. I need to balance it with wholegrains...it is a MUST for me. my bloatedness is a lot to do with not having regular bowel movements. when I achieve a balance of three perfect poos a day, and eat only little meals etc etc I feel almost normal belly size wise. are your bowel movements stable and of good consistency?
I can eat non gasy cooked vegies...beans, lentils etc give me lots of gas...so do onions, cauliflower and broccoli. I hope to be able to reintroduce them in tiny portions one day in the future. but they are certainly not safe vegies, like root vegies for example.
you said you hardly have real meals either, but how many different food types are you eating in one of these small meals?
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Feel the fear and do it anyway!
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Agreed on the whole grains. I find, as you have, that the soluble fiber thing is not such a deal breaker as it is for those with D.
I have occasional C but am for the most part pretty regular. The bloat doesn't seem to be related to that; I mean that regular or not, I still bloat. Very mysterious and frustrating!
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Say, those suggestions have been really helpful!
One "food group" or even one food at a time; little water with food, much water the rest of the day. I can especially see a difference now that I've stopped mixing rice with protein.
Wow!
Thanks for the suggestions, and Happy New Year!
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