Has Anybody Else Felt FAT and WEAK Muscles When Bloated?
#349137 - 08/17/09 05:09 PM
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I've tried to describe the "sensation" that I feel in my body but it has been tough to articulate it.
I'm hoping others on here who suffer from IBS can relate and help explain what is going on in my body so I can better describe it to my doctor and have better insight to treat the symptoms.
What first got me years ago to begin seeing a GI doctor was that despite the fact that I would go to the gym and my weight for my height and size should have made me out to be thin….I felt very fat in my stomach, or "bloated."
Not only that, but it seemed that when I was having days/periods of time were my stomach was bloated, the rest of my body looked and felt distorted/weak.
When my stomach is bloated, my arms, my chest, all of my muscles look a lot smaller, they feel weaker, and flimsier.
The few times that my stomach is not bloated, my muscles have felt contrastly different.
When stomach has been flat, my chest, my arms all have felt all more "solid" and firm, they have been much better defined.
It is like I have two different bodies.
One is where I look fat in my stomach (like I am overweight and pregnant) while the rest of my body looks flimsy and weak (as if I have never lifted a weight).
Then the other body looks like the real me, a thin stomach and defined muscles.
So when I am experiencing IBS bloating…I'm getting a double whammy.
My body, which I work so hard on, no matter how much I run, no matter how little I weigh, and no matter how much I lift, looks fat and weak when bloated.
It pretty much feels like when I am having a bloating episode, that all of the "fluids/muscles/nutrients" in my body have been "drained" like water on the floodplain into my stomach.
Now I have noticed when I am having more regular bowel movements, this is less of problem.
The reverse is true without regular bowel movements.
Also…say I go to the gym…and I have a really intense, great workout.
I can feel a real strong "pump" in my body that can at the same time give my muscles a "pump" and flatten/reduce the bloating.
This is the sensation I have been having for several years.
This is the whole reason I inquired and found out I had IBS.
I've tried to explain it before and people have looked at it as I am some dysmorphic psycho…but I know and feel this going on in my body.
I wanted to know
1) Have any of you experienced this? Is this common with IBS?
2) Do you have any better ways of explaining or terminology of what I am experiencing?
3) Are there any specific treatments that are more effective in targeting these symptoms I have described?
-For my IBS symptoms I have employed
Quote:
A. Diet
-5 meals a day
-Spinach once
-Oat bran/applesauce
-No dairy/red meat/pork/fat/alcohol
-Soluble fiber
B. Exercise
-Lift weights 2-3 times a week
-Warm up running
C. Supplements
-Benefiber
-Acidophilus
If there are ANY other supplements/treatments that best target the bloating/muscle fat/weak inverse relationship sensation I have PLEASE let me know.
Thanks!
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IBS-C and Bloating
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Take a look at these two cites, its the Chinese view on why this would make complete sense. I guess you can describe this because when you are bloated, things are not moving and flowing in the body. Liquids, bowels, energy, and blood are stuck in the center and not flowing to the muscles and limbs, making them feel weak. The Spleen is in charge of digestion in chinese medicine and if it is deficient two of the symptoms are bloating and weak limbs. Read these websites its pretty interesting, hope this helps!
http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:LWWFDV8jnAoJ:www.mybodywisdom.net/pdf/Spleen_Qi_Nutrition.pdf+spleen+qi+deficiency+bloating+weak+limbs&hl=en&gl=us
http://www.balfourhealing.com/treatment-ibs.html
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Sure feeling fat and out of shape is common with severe bloating. I have confirmed it is not just me that feels that even my butt and thighs swell when bloated. I don't know exactly about the weak muscles, other than that your body doesn't feel right and it can be ab spasms can cause a weak sensation all over -like after D. Today I was so bloated my rib cage hurt like heartburn but all over.
Everyone experiences things differently and describes them differently. I have a lingo all my own with IBS that my husband understands, but when seeing a doctor terms like 'distension' 'spasms' etc work best.
The only things that work well for bloating are: staying stable/regular/taking acacia; drinking lots of fennel tea; eating often/slowly/standing while eating; exercising a lot or doing yoga and specific stretches; not wearing tight clothing/not napping/not holding in gas or stressing.
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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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You are describing the symptoms of bloating and distention which are common symptoms of IBS. Muscle weakness is a perceived sensation but there is likely no actual loss of strength. Distention has actually been measured in IBSers. Over the past few years there has been a lot of research to figure out what causes these symptoms. Researchers still have little insight into the cause of bloating and distention but some research show that probiotics such as Align may relieve these symptoms in some IBSers. Here are links to some abstracts of research papers that talk about these symptoms in IBS.
Bloating and Distention in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: The Role of Visceral Sensation
Review article: abdominal bloating and distension in functional gastrointestinal disorders – epidemiology and exploration of possible mechanisms
The Relation of Passage of Gas and Abdominal Bloating to Colonic Gas Production
Bloating and Distension in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: The Role of Gastrointestinal Transit
Your GI doctor should understand the symptoms of bloating and distention but not likely have many suggestions about how to control these symptoms 
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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never heard of standing while eating..maybe I should try this.
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is the best way to avoid getting bloated I have found. I only do it occasionally but when I attend my conventions I stand in a park at a ledge and never get bloated. It makes a huge differnce.
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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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I didn't know standing while eating can help bloat! I'll have to try that since my bloating is on the severe side.It will be hard but I'm so desperate for something to work since fennel and mint hardly helps my trapped gas.
Thanks!
On a side note someone mentioned Align and that is a dairy probiotic so it's useless. Bio K dairy free liquid probiotic is a good one to try.Itt tastes like mango candy.
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It is good to do when bloating will probably come on (when you have been sitting a lot e.g.) or when you really don't want to get bloated (special evening out). I can't just do it all the time or I'd never get to sit except on the pot. 
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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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Thats interesting because I've discovered that if I sit up very straight during and after eating I have a lot less gas. I'm taking a class that lasts until 10 pm and its not possible to stand (supper if provided for the class, but I bring my own food!) But if I concentrate on eating slowly, chewing completely, and sit up very straight, the gas isn't a problem-which is good since I'm around so many other people. 
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THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING.
I go to the gym 4 times a week...3 of them to lift weights as I am trying to get a ripped, clean body.
It literally brings me to tears to see myself as I am vs. others who chug beer and pizza.
I know (when I am not bloated) what the real me looks like..and I am lean and cut.
But most of the time and especially now I am so bloated it robs me of all my tone and defintion.
Not only do I feel weaker (and actually lift less!) but when I feel bloated in my stomach
My muscles (chest/arms/legs/shoulders) ARE smaller and more flimsly. When I am less bloated...I feel like I have more beef on my muscles and they feel more firm.
It pretty much is a double whammy when bloated as
1) I am bloated
2) my muscles are smaller in size
I go from looking cut and toned to fat and weak, and it is SO frustrating I want to cry because it really feels like no matter what I do to look in shape, there is nothing I can do to escape.
1) So it is not just me...others of you have the SAME problem...that when bloated you feel like all the fluid/matter in body is sucked from your muscles to your gut...resulting in a fat gut and weakish looking/feeling muscles?
2) Why does it happen, that when bloated it feels like all the matter in my body has been sucked into the gut...but when not bloated it feels like all the matter has been distrbuted and I feel/look stronger and cut?
-Is there an explanation?
3) What, if anything, is the best remedy, because the EFI diet after years ain't doing it?
Does anything work really well that I have not tried?
-Tea?
-Yoga????
Anything to get the bloating down and release the matter from my gut elsewhere?
Quote:
probiotics such as Align may relieve these symptoms in some IBSers.
If I didn't know better, I would say Align is to blame....because after just 1.5 weeks of it, and being off it for a week, I still feel as horrible as I ever have (before I found this site...that bad).
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IBS-C and Bloating
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