Allison,
Welcome to the board, if I haven't said so already!
First, I once read that if you hold gas in, it gets reabsorbed into the body and doesn't make things worse. Having said that, I only hold it in in social situations, like weddings, funerals, and dinner with new friends. Otherwise, too bad.
My mother-in-law is the Queen of Farts! She is so elegant and chic and genteel, but she has these silent but deadly ones, like break out the gas masks! She simply refuses to acknowledge them. She goes right on with whatever she's doing without batting an eye. I like to think that's how the Queen of England would handle it too!
I think sometimes we think too much about what other people think about us. It's almost a distorted sense of self to think that other people even think about us at all. They're all wrapped up in their own problems, thinking about their own farts, and most of the time don't even notice ours!
Having said all that, I have two positive suggestions. The first is to practice saying, I'm sorry I have IBS and my stomach is upset, I hope that wasn't too bad. You would not only be easing your own embarrassment you'd also be doing all the rest of us a favor by educating the people around you about IBS. The more we explain IBS to other people, the more understanding and sympathetic they'll be and the easier it will be for all of us. So do it for me and everyone else here, okay?!
The second suggestion is that my gas decreased to almost none once I'd been on Heather's diet for a while (by diet I mean all her suggestions, like SFS, probiotics, etc). So i would suggest that you try all the suggestions people have made here for eliminating the problem before it starts:
Gas-X (simthicone) - I take two every morning and have for the past year.
Fennel tea
Avoid gas producing foods
Yoga positions for eliminating gas
etc
Do a search of Heather's site (not the boards) for bloating and you'll find her writeup.
Good luck!!
--------------------
Laura
Keep it simple!
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Re: gas and bloating in public?
