So, this sounds ridiculous but I’m desperate! Like a lot of people, my nutrition ebbs and flows. Whenever I’m in healthy eating mode (grazing on healthy stuff throughout the day, etc.) I seem to have terrible/constant gas.
I have not changed the speed at which I eat my entire life, so it’s not a matter of gulping air.
I have diversified my nutrition enough to the extent that I can’t pinpoint one particular problematic food.
I have tried Gas-X and Beano, and both are equally useless.
My workout schedule is the same, regardless of whether my nutrition is ebbing or flowing - so I don’t think it has anything to do with exercise.
I have a theory that it may have something to do with eating small amounts frequently, instead of the traditional 3 larger meals per day.
Can anyone help? Should I go to the Dr. and see if there’s some sort of pill for this?
There’s no pill. The GI doctors are mostly useless, in my opinion, unless your issues are severe and/or well understood like ulcers or colitis requiring surgery.
Have you ever had an antibiotic prescription?
I think it’s bacterial imbalance, because for me it was, and it was caused by clindamycin. I take probiotics daily (Culturelle). Experiment with different probiotics (different live cultures) and see what you get. Give each one at least a week to 10 days to see what it does.
Trial and error. It took me about a year. I went to all sorts of doctors, and they billed me, and came up with nothing. Also, gluten free diet helps a lot. And staying away from certain fruits. Apples and raisins are particularly bad for some reason.
Hammer Nutrition have CHEAP probiotics. Digest caps I think is the name? If you order from them give those a try. I have not tried them myself though. I used Align and now I use Culturelle.
Agree with Dilbert. Most likely it is bacterial imbalance and probiotic can help with that. I take 1 daily before my first meal. I noticed if I don’t take one for a while I start having issues like you described.
I saw gluten intolerance mentioned, but also try eliminating dairy from your diet for awhile. It could be a lactose issue. That being said, if you like yogurt, then you really don’t have to stop eating it, and it will also help (live culture yogurt of course) re-establish a good bacteria count in your belly. Try Greek style yogurts, preferably plain.
Fecal transplants are showing promise…for clostridium difficile.
Probiotic might help, if not consider a digestive enzyme supplement.
To echo what others have said, DONT go see a GI. I guarantee you will get:
A) A meaningless diagnosis of ‘irritable bowel syndrome’
B: A prescription for an acid blocker (prilosec, etc)
You’ve got gas because your digestion is incomplete. Food is being partially digested, and sitting in your gut rotting and making the gas.
Take an enzyme with each meal, and limit your fluid intake with meals and about an hour after. Excessive fluid intake during meals doesn’t help with digestion.
If it’s just gas, treat on your own. If you’ve got other GI symptoms you may want to see a doctor to rule out other issues.
Switch to Atkins for 2 weeks. I have zero gas on Atkins. Obviously you do not want to stay on Atkins but you can start adding veggies and various carbs back until you identify what is causing you gas. I suspect it’s mostly breads and certain veggies. Gluten can be a problem for some.
I find that sugar in general makes things worse. Somewhere I read thta lots of sugars can help yeast spread in your guts and that in turn creates gas. I’ve never looked into that so I have no idea if that’s true…but avoiding junk sugar in general is a good idea.
The healthier stuff however often has fiber and fiber = gas.
Beyond that, I take digestive enzymes and a Natures Way Probiotic. Both help with my crohns disease, but also help with the gas quite a bit. I think they are good places to start as the guts are loaded with bacteria.
I’ve always gotten gas during long runs. I think its all the shaking.
I resisted this idea for a very long time, because gluten-free seems a bit like the fad of the month right now, but I have discovered that wheat (any kind) and dairy fat (cheese, ice cream) intake cause instant gas buildup for me. Lowfat yogurt does not cause the problem.
Probiotics did not make any difference for me at all.
Gat a bulldog, your gas will smell like roses compared to theirs.
Sorry I have one sitting under my feet right now ripping ass.
That was my solution (except I have a Hokkaido - which is kind of like the Bulldog of the east when it comes to attitude, personality, and gas).
My wife used to complain about my farting - now I just blame the dog.
Although, the downside is that she totally knows when I’m full of it. My farts smell like sh*t - his farts smell like rotten corpses.
One of the wonderful side effects of crohns is a bit of internal bleeding in the gut occassionally. Try digesting your own blood and then passing gas. In college I did that for months without knowing what was going on. My roommate was a very unhappy camper.
I’ve smelled some pretty nasty things in my day. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING compared to that smell. Can a fart be “heavy” because these were. They were putrid to a point where I’d actually have to leave the room. And they lingered…for hours.
At one point I let one rip in a rather large guys locker room and literally cleared it out. There were many…many witnesses. If I had any pride left I would have been embarrassed for myself. Pride and crohns are mutually exclusive.
I was once puzzled by my stomach really bothering me after breakfast to the point where I had problems racing. I went to a GI doctor, who was useless. I looked at lactose intolerance and realized I had the symptoms and eliminated dairy and the issue went away.
In retrospect, what happened was I had a sinus infection and took some antibiotics and maybe killed off the bacteria I needed to digest the milk sugar, so it just kind of fermented in my intestines. After a couple weeks I added the diary back and have not had an issue in 20 years.
