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Bloating - I look pregnant

Spinney Lainey

Senior Member
Messages
148
Location
London
I've been putting it down to my amitriptyline but now, I'm now so sure! Does anyone else have this and if so, what have you found to be the cause? I'm starting to think it could be candida and/or bacteria.

I don't eat wheat but now am thinking of cutting out gluten altogether, as the bloating is getting worse and worse. I don't eat lactose, either. Not sure what else it could be. Everything seems to make me bloated....:(
 

barbc56

Senior Member
Messages
3,657
I am not a health professional, but IMHO, you need to see your physician.

Good luck and keep us updated.

Edit. Do you have IBS? Even if you do, my advice would be the same.
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
I have had good luck with Thorne SF 722 when I've had candida.

I think you can do an elimination diet to see if there is one particular food that is bothering you, that will help narrow things down.

I developed IBS out of the blue in 2010. As the day went on I became more and more bloated.

So maybe do the path of least resistance first.
 

Spinney Lainey

Senior Member
Messages
148
Location
London
Ok. Thanks. Will bear that in mind depending on what the problem turns out to be.

Am going to make an appointment with my GP and take it from there. Although I know I might end up having to go private....

Was there a particular make of digestive enzymes?
 

Seven7

Seven
Messages
3,444
Location
USA
Well in my case I get that because my Blood pools in my abdomen, I have Orthostatic Intolerance like most ME, so y have terrible pooling in stomach and legs.
 

antherder

Senior Member
Messages
456
Sometimes conditions unrelated to food, like uterine fibroids, can cause bloating. If you don't have any improvement with things like digestive enzymes etc, it might be worth investigating this possibility.
 

ukxmrv

Senior Member
Messages
4,413
Location
London
The Amitrip may be causing problems in your stomach. Serotonin is also in the gut and I found that taking Amitrip caused tremendous problems such as the bloating you are reporting.

It was not Candida for me as I did the diet, took the supplements / drugs and it made no difference.

The Amitrip added to the slow stomach motility problem that I had and made it much worse. Digestve enzymes and Betaine HCL helped me with this.

An NHS Gastroenterologist may be willing to look at your stomach issues. They can diagnose the slow motility and maybe prescribe drugs. They may also be willing to test for SIBO (bacterial overgrowth) by using a breath test.

I wasn't well enough to follow this through in the end but found someone willing to help at my local NHS hospital.

It may be that stopping the Amitrip will clear up the problem as well.
 

Spinney Lainey

Senior Member
Messages
148
Location
London
That's very helpful!! Do you know - I have been putting it down to amitriptyline up until now but since it got this bad - I thought it might be something else. Thanks - I will ask about seeing a gastroenterologist. Am also planning to come off the ami anyway. There is hope!
 

Seven7

Seven
Messages
3,444
Location
USA
How does one know if blood is pooling in the abdomen?
In my case, when I wake up is normal. As I walk or stand for long periods of time (in cfs time world) my belly start getting bigger and bigger and bigger. If I lay down for a while, belly goes back down (sometimes it doesn't until overnight again).

Another way I know is pain patterns. When I don't wear compression socks, My thighs hurt sooo bad, when is the stomach pooling, my arms and upper body hurts more (muscle latic acid pain like).
 

Spinney Lainey

Senior Member
Messages
148
Location
London
The Amitrip may be causing problems in your stomach. Serotonin is also in the gut and I found that taking Amitrip caused tremendous problems such as the bloating you are reporting.

It was not Candida for me as I did the diet, took the supplements / drugs and it made no difference.

The Amitrip added to the slow stomach motility problem that I had and made it much worse. Digestve enzymes and Betaine HCL helped me with this.

An NHS Gastroenterologist may be willing to look at your stomach issues. They can diagnose the slow motility and maybe prescribe drugs. They may also be willing to test for SIBO (bacterial overgrowth) by using a breath test.

I wasn't well enough to follow this through in the end but found someone willing to help at my local NHS hospital.

It may be that stopping the Amitrip will clear up the problem as well.

Ok, so I went to the GP. He said it's not gas. It seems to be just weight gain, which I can't quite get my head around - as I'm not really eating that much to warrant a pregnant looking belly!!

He's sending me for blood tests to check kidney and liver function and also for coeliac disease. I'm also going to have an ultrasound to check my ovaries are ok.

He said if I don't get any positive results it would be just put down to weight gain.

Just wondering about the slow stomach motility thing and bacterial thing though - how did you get referred for that?

Didn't seem like the doctor would refer me to a gastroenterologist unless any of my test results came back positive....
 
Messages
76
Location
Australia
Amitrip made me look 12months pregnant! In the end I had to come off it and found that all of my oedema went after a couple of months. It's the downside, I guess, of it being a member of the anti-depressant family.

Like every other ME sufferer, I also have a leaky gut and have developed further food allergies causing the occasional explosions of bowel gas! Probiotics work but some are more of a problem - if you are allergic to whey and soy protein like I am, most probiotics will make you worse as that what the little bugs are suspended in. Metagenics make a dairy free probiotic that is very good, although a tad pricey.
 

joshi81

Senior Member
Messages
171
Location
Rome,Italy,Europe
i'm using the Houston's Zyme Prime and Trineza, i take one pill of each at lunch and dinner, so 1Zyme+1Trienza at lunch and 1Zyme +1Trienza at dinner
 

antares4141

Senior Member
Messages
576
Location
Truth or consequences, nm
Oh and by the way, NHS GPs don't believe in Candida.....anyone know if there's published journals on the it?

Probably none that are considered reputable by main stream standards. Let us know how the celiac test's come back that would be my guess although I'm not sure the test will come back positive cause I'm not sure our gluten/food sensitivities are necessarily from celiac. For instance during WWII I believe many service men got tropical sprue:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_sprue
While the symptoms are similar to celiac (flattning of the vili) the treatment is different involving antibiotics and drinking bottled water.

I was late getting onto the gf bandwagon but I try to avoid anything that has it. My bloating went away the diareah I still have but isn't as bad and the super unpleasant symptoms after meals is just mildly unpleasant now. I also swear by drinking just distilled water. Eat lot's of boiled potatoes cooked in pressure cooker. Try not to eat sauces or salad dressings regardless of weather they are gf but sometimes I have them.

I wish I would have gotten tested before I got off gluten. I'm certainly not going back on gluten to do the test's and my understanding is there not reliable otherwise. My suspicion is the biopsy of the vili would be the best test because what antibodies show up for celiac might not be applicable to us.
 

Spinney Lainey

Senior Member
Messages
148
Location
London
Actually, the severe bloating went down after a few days, so I think it must have been gluten. Generally I've cut out wheat but had a few wheat things in the run-up to that severe bloating. Am getting tested for coeliac disease but doubt it'll be positive, because I think it's more of a gluten intolerance than full-on allergy. The amitriptyline is definitely contributing to the general weight gain and rounded belly, too.