Stomach pain / bloating - need PR help

[Emmarose47]

Hi I think I'm Def gathering stomach issues is a thing for us ...anyone know why that is ?
I've had IBS for several yrs and has increased as the CFS has ...
Well I assume it's IBS . The medication has worked and following fod map.
This past couple mths has been pretty constant . After eating I get pain , bloating , lots of gurgling ( not much has coming out though ) . It used to always be behind belly button and is now much wider area ..is that large intestine as opposed to bowel ? I'm not sure how to tell .

I need to try now being more careful with the fod map and taking everything back down to recommended .

Some days I'm not getting the pain so much . Some days it's quite consistent .
It used to be spasm now is more like deep throbbing ache ...

Where do I start with all this could it be something different to IBS ? Or could the IBS symptoms just have changed ?
Wondering if to get the doc to come to me ?

All experience / knowledge welcome thanks

 

[ljimbo423]

Hi I think I'm Def gathering stomach issues is a thing for us ...anyone know why that is ?

For me it was a combination of things. A high junk food diet, low in fresh fruits and veggies, many, many courses of antibiotics and chronic stress. I had chronic anxiety and panic attacks years before I developed ME/CFS.

All of these things cause dysbiosis and leaky gut, which often causes IBS. A low carb diet (especially low in starchy carbs like potatoes, rice, oatmeal, pasta, etc.) can help lower an overgrowth of inflammatory bacteria in the gut. Therefore help to reduce symptoms of IBS.

I've found a diet very low in starchy carbs works best for me. Although I do avoid Fodmaps too because they worsen my IBS symptoms.

Doing things like meditation, prayer, etc, anything to help lower stress can also help. I think stress is a major cause of my IBS and having ME/CFS causes A LOT of stress, in and of itself. So I spend about an hour a day, doing things to help lower my stress levels.

 

[Viala]

There may be several causes, one of them is that you may react to some specific foods.
If that's the case, elimination diet may be a good idea here. It's not easy, but this way you will have a chance to find which foods are bad for you. So for example chose from your list couple of foods and test them for a few days. It may be rice with vegetables that are known to be safe for most people, only several foods. If you'll feel better, that's the information that problem may be with some particular foods. Then you can add one or only couple at a time to test if your IBS comes back. Sometimes the problem is with grains, so other combination of foods could work for the beginning. I've had similar problem years ago, but with elimination diet all bloating and pain went away in a couple of days, I was amazed.

 

[Woof!]

There may be several causes, one of them is that you may react to some specific foods. If that's the case, elimination diet may be a good idea... with elimination diet all bloating and pain went away in a couple of days, I was amazed.

I have to agree with Viala, with one minor caveat. For me, any grains (with the exception of oatmeal) cause issues. The same with any starches, which cause my Sjogrens Syndrome and ME/CFS to flare (so just going "gluten-free" would never work).

A good way to pinpoint dairy as an issue would be to take over-the-counter dairy enzymes (you can get them at any drug store or pharmacy) one minute before eating dairy. If this helps, then try a few meals with dairy but without the enzymes. If you're still fine, the problem isn't with dairy. If you're not fine, then your choices are to stop eating dairy or eat dairy only with the enzymes (which are cheap).

A good way to pinpoint issues with hi-carb veggies like beans is to do the above using Beano or a similar carb-enzyme product.

Beyond this, you could always do what I did, which had the added benefit of detoxing me and helping me shed a few unwanted pounds (plus I felt TERRIFIC afterwards), and that is to eat only green smoothies for 4 days (ingredients: banana, blueberries, spinach, mandarin oranges, almond butter, celery, carrots and unsweetened almond milk) - not to say that you couldn't be sensitive to any of these ingredients; it's just that you have to start somewhere. Then I added homemade oatmeal bars (ingredients: oatmeal, coconut flakes, banana, pomegranate seeds, chopped mango, chunky almond butter, maple syrup, salt & cinnamon). Once I saw that I tolerated all that, I began to add one new ingredient back to my diet at a time, every 3-4 days. I lost an unwanted 17# in the process, stopped feeling bloated, stopped 95% of my sugar cravings (I still love dark chocolate) and all of my refined carb cravings, and I found roughly a dozen ingredients or food categories that I could no longer tolerate.

The good news is: all of this doesn't require physician intervention. It is something you can do yourself to make yourself feel better.

Best of luck. If you decide to try these things, let us know how things work out.

 

[Howard]

I wholeheartedly agree with each of these responses.. with an elimination diet being essential.

I had terrible IBS early on during this illness, being sick every single day, bloated, too. The one thing that solved the problem once and for all was the elimination of simple sugars. The day I stopped ingesting simple sugars, my IBS ceased.

If you eliminate simple sugars, be advised that sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners are nearly as bad, and sometimes worse, in regards to bloating. For instance, almost any amount of aspartame causes some level of bloating for me.

And your large intestine is typically located above your belly button and beneath your rib cage (in comparison to the area in which you are specifically referring). This portion is known as the transverse colon.. and if you are constipated (for instance), you may feel additional pressure in and around that particular area.. with feces material being backed up (from bottom to top).

Of course, I am not a medical professional, so there could be other causes beyond any of this.

Also (and if you don't do this already), I would highly recommend keeping a daily food diary.

H

 

[Rufous McKinney]

what is strange to me is I tend to eat similar foods for days on end. Oh, like the same dinner three nights in a row.

I have had the same exact breakfast for- 10 months.

So its sometimes from all that, leads me to conclusions like: Stop Blaming Food. Its not the food .

sometimes- yes, its something about the food.

But energy is used up and my gut dysfunctions- is about as common as poisoned by Toast.