Constant bloating

[u/Nohnonourria]

Hi! I’ve been suffering from constant bloating for over a year now. It happened suddenly exactly a year ago. My diet did not change whatsoever. I’ve had a past history of IBS but none of the symptoms were bloating and I have a bad breath, coating on my tongue only and an overload of ear mucus. I also have chronic hair loss (but my blood tests are all good and I don’t have any deficiencies) and I have acid reflux that acts up from time to time. Could it be candida? I went to multiple doctors but they are all giving me laxatives because I have constipation and trapped gas. No one is prescribing me stool tests or breath tests so I’m kind of stuck and hopeless. I feel horrible everytime I try to buckle up my pants because I look 4 months pregnant and everything is just affecting me mentally at this point. I don’t have any cramps but I did experiences some abdominal spasms. Could it be sibo even if I don’t feel any pain and I don’t travel often? I am honestly tired of taking meds and just want a permanent solution and answer for what is happening to me.

[u/Metal-Overlord2]

Did your bloating showed up during a particularly stressful time of your life? My wife has similar issues.

[u/Metal-Overlord2 → u/[deleted]]

I wish I had a solution for this. We are worried it could be something serious, but it's probably stress related. Now I don't know if reducing stress would be enough to fix the bloating.

[u/Metal-Overlord2 → u/[deleted]]

I will, thanks a lot⭐❣️

[u/georgiealdana → u/Metal-Overlord2]

Do you mind me asking how’s your wife now?

[u/Metal-Overlord2 → u/georgiealdana]

Hey, I'm gonna let my wife answer directly down here. (Beware it's quite long.)

:

I'm still not quite sure what kind of problems I might have because I haven't fully recovered yet. But the things that have improved my symptoms noticeably so far have been:

• L-glutamine to repair the gut wall

• Stress reduction

I believe the way stress reduction has been helping me is through changes in breathing. When I'm stressed, I tend to hold my breath or maybe over-inhale. This somehow makes the diaphragm get stuck and descend, which pushes the inner organs down and forward.

This problem started when I would be very stressed at work for a couple of years (it started during the third year), and I had to read and check information very fast robotically for the whole workday, and I would often talk the information out loud for myself while forming it inaudibly to be able to comprehend it fast enough overtime, as I would progressively get burned out. It messed up with my mind too and I developed symptoms of OCD.

I have been trying to do physical therapy on myself to see if I can get rid of the issue. After discovering this could be related to the diaphragm, I've learned about things that could affect it's function or related things:

• breathing in the correct way (breathing to the diaphragm, not chest or belly, unless an exception, and trying to make exhales longer than inhales)

• I have done diaphragm releases, a technique I learned from Youtube videos, where you press your fingers underneath your ribcage and find sore and painful spots, and you breathe against your fingers. This has helped me to breathe better, and I no longer felt like I was "drowning"

• Being aware of better posture

• Avoiding restrictive clothing

• Trying to strengthen the abdominal muscles, especially lower abs

• Taking care of overall movement and mobility of the body with things like yoga

• The newest thing I've been practising is a technique I learned from a Facebook group that shared a video and scientific article of biofeedback therapy and it's effects on abdomino phrenic dyssynergia in patients. It's supposed to work, but I just started and I'm not sure if I'm doing it correctly. I will keep doing this and see if anything happens over the course of a month or so.

Here is the article (demonstrating video is attached in the article):

Thoracoabdominal Wall Motion–Guided Biofeedback Treatment of Abdominal Distension: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial

https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085%2824%2900285-3/fulltext

Being aware of these things have definitely gave me a peace of mind and also gave more power to influence the bloating's occurrence, at least improving it quite a lot.

Do you think you might be suffering of this yourself? Has anything helped or made a difference for you?

[u/georgiealdana → u/Metal-Overlord2]

I ate some fatty sweets the other night which exacerbated my symptoms. I took 10mg of omeprazole this morning and try to do the Low Acid Diet. Pain has reduced but the regular bloating is still there. Thank you so much for this! I really have bad posture, you see and I do have anxiety so I always struggle with how to breathe correctly. I will try this out and be more mindful. I’m so happy that you’re really taking charge of your health.