Stomach bloat won't go away

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  • ash8184
    ash8184 Posts: 701 Member
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    Thank you :smile:
    The thing is, I almost never eat processed... My diet consist of fresh fruit and vegetable, whole grains, fish and eggs... The only thing that seemed to have changed in my diet around the time I started to bloat is I was eating a little more bread and cheese. I was recovering from being afraid of certain foods and allowing myself to enjoy the foods I like in moderation. So I ate processed in a small amount, once in a while. I also was getting my 2 liters (sometimes more) of water, now a little less because the bloat makes me feel very heavy.

    Do you think I should consult again ? It's not getting any better, on the contrary. Also, how soon can I expect improvement with a gluten free diet, if gluten is indeed the problem ? I don't really know when I should give up the theory, if I see no change.

    I limit breads and cheese (and pasta) for this reason - I get terrible stomach bloat with even 1 piece of bread or a small piece of cheese. Try eliminating these from your diet for a month and see how you feel?
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
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    I just came back to the gastro enterologist. It went horrible. He basically said that it was very common and because of stress and that he didn't want to do more than a blood test. Nothing else, no meds. I told him about how
    - I went gluten free for three weeks and felt a little better
    - I even had a flat stomach some mornings (it's almost never flat, only sometimes when I didn't have dinner the night before)
    - I ate bread again after three weeks and had nausea, pain and my stomach distented way more
    - I always felt gasy and blaoted after eating fruits for breakfast, so I tried eating plain yogurt instead, not only did I feel good but my stomach stayed flat even after lunch (gluten free) so I tried eating ONE grape and I saw my stomach blowing up immediately.
    He didn't care at all and told me I'm imagining things, that I can't know stuff about my body.

    It feels really awful to be told it's about stress, it happen to me during the holiday, I was the happiest I've ever been, I was eating loads of good food, working out, loving my body for the first time after endless cycles of overeating and undereating. My mother (I should have never let her come with me) confirmed that I was stressed but i'm so not ! Yes I'm a student, but it's going great. Last year and numerous times in my life when I was stressed and depressed I never experienced something like that. I can't eat anything without looking six months pregnant and feeling horribly gasy. I was suspecting somekind of intolerance because elimating some food kinda worked.

    I really don't know what to do if my blood test doesn't show anything. Eliminating gluten and fruits makes it better but i still blow up everytime I eat, sometimes without even eating. I'm thinking about seeing another gastro enterologist.

    If you didn't eliminate oats or even the supposedly "gluten-free" grains, then that's probably why you still had issues.

    Try going grain-free and dairy-free for at least a month and see what happens. Gluten intolerance often goes hand in hand with lactose intolerance, and grains still have certain proteins that someone with gluten intolerance may react to. Eliminate them all for a month or two, then reintroduce them, one at a time (and no more than one introduced a week), starting with the "safest" foods, and see how your body reacts.

    Also, fire your current doctor and get a new one.
  • HealthyLeeLee
    HealthyLeeLee Posts: 97 Member
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    I had the same issue and it seemed to have come out of nowhere! Flat tummy in the morning, heavy bloating after eating ANYthing (including lettuce and tiny portions of food). I started taking a probiotic and within days it went away. I took it consistently for a month and haven't had the extreme issue anymore. I also keep yogurts and kefir around for the probiotics when I get a little bloated. It helps a lot! And you're not crazy :)
  • kikih64
    kikih64 Posts: 349 Member
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    Before trying paleo, I took a course of antibiotics to see if my issues were due to some sort of infection and also Probiotics for 3 months - neither thing helped at all. Dr. had me do lactose-free for one week - he said that one is quick to correct itself. When nothing changed there, next step was gluten-free. He told me to do that for 4 weeks because it takes longer for things to settle down. Gluten hides in everything - you might still be injesting it in some form. Eat real foods - nothing packaged and no grains at all, not even oatmeal - for 4 weeks. Then go from there. It sounds like you had some improvement, so just keep going.

    Also - I don't like your doctor at all!! Sounds very condescending. You should see someone else in my opinion.
  • qtgonewild
    qtgonewild Posts: 1,930 Member
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    ive never met an adult that weighs 89 pounds before :O
  • Lilaselise
    Lilaselise Posts: 10
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    Thank you for all your kind comments and advice. I come with an update : after my blood results came back with elevated white blood cells count, my GP prescribed tests for h pylori, coeliac disease, food allergies, and stool and urine tests to detect bacterias. I haven't done the stool test yet, but apart from that everything came back negative... except for food allergies ! It turns out i'm allergic to several things, but the main offender is so surprising : I'm allergic to bananas. I had no idea since I got symptoms after eating anything, but it makes sense because I eat bananas first thing in the morning every single day. I'm astonished ! It also explains why the symptoms went away for 10 days, I had 0 bananas during that time. I'm 3 days banana-free and already feeling better : 90% less gas, less pain and most of all barely no distension, which was my main symptom and never went away except for when I ate almost nothing. I am so relieved. It's hard for me to tell what offender causes what since my main symptoms were GI ones, and I've also always been asthmatic and always had eczema so i don't really know why it's aggravated sometimes, I always figure it's because i'm allergic to all kinds of trees, dust, pollen etc. I'm going to wait until I get 100% better and then test every offender separately.

    I'd like to sum up my symptoms for anyone who could be experiencing similar things, even though it varies from person to person. I'm convinced it's mostly due to the banana allergy, and since GI problems seem not to be the most common symptoms for this particular allergy, it could help to share my experience. I had thought of banana allergy for a second but didn't really look into it when I read on the internet that it mostly causes oral symptoms.

    Allergies : banana, kiwi, hazelnut, shrimp, garlic, sesame seeds, brewer's yeast, celery.
    Allergies that came back negative : egg whit, cow's milk, wheat, soy. Also negative for coeliac.

    SYMPTOMS
    - Distension (first symptom and only one for a month) almost only in the upper-abdominal area. Gets worse with eating and can be severe, at the end of some days I would look 8 months pregnant. It was less distended on mornings but never completely, only a few times when I skipped diner and breakfast.
    - Gas : gasy pains, feeling like you need to pass gas but barely do, triggered by eating food (all the time) and relieved a little after a bowel movement.
    - Pain : located in the upper part of the abdomen, at first only on the left then on both sides, sometimes all over because of the gas. But mostly on the upper and middle part, always a discomfort above the belly button.
    - Cramps : occasionally, which provoked an urge to go to the toilet.
    - Feeling like the food does not come down and stays in the upper part of your belly/in your chest, frequent. No reflux though.
    - Constipation : occasional
    - Diarrhea : occasional
    - Nausea : rare but happened after eating

    As I said it can't know for sure about asthma or eczema since I always had it, and it seems to come and go randomly. But yes my asthma and eczema are not very good lately. I did not notice oral issues, except that i remember that it itched when I eat kiwi, but I almost never do. All in all, it looks a lot like IBS. But antispasmodics did not help, charcoal either. The only thing that makes a difference is staying away from bananas. I'm yet to test those other offenders. Do you think I should still do the stool test just in case ? Also, I've read that bananas, kiwi, shrimp are related to latex-allergy. Should I watch out for other foods associated with it that didn't appear on my test results ?

    I want to thank you again for all of your answers and encouragement. I'm glad I kept looking for the real cause, it would have been a shame to remain undiagnosed. I hope my experience will help someone in the future :smile:
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
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    Thank you for all your kind comments and advice. I come with an update : after my blood results came back with elevated white blood cells count, my GP prescribed tests for h pylori, coeliac disease, food allergies, and stool and urine tests to detect bacterias. I haven't done the stool test yet, but apart from that everything came back negative... except for food allergies ! It turns out i'm allergic to several things, but the main offender is so surprising : I'm allergic to bananas. I had no idea since I got symptoms after eating anything, but it makes sense because I eat bananas first thing in the morning every single day. I'm astonished ! It also explains why the symptoms went away for 10 days, I had 0 bananas during that time. I'm 3 days banana-free and already feeling better : 90% less gas, less pain and most of all barely no distension, which was my main symptom and never went away except for when I ate almost nothing. I am so relieved. It's hard for me to tell what offender causes what since my main symptoms were GI ones, and I've also always been asthmatic and always had eczema so i don't really know why it's aggravated sometimes, I always figure it's because i'm allergic to all kinds of trees, dust, pollen etc. I'm going to wait until I get 100% better and then test every offender separately.

    I'd like to sum up my symptoms for anyone who could be experiencing similar things, even though it varies from person to person. I'm convinced it's mostly due to the banana allergy, and since GI problems seem not to be the most common symptoms for this particular allergy, it could help to share my experience. I had thought of banana allergy for a second but didn't really look into it when I read on the internet that it mostly causes oral symptoms.

    Allergies : banana, kiwi, hazelnut, shrimp, garlic, sesame seeds, brewer's yeast, celery.
    Allergies that came back negative : egg whit, cow's milk, wheat, soy. Also negative for coeliac.

    SYMPTOMS
    - Distension (first symptom and only one for a month) almost only in the upper-abdominal area. Gets worse with eating and can be severe, at the end of some days I would look 8 months pregnant. It was less distended on mornings but never completely, only a few times when I skipped diner and breakfast.
    - Gas : gasy pains, feeling like you need to pass gas but barely do, triggered by eating food (all the time) and relieved a little after a bowel movement.
    - Pain : located in the upper part of the abdomen, at first only on the left then on both sides, sometimes all over because of the gas. But mostly on the upper and middle part, always a discomfort above the belly button.
    - Cramps : occasionally, which provoked an urge to go to the toilet.
    - Feeling like the food does not come down and stays in the upper part of your belly/in your chest, frequent. No reflux though.
    - Constipation : occasional
    - Diarrhea : occasional
    - Nausea : rare but happened after eating

    As I said it can't know for sure about asthma or eczema since I always had it, and it seems to come and go randomly. But yes my asthma and eczema are not very good lately. I did not notice oral issues, except that i remember that it itched when I eat kiwi, but I almost never do. All in all, it looks a lot like IBS. But antispasmodics did not help, charcoal either. The only thing that makes a difference is staying away from bananas. I'm yet to test those other offenders. Do you think I should still do the stool test just in case ? Also, I've read that bananas, kiwi, shrimp are related to latex-allergy. Should I watch out for other foods associated with it that didn't appear on my test results ?

    I want to thank you again for all of your answers and encouragement. I'm glad I kept looking for the real cause, it would have been a shame to remain undiagnosed. I hope my experience will help someone in the future :smile:

    Yay! It's good to know that you've found a starting point. (Boo on being allergic to bananas, though.) Hopefully you can root out all of the causes of your issues.

    Some forms of asthma and eczema can both be caused by allergies to something, or some other inflammatory reaction to something, in the diet, so I can definitely see your dietary changes having a positive effect on your symptoms there.

    Also, I wouldn't totally dismiss gluten sensitivity the same way you dismissed the banana allergy before getting tested. Celiac is the far end of the gluten sensitivity spectrum (basically, the equivalent of the person who goes into anaphylaxis if they eat a single peanut), and wheat allergy is a different beast altogether. In between "no reaction" and "Celiac" is a range of gluten sensitivity that doesn't get picked up by the Celiac tests (the person who gets a mildly scratchy throat after eating a tin of peanuts). Eczema and asthma are both linked to gluten intolerance (those with full-blown Celiac are 3 times more likely to have eczema, as well; and asthma runs on the same channels as other allergic reactions), as well. So, if you've cut out the culprits listed in your test results and are still having some issues, it might still be worth cutting out the grains again and see if it makes any difference this time around.

    And yes, watch out for the foods that are linked to allergies of other foods. You might want to watch the tree nuts, too, since hazelnuts are on your list (note - coconuts and peanuts are not tree nuts, so you're probably safe with those). You may also want to experiment with different foods that are related to see how you react. For example, garlic is on your list of allergies, but depending on what it is in garlic that you're allergic to, you may be able to eat Elephant garlic (a garlic-like leek), or you may not be able to eat onions, shallots, or leeks, either (onion and garlic are of the same genus and are also related to shallot and leek).
  • kikih64
    kikih64 Posts: 349 Member
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    I agree with Dragon's assessment on the gluten. I had many of the same symptoms that you mention, but all my tests came back negative. The doctor still wanted me to go gluten-free for 30 days to see if it helped. About 3 days in I felt so much better, and now 4 mos. later I can really tell when I've had gluten. The bloating and all comes back. So, not technically celiac or allergic, but I seem to be sensitive to it.

    Good luck!!
  • Lilaselise
    Lilaselise Posts: 10
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    Thank you for all of your advice, even though I was hoping never to have to ask for your help again :(
    After finding out which food i'm allergic to, everything came back to normal, no bloat, no stomach pain, no nothing. It took a few days for my stomach to get back to its normal size for the first time in 5 months, and about 10 days for the gasy pains to go aways. I accidentally ate garlic, had a mild reaction (bloat and pain) that also took only a few days to disappear. After that, I had a full month where I was free of any symptom, even when eating a lot during the holiday.
    But once again I accidentally ate something I'm allergic to (celery) and a full bloat came back, along with pain, feeling like I'm digesting slowly (like the food is stuck in my chest) and I'm worried because it has been lasting ever since... 4 weeks ago ! At first it seemed like it was very slowly getting better, as the bloat moves to my lower stomach instead of being stuck in the upper belly and I feel like I'm passing more gas instead of it being trapped. But now it seems like I'm back to the same nightmare, even though I'm absolutely not eating anything I'm allergic to. The feelings are disturbingly similar, sometimes worse like I had terrible nausea and ended up vomiting undigested food (5 hours after eating, is that normal ?), which had never happened before. The only differences are that the upper bloat is less frequent and overall less severe, and I also never feel "poisoned" by the things I eat, like I did before.
    So I'm wondering if it's just my body taking a long time to recover, or if my food allergies were not the cause but only the symptoms of something else. I don't really know since the only times I got better (and I mean perfect, like it had never happened) are the times I avoided food I'm allergic to.
  • bunnydumpling
    bunnydumpling Posts: 7 Member
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    ugh!...I had the same problem with my endocrinologist who didn't believe that I "working hard enough to control my weight". He told me I need to "try harder, use some self control. Eat less, exercise more, one hour of sweaty cardio every day." Thankfully my dietitian backed me up and recommended I eat more and ditch the work out for now...I lost 15 pounds in 2 months!

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