[Closed] bloated by anything but the most bland food?

Gallstones?

IBS ... what are you stesses\d about?

I find that the older I'm getting the less I need to eat. I'm never hungry first thing these days and don't start to feel hungry until about 10:30, and if I had a sausage butty or a fry up or something substantial like that it would easily see me through the day until later on in the eventing. Maybe you just need to reduce how much you're eating? Drop down to two meals a day instead of three?

Try gluten-free?

See your GP you can fad diets or skipping food but you really need to check nothing untoward is going on. Always amazes me that there’s concern for illnesses not being picked up early but people will try anything but visit their GP.

Thats said I ignored for years similar symptoms which got worse. A GP visit some examinations for any major issues and I was sorted within weeks and not looked back. Turns out I produced too much acid so inflamed my stomach lining.

I don't think it's a case of people avoiding their GP, we all know they are in short supply hence long waiting times for appointments.  Five week wait for an appointment at my surgery.

Ditto similar stuff at the moment and been infrequently popping up every now and again for ages, but recently it's been more persistent. Seems food related but unsure. Keep meaning to book GP but likewise it's a long wait for an appointment especially to see a doctor I actually trust. Each time I'm about to book something it goes away for a bit though. Also, it's not so much concern about what they may find, it's the potential of years of back and forth until it's diagnosed.

At the risk of sounding ‘bandwagon, trendy, new world etc’ this year I had the same bloating issues and have stopped eating any wheat based stuff. Really boring but feel so much better (and the farting stopped as well) 🙂

5 weeks to find it’s something compared to ignoring synptoms is well worth it. GPs exist for such things it’s exactly why they are there. I wish I’d gone sooner as it was pretty much life changing.

I have been experiencing the same symptoms for a year interspersed with serious constipation or diarrhea.

I had a colonoscopy for which you have to take a purge for clearing the gut bowel etc, after that for 3 months my stomach and bowel movements were perfect but have now started to go bad again so I Am suspecting its a gut imbalance of some sort maybe age related as people seem to get more of this as the get older.

Ton, my Mrs and her mother had similar problems, it was diagnosed as ibs. They paid for an intolerance test, they both are sensitive to dairy, gluten etc. They both used to like chocolate, cheese and bread. They've cut those out now, made a massive difference. Every now and then they treat themselves and then feel ill for it.

A friend of mine has a gluten problem, when he eats he bonks. He's started using huel now, changed his life he says.

Good luck.

My cycling buddy is a gastroenterologist and he tells me  that as you age you produce less of the enzymes that you need to digest lactose (milk) and starch and cellulose so eating those causes bloating.  If i drink half a pint of milk nowadays I feel terrible for a couple of hours and the same with stuff like beans and apples.

Unfortunately beer has a similar effect thanks to the carbs.

Turns out I produced too much acid so inflamed my stomach lining.

Yep I've had this in spades.

So I've suffered for years with bloating and I can attribute to several things.

Eating too fast.

Sugar/booze in particular.

Certain other foods are problems but can be tricky as once you get blaoted it appears all foods cause it.

I produced too much acid, so stomach can get inflamed and then went on to have ulcer.

Also  had two years of very specific pain that didn't go away and a few doc trips didn't yield anything and I was starting to get scared. I cut out caffeine for a while and then any form of processed sugar.

Problem solved within a few days.

My suggestion would be to cut right back on sugar, perhaps even fruit too for a few weeks. See what happens. I would also get hold of some Zinc carnosine from Amazon which helps repair the stomach lining.

Give that a few weeks.

Then the last thing I did whilst on holiday in the USA after really messing my gut up with too much booze was walk into their drug stores and buy some omeprazole, and had a two week dose.

Incredible results. Stomach flat for ages until I screwed it up with booze. You can't have omeprazol often and will need to be on prescription here.

So in summary: cut sugar,  booze, caffeine and processed stuff right back for a couple weeks.

See what happens. Then reintroduce stuff you want to eat back into your diet. If it flares up repeat the experiment again with more groups such as dairy and grains. Start with sugar as it's in so much and is a devil. Combinations are trouble too, so bread with sugar in will cause issues. Make your own bread without sugar.

If all that fails try a drug like omeprazole. You will need a doc visit to get this and you need to take it for a couple of weeks.

Eating the bland things is no real problem for me as it's your body telling you what is correct for you. So for me potatoes, veg, fish, most fats and meat are perfect! Which I actually love.

I still avoid sugar but can't resist a bit of something every now and again and the trouble starts again!

Oh and only use gaviscon when you can't bear the pain as I find these products cause more problems as your body seems to need more and more to respond. They are a band aid but occasionally you want something to just drop the pain off.i tend to have them with me if I travel.

Good luck and report back!

I look fat as a consequence of a bloated stomach and I hate it as I'm not fat at all. That and the pain helps to make you miserable so it's worth the effort of changing your diet.

There definitely seems to be trigger foods and foods that make things worse. So a trigger food for me is sugar/alcohol and foods that don't trigger pain but do make things worse when you're having a good dose of acid such as oats/wheat. Especially if you over produce acid too.

So you might not be able to have sugar long term but could have grains when you've eliminated the sugar for example.

Sorry I could talk about this for hours as eating for me became a challenge.

Always amazes me that there’s concern for illnesses not being picked up early but people will try anything but visit their GP.

I made an appointment to see my GP on Wednesday, its forc21st September!!!

Agreed about the GP but with this condition there is so much you can do yourself too.

I had similar problem for some time.

I lived in cambodia for a year, and theres little there in the way of dairy, so the day I got back to thailand I gulped down a big bottle of drinking yoghurt and had to run for the toilet (a few times). But after that, every time I tried to move I felt wiped out, and was bloated. I could do very little at first.  This gradually improved, over a year or so.

When I got back to uk, it got worse, with the wine and beer. My guts were bad

I had some blood tests, nothing was found

Anyway I cut out the alcohol,and SUGAR, and coffee,

I try to eat a lot more protein, less carbs, and its much better now, it doesnt get worse when I exercise

I still have a lot of dairy (I'm semi vegetarian)

I've also been on Omeprazole for a few years now

Always amazes me that there’s concern for illnesses not being picked up early but people will try anything but visit their GP.

True, but I think it is best to try a few things first before going to a GP. Dropping stuff out of your diet for a couple of weeks or so to see if it makes a difference and going to the GP with that additional information will help the GP diagnose something earlier instead of just rocking up and leaving the GP with a list of things to try before coming back. Makes better use of yours and the GP's time.

True, but I think it is best to try a few things first before going to a GP.

Yup I do mean to do both but I really wasn't clear.

I made an appointment to see my GP on Wednesday, its forc21st September!!!

Excellent you made an appointment to see your GP.

Might as well as my problems to this list, but if it's a sudden onseti doubt it's this. Few years ago I developed an intolerance to aliums (garlic, onions etc') Basically if I eat anything containing garlic or onions it will ruin my day and possibly a few days after as well.

It's easy to cook without garlic/onions but it's a nightmare trying to find ready prepared food that doesn't contain at least onion powder.

I'd get bloated, cramps etc', basically IBS type symptoms but also low mood as well. Realising what it was was a revelation.

I went through something similar when my IBS was really bad.

The biggest trigger for my IBS was stress, but I also found that wheat dextrin, it's a soluble fibre, really helped me.

Benefiber is wheat dextrin and you can buy it from a chemist.

It is also used by chefs to make Tempura and so you can buy it in bulk from a chef's supply place.  I bought 2 kgs of it 2 years ago and I still have over half of it left.

I hope you find something to sort your gut out.

I look fat as a consequence of a bloated stomach and I hate it as I’m not fat at all.

I've been putting it down to too much beer = the beer belly and despite being a healthy weight and not fatty anywhere else, I just can't shift it. But it could be the constant bloating = fat belly.

And the beer is likely a contributor.

Problem is working out what causes what. I read the diagnosis steps the NHS has and it can take ages and involves eating stuff that makes you feel bad so they can detect whatever.

But it could be something else in my case (ulcer, hernia, the C word and other things that spark up my anxiety, which also could be a cause) so yeah I really do need to book up. I have to see the guy I'm confident won't just dismiss me.

If it's food/drink related I really would struggle to give up some things. Though I did give wheat a break for a couple of weeks but no difference. But then it might not be long enough.

p.s. Just of a note, when I'm riding all my symptoms go away and can be okay for a while after. Will kick in though next day and often I've eaten some compensatory meal for the level of exercise. I think I read that while exercising your digestive system goes into a shutdown so maybe it's not producing acid or doing whatever that may be an issue.

My wife has just been diagnosed with IBS after months of on and of off painful bloating. Her GP arranged a Gluten tolerance blood test and then referred her for scans for Ovarian Cancer (as the symptoms are similar) then onto a consultant, who diagnosed IBS (although it's really a diagnosis by elimination). The consultant has passed her on to a dietitian, who she's not seen yet, but we guess an elimination diet is the next step....

Think it's an age thing. If I eat bread now I get really uncomfortable a few hours later. Real stinky guffs too. Milk doesn't seem to effect me too much. Does make you more aware of what you're eating though. The days when you could just eat anything with relatively few concerns eh.

It's a pain getting older! I can identify with some of this, I seem to be getting more intolerant of certain foods and more allergies as I get older, AS WELL as getting more back ache, cramps and it takes longer to recover from hard excercise so it just makes excercise harder. It's amazing the difference in just 5 to 8 years of ageing. Sorry, no help but I do tend to look at these threads more these days.

i had that for years......... until i did some stretching exercises for the stomach.......... really worked wonders............. pb me for details

Cheers Jesper

update

since i posted, i have tried to eat plain bland food.

weetabix for breakfast

a sandwich for lunch

and today a steak and jacket potato for tea

seems to be working

if i were to say it was cause by anything i would say fried food was a possible culprit.