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Odorless excessive gas

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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Posted 11/20/2007 9:43 PM (GMT 0)
I am new to this forum but I am so relieved to see that there is a place to be able to talk about this kind of stuff.  Does anyone else experience copious amounts of relatively odorless gas? Some days I pass as often as every other minute! It is such a painful feeling to always have gas pressure and to feel the constant need to release, not to mention embarrasing because I never know if the next one will be as odorless as the last (sometimes it can be a bit of a false sense of security!). 

I was diagnosed with IBS-C about 3 years ago.  I actually fluctuate between constipation and loose stool at this point though.  I often feel unrelenting discomfort in my gut, and it overreacts to anything I eat or drink (just a drink of water can put me in pain).  I have had pain with gas buildup- and sometimes in the past I would have bouts of explosive gas if I was really constipated but this recent activity has just been nonstop.

I have recently been modifying my diet in response to a school of thought that says diet is what causes it and that you can regulate your symptoms by elminating a bunch of things and consuming soluble fiber as much as possible. So I cut out dairy, red meat, most fats, raw vegetables, coffee, wine.  I eat a huge amount of soluable fiber as recommended before each meal- breads (not whole grain- which is insoluble fiber), bananas, pastas, rice, potatos  I take acacia fiber, which is supposed to be a great fiber source.  I have been doing this for about a month and a half.  There seemed to be improvement at one point, but now I have all of this gas.  I did research about excessive gas and found out that all of the stuff I have been eating causes gas!  Wheat, bananas, potatos- all of that fiber stuff, are some of the foods are broken down by the bacteria in the intestines which release different forms of gas that we expel.  So now what do I do ?!? (by the way, I almost never eat beans, so that is not the culprit)

I am at a loss trying to figure this out and at this point I just want to put my situation out there and see if anyone knows something that I don't and can give me some advice, thanks!

Posted 11/20/2007 11:54 PM (GMT 0)
Bananas are constipating; you will probably want to take them out of your diet seeing how you have C.

Also, my mother (a nurse) told me, and it has very much been my experience, that a diet too low in fat will cause constipation. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place myself. If I eat fats, I produce too much bile and get D. However, when I went on a low fat diet, I swung totally to the opposite extreme and was bad constipated all of the time. So now I eat fats, but take medicine to absorb the bile. It's okay to take long-term, whereas laxatives are not, hence my decision to err with fats.

You said you saw improvement at one point. Are you still less constipated than you were before? It can take a couple of weeks to adjust to a new level of fiber (i.e. quit being so gassy) and it sounds like you radically changed your fiber intake suddenly. You can either try getting less fiber for a while, then gradually up it, or just stick this out for two or three weeks.

If your gas problem is still there after nearly a month, and you really aren't any better off in terms of the constipation, then I would recommend you go back to a more normal diet and look for something else. Fiber doesn't always take care of people's constipation problem. Heck, when I take fiber supplements my diarrhea gets worse or if I'm constipated, the constipation gets worse! Try to figure that one out. Also, not all fiber supplements are the same. You might adjust your diet back down to something more balanced (i.e. less fiber) and try some other type of supplement. I'm sure some fellow IBS-C people will be on here to tell you what they like the best.

If it makes you feel any better, my great-grandmother used to burp CONSTANTLY. Just what you are talking about--minimum of once a minute, usually more, especially after eating something. Some people are just that way.
Posted 11/21/2007 1:07 AM (GMT 0)
You have to eat the right kind of fat, extra virgine olive oil and fish are extreamly healthy and much needed fats that do not cause health problems but instead help them....extra virgine olive oil is a natural antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral.


Reedlit, do you chew gum alot or smoke (or both) that alone can cause alot of excess gas (especially if you're eating enough fibre and your body has adjusted to it), so can gulping when you eat/drink.

:)
Posted 11/21/2007 3:31 PM (GMT 0)
Pb4 makes a good point; type of fat matters. I can't tolerate fried foods (unless fried in peanut oil). I generally avoid anything with transfats in it for that reason (and the fact that they're bad for your health too). I can tolerate dairy, though, and get a serving or two of it a day. I only cook in olive oil. Still working on eating more fish. Although this week I was craving it, so I've had she-crab soup, lobster bisque, crab legs, crab cakes, etc., etc. LOL. Oh, and some tuna.
Posted 11/21/2007 10:16 PM (GMT 0)
Watch out for cholesteral in shellfish. I think when they say more fish they mean more fishies with tails like salmon but you can't have my Beta fish, Louie.
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