HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

How much is gas related to urgency?

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 10/20/2012 2:38 AM (GMT 0)
I still have urgency several times per day but it almost always seems to be related to gas. If I didn't have the gas I wouldn't have the urgency. What do most of you feel about this? Would you have urgency with no gas? In me it just seems to want to push things out and when it builds up there's no stopping it.
Posted 10/20/2012 2:49 AM (GMT 0)
I am in the same boat as you. I feel as if it wasnt for the gas I would be able to control the urgency. Once I feel the gas coming there is not stopping it and I have to get to a bathroom. It also seems no matter what foods I eat I still have gas.
Posted 10/20/2012 3:27 AM (GMT 0)
Hmmmmm. I don't have gas for the most part. Seldom have. My urgency happens with bleeding which for me has been constant for almost three months. Are you trying any of the diet stuff, like SCD, low FODMAPs etc?
Posted 10/20/2012 3:37 AM (GMT 0)
I used to be the same. A huge change in diet eliminated the gas and removed sone urgency. Although usually my urgency is related to pain not so much gas.
Posted 10/20/2012 4:14 PM (GMT 0)
IMO the presence of gas affects the feeling of urgency.
I have issues with lactose and gluten. When I cheat and eat ice cream, bread, pasta or any food that is a big gas-producer (e.g. beans, broccoli), I notice that there is more probability of urgency and the need to make more bathroom trips.

I have experimented with Beano, Gas-x and digestive enzymes but nothing works as well as avoiding problem foods.

That being said, you only live once......I recently enjoyed a local ethnic food event celebrating Polish, Lithuanian and Slovakian food. I ate some of everything but knew that I was going to stay home the next day. Took 3 doses of slippery elm...am, noon and pm to normalize. :-)
Posted 10/20/2012 5:44 PM (GMT 0)
i only have gas when i have to go to the bathroom. it's so annoying. i'd probably be able to control my bm's better if it wasn't there. i'm trying no fruit next week to see if that helps.
Posted 10/21/2012 12:37 AM (GMT 0)
I have gas even while in remission but it has nothing to do with urgency. I don't think I could blame gas on my urgency when I was flaring. I think the gas would cause me to have to go to the bathroom though because I could never trust that a fart wasn't more than just air.
Posted 10/21/2012 1:52 AM (GMT 0)
I think that's kind of what I was talking about with gas and urgency. I read the other day that normal people have flatulance approximately 14 times per day on the average. Unfortunately, often times with UC you are just too fearful of finding a corner and letting it rip, acting like nothing's going on, because a lot of the time we have something more coming out than just gas so I have to go running for the bathroom every time I have gas.
Posted 10/21/2012 6:20 AM (GMT 0)
gary, when I was flaring, I let one rip at my house and much to my horror, it wasn't what I expected. That taught me a lesson and after, I would run at top speed any time I felt gas brewing. Luckily I am feeling pretty good now and I can pass wind freely. You will get there, it just takes a while to heal to the point where the urgency and unpredictability is gone.
Posted 10/21/2012 12:03 PM (GMT 0)
I agree with you, I think the gas is a major contributor to the urgency issue as well. Since coming down with colitis the ridiculous amount of gas everyday is amazing. Doesn't matter what I eat, I'm now a gas producing machine, someone should try to frack me.

If anyone finds a real answer to reducing the amount of gas other than the typical gas-x and such that don't work please let us know.
Posted 10/21/2012 12:36 PM (GMT 0)
Our family is very gassy. Always has been - I can even remember stories of my grandfather making jokes about better out than in... Wonder if there is any relation to being gassy in general before diagnosis & UC.

I agree the issue is not letting it out anywhere but the bathroom. The fear is completely reasonable. From what I hear out of my daughter even when it is just gas, it is better to do it in the bathroom anyways. She sounds like she drank a case of beer & a bowl of refried beans! They are the loudest things I have ever heard.
Posted 10/21/2012 1:40 PM (GMT 0)
Some days the gas I experience is simply amazing. I can have massive gas and then 5 or 10 minutes later have massive gas all over again. I don't know where it comes from. My doc wants to blame diet but the fact is that this has happened to me several times in the summer just from drinking high dose water.
Posted 10/21/2012 4:47 PM (GMT 0)
I think some brands of probiotics cause more gas than others.
I found that true when I tried VSL#3 and Sach. Boulardii.
Doesn't seem to be an issue with Benebiotics.
I also tried a digestive enzyme (Gluten Defense) with the same result.
I think it helps if I eat several small amounts of food during the day. If I don't eat for several hours, gas becomes an issue.
I drink water with lemon most of the time. Sometimes, tea.
One cup of coffee in the am. Soft drinks are a real problem.
Posted 10/22/2012 3:09 AM (GMT 0)
I can really relate to all of those who felt that gas was a BIG problem. It is gas that sends me sprinting endless times to the bathroom because it is almost never just gas. GasX or simethicone products are a help, but I wonder what continual use of simethicone does to the digestive system. Sometimes I take 1/4 tsp. baking soda or drink fennel tea...both seem to help a bit. My diet does not include dairy, gluten, or processed foods, but I do drink coffee which supposedly is not good for UC. I
think elimination of all sweets would probably help, but that is so difficult. My diet is basically SCD related but with more carbs than allowed. I only weigh 94 lbs. so cannot be too strict with carbs or will disappear. During my first years with UC I don't remember gas being such a problem, but it sure is now.
Posted 10/22/2012 4:40 AM (GMT 0)
I had the same problem too. Most time when I ran to restroom, it was just a gas. In my case, digestive enzyme helped me so much. Now I seldom rush to restroom. And the number of times to restroom is reduced to less than half. Before I went to bathroom 10+ times per day, but now less than 5 times.

My relative who has UC also tried digestive enzyme and she is feeling very comfortable with it now.

Try some decent digestive enzyme. The result is immediate in one two days, or even after one meal, so you will know whether it works or not immediately.

[please remove the sales link in your signature]

Post Edited By Moderator (notsosicklygirl) : 10/21/2012 11:42:43 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/22/2012 12:37 PM (GMT 0)
I eliminated sugars for 3 full weeks and was actually somewhat relieved that it did absolutely nothing for me so I resumed sugar intake. I tried simethicone and all kinds of digestive enzymes and I don't really see any difference. I also tried Zymactive, which has several different kinds of enzymes and I actually got worse.
Posted 10/22/2012 12:47 PM (GMT 0)
My gas was much, much worse when I was flaring. Now that I'm in remission, it's normal. So for me, increased gas is a flare symptom.
Posted 10/22/2012 4:37 PM (GMT 0)
Same as fruitgirl...easy to establish continual gas/cramping as flare symptoms when it's not relieved with Bentylol and increased probiotics, unless I picked up something that's making its way through.

Regardless, I always up the rectals after a few days of it.

My normal gas pattern is if something I eat creates it..it's about 6 - 8 hours afterward.

q
Posted 10/22/2012 4:41 PM (GMT 0)
And I of course notice increased gas with some foods....brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, etc.), sweet potatoes, pork, and hummus often make me gassy. But this was a pattern long before I had UC. And I sometimes have a problem not eating too much of some of those foods (hummus especially when it's homemade).
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply