Hello,
New member here but was seeing if I can get some advice. I'm 27/M and was diagnosed with GERD about 6 years ago. Ever since I've been taking Prevacid which has mostly kept my symptoms (heartburn) under control.
A couple of weeks ago, I travelled to Europe for a wedding. I had a bout of constipation after the flight and prior to the wedding. At the actual wedding I drank more alcohol than I should have. I subsequently developed gas and bloating problems which appear intermittently throughout the day (these I think also give me secondary symptoms like anxiety and panic attacks). I've had these symptoms occasionally in the past year, but it was always milder and usually not continuous.
I feel best right when I wake up in the morning. I think this is more a function of sleeping rather than an empty stomach as I still get the gas/bloat later in the morning prior to eating. And I've fallen asleep on the couch a couple of hours after dinner and upon waking up I felt fine without bloating. Additionally, I find the gas/bloating disappears whenver I'm running long distances, only to return post-run. Finally, eating larger meals (i.e. pizza) seems to eliminate the gas and bloating, at least for a few hours, where as something smaller like fruit is much quicker to cause gas. I know this sounds counter-intuitive.
I guess I was just wondering if this seems like more of an intestinal issue or something GERD related? Would GERD cause gas/bloating in the upper abdomen? I can feel this gas all the way around, from below my belly button to my chest. In fact my entire abdomen is distented.
I'm in between jobs and don't have insurance at the moment, so I'm waiting until I find a new job to visit my GI. In the meanwhile, any opinions? I was considering taking a probiotic to supplement the PPI and thinking the gas might be due to a bacteria issue in the intestine. On the other hand, could it be IBS? Or even anxiety?
Post Edited (Gazaniga) : 7/13/2010 10:49:39 PM (GMT-6)