Common Causes Of Stomach Ache
Talk to your GP if you’re worried about your stomach ache.
Common causes of stomach ache include:
- farting – feeling bloated or farting a lot
- indigestion – feeling full and bloated after eating, heartburn or feeling sick
- constipation – cannot poo
- diarrhoea or food poisoning – watery poo, feeling sick or vomiting
What Are The Symptoms Of Bloating
Symptoms of bloating include:
- The skin around your stomach may feel stretched and tight
Depending on the cause, bloating may be accompanied by other symptoms as well.
Abdominal bloating will continue until the food in an overfull stomach is digested or accumulated gas is released. This can take hours or days.
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Stomach Pain And Bloating After Eating
When gas does not pass through flatulence or belching, it can build up in the intestines and stomach and result in bloating. Bloating can cause swelling of the abdominal area and is followed by stomach pain and cramps. Though it is not a serious ailment, experiencing bloating on a regular basis can be burdensome and hinder your day-to-day activity.
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What Causes Stomach Bloating
Everyone knows the uncomfortable feeling of a bloated belly that feels like it’s just about ready to pop. When you’re too full after a big meal, the culprit is typically what your dinner. While painful, temporary abdominal discomfort is not typically caused by illness but is a common problem requiring you to make small changes in your dietary habits. Prevent the pesky feeling of tight clothes after your next meal by avoiding foods that fill your gastrointestinal tract with air or gas and make you bloat. If you suffer bloating after a meal, paying attention to the foods you eat could solve your problems. Steering clear of the following food items can reduce symptoms like bloating and help you feel lighter after eating.
When gasses build up in your stomach after eating certain foods, it may result in some gassiness or your stomach feeling swollen. Typically triggered by something you ate, bloating is rarely a symptom of a more serious medical condition however, you should get in touch with your physician if bloating is accompanied by other symptoms like significant weight loss. Water retention could also be responsible for a stomach that appears larger and feels painful to the touch.
Are Fodmaps Bad For Everyone
Not at all. In fact, our digestive systems are designed to process some foods that we cant fully digest ourselves for example, dietary fiber, which has an important place in digestive health. And feeding the bacteria in our gut is part of our symbiotic arrangement with those bacteria. But some people with sensitive guts experience a level of indigestion from these foods that significantly impacts their quality of life. For these people, the byproducts of fermentation cause chronic symptoms of gas, bloating, abdominal pain and distension. The extra water drawn by the small intestine may cause diarrhea in excess, or constipation if there isnt enough.
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Who Might Benefit From A Low
The low-FODMAP diet is often prescribed for limited periods for people diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth . Studies show that a majority of people living with these conditions benefit from the diet. It can also be used as a short-term elimination diet for anyone who has digestive problems and wants to try and isolate the foods that are causing them. An elimination diet removes common problem foods and then adds them back in systematically to observe how your system reacts. The low-FODMAP diet is just one of many elimination diets that you can use to discover food sensitivities.
How Can I Control Ascites
If you have ascites, these steps can help you control the condition:
- Weight checks: Weigh yourself daily. Call your healthcare provider if you gain more than 10 pounds, or more than two pounds per day for three consecutive days.
- Limit alcohol: Its best to avoid alcoholic beverages entirely to reduce your ascites risk.
- Limit NSAID use:Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen and aspirin, affect your kidneys. They can cause your body to retain excess water and salt.
- Low-salt diet: Stick to a low-sodium diet, consuming no more than 2,000 to 4,000 milligrams per day.
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Abdominal Bloating And Pain Treatments
Treatments for abdominal bloating and pain will address the underlying condition.
Examples may include antibiotics for infections. If an intestinal obstruction is the cause, your doctor may encourage bowel rest by decreasing oral intake.
If theres a deficiency moving contents within the GI tract, your doctor may prescribe medications to encourage intestinal movement. Surgery may be necessary in severe instances.
Is Bloating A Sign Of Something More Serious
Watch Out for Other Symptoms
Simple bloating is usually not a cause for concern, but it may be a warning sign of a more serious health condition in some cases. If you experience other symptoms, including diarrhea, nausea, fever, abdominal pain, weight loss, weakness, loss of appetite, or blood in the stool, see your doctor to rule out potentially more serious conditions. The doctor may order a stool sample or take images of your small intestine to assess for digestive problems and other conditions. Tests are available to check for lactose intolerance, celiac disease, ovarian cancer, liver disease, and other health problems.
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Can Bloating Be Prevented
To keep your digestive system working well, follow a healthy diet and eat at least 30g of fibre every day. Cut down on processed and fatty foods, and drink less alcohol. Drink plenty of water and take any medicines as directed by your doctor.
Dont overeat, and try to eat more slowly. Eating regularly will help to prevent digestive problems.
Regular exercise is also important for your gut because it strengthens the muscles in your tummy and stimulates the digestive system to push food through. It also helps with stress, which affects the nerves in the digestive system and can slow down digestion.
Smoking is very bad for your digestion. If you smoke, try to quit now.
Can A Food Intolerance Test Help With Bloating
The market for food intolerance tests is heavily saturated due to an increased demand of interest in health and wellbeing. Thats why its important for you, the reader, to make sure you make well-informed choices when it comes to purchasing a food intolerance test.
Here at yorktest, weve been going for over 35 years and are the UKs leading provider in food intolerance testing. We also provide post-test support in the form of guidebooks and nutritional consultations with BANT* registered nutritional therapists to ensure youre replacing your trigger foods with healthy and nutritious alternatives.
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How To Prevent Bloating
Typically, the first line of treatment for preventing gas and bloating is changing your diet. Research has shown that a low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols diet can reduce the symptoms of gas and IBS. A low FODMAP diet avoids fermentable, gas-producing food ingredients, such as:
- Oligosaccharides, which are found in wheat, onions, garlic, legumes and beans
- Disaccharides, such as lactose in milk, yogurt and ice cream
- Monosaccharides, including fructose , apples and pears
- Polyols or sugar alcohols found in foods such as apricots, nectarines, plums and cauliflower, as well as many chewing gums and candies
In people sensitive to FODMAP-rich foods, the small intestine doesn’t always fully absorb these carbohydrates, and instead passes them to the colon, where they are fermented by bacteria and produce gas. To see if some of the FODMAP foods are causing your gas and bloating you can start by cutting out FODMAP foods and then slowly bringing them back into your diet one at a time to pinpoint any foods that are causing the problems.
In the long run, the key to preventing bloating is understanding its cause. If mild constipation is the problem, a fiber-rich diet, water and exercise may help, but these steps wont always work for chronic constipation. Chronic constipation and other conditions, such as IBS or gastroparesis, require medical treatment, so its important to talk to your doctor about your bloating symptoms.
Not Drinking Enough Water
We get it: When youre feeling bloated the last thing you want to do is drink more water. But ironically, downing a glass or two of H2O is exactly what you should do. If you are dehydrated, your body will retain conserve water, which can lead to bloating, says Rumsey. Staying hydrated also speeds up digestion and can counteract the effects of salt and carb-induced bloating. Aim for 6 to 8 glasses of water throughout the day.
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How Is Ascites Treated
Limiting sodium in your diet is crucial for treating ascites. For people with ascites, recommended sodium intake is less than 2,000 to 4,000 milligrams a day.
A dietitian can help create a healthy eating plan for you. You may also need to take diuretics . These water pills help fluid and sodium leave your body.
Will I Need Surgery For Ascites
Sometimes, diuretics and a low-sodium diet arent enough to improve the ascites. You may need other treatments, including:
- Paracentesis: Your provider inserts a needle into your abdomen to remove the fluid. This procedure can remove a large amount of excess fluid.
- Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt : This procedure is performed to treat fluid build-up in the abdomen. A wire mesh is inserted into a vein in your liver. When inflated, the stent forms a channel to bypass the liver. TIPS may be appropriate if your ascites aren’t responding to other therapies, if you need several paracenteses per month and you’re not a candidate for a liver transplant.
- Liver transplant: In cases of severe cirrhosis, when the liver is failing, a liver transplant may be necessary.
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How To Get Rid Of Bloating And Stomach Pain
Changes in lifestyle habits or dietary decisions can go a long way in curing bloating or stomach ache. These simple tips may help you to combat bloating and contribute to a healthy lifestyle:
- Drink plenty of water to flush down sodium and fluids from your body. Alternatively, you can also drink herbal tea like peppermint or chamomile to help the bloat go down.
- Exercise regularly to help the gas pass down through your system more quickly. Simple exercises such as walking or jogging will help expel the gas from your body
- Take magnesium-rich foods such as leafy greens, vegetables or nuts to reduce fluid retention that leads to bloating.
- Eat probiotics or take probiotics in tablets or capsules to encourage the growth of friendly bacteria in your stomach
- If possible, try to limit or avoid the intake of salts, starches and artificial sweeteners to help to fend off bouts of gas and reduce bloating.& nbsp
- Additionally, you may consider taking other over-the-counter medicines that can relieve upset stomachs and gas buildup such as digestion, medication for trapped wind or bloating and cramp relief tablets.
What Does A Low
The diet has three phases: an elimination phase, a reintroduction phase and a maintenance phase thats customized to you. During the elimination phase, you’ll avoid all of the high-FODMAP foods a list of specific fruits, vegetables, dairy products and grains. At first glance, the elimination phase of the diet may seem very limited. But theres still a good list of foods in each category that you can eat. It takes some mental discipline to follow, but you wont go hungry on the diet. After two to four weeks, youll begin the reintroduction phase, in which you systematically add foods back in. The third phase keeps what works for you and leaves out what doesnt.
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Why Are Fodmaps Difficult To Digest
FODMAPs are fermentable short-chain carbohydrates. Translated, that means two things: They are sugar molecules that are linked together in chains, and they are fermentable by the bacteria in your gut. Molecules in chains need to be broken down into single molecules to be absorbed through your small intestine. But FODMAPs cant be broken down, so they cant be absorbed there. Your small intestine draws in extra water to help move the FODMAPs through to your large intestine. There, the bacteria living in your colon have a field day fermenting them . This produces gasses and fatty acids as byproducts inside your gut.
Things To Consider If You Are Experiencing Prolonged Gas Bloating Belching
Digestive complaints are becoming more and more common. Sadly enough, we are taught to minimize our symptoms and think that its okay to have a bloated belly or look like a perpetual Santa Claus.
Fear not! You too can have better digestion, enhanced metabolism, and feel and look better by these simple tips:
If you want to understand about what you are eating and what food additives are being placed in your foods, please read: A Consumers Dictionary of Food Additives by Ruth Winters.
Here is her blog:
Intestinal permeability screening
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Biofeedback And Neuromodulatory Techniques
Biofeedback Biofeedback and bowel retraining techniques have an established role in the management of functional hindgut disorders.110 Biofeedback involves a training program, usually led by a nurse or physiotherapist, in which instrument-based techniques are used to reinforce normal patterns of neuromuscular function.
Although no studies have assessed biofeedback for bloating in isolation, several small studies have shown that anorectal biofeedback relaxation techniques reduce symptoms of bloating in up to 70% of patients and concurrently reduce constipation, with the effect maintained for up to 12 months.20,111 This effect does not appear to be confined to those with slow transit or manometric abnormalities and is independent of the presence or absence of IBS.
Diaphragmatic breathing techniques are useful in aerophagia and rumination,112 and given the potential role of visceromotor reflexes in abdominal distension, they may confer benefit in the management of bloating. Unfortunately, no reliable studies have adequately explored this possible effect.
Neuromodulation Sacral nerve stimulation has been associated with a reduction in the frequency and severity of abdominal bloating and other symptoms of constipa-113,114 A study in patients with IBS also showed a significant reduction in bloating.115 However, sacral nerve stimulation is considered experimental, and as such, it cannot currently be recommended for the management of isolated bloating.
Causes Of Bloating And Abdominal Pain
In some cases, abdominal pain and bloating are not a cause for concern and can often be relieved with simple dietary and lifestyle changes. Other times, abdominal bloating can be a sign of something more serious, and therefore further action is needed to treat the root of the problem.
Bloating is often a problem with digestion, and many things can affect gut health and the bodyâs ability to properly metabolize food and eliminate waste.
Gas is thought to be the most common cause of bloating, especially after eating a meal or drinking too fast. Gas builds up in the GI tract when you swallow air or when undigested food gets broken down.
Excessive gas is due to inadequate protein digestion, imbalances in gut bacteria, and the inability to fully break down carbohydrates and sugar.
This section will detail 32 potential causes of abdominal bloating and pain, which are often related to digestive disorders, food sensitivities, parasitic infections, bowel obstruction, hormonal changes like pregnancy, and a number of cancers like stomach cancer, ovarian cancer, or non-Hodgkinâs lymphoma.
Letâs get started.
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Similar to bloating is water retention. This lovely feeling is usually caused by consuming too much salt . High levels of sodium cause your body to hold on to extra unwanted fluid. Not only can bloating and water retention be uncomfortable and less than attractive, it can be downright painful. Here is a guideline to beat the bloat.
How Long Does A Bloated Stomach Last
If your bloating is due to something you ate or drank or to hormone fluctuations, it should begin to ease within a few hours to days. If you are constipated, it wont go down until you start pooping. Water, exercise and herbal teas can help encourage all of these things along. If it doesnt go away or gets worse, seek medical attention.
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Small Intestinal Bowel Overgrowth
Symptoms
Small intestinal bowel overgrowth is when theres an abnormal increase in the bacteria that live in your small intestine, such as E. coli or Klebsiella.
Several things can lead to SIBO. Surgery of the intestines that changes your anatomy can cause it. Decreased motility of the small intestine caused by IBS, diabetes, or opioid drugs can also cause SIBO. And people who have a weakened immune system have a higher risk of SIBO.
SIBO can interfere with your bodys ability to absorb nutrients from your food, which can lead to vitamin deficiencies.
SIBO can be diagnosed using a non-invasive carbohydrate breath test. Your doctor may also recommend an endoscopy and colonoscopy to rule out other diseases.
Treatment may include dietary changes, nutritional supplements, and antibiotics to control bacterial overgrowth.