Health
Here's How I Healed Abdominal Bloating and Distension.
I documented my experience with sustainable experimental solutions empowered by qualified healthcare professionals.
Purpose of the article
Bloating was not fun for me. Abdominal distention affects our physical and mental health. This relatively harmless condition can be caused by many digestive, metabolic, and genetic factors.
Abdominal bloating and distension are common problems affecting millions of people and causing physical and emotional stress.
According to a paper in the Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, “abdominal bloating is a common symptom affecting up to 76% of patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders”.
After providing a context and brief background of this health condition, I share my approach to sustainably solving my bloating issue.
Fixing abdominal bloating took longer than any other condition that I tackled. My solution required me to make significant lifestyle changes, especially in my diet.
Abdominal bloating and distension
Bloating usually occurs due to gas-producing food for some people, as advised by my family doctor in my younger years.
However, it might be linked to several underlying health issues, such as irritable bowel syndrome, infection, food intolerance, and fluid retention.
Another related problem to bloating is abdominal distension. It refers to an increase in abdominal girth. These two problems can occur together.
According to a recent paper titled Management of Chronic Abdominal Distension and Bloating on Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology:
“Abdominal bloating and distension are two of the most commonly reported gastrointestinal symptoms. Moreover, these symptoms frequently co-exist, although they can occur separately.”
Researchers of this free access paper reviewed the epidemiology and effects of chronic bloating and distension and pathophysiology. In addition, they discuss appropriate diagnostic strategies and assess available treatment options.
According to this paper:
“Abdominal bloating and distension can develop for multiple reasons, including food intolerances, a previous infection that perturbed the intestinal microbiota, disordered visceral sensation, delayed intestinal transit, or an abnormal viscero-somatic re-flux.”
The paper points out:
“Treatment can be challenging to patients and providers — no regimen has been consistently successful. Successful treatment involves identifying the etiology, assessing severity, educating and reassuring patients, and setting expectations. Therapeutic options include dietary changes, probiotics, antibiotics, prokinetic agents, antispasmodics, neuromodulators, and biofeedback.”
My experience in addressing abdominal bloating and distention
I suffered from bloating for several years. Initially, my family doctor did not take my condition very seriously.
He thought some food possibly caused gases, and he wanted me to observe and record my food intake daily and remove the offending ones.
In those days, I followed a vegetarian diet and only consumed eggs and dairy products as my protein sources.
A dietician recommended following a Mediterranean diet, mainly eating fresh vegetables and fruits with minimal animal products such as chicken and fish three times a week and occasionally red meat, as my Vitamin B12 levels and several minerals were deficient. As a result, I was diagnosed with mild anemia.
After several months, the Mediterranean diet helped me increase my B12 levels, but I did not experience any change in my bloating.
Instead, my belly was bulging and disturbing me even though I was exercising extensively and doing everything right, as advised by my healthcare professionals.
I finally convinced my family physician to refer me to a specialist. He said my conditions are complex and varied. Therefore, it was impossible to refer to multiple specialists.
However, he recommended seeing a general medicine specialist in a hospital. So, I learned that there was a difference between a GP and a “general medicine specialist”. Healthcare for medicine is very complex and hierarchical in my country.
The general medicine specialist obtained my health history and interviewed me for 45 minutes about my diet, exercise regime, sleep, and other lifestyle factors. Then, he ordered comprehensive blood, urine, and fecal tests, including microbiome.
After she obtained the tests, she referred me to different specialists. The first one was a gastroenterologist to review my digestive system.
The second one was an allergy specialist. In the meantime, I was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. So she also referred me to a rheumatologist.
The gastroenterologist ordered an endoscopy and colonoscopy. The results did not show any medical condition.
However, he thought food allergies probably caused the problem, so he recommended attending my appointment with the allergist, a private practice.
I paid $300 from my pocket for a 20-minute consultation with the allergist. Government Medicare and private health insurance did not cover it.
The allergist did not detect any noticeable allergy based on his tests in his office. He said it was most likely food intolerance.
He wanted me to ask my family doctor to refer me to a dietician to possibly create a FODMAP diet.
I learned that they are fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols. In short, they mean non-digestible short-chain carbohydrates.
So, the dietician prepared a plan to eliminate wheat, nuts, legumes, garlic, onion, artichokes, kale, dairy products, honey, and some fruits such as my favorite mango, watermelon, pears, and even apple.
I used to consume them in excessive amounts to stay healthy. She also recommended reducing my favorite beverages, such as coffee and black tea, to which I had almost ten cups a day to boost my antioxidants. Besides, I was addicted to caffeine to perform at work.
Using the FODMAP diet provided some relief. However, my bloating did not end. When I saw the general medicine specialist after a year, she said there were no other alternatives that she could do at the moment, so she wanted me to continue the FODMAP diet and see her next year.
My family doctor had no clue. He said perhaps it was an inherited situation, and it might get better with this diet. In his opinion, he exhausted all his resources to treat my condition. But I was not satisfied with the partial service. I envisioned a better solution.
One day, I asked a naturopath in the local health store to advise me of some natural solutions to bloating. She was a caring person. We had a chat almost for an hour.
She had many herbal products, but instead of selling me those products, she asked, “why don’t you see a functional medicine doctor?” She believed treating any condition without knowing the root causes was not good.
I had no idea what a functional medicine doctor did in those days. It was a relatively new concept in Australia.
But she helped me to find a private one. The consultation fee was only $85, which was three times cheaper than an allergist who added almost no value to the resolution of my condition.
The functional medicine doctor — nowadays known as an integrated health doctor — checked my detailed medical history and the case developed by the general medicine doctor and her other specialist referrals, including the rheumatologist, who told me my condition was a lifetime and I had to learn to deal with it.
I documented my experience in defeating rheumatoid arthritis in an article.
I found the optimal and the most sustainable solution for bloating.
It is a long story, but finally, my situation was identified by this functional medicine doctor. He simply wanted me to use an elimination diet. He knew I loved vegetables and fruits.
But he said, “you won’t die if you don’t eat vegetables for two weeks”. So, he suggested eating a little fruit but mainly consuming stake and lamb for two weeks. He did not prescribe any medication or supplement.
After two weeks, I felt a remarkable improvement in my digestive system. Discomfort almost disappeared, and my waistline shrank a few inches.
In addition, my energy level significantly increased. More importantly, the mental clarity I gained amazed me.
I called him and organized another follow-up session. He suggested trying this regime for two more weeks and cutting fruits, eggs, and all dairy foods, especially my beloved kefir, which I thought was the powerhouse of my microbiome.
The only difficult one was to cut kefir out of all food as I was emotionally attached to it. It was part of my daily ritual to create my own kefir with various fruit flavors at home. There was no other drink apart from pure water.
Interestingly, within a month, all discomfort entirely disappeared. He then wanted me to introduce some vegetables back in a tiny amount.
Every vegetable and fruit, even in minute amounts, created discomfort. It made it clear that I was carbs-intolerant and had no tolerance to pollutants in vegetables, and even a small amount of carbs in vegetables and fruits triggered discomfort.
He referred me to a dietician with proven experience in the keto-carnivore diet, as he knew remaining in ketosis was essential for my mental health.
This customized and unique diet enabled me to eat one meal a day which became a game-changer in my health journey.
Initially, I was terrified to go into a zero-cab diet just eating animal products as I heard horrible things about it, including from credible medical professionals.
However, to my surprise, thousands of people performed a near-zero carbs diet with animal products globally. I joined those communities and learned a lot from their experience. I loved consuming plants, but they did not align with my body.
Conclusions and Takeaways
In addition to stress and suffering, it took me many years and lots of money to solve my problem.
However, curiosity, determination, commitment, and support from qualified healthcare professionals helped me solve my digestive issues sustainably.
The same functional medicine doctor was also a catalyst for healing my leaky gut.
I am delighted with my current lifestyle, which helped me transform my health. I shared my experiences in several articles, blog posts, and book chapters on several platforms.
Of course, this type of diet might not work for everyone. However, my point is that an elimination diet, in my case, was the viable solution. There are many elimination diets. FODMAP was one of them.
For some people, the culprit is dairy products. For others, it is eggs or seafood. And some minorities like me, the offenders are plants and carbs.
We are all different. Bloating affects many of us differently. It might be caused by several factors such as food intolerance, allergy, micro-biome issues, and many other factors.
When I conversed with many other sufferers of abdominal bloating and distension, in addition to dietary modification, in severe cases, some patients were treated with probiotics, prebiotics, neuromodulators, prokinetic agents, antispasmodics, antibiotics, and even biofeedback.
No single solution can fix everyone’s situation. The best approach is to get tested as referred by a family physician, obtain specialist advice, and execute the plans offered by qualified healthcare practitioners.
For example, an elimination diet that suited my needs has successfully solved my chronic and debilitating digestive problems.
Besides, the solution synergized to solve other related health and fitness issues. For instance, I also healed my leaky gut and got rid of loose skin while solving my bloating problem, which gave me a defined abdominal posture after 50.
Some health conditions take longer to solve due to complexity. Usually, no single professional can solve complex issues as many specialists need to get involved in the process.
As my friend Jennifer did while healing her brain fog, I tried multiple avenues to solve my bloating and leaky gut problems. Our health and well-being are essential for happiness, so it is worth the effort, investment, and time.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
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