Occasional or even daily bloating is an entirely natural part of healthy digestion and often goes away on its own. It really depends on what and how much you eat! To relieve bloating, it often helps to determine the cause behind it and then try a combination of diet and a bloating supplement that works.
Bloating through excess gas/trapped wind
Abdominal bloating most commonly occurs from excess intestinal gas. When we eat, our gut bacteria digest (eat) carbohydrates and ferment them (produces gas). If there’s too much fermentation of certain carbohydrates, it can cause excess gas. Excess gas may also be caused by eating too quickly, carbohydrate malabsorption e.g. lactose or frictose, IBS (or functional dyspepsia), or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). Sometimes swallowing too much air with chewing gum and bubbles in drinks will create bloating!
A well researched bloating supplement that works will diffuse bloating and relieve tension in the abdomen. It is a good idea to do an elimination diet, cutting out all the most likely food culprits and introducing them back into your diet one by one every week. You’ll soon see what works for you to reduce your bloating.
You may have ‘visceral hypersensitivity’, which is something different, meaning you may feel bloated even if your gas levels are normal and there is no abdominal distension.
Build-up /constipation
Sometimes food, liquid, and gas build up in the digestive system can result in bloating. This can be caused by a sluggish or restriction in the digestive tract, or by weak muscles used in the digestive process. If you’ve eaten too muc, haven’t exercised to get things moving or are not taking a bloating supplement that works, the build-up leaves less room for gas to pass through and this then causes painful trapped wind.
Hormones
For women abdominal bloating is a common and unpleasant effect of PMS, menstruation, and perimenopause. Female hormones impact many aspects of bloating. Oestrogen causes water retention and results in lower abdominal bloating. Oestrogen in the GI tract also increases visceral sensitivity, making you feel more bloated than you may actually be. A bloating supplement that works should help ease the swelling.
When to See a Doctor, When to Take a Bloating Supplement that works
Katie Murray, a nutritionist, says “Bloating is a natural part of digestion, but if it affects your quality of life, worsens or is accompanied by more serious symptoms like vomiting or a fever, seek medical attention straight away. Often patients are diagnosed with IBS or SIBO, but bloating may stem from a more serious underlying condition like ascites (from liver disease), pancreatic insufficiency (insufficient enzymes), stomach and/or intestinal inflammation, or cancer anywhere in the abdomen.”
Difference between Abdominal bloating and abdominal distension
Abdominal bloating and abdominal distension are two of the most commonly reported gastrointestinal symptoms worldwide but they are not the same thing.
Abdominal bloating is diagnosed by symptoms of trapped gas, abdominal pressure, and fullness.
Abdominal distension is defined as a visible and measurable increase in abdominal girth.
These symptoms frequently co-exist, although they can occur separately and both can be helped by a boating supplement that works, such as Healthy Gut.
Gastrointestinal Disorders
Defined by Rome IV medical criteria, functional abdominal bloating and distension commonly coincide with other functional gastrointestinal disorders, such as functional dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional constipation.
To fulfil the Rome IV criteria for diagnosis of functional abdominal bloating and distension, diagnostic criteria (fulfilled for the last three months with symptom onset at least six months prior to diagnosis) must include both of the following:
Recurrent bloating and/or distension occurring on average at least 1 day/week; abdominal bloating and/or distension predominates over other symptoms.*
Mild pain related to bloating may be present as well as minor bowel movement abnormalities.
Abdominal bloating and distension can develop for multiple reasons, including food intolerances (e.g. lactose), a previous infection that disturbed the intestinal microbiota, disordered visceral sensation (eg hypersensitivity to pain and fullness), delayed intestinal transit (slow digestion), or an abnormal viscero-somatic reflux (where in relation to gas production the diaphragm descends or contracts inappropriately, and the abdominal wall muscles relax, allowing the abdomen to protrude).
Bloating Supplements that Work as Part of a Solution
Treatment can be challenging, there is no medical treatment which has been consistently successful long term and so most people try lots of different treatments, some medically prescribed and a natural bloating supplement that works, such as Healthy Gut.
Like any gastrointestinal disorder, successful treatment involves identifying the root of the cause, and then looking at a range of treatment options which depend on the cause and could including:
- Dietary changes
- Probiotics
- Bloating supplements that work
- Antibiotics
- Prokinetic agents (which speed up food moving through the digestive system)
- Antispasmodics (painful spasm reducers)
- Neuromodulators (e.g antidepressants)
- Pelvic floor biofeedback (a physiotherapist technique),
- Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
- Gut-directed hypnotherapy.