Gas with no particular trigger
Hi Everyone. I am 4 weeks out. In the last week, I've developed some pretty bad episodes of gas (both ends) in the evening. It starts as continuous burps durning the day then progress to both pretty bad by night. The next day when I wake up, I'll have a burning stomach. I can't figure out what is triggering it cuz it doesn't seem to matter what I've ate. I should note this is not overdoing carbs cuz I am not eating anything like this yet. I've had no veggies and I wouldn't even think of attempting bread or anything else I've read would trigger something like this.
Yesterday what I had ate before it started was Oinkos Greek Triple yogurt. I've eaten this since a week after surgery and never had a reaction to it. The time before it was puréed chicken.
I get that gas is something I'll deal with from now on. It's more the next day when my stomach burns. I should note I am on omeprazole 40mgs. I was taking it in the morning but switch to after dinner in hope that it would stop the burning of my stomach in the morning.
I did bring it up with my surgeon. She seemed puzzled and said to watch and in two weeks if it didn't get better she'd send me for tests.
Triple Zero is sweetened with Stevia, a plant-based sugar substitute and it has 10g of chicory root fiber. Flatulence is the most common side effect of chicory root fiber. In some people, Stevia causes intestinal discomfort and gas. I have learned that I can eat only one brand of Greek yogurt because it doesn't contain any plant based thickeners like guar gum or food starch, or chicory root fiber. All of the sugar substitutes give me the worst gas and I have learned to avoid them. The fewer the ingredients, the less likely it is to cause problems, in my experience. As your intestinal microbiome changes after surgery, with different bacteria in different proportions, food that haven't been a problem might become a problem.
Thank you for that insight. I didn't think of that. What Greek yogurt did you find without all the added "stuff"? My big issue seems to be that am getting the gas with everything I eat. I just had a scrambled egg for lunch and now I've got the constant burping. Is this just my system getting use to food again? It's so annoying. If it is. I guess it's just something I've gotta live with till things heal more. It's just weird cuz this all literally just started a week ago. Before that I had no issues. I've been on soft foods since 1 and 1/2 weeks after surgery. Maybe they moved me on a tad too soon.
You will start to read labels of all products in cans, boxes, or containers. Fage is the only yogurt with limited ingredients in my store and it also has live beneficial bacteria. I don't eat the fruit flavored ones. Some of the grocery brand yogurts might be similar, I don't know. I don't eat it everyday. I do better with food I make myself. One source of gas after taco night was the packaged taco seasoning, which looked harmless, until I read the ingredients. So I tinkered with my own spices and no gas later. Avoid corn starch, food starch, guar gum, etc. And baking soda and baking powder are also problems for me, but everyone is different in their trigger foods.
Your upper-GI issue with the egg might be eating too quickly or eating too big bites. A teaspoon, wait a half a minute, then another teaspoon, very slowly until you heal. (Beware of fast food eggs, which are altered with starch and other gas-inducing stuff) I found eating very slowly, Tums and soda crackers helpful taken at night for upper-GI burps during healing and I added twice the pillows to add gravity. But I didn't have the burning you describe. Keeping a food diary might be a useful way to find out which foods agree best with you. Healing will help!
I have had the chronic gas problem a long time, since well before my surgery. It is an 60% enzyme issue. If you are A+ blood type... would double that odds..
.try using lactase enzyme for all milk products, with severe reaction I had to use double the normal amount to get results. For carbs and meats.. a meat tenderizer , like mccormicks( no msg) or dollar general house brand... will help its main ingredients should be bromelin or papin... with nothing called spice in it. Using the enzymes will slow down your loss so be careful about using them all the time. You can also buy papin losenes or tablets thru a health food /supplement source..
also be careful about the amount of air you are swallowing. I was a chronic air swallower. The surgeon put me to drinking only thru a straw for a lot of weeks until i got gas under control He also cleared me to use gas x.- /simethecone in what amounts i needed for the gas attacks. the danger of twisting your gut is increased with gas this bad. I have done that twice. do not let this go. You would be sorry. It takes 5 days in the hospital with a ng tube down your nose and a rectal tube up butt to decompress gut and untwist without surgery.. worse pain that labor and delivery.. I have done that twice as well. Please learn from my mistakes.!
Thank you for this advice. Ironically, I just bought the lactase on my way from work. I already have an intolerance for whey (makes the whole protein shake drinking a pain since it limits my options). I figures since most of protein is coming from milk,yogurt, cheese etc. I should try it.
I was wondering about protein and if maybe I wasn't breaking that down either. It's weird I didn't have anything like this on the liquid stage with the shakes, yogurt but it started with the 2nd week of purées. I'll get the meat tenderizer too.
I thought about the swallowing of air. I'll bring that up with doctor.
what were the sign of your guts twisting outside of gas? I just want to be prepared should something else happen. I am so sorry you went through that twice.
Thank you again for your help!
