Excessive flatulence :(

[Emphyrio]

Does anyone have an issue with this? I seem to have it pretty much all the time these days - it seems to be triggered by foods with natural sugars (lactose and fructose), bread/wheat and beans/pulses - so I try to avoid these foods, though its difficult at times. I made the mistake of eating some sandwiches, a few dates and a piece of cake earlier today and I've created enough gas to fill a hot air balloon...

Its pretty annoying when I'm having to hold my farts in or release them gently (there's always the risk that it will be a 'rasper')...thankfully they don't particularly stink.

Does anyone else experience this? How have your significant others responded? I haven't yet farted (audibly) in front of my girlfriend but its only a matter of time - it may be the better option than my intestines exploding through a build-up of gas.

Farts may be funny as kids but not when I'm tooting every few minutes :(

[KK77]

Sorry, not got any helpful suggestions apart from not holding it in lest you explode lol.

Hope you get some useful replies - not just hot air

[Hawthorn]

hmm....have you been tested for coeliacs disease? CD causes damage to the stomach and can make it really hard to digest other stuff......such as lactose/fructose (lactose being a really common one)
I'm not a doctor, but it just occured to me that you said it's worse when eating wheaty products (beans/pulses even make the queen fart I suspect)
The first thing they'll do is take a blood sample as a marker. If that comes back positive you'll probably need further testing. Even if it comes back negative, it might be worth doing an elimination diet in case you're lactose intolerant/gluten intolerant.

Course there's the other option that because you're stressed about farting in front of her, it makes your stomach do flip flops and the whole thing just gets worse and worse.
My husband, sexy beast - farted on first date.....loudly. Then said 'better out than in'. Sigh. I still wonder why on earth I married him
But still, everyone does it.....even your girlfriend. The ironic thing here is she's probably holding em in too!

Practical help - peppermint tea, chamomile tea I find soothes and helps with this kind of thing. If you have time, try laying on your left hand side a little while. For me at least, it helps the air to escape upwards. I don't belch. I think I'm physically incapable (weird huh) but it does help with the bloating.

[Emphyrio]

Thanks for the replies

I have been tested for Coeliac disease which was negative. I know that the blood testing can give a false negative result but I don't think I have it. There's never been any incidences of it in the family and when I say that wheat causes it I should have mentioned its usually certain types of wheat. For some reason I can eat fresh pasta with little wind but dried pasta makes me trump. I can eat wraps but not yeasted bread.

I may be slightly lactose intolerant (I have been keeping a food diary) but can cope with small amounts of dairy - its only if I have a hot chocolate or a latte then I get a lot of gas. Thus I've switched to rice milk which I actually prefer to moo juice.

Its so annoying in that until around 3 years ago I could eat pretty much anything without getting much gas then since then I've had the symptoms. I've had a blood test which was perfectly fine and do not have any diarroeah or constipation usually so I'm not too concerned there's something serious going on...still, its a pretty annoying thing to have! :s

[chemilyx]

Emphyrio, I can empathise SO much.

I get phases of being like this and it's the most embarrassing thing in the world. Worse still if they seem to have been "festering" in my gut for a while... the smell is just horrific!

I've been with my boyfriend for over 3 years now and it's happened a lot in front of him. We always just laugh hysterically over it and he will always tell me how they should be stored up and used as nuclear weapons because they are THAT potent sometimes, and I will normally be giggling about it for ages afterwards because he always makes me laugh about it.

It's horrible... it's so bad for your self esteem, you feel like a disgusting person! But try and remember it's not your fault and the best thing I think you can do is make a joke of it. Or just be straight up and honest with your girlfriend and say that you have this problem and if you feel it starting, just try and go elsewhere to "release" it

I'm currently trying to sort out my diet and cut out as many potential problems as possible to try and work out what my gut is happy with and what it isn't. It's taking a long time and I'm not sure I've really got anywhere yet, but hopefully I'll make some progress at some point!

The best thing I think you can do is try and eat as "cleanly" as possible, i.e. lots of fresh fruit and veg, enough protein, and enough good fats. Obviously not if you're intolerant to any of those things, but yes!

Remember: EVERYONE FARTS, whether they like to admit it or not! Even the most seemingly perfect people. At least some of us are honest about it :P

[KK77]

At least some of us are honest about it :P

Oh was that a pop at me lol?

[chemilyx]

Oh was that a pop at me lol?

Oh gosh, no, not at all! I just mean... some people like to pretend they're too perfect to fart, hehe I'd like to see how they handled our situation!

[Emphyrio]

Thanks chemilyx - I have started taking some enzymes with betaine HCL and enteric peppermint oil capsules which will hopefully help. I thought that yesterday the wind wasn't going to appear but around 9pm I experienced a 2-hour long spell of producing a lot of odourless wind. It was annoying holding it in when sitting in the lounge with people at first though :s I wonder whether it was the 1/4 lb of hard sweets which I was sucking for most of the evening that did it? I'm eating the same things again without the sweets so hopefully I don't become a one man brass band :s

Thankfully my girlfriend seems to accept it (I've told her, but yet to trump in front of her) but when she next comes to stay, she'll feel the full force of my backside (hope she doesn't run away screaming, lol).

[Emphyrio]

The fartyness has returned :( I had it on my brief stint on citalopram, and I have it again. Boo :( And I'm only taking 2.5mg of the stuff! Gawd knows what my bottom would be doing on 20-40mg!

[jennielouises]

Hi emphryio

I never realised citalopram could cause wind? I have excessive wind and have been on citalopram for 6 years. I'm currently on 30mg but have been down as low as 5mg before. Now I am wondering if that is making my IBS worse?