# Swallowed air cause gas?



## Diannie (Mar 29, 2002)

Can having allergies so bad you can't breathe through your nose cause you to swallow large amounts of air? If so, could this cause someone to have a problem with flatulence?


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## Lissa1 (Apr 22, 2002)

I suppose it could, especially since carbonated beverages are supposed to cause gas because you're basically swallowing little gas bubbles. <shrug>


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

If you are just mouth breathing the air doesn't get into the GI tract...But with post nasal drip you may be swallowing more than usual and that can in some cases add to gas in the GI tract (but activity of the colonic bacteria is generally the major source of farting. Air swallowing tends to be more of a burping thing).I have noticed when allergies are bad (even when I CAN breathe through the nose) that gas seems to be worse. It may be how your bodies internal signals are making changes in your digestive tract. After all histamine plays roles in digestion, and the bacteria in the colon in all likelyhood respond to any changes in their environment (aka you).K.


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## smurf1 (Oct 23, 2001)

The folks who suggest that excessive air intake can increase gas have never suffered the kind of excessive flatulence that us IBS sufferers have.I suffer from both allergies and IBS. I sometimes have excessive flatulence issues with the IBS.I can assure you that the kind of excessive flatulence related to IBS is related to what I eat and not to how well I'm breathing through my mouth.For me it is sugars, breads and pasta that have the worst affects. For others it may be something else.


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

Levitt has done a study on an excessively flatulent patient whose flatulence was caused by air intake. They found this by doing an analysis of his flatus. He farted 80-100 times a day and that is more than most IBS'ers pass


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

Greetings from rustic Valdosta, Georgia....The trouble with discussing flatulence is that there are so many factors which can influence gas content of the gut, be it swallowed, created through digestion, and perceptual (not only sensorial but but opinion as to what is normal volume production and what is abnormal) it is sort of like discussing "how long is an airplane flight supposed to be" and "this flight was way too long" retort "no its not its supposed to be that long" retort "it is no longer than any other flight to that location from that point of origin, you just THINK it is too long since you are a head case". Ad nauseaum.So far everyone that posted something is correct in the context of their posting.Some gas is from swallowing, normally,the only time I would suggest an exception to KM's correct statement (mouth breathing does not by itslef increase gut gas...but it does dry out yer lungs) is if you are a mouth breather who keeps on talks blabbing they eat (this is one of the conditions where mouth breathing can induce extra gas into the belly....I guess maybe its a good idea for me to do what I tell my kids to do to minimize choke hazards...don't talk with youyr mouth full







; if you drink carbonated beverages or if you chew gum or smoke (whatever...pick yer poison) or drink through a straw....Most gas is from the digestive process as you try to make simple substances, like sugars for example, out of complex ones, and all that which people can wax eloquently about at great length.Anything which can alter the efficiency or effectiveness of proper digestion can alter gas production. Anything which alters the volume of gas one swallows alters the amount of gas in the gut at any time. Anything which causes disruption of the normal function of the various structures of the gut wall, like an inflammatory reaction mentioned in the context of allergies (mast cell reactions) pseudoallergy, cross-reactivity to foods in persons with inhalant allergy, dysbiosis, enzyme deficiency of various types, non-allergic reactions to dietary components (t cell reactions), eating too much carb in your diet vs. the amount of carbs you can yourself process in the time of your personal GI transit and the phases of the moon can all impact the balance of gas in the gut at any moment.THEN anything which alters PERCEPTION (the feeling or sensation of what is in the gut at any time...many IBS patients are much more sensitivit to distention of the gut wall as we know so they sense normal lumenal volumes as if they are larger, and sometimes they are not and sometimes they are). This can go on forever.For each person who declares dogmatically "there is no excess gas in (so called) IBS" patients there are always ten people who have been told they have IBS and who know they both feel too much gas and who know that for some reason they are making more gas than the average Joe/Josephine. Since the average Joe-Josey will "break wind" perhaps 15-20 times per day on average, and a person KNOWS that if he/she breaks wind 15-20 times in an HOUR that this is reasonable evidence they are gassy.







So you can count me among those who can be labelled as heretical for also saying that from time to time (blush) I also for some reason produce WAYYYYY more gas and it is WAYYY uncomfortable and I know it is more than normal as I can serve as my own control.As long as I follow my diet which I know consists of my safe foods, I have no symptoms at all of any kind, and I barely notice intestinal gas throught a 24 hour period.BUT one of the effects of straying from my diet, especially if I throw in starchy foods (that I also know by testing trigger an inapprorpiate cellular reaction to them), I will have several discomforts when that stuff works its way through my GI tract...among those is not only heightened sensation and discomfort BUT with certain foods a major increase in gas production and release...to the point of "Jeez ENOUGH already!!!







This is especially a hassle when travelling, like now, for business and having to evaluate too many different restaurant recipes and probabilities. There are some evenings that it oh so fortunate I am alone in an isolated hotel room somehwere between heaven, hell and Houston.







On the other hand, sometimes it is just plain old ordinary "cruciferous veggies will make more gas" too, nothing to do with IBS itself.So when it comes to gas and people with various digestive problems, in the correct context ANYTHING about gas can be true under certain conditions. Can also be true, though, for people who do NOT have "IBS".Hey, where's them big yeasty glazed donuts I bought for my nutritious breakfast????MNL


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

> quote:and a person KNOWS that if he/she breaks wind 15-20 times in an HOUR that this is reasonable evidence they are gassy.


.15-20 an hour -Only in some very few hours in their life perhaps. Perhaps I should have qualified my statement thus :Most IBS'ers don't pass that much gas *consistently*because this excessively flatulent patient that I referred to farted 80-100 times a day on an average and he didn't have IBS


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

Oh I am not poking at your statement or post at all, rather so many times on these IBS boards people complain of their excess gassiness and then get treated, by people other than yourself, as if they are an idiot who cannot tell that they are (or FEEL) gassy. Just in case some person experiences that elsewhere I merely wanted to point out that when this happens to some people, and it does and they know who they are, to simply not accept remarks which suggest they are either unable to assess their own symptoms or are "dramatizing" something.So its not really anything that was related to anything you posted but if someone else hapopens to "jump" somebody about a subject which sometimes becomes needlessly hostile.You are correct that it would be tough to sustan that rate of flatulence continuosly but I do mean episodically...some patients I have seen are in torment as it can go hour after hour after hour as if there is some ballon in their gut which will never empty...real real frutrating.MNL


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

Thanks for clarifying, Mike.Thinking abut the rest of your post.Is there a chapter on gas in that book by Professor Brostoff( That's the name I think? Gosh! You have pasted the name of that book and author so many times I should know that author's name by now)? Ever since I found out that I was fructose intolerant I have been on such a restricted diet, it is ridiculous. Now that I am traveling, I have realized what a restricted diet I have been on in the States. Half of the mimimal things I eat in the US are not available in India! I have to ask my mother to make me home-made whole wheat tortillas in other people's homes. I live a ridiculous life avoiding all fruits and vegetables and many other things and since all Indian dishes have veggies in them i don't have those either if I have to be around people. There must be a better life than this. Is there an answer for me in Prof Brostoff's book, MikeNL? The reason I ask is because even if you are fructose intolerant you should be able to tolerate 15 or so gms of fructose but I do well only on total avoidance of all veggies or so it seems . I am not very good at elimination diets. Does Prof Brostoff ask one to follow some kind of an elimination diet? I hope not. Please help.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

Hi BonnieI have a breakfast meeting I have to be at in 10 minutes and then have to pack up to check out of this hotel and put the Signet Mobile Unit back on the road.If I do not get back to you today I will try at my next stop in the a.m.Otherwise if it is not possible Monday for sure the Mobile should be returned to base.CU soonMNL


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

I just got in from Bangalore, into Bombay. Monday sounds fine


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

Mike, Just thoought I would warn you. Don't be surprised if when you post on Mon I don't reply for a while. The monsoons here are crazy. I had wanted to come the whole evening to the internet cafe but the rains gave me a break only now. You should have seen the streets- filled with the rain water and I believe water from I can't say where! EEK. So even though I feel safe walking the streets at all tiomes of the night here, I can't say I feel clean walking the streets in this season. So I will be visiting the cafe only sparingly. But I will get back to you. I am very interested to find out if that book has anything about gas and what Leap has to offer to gas sufferers. CU when the weather gets a bit drier. I better run now. I might be able to get back home before the rain starts if I hurry.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

WHOA and I was complaining about a crummy Florida thunderstorm?SHut my mouth







MNL


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

Thunderstorms Ha! Hahahaha!You spoilt babies!







Where is the reply about gas, MikeNL







I came in the rains to check for it. Pleeease reply. Thanks


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

Sorry, I just plain ran outta time...Lemme go see what that was(cue elevator music)OK. ________________________________________"Is there a chapter on gas in that book by Professor Brostoff" ________________________________________Brostoff discusses "gas" in various contexts throughout the book....but page 162 has sort of a summary on gas in general.As far as fructose intolerance goes there are no simple answers so far, unless there is something new lately (I have been so busy I have not kept up on my reading for the last 3 months or so).Fructose intolerance (enzymatic) and fructose hypersensitivity (aberrant immunocyte reaction to fructose detectable with MRT) are 2 different things that present you with the exact same problem: no solution yet except avoidance.I will check the literature thoroughly when I cna get some time so as to amke sure that this has not changed (in FACT not someones theory or product-promos).When did you develop "fructose intolerance" as normally, behaviorally, if it occurs in kids (innate enyme deficiency) the kid develops aversion behavior and so fructose avoidance becomes natural.Did this happen as an adult and if so was it linked to an event which may have resulted in dysbiosis? If so, then the difficulty may be one of those things which could be helped with probiotic therapy or functional food therapy...a nacent science but promising.Have a little history? If there is a precursor event which may suggest an acut onset, then careful study may result in somehtign helpful...we can drag Jan (our dietician) in on this too once you have time to give me the background on your fructose intolerance.Hope the monsoon did not wash you away!be back tomorrowMNL


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

I should have been clearer. I have the fructose intolerance problem as in fructose malabsorption. I discovered that a little over a year ago. This is not the same intolerance I believe where the person develops an aversion for fructose. I have had the gas problem for about 20 years now. Can't relate it to any specific event unless it was one of my trips to India. Infact the more I think about it it developed in India. Very likely developed some dysbiosis by eating some junk sold by some hawker on the streets. Probiotics do help. I had never connected fructose intolerance with dysbiosis! Can you please tell me more about this connection or will i find it in the good prof's book?. BTW Thanks a lot for the reply.


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

The monsoons didn't wash me away, LOL







. You hang around here- you get the hang of it. - which streets to avoid etc


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

Mike, I don't know if you like being compared to flux but you are becoming like flux, albeit only on this thread. You are leaving my questions unanswered. Not that you are beholden to me to answer my questions . Nor is flux for that matter. Come to think of it I am bumping for eric in another forum! Is it me? Would you pleease reply. I will be forever grateful to you."Perhaps she had better send him an email to look into this thread before she makes a fool of herself and he does not look into this thread and leaves her plea ignored"


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

Sorry Bonnie I am not ignoring you...the last few days I have just not had enough time to get to every question on every thread within the time allotted. And on the weekend I hsve to stop working by 2 pm so MrsNL can get to her job she likes on the weekend and I cannot make the kids sit and watch DadNL bang on the IBS Boards trying to catch up. They need to have some time too.I am also in the middle of adding a very significant uh "new product" to what Signet offers in its "line" and the ciontract negotiations have been very time consuming. It is part of why I have been travelling alot too.So I apologize to you and anyone else whose questions went unanswered for a couple of days or more. I am making an honest effort this morning to try to get to everything and everyone....so that you won't think I am "Fluxing" you.







OK so let me read what I missed and reply (cue the elevator music)....be right back







Aha...smoking gun: ________________________________________". Can't relate it to any specific event unless it was one of my trips to India. Infact the more I think about it it developed in India. " ________________________________________India and the water are notorious sources of problems for people whose gut flora were develped in another land. I cnnot count the number of people I know who have gone to India and become afflixcted with every form of dysbiotic problem from amoebic dysentery to crypto!One of the ways that one can develop the symptoms you describe, which are simply voming from an aletred flora thus altered digestive function...trouble breaking down and assimilating more complex saccharides....is by dysbiosis in its myriad forms.This can be tough to sort out...is there an active low grade pathogen (infection) causing this? In which case some have had success with antibiotic therapy. On te other hand did the perosn have an infection treated with antibiotics and then was left with digestive dysfunction? Does that mean that the antibiotic did not work, or did it work so well it killed off some of the normal helpful bacteria too?these links can tell you a bit about the gut flora so wthe conundrum this presents will make sense:-------------------------- http://www.gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/ch006.htm http://www.ccfa.org/weekly/previous/wkly0723.htm http://www4.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/En...83059595&Dopt=r http://www4.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/En...81119781&Dopt=r ----------------------------Can you think back and sort of construct any history...that is 'I came to India from X in Y year and was fine until about Z time, in between I had ABC happen and thought that when they gave me CDF everything was fine but come tio think of it PQR started hapening...."We have to follow Dr. oslers advice to start rooting out these kinds of woes:"If you talk to the patient long enough she will tell you exactly what is wrong with her."Bon-bon...see what you can tlel me and I will come back in the morning. I don't want to start just throwing all kinds of papers and abstracts and studies and gibberish up ther guessing. A little history might help narrow my focus.Oh, question, have you ever beenm to or seen an infectious disease specialist over there?Again sorry for the delay I do not mean to ignore you...think it over and you will probably realize I would not intentionally do that to anyone (except my ex wife maybe







)MNLProbiotic therapy is very much in its infancy


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

no i did not think you were intentionally ignoring me. I *know* you are just not that type. i did however think that you did not want to get involved in this topic because of what you referred to in your e-mail. in fact there are a couple of other queries about gas on in this forum and I tried to refer to your email with them as a reason for you not answering.Anyway I will read over your reply and links and get back to you. THANKS A MILLION FOR YOUR REPLY AND NOT FLUXING ME! if I had to describe you, sugar wouldn't come close. ok i am exaggerating


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

i can understand family responsibilities taking up much of your time. I on the other hand have come to India without my husband and am behaving footloose and spouse free LOL with ample time for the internet ,barring the monsoons which have let up miraculously in the last week. Well on to the topic - yup, the water in India sucks. I developed something I think when I came from the uSA to India in 1982 because I had gas which slipped out of me in the presence of my family for the first time in my conscious life. I remember the embarassment well. I immediately left for the States soon after so I did not got to a specialist. (I think I will go to one here.)It built up very gradually so I did not connect it to the trip in India. besides I wasn't obsessed with my bowels so didn't really pay much attention to the gas. Further I was just becoming independent and a poor grad student and didn't realize I should go to a doc. I went to a doc only 4 years later who suggested fibre which did not help. And all the time I kept blaming it on the cigarettes I was smoking. In fact a psychologist told me that air swallowing could occur with cigs and not much was done to investigate after that given that I was so addicted to cigarettes and couldn't give up smoking. That's my history.But why am I boring you with all this? I don't expect you to investigate this gas thing. I am not paying you or nything.I was just curious if Leap could help. Maybe I should get back to you after my trip to the specialist if nothing turns up there. Thanks for taking the time to do this but please don't go any further







And the question about fructose and dysbiosis I have figured out on my own. If there was no dysbiosis, there would be no gas regardless of how much fructose maldigestion took place. Right? That was my original question but it has all been figured out. so all's well that ends all.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

BONBON: _____________________________"if I had to describe you, sugar wouldn't come close" ______________________________Most people I think would agree as they more often refer to me by another "s-word".On the gas, keep in mind that it is normal for about 14-16 "gas epsiodes" to occur per day in healthy adults. The more legumes in your diet, as you probably have in India (eat a lot of lentil soup..dahl?) will increase gas production as well. Combine that with the fact that cigarrette smoking can mobilize gas better for you than when you do not smoke and there might be no problem physically at all...it could all jjst be lifestyle (diet and a bad habit I shared for decades...one of the first things I noticed when I did quit was less gassy).So there might just be some very lgical normal situational things which can explain it and which could be modified easily, since it does not sound like you suffered any trauma from the change in bacterial exposure like many people get when they go to India. Not everyone gets it. I have one friend who has been there more times than I can count and drunk from mud pussles and never got sick. Must have a killer immune system...he is an immunologist so maybe he knows some tricks I don't







Eat well. Think well. Be well. No hubbie, so Behave well.







MNL


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## bonniei (Jan 25, 2001)

> quote:. No hubbie, so Behave well


My hub is too sweet for me not to behave well. I might look , and sometimes feel the grass is greener on the other side but when push comes to shove I have always turned back to my hub


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

yep...sometimes the greener grass merely appears so due to the amount of excessive amount of "bovine fertilizer" that has been spread upon it.Act in haste repent at leisure.MNL


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