# New to forum, hope to learn more...



## NealS (Oct 3, 2017)

Hello. A little bit about myself since I am new to the forum: I am a 40+ (okay, almost 50) year-old American Caucasian male of average height (6') and weight (about 172lbs.). I'm relatively healthy (aside of why I'm on this forum) with no previous major health issues. I've been gassy most of my adolescent and adult life, but only within the past 2-3 years has it become uncomfortable to the point where it distracts me from life. Inconsistent abdominal bloating and some routinely random, but mild pain (3 on a scale from 1-10) has been the norm most days. I blame my previous years of gassiness to eating whatever I wanted and being the "skinny kid who could eat anything and never gain any weight".

The constant - but not consistent, mind you - irritation is what I describe as "your belt poking into your sides" - just below the rib cage. Sometimes it goes lower. It feels better when I stand than when I sit, but my job requires me to sit in front of a computer for more than 8 hours a day and depending on my workload I may not get up for an hour or two. Some days it is worse than others. To combat this, I've completely removed the 2 Mountain Dews-a day I would have (sometimes more) but in fact I don't drink ANY soda anymore - going on 2 years. But sadly, I have recently replaced it with Green Tea (but not as much) because although I drink water throughout the day, I don't really like to drink it with food. I've desperately tried to curb both my intake as well as my choice of foods, cutting out known things that are known to cause bloat like apples and onions. But I still like the occasional pizza slice or hoagie. As I previously said I DO drink water - about 4-5 glasses throughout the day, and exercise moderately - 15 to 20 minute walks mostly. To compensate my fiber intake, I take Benefiber 1-2 two times a day which was recommended to me by a gastroenterologist. I've had my first colonoscopy which came back clean.

Now the uncomfortable part: my bowel movements consist of 1 -2 times a week. Mostly soft, but normal color, no blood. Sometimes I feel cleaned out, other times not.

The biggest issue in regulating this I feel is that I can't ever determine what affects me. Is it the lunch I had an hour ago, or the donut I snuck in three days ago the culprit? Do I just cut out something suspicious for a week or is a day sufficient? Am I taking in too much water, too much fiber? Many sites agree on some things, but then other recommend just the opposite.

I've never been diagnosed with anything being as - I'm guessing - my symptoms are specific to just general irritable bowels. No severe diarrhea, no fatigue, little weight loss but no malnutrition. So I've been using "IBS" as a general term.

Sorry that this is so lengthy but I wanted to give everyone the complete picture. I'd surely like to chat with other people who may have had - or are having the same experience as I do, because for something that I've continued to tolerate, I'm getting frustrated feeling like this. I realize my condition could be much worse, and I'm thankful each day it's not, but I'm hoping this forum might help shed some light on things I have not tried or realized.

Thanks for reading.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

hi and welcome to the board.

just a couple thoughts---if you are only going one to two times a week , it could be that you have colonic inertia and not ibs. i was originally dx'd with ibs-c but after doing some research, i became convinced that more was going on then ibs so i asked my gastro doc for a sitz marker test (colonic transit study) which showed that i had colonic inertia. my gastro then ordered some other tests which showed that i had other problems as well. so you might want to ask your doc for the sitz marker test.

being constipated can cause lots of gas and bloating.

if you are using fiber, you really do need to drink more water--at least 64 oz a day. and yes, fiber can help some people but only if their constipation is caused by a lack of fiber to begin with. when your colon is moving slowly, fiber just backs it up all the more. i found that i did better with a diet low in fiber.

SIBO--small intestine bacterial overgrowth can cause gas, bloating, constipation and other problems as well. ask your gastro doc if you can be tested for it.

http://www.siboinfo.com/

we have a lot of information about dealing with constipation over on the constipation forum.

good luck with everything. hope you can find some relief.


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