# borborygmi/stomach growls/anxiety/ibs.



## clementine (Aug 28, 2009)

hi. this is a little intimidating considering it's my first ever forum entry and it's about such a personal topic...anyway, the story is that i have visited a gastroenterologist in the past and he's suggested i have ibs. i took whatever medication it was for an approximate total of two weeks before giving up. {i'm not particularly a fan of medication.} i do have bouts of both constipation and diarrhea, but always wrote it off as a sensitive stomach issue. after reading some stuff on this forum, however, i do believe i may have ibs. i've pretty much learned to work my life around it at this point - unfortunately not as successfully as i would like.the bigger problem is the anxiety i get from the borborygmi/stomach growls. i've read some forums where people have experienced the same thing or something similar. what it boils down to is - i can't be in a quiet environment without becoming overwhelmed with anxiety. the quiet makes me nervous about my stomach growls, which in turn actually makes my stomach growl. college was a mess because of the quiet lecture halls, waiting rooms are torture, even movie theaters have become one of my enemies. i'm the first person to find this absolutely ridiculous. it's bittersweet to hear about people experiencing the same thing... essentially what i would like to do is reach out to anyone who is dealing with this...how are you handling this? is there anything working for you? if this really is an ibs "symptom," do i look to a gastroenterologist for "answers" or a psychologist? anything from anyone would be greatly appreciated...thanks!


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## cherrypie09 (Jan 20, 2009)

I think the growling noises, moveing sensations and the feeling like there is a waterfall and volcano in your stomach, is a ibs thing, I have ibs-D and suffer with anxiety, but my anxiety is stemmed from having urgent loose bms and going out. when i told my doctor about my stomach noises and movements she didnt seem that bothered, she gave me colpermin to see if it would help it settle down, been on it a week now and its still the same. I know what you mean about being in a quiet room, it seems so loud sometimes. Try not to let it bother you too much, i dont think there is much that can sort it out. Someone said charcoal tablets might work, may try them next.


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## saurav (Aug 21, 2009)

If the sounds are coming from upper region of body then it may be a problem of acidity/gastritis/ulcer. Advice:visit a doc.If the sounds are coming from lower region of body(abdomen area) then it may be a problem of trapped gas.Advice:If you are constipated or have gas problem take Ayurveda medicines.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Everyone's stomach makes noises all the time, every day. Usually they are quiet enough we can't hear them over the background noise. Some people are louder than others. It is one of those things if you notice it and get anxious about it you can then start listening for it and anyone who listens hard enough long enough will eventually hear some noises. Especially when sitting somewhere really quiet.Now just because you hear it doesn't mean everyone else does. After all I don't usually hear everyone else's colons in constant motion even if I know they are.The only time the colon makes no noise at all (even if you have to listen with a stethoscope) is when you have a complete blockage. This can be a medical emergency and is not a recommended way to make it go away.If the anxiety is more than you can handle with some relaxation techniques it may be worth getting treatment for that. If you won't take medication then therapy can help (but some people will need a period of medication and therapy together to get good results).Some people find that gases are part of the noise issues so something like a probiotic formula (dietary supplement of "friendly" bacteria but some people who won't take medications won't take pills of anything even if it is natural) can sometimes make some of the noises quieter even if you can't make them go away completely. If you can eat yogurt or drink something like kefir that can be another way to get the bacteria, but some people don't tolerate the lactose or soy used to make those.


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## journ3 (Feb 16, 2009)

Yes, according to a couple of MDs and other people I've talked to who understand IBS very well, borborygmi is indeed an "IBS thing," but it usually doesn't get talked about much because many people have other symptoms which bother them more. Through much of my first year with IBS, my borborygmi was very loud and very prolonged-- every few seconds for up to 2 hours at a time many days and nights. It was, in my case, *not* just because I was paying attention to something normal and it was not because of IBS-D, as I was pain predominant at the time. It could be trapped gas, but in my case, I don't find that I generally have more gas than I did pre-IBS.This was a concern for me because although I am quite open about IBS with family, friends, coworkers, etc, I also work around huge numbers of the general public on a regular basis, and in my opinion, it's not appropriate or professional for all of those casual contacts to know my medical history. Borborygmi is not on the list of symptoms that comes with the program, but I found that as I progressed with the IBS Audio 100 hypnotherapy, (see the hypnotherapy forum here), the borborygmi decreased significantly over time. Now, when it happens, it's still too loud and too often compared to my pre-IBS state, but only a few seconds or few minutes, a few times a day most days, not hours at a time every day and night. Good luck.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Some people can be louder than others.I swear I said that. However if you only notice the noises in very quiet conditions then you probably aren't significantly louder than normal. If you can hear it over the TV set or people across the room turn to look, that is a lot louder than usual. Although even a healthy person's GI tract can occasionally make a really loud noise.Unfortunately noisiness doesn't really give a lot of insight into why you are that way or a single course of action to fix it. And everyone's GI tract is always making some noise, even if you can't hear it all the time. First thing they do if they think you have an obstruction is put a stethoscope to your belly. If they hear normal noises you aren't completely obstructed. If it is completely silent they usually rush to do something to unblock you.Sometimes with anxiety people become hyper-aware of the normal stuff our body does all the time but we never noticed before. For those that have anxiety often treating the anxiety is more effective than trying to make the body stop doing something that everyone's body does.


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Just wanted to add that, many times, it takes longer than 2 weeks to see what kind of results you're going to get from a certain medication. Some you can tell right away, but some meds you have to wait to see what kind of cumulative result you're going to get. So, if you stop too soon without giving it a fair chance, you never know if that med was going to help you or not.


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## clementine (Aug 28, 2009)

thanks to all of you for your advice, suggestions, personal experiences, best wishes- as well as your time. i definitely intend on incorporating some of these things into my life - and diet - in order to see if it helps the issue. thanks again!


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## mindnbody (Sep 1, 2009)

clementine said:


> hi. this is a little intimidating considering it's my first ever forum entry and it's about such a personal topic...anyway, the story is that i have visited a gastroenterologist in the past and he's suggested i have ibs. i took whatever medication it was for an approximate total of two weeks before giving up. {i'm not particularly a fan of medication.}


I was diagnosed with IBS decades ago. But the gastroenterologist did not come to that conclusion until he assessed all of my symptoms and had performed a colonoscopy,If you're having a chronic bowel problem, I would think a colonoscopy should be performed at some point in time just to rule out a physcial problem. Giving someone a medication as a quick fix doesn't sound like the right solution to me. I'm not a doctor. But the doctor doesn't really know what your problem is yet.It would be a relief, too, to know that your bowel problem is not something physcial.


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