Severe bloating

I've been trying to eat more and have a more normalized relationship with food, but lately I've been bloated all the time! When the bloating is at it's least severe, it almost looks like somebody took a square-ish book or something and put it in my abdomen from my belly button down. When it's at it's most, I can't hide it with anything (even baggy shirts/sweaters) and just hope that people think I'm pregnant or something. It looks really really bad.

But more than looking bad, it hurts a lot. My abdomen gets stretched so far out that I can feel the strain on the muscles in my back and along my ribs as they try to compensate for everything getting pushed so far out in front of me. A lot of really putrid smelling gas accompanies the extreme bloating. When it's just the minimal bloating, I feel constipated, even though I poop a lot (3+ times a day).

Yes, this is all WAY more information than you'd like to know

Anyways, I was just wondering if anybody else has encountered this, and if it will go away soon. Because it sucks. A lot. Tons. Bunches.... grrrr.

Oh, and the "let's ignore her ed" sister saw my stomach in mid-bloat and looked at me and said "Your stomach looks so disgusting. Ew, why do you do that to yourself?" ...
It really sucks coming from the person who I have to work so hard not to get competitive with and who is already a huge trigger for me.

I have the same problem, maybe not to that extreme, and it sucks. My stomach will be relatively flat when I wake up and right after I eat breakfast (no matter how small or big) it will bloat. If it goes to the extremes of being painful I would go see a doctor.

Try peppermint tea, it really helps with bloating and digestion

Timetotone, when I wake up in the morning I'm still bloated. It's like my colon is ALWAYS full. The extreme bloating is just gas on top of the other bloating, so it gets really big.

Thanks girlfighting, I will try it with breakfast this morning... late breakfast today, whoops.

I've been trying to up my intake of water and cut back on the over processed sugars because I've noticed that the bloating only really goes to extremes (caused by gas I think) when I have a dairy or a lot of simple sugars.

I had this happen to me a couple weeks ago. Horrible!

I have also been feeling very very fatigued and sleepy and not good. I have just yesterday stopping eating wheat , dairy, and sugar for a couple weeks, then maybe introduce them again to see which is my main culprit. These are common food sensitivities, so lots of people have them. I know sugar is really bad for me and makes me extrememly tired (but I love chocolate!)

I have tried this elimination thing before, and it helps a lot with the initial bloat, but I have never really DECIDED to stop wheat or dairy for long term, bc not sure which is my problem food.

hope that helps.

you dont have to eat less, just substitute for a while and see if it helps.

Hi Have any of you tried a homoeopath and also maybe see a dietitian to find out what food groups to eat as this will help.

It is true that Peppermint tea may help but most herbal teas will have some form of sugar that may add to the problem.

What kind of food do you eat? can you give an exsample?

I really feel for you.

aimee- a lot of us happen to go through that in recovery. It's so hard for me too, because the main reason I started losing was because I wanted a flat belly. And now that I'm recovering, it's all going to my stomach and I feel gross ahh. I also get bloated no matter what I eat...it's like I'm skinny everywhere else and then this huge stomach bloat. But it will soon be over, and it will balance out...and we'll be ok. I dunno if water helps, but I drink lots of it.

I know how you feel! That happened to me a lot more at the beginning of recovery and now it's not too bad unless I eat certain foods. I'm the same way, dairy, and overly proccessed foods are really bad for me. It actually makes me really mad and self concious because my mom or friends will be like oh that's just her being overly healthy or picky, and my mom thinks it's all just the ed that im using that as an excuse, but honestly, it just hurts. I get the gas the worst when I eat diary, which I have been doing the last few days and it's been really embarrasing :( so I'm just going to stop that. Sometimes I just get fed up and eat all the foods I know I shouldn't. I had gotten some whole milk powder to add to my regular soymilk, or oatmeals, or pretty much anything to add calories and fat and I've been really gung-ho about this weight gain thing so I started using it again and sure enough I've been gassy for the last several days.

My advice would be to just cut out foods you know make you bloat and drink a lot of tea. Walking or stretching actually help relieve some of the windiness too :x. And don't pay attention to your sister! I get that way too because my brother is really into working out, I'm talking several hours of weight lifting a day (hmm does compulsiveness run in our family?? lol) so he's really buff and I feel like such a failure right now because I hardly exercise at all. But I know that I can't exercise like that or build muscle until I can eat for it so that sort of motivates me. Keep pusing through, it gets better!

I have this problem too. It seems like the healthier the food I eat, the worse I bloat, and that is not really a "beginner's" thing. Anything with fiber makes me look about 5 months pregnant, even though I have been ingesting fiber and fiber supplements for ages (people probably wonder WHEN I'll finally give birth...)  My stomach is fairly flat when I wake up, and I avoid eating anything until as late as I can stand it, because once I eat I go up one or two sizes in pants--no joke.

I don't know what the problem is, and it is the reason why I started losing weight in the first place. If I don't figure something out soon, I'm going to go see a gastroenterologist.

I hear you on this one. There are days that I do look 5 months pregnant and it is really uncomfortable.  I do eat a lot (and I mean a lot) of beans so I thought that was it. I decided to try to cut one thing out at a time and see what i came up with. Well, it has been like 5 days since I cut out wheat germ ( I was adding it to my oatmeal). I think that was it. The bloating has gone away and I feel so much better. I also have only been having oatmeal everyother day. It is amazing the difference on how I feel. My stomach I guess is sensitive to wheat. Do you eat wheat? I would try to take out one thing at a time and see what your trigger is. I sure hope you feel better. It really is one of the worse things when you are bloated all the time.

Well I haven't had dairy so far today, but I know that I have issues with dairy. Cheese is usually alright, and yogurt is hit or miss, but in general dairy is just bad news.

I did just eat a bunch of candy while stressing about my car (it needs about $2000 in repairs.... EEEEK!!!) and I can feel my stomach disagreeing with me already. I think this is about the third day that I've woken up bloated. I think I'm somehow a bit constipated, but I don't want to take anything 'laxative' unless I absolutely have to.

Original Post by aimee-grump:

I've been trying to eat more and have a more normalized relationship with food, but lately I've been bloated all the time! When the bloating is at it's least severe, it almost looks like somebody took a square-ish book or something and put it in my abdomen from my belly button down. When it's at it's most, I can't hide it with anything (even baggy shirts/sweaters) and just hope that people think I'm pregnant or something. It looks really really bad.

But more than looking bad, it hurts a lot. My abdomen gets stretched so far out that I can feel the strain on the muscles in my back and along my ribs as they try to compensate for everything getting pushed so far out in front of me. A lot of really putrid smelling gas accompanies the extreme bloating. When it's just the minimal bloating, I feel constipated, even though I poop a lot (3+ times a day).

Yes, this is all WAY more information than you'd like to know

Anyways, I was just wondering if anybody else has encountered this, and if it will go away soon. Because it sucks. A lot. Tons. Bunches.... grrrr.

 

Oh, and the "let's ignore her ed" sister saw my stomach in mid-bloat and looked at me and said "Your stomach looks so disgusting. Ew, why do you do that to yourself?" ...
It really sucks coming from the person who I have to work so hard not to get competitive with and who is already a huge trigger for me.

same things happening to me right now

i just tell people I'm preggo with my baby ED yep that's his name and after a month or so ill have a "miscarriage" and he'll flush right of my system.after that ill be sexy, single, healthy-bodied and ready to party =]