A Puzzlement

[mushroom]

Twice in the last 4-6 weeks I have experienced the following:

Felt fine during the day, eating gluten free of course, not eating out, no cc possibilities. Ate a normal evening meal (we do normally eat quite late), gone to bed and awoken with the most horrible bloating and gassy pain under the breastbone, and very rapid and pounding heartbeat (missing some beats too). The first time I got up and went to the toilet and promptly fainted whilst on the toilet. Thereafter I belched and burped for three hours trying to get rid of all this gas (Gas-Ex didn't faze it). I had to sit up because I could not breathe if I lay down and my head hurt because of the pounding pulse. Normal bowel movements, no C or D, just a drastic irritation, it seems, of the stomach lining. There did not appear to be anything sitting there fermenting. The second time it happened, a couple of days ago, I knew better than to get out of bed; dispatched my husband down to the kitchen for some yogurt to coat my stomach lining, and it only took half an hour to get rid of the gas and get back to sleep. That night for dinner I had eaten fish (cod), rice, cauliflower with cheese sauce (made with almond milk and rice flour). Can't remember what I ate for dinner the other time but something equally innocuous. I blamed the first episode on some buckwheat bread I had eaten in the morning that had some corn in it; the second time there is nothing I can think of to blame, except that I believe in both instances I had not had yogurt for breakfast that morning which is unusual for me. Do you think it could be that simple?? My stomach must still be in bad shape if normal food creates such chaos down there What do you think?

[Wolicki]

Twice in the last 4-6 weeks I have experienced the following:

Felt fine during the day, eating gluten free of course, not eating out, no cc possibilities. Ate a normal evening meal (we do normally eat quite late), gone to bed and awoken with the most horrible bloating and gassy pain under the breastbone, and very rapid and pounding heartbeat (missing some beats too). The first time I got up and went to the toilet and promptly fainted whilst on the toilet. Thereafter I belched and burped for three hours trying to get rid of all this gas (Gas-Ex didn't faze it). I had to sit up because I could not breathe if I lay down and my head hurt because of the pounding pulse. Normal bowel movements, no C or D, just a drastic irritation, it seems, of the stomach lining. There did not appear to be anything sitting there fermenting. The second time it happened, a couple of days ago, I knew better than to get out of bed; dispatched my husband own to the kitchen for some yogurt to coat my stomach lining, and it only took half an hour to get rid of the gas and get back to sleep. That night for dinner I had eaten fish (cod), rice, cauliflower with cheese sauce (made with almond milk and rice flour). Can't remember what I ate for dinner the other time but something equally innocuous. I blamed the first episode on some buckwheat bread I had eaten in the morning that had some corn in it; the second time there is nothing I can think of to blame, except that I believe in both instances I had not had yogurt for breakfast that morning which is unusual for me. Do you think it could be that simple?? My stomach must still be in bad shape if normal food creates such chaos down there What do you think?

I had very similar experiences in the beginning. I found out I could not eat brocolli, cauliflower, rice, legumes, grains or nut butters. Secondary intolerances, I think. I stay away from all those things now, but PB is back The others may be ok now, but I don't love them enough to try them again. My tummy is almost flat again, and I just don't want to chance it. Could that be it for you?

[mushroom]

The funny part about it is I have been eating those things without problem for two years. I am not exactly at the beginning. I do tend to steer clear of beans (not green, but dried) and do not eat refried beans for example. But I eat broccoli and cauliflower quite often with no after effects. So I can't think why I would suddenly react so violently. ..And why the yogurt (which was an instinctive thing to do) would settle it all down so quicklyl. I will take note, if it happens again, what I had for dinner and if it were broccoli or cauliflower, well.. But I have given up so much already--yeah, I know, a familiar refrain, but true nevertheless. I really can't eat out any more and have to bake anything I want from scratch pretty much, and have to be a chemist to adjust all the recipes. I was going to try one of Carole Fenster's recipes yesterday but she uses egg replacer (yes, as well as eggs) in her flour mixes and egg replacer has potato starch AND citric acid!!! So then I have to figure out what to replace the egg replacer with

[Swimmr]

Twice in the last 4-6 weeks I have experienced the following:

Felt fine during the day, eating gluten free of course, not eating out, no cc possibilities. Ate a normal evening meal (we do normally eat quite late), gone to bed and awoken with the most horrible bloating and gassy pain under the breastbone, and very rapid and pounding heartbeat (missing some beats too). The first time I got up and went to the toilet and promptly fainted whilst on the toilet. Thereafter I belched and burped for three hours trying to get rid of all this gas (Gas-Ex didn't faze it). I had to sit up because I could not breathe if I lay down and my head hurt because of the pounding pulse. Normal bowel movements, no C or D, just a drastic irritation, it seems, of the stomach lining. There did not appear to be anything sitting there fermenting. The second time it happened, a couple of days ago, I knew better than to get out of bed; dispatched my husband down to the kitchen for some yogurt to coat my stomach lining, and it only took half an hour to get rid of the gas and get back to sleep. That night for dinner I had eaten fish (cod), rice, cauliflower with cheese sauce (made with almond milk and rice flour). Can't remember what I ate for dinner the other time but something equally innocuous. I blamed the first episode on some buckwheat bread I had eaten in the morning that had some corn in it; the second time there is nothing I can think of to blame, except that I believe in both instances I had not had yogurt for breakfast that morning which is unusual for me. Do you think it could be that simple?? My stomach must still be in bad shape if normal food creates such chaos down there What do you think?

I get that gassy bloated upper tummy thing.

Ive been getting it for as long as I can remember. Usually I would have to curl up in a ball, relax totally and wait. Anti-gas pills intensified the pain by like a million. I call in indigestion since I either pass gas for hours with no smell or I burp...sometimes both. One distinctive characteristic is my belly distends. It's rather deformed looking. Like a small inflated ball has been placed under my ribcage/sternum.

Today after work I started to feel another coming on. "Uh oh" I thought, "What did I eat this time?"

Breakfast: grits with kraft cheese and two very small home-made drop-style biscuits made with Pamelas. I made them last night and ate two before bedtime. No problems.

Snack: banana

Lunch: Jasmine rice and boneless skinless chicken seasoned with rosemary, garlic, sage, salt and pepper.

Snack: another banana around 2:30. Then before leaving work I had a yoplait cherry yogurt...the regular kind.

I have yogurt every day, sometimes not on the weekends because I eat less since I'm not at work. Weird, but true.

It got worse. Then my stomach swelled. Since I met my husband he would always tell me to eat a pickle and/or drink like a tbsp of the juice. We buy Claussen pickles. They ARE safe This ALWAYS get's rid of the "indigestion" if I catch it early. If I wait, it takes even longer. Before I'd suffer the 4, 5, 6...or more hours playing the waiting game. It speeds along the process and I start burping immediately...then I poot for a while with no fowl smell...just basically air. Then it's gone

I did this, eating 2 of the sandwich slice kind, and then taking a nice swig of the juice. I am a fiend for pickle juice anyways and as a kid you could always expect to see a full jar of pickles and only half full of juice

Tonight it took longer...as I was extremely hungry and decided to eat something BEFORE getting rid of the 'gestion. Bad move. Nothing worse than having the 'gestion and hunger pains at once so I eat and endure the consequences because it amplifies the symptom.

MY issue is looking over what I ate today and it's basically the same as yesterday except yesterday I had one banana. Not two. Only today I had the tummy thing. Sometimes it seems if I wait too long to eat I'll get it which seems to be the worst cases and longest to get over. There is NOTHING else I ate today. I've not had cherry yoplait yogurt in a while. I usually stick to strawberry or raspberry and on occasion the key lime kind.

[Swimmr]

The funny part about it is I have been eating those things without problem for two years. I am not exactly at the beginning. I do tend to steer clear of beans (not green, but dried) and do not eat refried beans for example. But I eat broccoli and cauliflower quite often with no after effects. So I can't think why I would suddenly react so violently. ..And why the yogurt (which was an instinctive thing to do) would settle it all down so quicklyl. I will take note, if it happens again, what I had for dinner and if it were broccoli or cauliflower, well.. But I have given up so much already--yeah, I know, a familiar refrain, but true nevertheless. I really can't eat out any more and have to bake anything I want from scratch pretty much, and have to be a chemist to adjust all the recipes. I was going to try one of Carole Fenster's recipes yesterday but she uses egg replacer (yes, as well as eggs) in her flour mixes and egg replacer has potato starch AND citric acid!!! So then I have to figure out what to replace the egg replacer with

applesauce!!! replace it with applesauce. I have had cakes with applesauce in them and they are SOOOOOOOOOOOO good!

[mushroom]

Sometimes it seems if I wait too long to eat I'll get it which seems to be the worst cases and longest to get over.

This could play a role for me, too, perhaps. If I go over the hill to town and there are no snacks in the car I will just have one capucchino all day Note to self: stock car with more snacks!!!

[Korwyn]

Something that stands out to me is the yogurt and the acid in the pickle juice. The fact that the two seem to both have a positive effect seems to point toward a bacterial imbalance and low acidity in your intestinal tract, possibly indicative of candida. Have you tried a good healthy series (3-6 months) with an anti-candida diet, an anti-fungal/anti-candida enzyme, and a multi-culture probiotic (on top of your yogurt), and home-made sauerkraut?

[mushroom]

Have you tried a good healthy series (3-6 months) with an anti-candida diet, an anti-fungal/anti-candida enzyme, and a multi-culture probiotic (on top of your yogurt), and home-made sauerkraut?

No, I can't say that I have. I had a yeast overgrowth in my gut back in the 90's and that was horrible. I couldn't digest anything. Of course, I had c. diff. with it which magnified it. This is not anything like that, and it happens so infrequently I have taken probiotics for several months at the start of gluten free and whenever I take antibiotics but have never taken an anti-fungal/anti-candida enzyme. What would we be talking about here? I have never seriously considered that I had a candida problem and have no problems with sugars... I have always thought I probably had low acidity (never get acid indigestion, only "wind".

[Swimmr]

same here....I've never thought about it.

of course I'm still learning and have yet found a doctor who looks into this sort of thing.

Ugh. I am starting an elimination diet next week. I plan to get a probiotic and do that candida killing thing. I don't see the need for a doc right now seeing as how I'm doing a better job myself pinpointing things. I KNOW I have a gluten/wheat intolerance through change of diet.

what is a good brand of probiotic...my whole foods store I go to has probiotics. what kind of supplement should I take for the candida?

[AliB]

I keep banging on about this now but have woken up to the fact that my digestive and other health issues have all been due to dehydration.

Not the immediate dehydration that shows up as strong coloured urine, but underlying long-term and gradually increasing dehydration.

An Iranian Doctor who was held as a political prisoner over there discovered that plain water cured other prisoners ailments. The most common ones were digestive - things like peptic ulcer. He came to realise that many of our problems are due to dehydration and could be rectified by rehydrating the body with HALF the body weight in fluid ounces of water spaced out throughout the day (taken half an hour before and two hours after eating) and a little salt (quarter of a teaspoon to every quart of water consumed, but added to food during the day, NOT the water).

These days the Western diet is VERY dehydrating. Carbs and sugars spceifically need a lot of water for digestion. Most of the drinks we consume are also very dehydrating, including coffee and tea, which are diuretics.

Without enough water the body, and the digestion can't function properly and it is no wonder that people end up with gut damage and food intolerances.

I have been rehydrating now for nearly two weeks and the difference is amazing. I haven't yet done a gluten challenge but I know that I have been exposed to gluten this week and I haven't reacted. I will do a challenge in a few weeks time.

I am also seeing benefits in other health issues too so I know now that most, if not all of my health problems over the last 40 years have been down to dehydration.

You might try drinking a glass or two of water a while before bed to see if that makes any difference. If there is a water shortage in the body then the digestion is impaired and gut motility is compromised. That would mean that food is taking longer to get through the digestive tract and would then start to ferment.

Believe me, I have been there with the gas thing - so bad it gave me a hernia and made it feel as if my stomach was trying to climb out of my throat! The water has gradually been making a big difference.

[mushroom]

Now this really strikes home, Ali. I know I do not consume enough fluids of all kinds, especially water. And with the diuretic effect of a glass or two of wine in the evening that could well account for my digestive system not being able to work properly after dinner and my stomach throwing its hands in the air and saying, "Now just what am I supposed to do with this?? . Just as well I only drink herbal teas (Just went and got myself a glass of water ) I tend to mistake thirst for hunger and eat instead of drink And all day with one cup of capucchino, now there's a hint! although I do often get a glass of water at the coffee shop too.

Add a couple of bottles of water to the stash in the car! I am really going to give this a try and see if it makes a difference.

[Korwyn]

Well, the water could certainly be an issue. A few years ago I began trying to make sure that I drink no less than 1/2 a gallon of water a day, and I average .75 a day. It has made a tremendous difference in my health as well as my ability to fight off various illnesses. I used to get strep every winter like clockwork (often twice), at least two severe colds, and a round of the flu. Every year. In the last 10 years I've had strep twice, and if I get a cold it is usually very mild, and I rarely get the flu anymore. If I do get sick, (I've kept a rough diary) invariably I have gotten off my water drinking and gotten down to only a couple glasses a day.

Now back to the gut thing, you can have other bacterial imbalances besides candida. If your intestinal flora is out of whack, it can cause a lot of hard to identify issues.

[Ahorsesoul]

I second the drinking water importance. Never was a water drinking but once I started I noticed I felt a lot better.

mushroom, Have you thought about a possible hiatal hernia causing your problems at night when you've eaten late?