Flatulence

[Molly Kaplan]

Hello,
I'm a sprout of a nineteen year old who has recently been plagued with the most pernicious flatulence of her life. She became vegan in the last six months, but the farting began about three weeks ago. They are silent and painless little bursts of air with the most foul smell. I've able to clear entire rooms.
I first noticed the gas (although this is not necessarily the cause) after eating a fruit kanten (the vegan form of jello made with an agar) for desert 5 days in a row. True, I do eat a considerable amount of beans, but I notice the gas even when I don't eat beans. The bursts of gas can run almost uninterrupted for hours in a day and are killing my social life.
I was curious about a possible cause and very much want to know how to kill the bacteria that are probably causing these releases in a natural way without taking any medication. Would a day of fasting help? A week of no beans?
I should also say that three years ago I had IBS, and although I haven't had a problem with it since, I was wondering if there could a connection.
Thanks so much.

-Molly

[POV]

i'm also a little bit "conforted" when i see i'm not alone. i started having problems when i was 19, now i'm 28, i can't remember how nice was before all this started... i began whith intestinal gas and motility problems that made my intestines make noise (very embarrasing), i was desesperate, after foods my abdomen began to increase with gas that i couldn't put out. i went to the doctor and after lots of probes i was diagnosed irritable bowle. i think that having concience of what you have is good, it helped me. i've reading a lot about that problem, it seems it is a syndrome caused by stress, and i'm very stressful.
when i'm alone it's ok, but with people i start to get worried about my intestine noises, and all is worse with the stress.
with the years i can control a little bit the problem. as somebody said before, it's good to get concentrate in other things. i know now that the problem probably will be chronic, but i have decided it won't distroy my life (difficult).
i tried hundreds of medecines, no result! in the last months i've discovered foeniculum vulgare pills, i take them before foods and  the problems are not so big, i recommend you to try them.
best regards to everybody.

[bob]

In regard to B's post.
   Hey B, you're not alone. I know many people who have the same problem. It can happen to everyone. It happens to me as well. Although I'm not a doctor that offensive smell that seems to come from your "pores", most likely originates in your intestines, gets absorbed in the bloodstream and gets exhaled out your lungs.
As for me I stay away from lactose products such as cheese and yogurt. Eating those products makes the smell very offensive. Our lungs exhale hydrogen at various times due to lactose that hasn't been properly digested. This lactose can ferment, and eventually very offensive odors can be exhaled along with the hydrogen. My advice is stay away from junk food, drink lots of water, don't eat cheese products. Don't despair cuz' you're not alone.

                                          Bob

[King Flatulence]

hahahaha DUDE you've got problems! The Rock has one word for ya! BEANO

[Uncle BEANO]

Damn, sorry dude, they really need to supply some sort of fart cushion in a public bathroom for people in your situation!
Sorry bout your luck!
Beano

[B]

All of these comments are very familiar to me.  I have had gas for at least twenty years now.  I didn't realize how bad of a problem it is untill a few months ago.  The gas does not cause pain, however it does cause a very foul odor.  Most of the time, it is not like a "fart" but seems to leak from my pours.  This sounds crazy and might be.  It is very embarrassing and I have not been able to talk about it with anyone.  It certainly is not a secret as I have overheard coworkers talking about it.  Very embarrassing.  I thought it might be my liver, but my liver is OK according to my doctor.  I drink a lot of beer and thought that was the cause.  I have a lot of friends who drink a lot of beer and do not have this problem, but the month of August I did not drink beer or any other alcohol.  This helped a little.  My whole diet contains cheese.  I eat pizzas, lasagne, tacos, nachoes, ect.  My next step is cut out all cheese.  I do not know what foods I should try.  I am desparate.  I actually fear for my job.  The head of the company, the little *****, actually bought a gas mask from one of those military magazines.  Again very embarrassing.

[monica]

Not one of you mentioned Celiac Disease to my surprise! I am not formally diagnosed yet but am pretty sure I have it, and from the sound of it you all probably have a good chance of having it too. Try staying away from anything containing wheat or gluten (barley, rye, oats). Usually rice and corn is o.k. because they contain very little gluten. You can eat other grains such as quinoa and soy flour to my understanding, and those things usually do alright by me. You need to really watch everything you eat because everything in the stores prepackaged usually has some kind of wheat derivative or gluten in it like malt flavoring or modified food starch. Hint: stay away from sneaky things like distilled white vinegar, soy sauce (La Choy o.k.) vanilla extract containing alcohol, and beer (hard cider o.k.). Very tricky!

I got all the above symptoms including leaking feces (!) while pregnant with my third child and I thought it was pregnancy related and would go away, but things just got worse and I finally made the connection that when I ate whole wheat, three hours later I would get uncontrollable gas, and at the same time, after nursing, baby would start having colic. When I refrained from whole wheat I had no gas and baby had no colic. I got by on white flour for awhile, but eventually have had to cut out all sources of gluten in my diet. Occasionally it's extremely difficult like when you're traveling or at a social function to find something to eat, so I take something called Zymex made by Standard Process which I think you can only get through an alternative doctor (they have a website) which is an intestine strengthener, and this has never failed to keep me from getting gas if I take it before eating that pizza or whatever. Of course if I do have Celiac Disease, I probably shouldn't be doing even that.

There are tests that can be done to determine whether or not you have Celiac Disease. If so it's terribly important that you stay away from gluten because further destruction of your intestines can cause malabsorption and lead to all kinds of disastrous consequences. I hope this helps at least some of you people, although I wouldn't wish CD on anybody!