Bloating Specialist

What is bloating?

Bloating is a symptom rather than a medical condition. It means feeling like your abdomen is swollen or distended.

It’s not unusual to feel bloated when you’ve eaten a large meal, for example, after a Thanksgiving turkey dinner. Overfilling your stomach can make you feel bloated, then as the food starts traveling through your digestive system, gas can build up and make the problem worse.

Women often have problems with bloating during their period, because their bodies are retaining more water than usual. Bloating can happen at other times when hormones are out of balance, such as during menopause.

As long as bloating isn’t too severe, and you know why you’re feeling it, it shouldn’t be a big problem. However, if bloating is frequent, painful, or prolonged, it needs to be checked out at Gastroenterology Associates of Beverly Hills.

What can I do about digestive bloating?

The first step is to stop eating or drinking so much. If you feel bloated after eating a large meal or having a lot to drink, that’s to be expected — your stomach isn’t very big, and overfilling it is bound to make you feel bloated.

Next, cut down on fats in your diet. They take longer to digest than proteins and carbohydrates, so they make you feel stuffed for longer periods of time. Some foods are harder for your body to digest and tend to cause bloating and excess gas production. These foods include:

• Beans
• Pulses
• Carrots
• Prunes
• Apricots
• Sorbitol (sweetener)
• Fructose (natural sugar)

The third crucial action is to slow down when you eat. Eating too quickly encourages you to swallow air, which can cause trapped gas and bloating. Eating too quickly also allows you to overeat. Your brain doesn’t get the message from your stomach that you’re full right away, so the faster you eat and drink, the more likely you are to overeat.

When should I see a doctor about bloating?

Bloating is rarely a sign of anything serious, so making changes to the way you eat should solve the issue. If it doesn’t work, or your bloating is becoming a constant problem, call Gastroenterology Associates of Beverly Hills.

You could have a food intolerance that’s causing bloating. Lactose intolerance can cause problems if you consume dairy products, for instance. Wheat is another food that some people have trouble tolerating, so they experience bloating.

An intolerance isn’t the same as an allergy or a condition like celiac disease that causes severe symptoms, but it can make you feel very uncomfortable.

In a few cases, bloating could be a sign of a more serious condition, like a physical obstruction in your digestive tract or problems with the muscles in your gastrointestinal system. It could also be due to small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).

The highly experienced team at Gastroenterology Associates of Beverly Hills can find out what’s wrong and get you the best treatment when you have a bloating problem. Call today to schedule a consultation or book online.