What Are the Treatments for Flatulence?

Flatulence isn't generally a cause for medical alarm, but it can be embarrassing in professional and social situations. Learning about the treatments for flatulence can help you approach the problem at home, take control of your digestive system and prevent gas before it gets out of hand. Treating flatulence at home can be a matter of controlling your diet, using over-the-counter or prescription medications, or simply swallowing less air.

Treating Flatulence with Diet

• Eliminating foods from your diet that seem to cause more gas is a trial and error process with different results for everyone. Certain foods are frequent offenders, such as beans, cabbages and other vegetables as well as sorbitol and fructose. Other foods which may cause gas are wheat bran, milk and cheese.

  If it's difficult to pinpoint the cause of the flatulence, eliminate all but a few nongassy foods and then gradually add others, noting the effects. A food journal may help. Note any bloating or flatulence, as well as the time that you ate the food. The BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) diet has been an effective nongassy diet.

  Adding foods to your diet that contribute to intestinal health is another dietary approach. This includes the current trend toward probiotics, such as those found in most yogurts. Increasing the amount of fiber is a way to ensure that fecal matter moves through your bowels regularly and is less likely to build up, creating pockets of odorous toxins that emerge as gas.

  Fatty foods take longer to digest and can result in flatulence, as fermented food sits in the bowels for too long, allowing gases to build up.

Medicine to Treat Flatulence

• If lactose intolerance is the cause of flatulence, there are enzymatic tablets on the market that help digest the lactose. Beano is another enzymatic approach that allows your body to digest the sugars that cause gas in beans and other vegetables.

  Antibiotics may be administered by your physician, if it's determined that an overgrowth of bacteria is the cause of gas.

  Probiotics aid in digestion because they help your body maintain a healthier bacterial flora, meaning that you have plenty of good bacteria living in your digestive system.

  Antacids may help prevent swallowed air from reaching the intestinal tract, by causing gases to foam up in the stomach, to cause belching. Antacids do not, however, affect gas that is caused by digestion occurring in the intestines and may make the problem worse over time.

  Activated charcoal absorbs toxins and can be taken in pill form, with meals to prevent the buildup of painful gas in the stomach and intestines.

Swallowing Less Air

• Chewing gum, hard candy, drinking through a straw, smoking cigarettes, wearing loose dentures, carbonated beverages, bruxism, chewing with an open mouth, eating too quickly and even anxiety can cause people to swallow air without realizing it.

  Avoiding activities that cause you to swallow air can reduce flatulence.