About Intestinal Gas

Intestinal gas can cause serious social and health problems. It can cause belching and bloating, as well as indicate greater digestive problems. Since the symptoms of intestinal gas are habit-forming, it is important to be able to identify the problem and treat it before your body becomes accustomed to the condition and you are stuck burping and belching without any relief.

Function

• Intestinal gas is often signified by belching or bloating. The gas literally fills the intestinal area and causes it to swell. This can be painful, and can cause embarrassing side effects. The gas does not serve a beneficial purpose outside of notifying you that there is a problem somewhere in your gastrointestinal system.

Significance

• Frequently, persistent or chronic intestinal gas indicates the presence of bacteria in your gut that have the ability to produce excessive amounts of gas. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, if you have a population that is too large, you will begin to experience flatulence and belching outside of the "normal" few times a day. Also, it can indicate that you are feeding the bacteria in your gut something that is not good for you in large quantities, which is causing the gas.

Considerations

• If you are experiencing lots of intestinal gas but it is not a constant issue, then the first thing to do is examine your diet. Simply by halting your intake of whatever food is making your intestinal bacteria "gassy" may be enough to alleviate or eliminate the problem. However, if you experience continuous problems with this issue, then you should consult a doctor immediately.

Misconceptions

• Many people believe that eating fatty or greasy foods gives them gas. While these foods can have this type of effect, they tend to upset the stomach rather than simply causing the creation of intestinal gas. Intestinal gas tends to cause more bloating, pain and belching than flatulence or diarrhea. Habitual consumption of unhealthy foods can lead to gas, but it is not the same thing as stomach upset.

Prevention/Solution

• In order to prevent intestinal gas, you may need to seriously overhaul your lifestyle. While this sounds extremely troublesome, it is far less problematic than medicating the problem and not repairing the issue. Work with a dietitian to chart your food intake, and eliminate or severely limit foods that appear to cause you difficulty. If this is not successful, you may elect to treat your intestinal gas with medicines that release enzymes that keep the bacteria from creating so much gas. Simethicone, activated charcoal and enzymatic treatments like "Beano" are all examples of medicines of varying intensity that are used to treat intestinal gas.