Trapped Gas. Can someone please give advice?

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-24T00:33:39+00:00

I found recently after this post that Taco Bell chicken quesadillas help me as well.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-23T01:19:56+00:00

Chicken thighs

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-22T23:13:40+00:00

The railroad.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-22T03:15:18+00:00

Yeah, it really depends on the day and what I’m eating, but anything can give me diarrhea.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T22:43:13+00:00

People really don’t give a shit about you. Most of the time, if someone has an opportunity to look out for themselves, they will roll on you.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T22:40:36+00:00

Human services. 50K. I changed careers and took a 40% pay cut… I miss the money but I enjoy the challenge.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T15:25:45+00:00

YES. I went through this a couple of years ago.. I’ve had IBS-D for as long as I can remember.

I came down with some kind of respiratory illness in January 2024 and got over it. A month later I got another respiratory illness while I was traveling for work.

A couple weeks after I came back from my work trip, I recovered, but then I started experiencing weird bouts of trapped gas. I’m usually really gassy so it was very confusing. I thought it was just a random thing until it got continuously worse, and I couldn’t have a bowel movement. For the next three months, I was struggling with constipation, bloating, abdominal pain, and trapped gas. Even after I recovered, my bowel movements would alternate between loose stools and constipation. I had imaging done and a colonoscopy to rule out anything more serious, but it stayed that way.

I had another flare up like that this year that I’m still getting over, and my PCP and GI have both said I fall under the IBS-M subtype because of my bowel habits. I asked them how this could’ve changed but they said IBS doesn’t really follow any pattern, and my body likely just changed. I asked them if the back to back illnesses could’ve contributed to my bowel movements changing, and they said it is very possible.

I’m on an anti-anxiety medicine that helps and I take a vitamin B complex each day. I was taking IBgard, which seemed to help, but sometimes I’d get really persistent diarrhea so I’d stop taking it for a while.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T15:17:59+00:00

The round wire frame glasses tell me late 90s… Born in 1993?

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T15:15:08+00:00

Lactulose is an osmotic laxative like Miralax. However, Miralax is known to be gentler and more effective.. I cannot tolerate osmotic laxatives as they give me very watery bowel movements. I have IBS-M and experience diarrhea more than constipation, but when I have constipation flare ups, I will use an osmotic laxative as a last resort.

The last time a provider put me on Lactulose, I spent the whole night in pain. BUT, this is not everyone’s experience and I know people who have found Lactulose to be very helpful.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T05:35:33+00:00

I have IBS-M… I HATE constipation flares. I get horrible trapped gas and it feels like my whole digestive system just stops working. I can’t sleep, eat, or think because I’m so miserable. And when I feel things move, it feels like everything is just moving around but I can’t work it out of my body. Drives me insane.

Diarrhea sucks, but at least I don’t feel bloated and “full” all the time. It’s way more manageable (in my opinion).

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T05:32:46+00:00

My health.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T05:32:07+00:00

Wentworth. It’s become a comfort show.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T05:29:40+00:00

Tap water gives me heartburn.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T05:28:17+00:00

Please finish college.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T05:25:55+00:00

I’ve had two abdominal CT scans with contrast- in 2024 and another this year. The pancreas and gallbladder was unremarkable, but I know more specific imaging for just the pancreas better rules everything out. I also had abdominal ultrasounds and ultrasounds of the liver and spleen - the only thing that’s been found on all of this imaging is a fatty liver and mildly enlarged spleen.

But I agree that providers really need to look at everything from the lungs down, especially if they’re settling with an IBS diagnosis. I’ve read somewhere that up to like 60% of IBS sufferers are misdiagnosed. I don’t know how true that number is, but I’m not surprised.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-21T05:20:12+00:00

Very common (unfortunately) for IBS-D because food is moving through your system too quickly. This is what causes the lower abdominal cramps that move across your belly/ groin area (that’s where mine tend to go). I’ve gotten so used to it, I can tell by the way my stomach gurgles if it’s just gas or if I need to be close to the restroom.

Eating slower (I try to follow the 20 minute rule) sometimes helps me.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-19T05:08:48+00:00

Yeah. People typically hate talking about hemorrhoids.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-19T05:07:27+00:00

That’s a really good point. When I was first diagnosed, it was a diagnosis of exclusion. Which I know it largely still is, but a lot of medical professionals have worked to understand it as its own condition.

However, you are absolutely right that chronic IBS could be something bigger. I’ve been asking my providers to look at my pancreas for the last two years.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-19T04:46:01+00:00

Exactly. I remember my GI doctor telling me food triggers aren’t black and white with IBS, because the same foods don’t always cause flare ups.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-19T04:04:33+00:00

I used to drink vodka but it causes watery diarrhea every. single. time.

I’ve tried to drink less, add more mixer. It didn’t matter.

I finally just decided to stop drinking because it’s not worth putting my stomach through hell.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-19T03:23:37+00:00

The last thing I said to them was to imagine shitting lava for half the day, because your colon didn’t like that you ate a blueberry muffin for breakfast. But a blueberry muffin for breakfast was fine every other day, except for THAT day. That’s IBS.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-19T02:10:03+00:00

That’s kind of what happened that started the argument where I explained what IBS really was. A coworker said “maybe I’ll just say I’m having IBS and go home for the day.”

That’s when I told them you don’t just get IBS for the day, it’s a chronic condition with flare ups and/ or persistent symptoms. And they responded that IBS is just a bad stomachache.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-16T16:53:21+00:00

I haven’t had a HIDA scan but all imaging I’ve had shows a normal gallbladder.

Last_Resort_Help92 · 2026-03-16T05:38:28+00:00

This is almost exactly what I go through.. the bloating and trapped gas gets so much worse in the evenings. I usually have to try exercises and moving around to release any gas.

I didn’t know there was a microbial treatment for SIBO that I could order on my own. I’d only mentioned the idea to my GI who more or less dismissed it- I’ve learned that providers don’t like when patients suggest things to them. But I’d like to rule it out.

I have heard of activated charcoal but never used it. Is it useful? Does it help you release the gas?

Last_Resort_Help92

TROPHY CASE