Trapped wind. : Folks Does anybody... - Oesophageal & Gas...

Oesophageal & Gastric Cancer

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Trapped wind.

brucemillar profile image
10 Replies

Folks

Does anybody know of a good remedy for trapped wind?

I get this a lot and have tried all the eating style, chewing, going slowly etc.

I'm a veggie so consider that I am eating healthily.

I am now 9 months post op. Ivor Lewis.

I have tried Rennie Deflacane with moderate success.

Many thanks

Bruce

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brucemillar profile image
brucemillar
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10 Replies
hunsdon profile image
hunsdon

Hi is your trapped wind with bloating tummy and sometimes feeling a little clamie ??

brucemillar profile image
brucemillar in reply to hunsdon

Hi

No it's just straight trapped wind in my stomach, which is now in my chest.

yorkshirerose profile image
yorkshirerose

Hi Bruce

Sorry l don't have a solution to your problem other than a hot water bottle or heat pad on your abdomen, but prior to my Ivor Lewis 5 years ago I was a vegetarian, but after surgery l found I couldn't digest the beans and pulses I had eaten before. As they gave me terrible stomach pains and wind. I find chicken and fish seem to be acceptable to my new digestive system. It was a hard decision to make but as my weight plummeted it was a good decision for me

Good luck

Edwina

Some people suffer from colic, a bit like babies, and use gripe water, so that might be worth a try, if it is effectively different from Rennie Deflacane which I do not know anything about.

The other thing worth thinking about is how much air you swallow during the process of eating? Easier said than done, but you could think about this?

jay2908 profile image
jay2908

Hi Bruce,

Many of us suffer from trapped wind. What I have found that works for me is to have a cup of warm tea with sugar (1 and a half spoons) 30 minutes before I want to eat. The tea will relax your muscles and also help push food gently through your system. You could also try a hot water bottle against your stomach to relax the muscles.

Another trick I use is to eat foods of different consistencies in my meals. The denser non water soluble food (such as raw carrot sticks) allow of path for the air to escape. Also, I often pull out gently on my tummy areas that have air blocks to let the air escape (rather than push down).

My final suggestion is to ensure that you're having regular bowel movements. If nothing is coming out of you, then there is no room to put anything in.

I imagine the gut as a length of hose pipe, put too much soluable food in and it'll clog up. Put a stopper at one end and you won't be able to fill it. If you get an air block, you'll need the air to get to one end of the hose pipe.

hope some of above helps!

Jay

Bernadette100 profile image
Bernadette100

I had that on Sunday, horrible. I drank a cup of hot water ( which had been boiled) and it did ease off after awhile.

2Chrissie4 profile image
2Chrissie4

Charcoal tablets. You can buy them from a chemist or from a health food shop. Take 2 when needed. Maximum of 4 doses per 24 hrs. Work every time.

listen profile image
listen

I was getting a lot of it and started coughing a lot of foam up from the trapped gas. I just started to take probiotics and cannot even express how much they have helped me within a week. Because we have such a hard time with digestion the probiotics helps keep the PH balance good in the stomach which of course is up in our chests now. Do not think trying them can hurt as so many doctors prescribe them for other digestion tract problems such as Celiac. I just wish my doctor would have suggested me taking them after my surgery. I take one capsule in the morning and one in the evening about 2 hours before bed. You can get them on Amazon fairly inexpensively.

Hope this may help?

gutlesswonder profile image
gutlesswonder

There are two sources of abdominal distention from "gas".

1)Air that you swallow during eating and drinking.This is exacerbated by a piston effect in the narrowing of the lumen through the anastomosis (where the new pseudo esophagus is stitched to the residual stump of the original esophagus)

You are doing the right things to minimize this.

2) Gases that are generated by the digestive processes - principally from the action of the trillions of bacteria which inhabit your intestines.The volume of this gas is to a large extent determined by what you have consumed. It's well known that bugs love beans!

Whichever is the main contributor, the result is uncomfortable even painful.Like everything else ingested it has to go somewhere.

Maybe downwards; in which case those of us who suffer from looseness risk an unpleasant accident.

Maybe upwards; if only that were possible.

I have seen on a contrast Xray that in a normal sitting or lying position my new tube is compressed even slightly kinked/twisted high up in my chest. Clearly it is very difficult for gas to vent with a normal, natural expulsion.

An increase of pressure, particularly at night when asleep then creates the perfect conditions for reflux with an attendant danger of inhalation pneumonia.

To avoid the above I 'wind' myself before going to bed.The trick is to find an angle/posture in which the tube is straightened/opened. In my case this is sitting back at about 45 degrees from vertically upright. I stand with my legs against the side of the bed then lean backwards until I flop onto the mattress, maintaining that angle.This invariably results in a large,satisfying belch and I have no problems during the night.

A further factor is that most of us have had part or all of the Vagus nerve cut and thus have lost any voluntary control of the 'stomach' as it remains. This control can return with nerve re-growth and/or learning a new route of communication.[ Did you ever teach yourself to wiggle your ears? It's the same process]

I am happy to report that this happened to me - I can now squeeze my stomach and diaphragm to order - but I didn't acquire the knack until about 15 years after my I L !

david001 profile image
david001

Hi Bruce

Interesting question and one that I'm currently wrestling with. All the answers below I've tried and some work better than others.

1) Watch what you eat. Some vegetables will cause more gas than others

2) Nobody has yet mentioned omeprazole which will lessen the amount of acid produced by the stomach. However you might already be on this.

3) Drink lots of hot peppermint tea - this will relax the stomach and then rest in an upright position. You should bring up a lot of wind.

4) And finally my life saver, peppermint oil tablets, which you can get from your GP. Take one an hour before eating

Hope this helps and looking forward to hearing if it works

regards

David

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