Constantly bloated

[susancoats]

I’m trying to eat more and more regularly but I’m finding it so hard every time I eat I get so uncomfortably bloated and it makes me feel fat and overweight and anxious. Which then makes me not want to eat. I’m not underweight and I am and have been eating (with some restriction) so I don’t understand why I am bloating so much. I even wake up in morning and feel bloated. It makes me worried I’m eating too much.

[m7-cola]

Well done for trying to get into a sensible routine of managing your food intake. The bloating might be caused by low stomach acid. If so it would mean your system is having difficulty in breaking down the food. There is a simple test you can do yourself to check this out.

[Audash in reply to m7-cola]

How do we know we have low stomach acid and how to "reverse" thé problem ?

[m7-cola in reply to Audash]

Test whether you have enough stomach acid by mixing ¼ teaspoon of baking soda in 4 ounces of cold water, and drink the blend first thing in the morning before eating or drinking anything else. Time how long it takes for you to burp. It’s a sign of low stomach acid if it takes more than 5 minutes or if you don’t burp at all.

If you wish to improve your stomach acid add HCL (hydrochloride acid) with pepsin capsule with your meals.

[Audash in reply to m7-cola]

Thank you very much

[xxz123]

You should speak to a dietitian. They can work with you on figuring out what’s best for your body and help solve any issues your having. I’m not comfortable giving any suggestions since I don’t know your history, current food intake or more specifics about your issues.

[susancoats in reply to xxz123]

Thank you!! I did think about seeing a dietician so that’s what I might do.

[Kessa]

I hear u. I feel the same. Makes me so anxious all the time. I know that for me it's easy to retain water so I've been drinking once a week a diuretic tea ( all natural tough, and not excessively ) which helps ( just be careful if you lose water and be sure you have enough minerals ecc and keep your potassium and calcium in check with your gp . I also noticed I'm less bloated when I don't have milk, so I might be slightly intolerant idk, so i'm reducing it a little bit when I get bloted.

Peppermint tea helped me as well (don't ask me why lol)

[ChallengeEdwina]

Well done for challenging and fighting to keep pushing forwards. The bloating was an issue for me too, and still is slightly, but nowhere near as bad as it was at the beginning of refeeding. I am not a Doctor, nor qualified to diagnose anything, just sharing my experience to see if it may help you in any way. I was having difficulty controlling blood sugars, so started eating something every two hours to keep them stable, ideally something with long lasting carbohydrates, just so there isn't a spike and a drop too soon. It also helped with the bloating as my stomach wasn't having to deal with so much at one time. I've had to be very strict with myself and make a meal plan every day to make sure that I'm sticking to it and don't miss any of them out. It also helped me to look at the nutritional benefits of certain foods, not labels, but the benefits of certain food groups, because it helped me to understand what my body needs regardless of what our head might be telling us. And the bloating could just be our bodies way of getting used to foods that it has not been used to for quite some time. Gas, water & delayed emptying are a few of the issues for me and perhaps could be the same for you, which will all get better in time if you keep pushing forwards. But as I said, I am in no position to diagnose what is happening for you. I wish you all the best with your continued recovery 💜

[susancoats in reply to ChallengeEdwina]

Thank you so much for sharing your own experience it’s so helpful!! I’m struggling to eat regularly. Trying breakfast lunch and dinner but maybe I need to add snacks. The bloating just makes me scared I’m gaining weight which then makes me want to restrict. So frustrating...like you say we must push through and ignore what our heads sometimes say