Severe Bloating and Distention: How did you find relief?

@kanaazper I have not been able to eat any regular food and have been existing on Boost for weeks. I have severe gas, bloating, distention, stomach cramps, pain, numerous loose BM's every day. I have an appointment at Mayo on March 29. I would appreciate any suggestion from you and the Community.

My mom and aunts are prescribed a powder that they mix with water or juice every morning and drink. Cholestyramine 4g

@beanglow

I see that your appointment at Mayo was today. Would love to hear how you are doing.

@hopeful33250 So sorry. My appointment is April 29, not March 29.

@donnak142 Thanks for your suggestion. I made a mistake on the month of my appointment. It's an April 29 not March 29.

@beanglow
I hope you find some answers. Mayo is a good place to deal with hard to diagnose problems.

@beanglow @htocco Severe bloating, diarhea, cramps and excessive gas are symptoms of gluten issues. You can do an experiment to see if removing all foods with gluten helps. I cannot tolerate any gluten or this will happen to me. I felt better right away when I took gluten out of my diet. I also developed other food allergies because having inflammation from the gluten caused a leaky gut, and I did an elimination diet to figure that out, so I have to be careful now with food. There are blood tests for celiac disease which should still work if done soon. If you avoid gluten for a long period and then get tested for celiac disease, you might not be making the antibodies any more that the test is looking for.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/celiac-disease/doctors-departments/ddc-20352229

Thank you for your message. I have tried gluten free, low fodmap. No change. I only suffer from constant bloating/distention. All GI tests have been negative. I guess I should feel positive in some ways I don't have other symptoms, as well.

@beanglow Have you tried eliminating dairy? Your problems sound similar to mine. It took a long time for me to figure out what the trigger was, and I finally came to realize it was lactose. I can now eat a little hard cheese, and I can have just a tiny amount of lactose if I take Lactaid. Lactaid does not help if I have a lot of lactose though.
The irony is that I was actually eating cheese when I was having soft stools because they always say cheese is "binding". Oops! I think I may perhaps have more than lactose intolerance though because it seems as if I do have the same problem sometimes when I do not have any lactose. As I said in another post though, maybe something I ate had lactose in it, unbeknownst to me.

Does Boost have lactose in it? I used to occasionally have Slimfast for breakfast, not for weight loss as much as for it being a very quick breakfast. It does have lactose in it though, so not often now. If I do use it I will take Lactaid and that helps. If you can tolerate Boost and it has lactose, then I guess that's not your problem.
JK

gab2002, you may be allergic to anything and everything. I'm bascially eating a caveman's diet because everything I eat makes me sick. Plus I have to soak nuts overnight for smoothies and eat mushy veggies to heal my gut. Soy makes me sick. No corn.No seeds. I eat pumpkin pie for breakfast because it does not bother me. I eat lots of meat to heal my gut and it's working. Plus I had pain in my colon. My body was in a battle and I lived in the bathroom. I became friends with la toilet. I am awaiting results from Enterolab owned and operated by a physican and researcher. He's become a friend. You will find everything you can/can't eat. So in the meantime, I'm avoiding everything and eating only overcooked veggies, soaked nuts for smoothies, and healthy meat. I am starting to feel better. We are what we eat.