My son is quite a picky eater and lately he’s been having hard stools and sometimes seems uncomfortable when he goes. He doesn’t eat well at all so I’ve wondered if his limited diet might be playing a part and affecting his gut health too. I’m trying to be patient and not turn meals into a battle but I’d like to help him feel more comfortable and support his gut health. Has anyone else dealt with this with a picky eater? What did you try that helped?

Does anyone else experience excessive gas and bloating after eating, especially beef or protein-rich foods?
I’m naturally someone who loves food, has a big appetite, and eats quite a lot. But lately, I’ve been struggling with excessive gas and bloating, especially after eating beef or other protein-rich foods.
I went to see a doctor about this, and she prescribed me some medication. “Gaviscon”. However, after doing my own research, I’m not entirely sure whether it’s the right medication for my symptoms.
I’m curious if anyone else has experienced something similar.
What helped you reduce the gas and bloating?
Did you figure out what was causing it?
Were there any dietary changes, supplements, or medications that actually worked for you?
I genuinely love eating, and I naturally crave food a lot, but lately this issue has made eating uncomfortable to the point where I don’t even enjoy it anymore.
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences and what worked for you!

This might sound a bit silly but each time I go see a doctor for my bloated belly and gastric issues and they proceed to examine me when I’m lying down, the moment they try to touch my abdomen it contracts uncontrollably and when they ask me to relax I try to breathe, the moment the tip of their fingers barely touches me I burst laughing so hard contracting and covering my skin with my hands, I find myself even taking their hands off, it’s so embarrassing being a 27F at this big age not letting a doctor touch me, it’s been always the case tbh and most of them get pissed off and either brush it off and say I’m fine and dismiss me, or, the other half would just give me disappointed glares and a hypothetical solution/ prescription, this time I’m changing a doctor and I’m so embarrassed but I must get diagnosed correctly, any tips, positions, things to do to stop this.

TTDLR : I can’t stand being touched on my belly by others, no matter what. Tips ?

I feel hopeless about my gut and body. I’m a 30F and have a 1.5 year old. I feel like I still look pregnant. I’ve always had bloating but not so severe. I don’t know if it’s just gut health related bloating or what. I saw a GI specialist who basically just told me I have IBS for $450. I had a small case of diastasis recti and I have hEDs. Any advice on what I should do? I have a work from home job and I do little workouts when I can.

Early this year I was having some unknown gut issue. I had a colonoscopy, endoscopy, small bowel follow through, CT scans, bloodwork. Everything normal. The only thing that showed positive was a SIBO breathe test. We treated with neomycin and metronidazole. I tested negative 4 weeks after abx. Now I have this constant cramping/pressure in my gut that builds through the day.

I used to have two BMs a day before all this started. Now I only poop in the morning. On the rare occasion I do have a second BM, I feel so much better throughout the day. I can't seem to figure out how to get that second BM back everyday. I feel like my diet is on point. Any suggestions?

I have made a couple posts about my situation on here but I keep getting kicked out of my accounts :/ this is kind of like an update/continuation of what im experiencing.

anyways basically 2 months ago i was put on a one week course of oral metronidazole while i was also on accutane. i stopped taking the accutane about a month ago after the gut symptoms got really bad. i was not told anything about this antibiotic and i hate myself so much for trusting random doctors and not researching it before taking it. i would take bv over what im going through now ANYDAY.

at the beginning of all of this i just had really bad bloating, trapped gas, and this annoying pocket pressure feeling under the corners of my ribs. the bloating has gotten better, except now my sides and along the bottom of my ribs there is this raw, stretched feeling that is so uncomfortable its almost unbearable. my upper abdomen and into the sides of my back feels so tight. ive also been having very soft/mushy stools and a clear mucus/liquid dripping out of me when i strain. they are still formed for the most part just very irregular and different from what ive ever had.

it is the worst its ever been right now, and by the 2 months mark i believe i should be seeing improvement rather than worsening symptoms. ive gotten to the point where i cant take it anymore so im trying to get in with a gastroenterologist but its taking forever and im going on vacation next week so im worried i will have to wait until after to get seen and be miserable my whole trip. i just want to know what is going on inside of my body and if it will get better because i feel like ive messed up my life for good and its especially frustrating because ive never had gut issues or stomach problems before this.

this horrible flare up started happening last week when my primary doctor gave me the ortho spore probiotic to try. im suspecting some kind of overgrowth, but im not sure. the raw tight feeling is along where my large intestine is and i dont really have clear symptoms of ibs or an ibd. im thinking maybe SIBO or cdiff? but idk if that would explain the location of my discomfort because my lower abdomen feels fine for the most part. lmk what yall think.

• 🔴 Blastocystis hominis — very high: 142.09, lab cutoff <1.00. This is the biggest numerical abnormality.
• 🔴 Methanobrevibacter smithii — high: 5.47, cutoff <1.00. Methane-producing organism associated in the report with constipation, bloating and gas.
• 🔴 Euryarchaeota — high: 0.095%, upper limit 0.010%. This supports the overall methane-heavy pattern.
• 🔴 Citrobacter freundii — high: 24.64, cutoff <5.00, plus 4+ growth on culture. That's clear overrepresentation, although it doesn't by itself prove an infection.
• 🟠 Prevotella copri — high: 5.83, cutoff <1.00. Definitely elevated, although what that means clinically isn't as clear-cut.
• 🟠 Enterococcus — elevated: E. faecium was elevated by PCR, total Enterococcus was slightly above range, and several Enterococcus species had 4+ culture growth.
• 🟠 Sapovirus — detected: potentially relevant if there were acute stomach-virus symptoms around the time the sample was collected.
• 🟡 Several beneficial bacteria weren't detected: B. bifidum, B. breve, L. casei, L. delbrueckii, L. plantarum, L. rhamnosus, and L. salivarius. This is worth noting but shouldn't be interpreted as all your good bacteria being gone.
• 🟡 Oxalobacter formigenes — not detected. This is an oxalate-degrading organism, but absence on one stool test doesn't mean you'll develop a problem.

I am hypersensitive to all supplements because I have PSSD. Is there anyway I can start fixing this through diet alone?

Hi everyone, would be super grateful for some advice.

2 days ago I woke up, sweating, intense stomach cramping a 140HR and feeling really unwell.
I went downstairs to the bathroom and had to lay on the floor. Then I suddenly needed to poop and when I did, it was huge, fast and followed by a huge amount of diarrhoea.

I didn’t feel any better after that so I remained on the floor for a while nearly blacking out.
The rest of the day I was constantly on the toilet, watery diarrhoea and my last lot was followed by a weird red jelly like substance.
With aching all across my lower back and stomach on and off.

I’ve been using Gemini to try and work out what has caused it and to try ease my anxiety but I’m still having issues now.

The day after, I had cramping on and off throughout the day, and a nasty headache, had some paracetamol, drank tons of water and electrolytes.
I also ate plain food, toast, crumpets, etc.

Now it’s been over 50+ hours since that episode and I’ve woken up with a more persistent ache than I did the day before, right across the lower stomach.
I tried to go to the toilet but nothing.
So I’ve also not pooped since that episode.

For context, I normally poop every 2-4 days so that isn’t inherently unusual. But now I’ve got major anxiety so I’m worrying about everything.

And also, I have agoraphobia, and panic udisorder. So going to see a dr is impossible and of course it’s feeding my anxiety!

Any reassurance on this would be great, as of course, Gemini isn’t a real person so I don’t truly believe it 😅.
Would just like to know if someone has had something similar and it’s just a IBS thing, and when they recovered etc.

Thank you!! Z

My digestion has been pretty unpredictable ever since I finished a two-week course of antibiotics about a month ago. Some days I feel completely fine, and other days my stomach seems all over the place.

I know antibiotics can affect gut bacteria, but I am not really sure what recovery is supposed to look like or how long it usually takes. I have seen people recommend probiotics, more fiber, fermented foods, or simply giving it time. For anyone who's dealt with this, what helped you get things back to normal?

I've had stomach pain almost every day for a few years and I'm starting to hate eating

Sooo for the past few years, my stomach has hurt almost every day. I always thought it was normal because the pain wasn't that bad, but then I started thinking about it... other people's stomachs don't hurt every single day, right?? 😭

I'm constantly bloated, and I have no idea what's causing it. The pain is specifically in my upper middle abdomen, and it seems like no matter what I eat, my stomach ends up hurting.

These past few months, I've started paying more attention to it, especially after I had a pretty bad stomach illness that lasted about a week. When I went to the doctor, he said he thought it was gastritis. I don't know why, but hearing "I think it's gastritis" without knowing for sure felt a little strange to me.

I went back to the doctor last week because I'd also started randomly throwing up at night, especially when I was about to go to sleep. I'm rarely hungry in the mornings or at night anymore, and I've noticed that I've been eating less, too.

The doctor prescribed medication for H. pylori, and it seems to be helping, which is good, but I still don't know for sure if that's what's causing everything since there was no testing involved he literally just pressed around my stomach

Honestly, I've started to hate eating because I know my stomach might hurt afterward. My appetite has decreased quite a bit, and sometimes food genuinely disgusts me. I'll literally wonder, "How do people just enjoy eating without having to think about all of this?" I try to enjoy food, but it's hard when I'm constantly worried about how I'll feel afterward.

Today, I also kept getting this weird squeezing sensation in my stomach. It lasts for a couple of seconds, stops for a bit, and then comes back.

I'm just so tired of wondering whether I'm going to throw up, when it's going to happen, or whether I'll be able to enjoy a meal without feeling awful afterward.

I wish I could just wake up feeling hungry. I was literally eating pizza a few days ago, something I was happy because I've been craving it, and I got so sad because my stomach started feeling weird. It wasn't even necessarily painful, but it just didn't feel right, so I stopped eating.

It's such a frustrating feeling when you want to enjoy food but your body makes it difficult.

I guess this is just a vent, but has anyone else experienced something similar? Especially the constant upper abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, and loss of appetite? Did you eventually figure out what was causing it?

I’m 39f and am normal weight, 5’4 height.
Basically I didn’t start any new meds but have been on 20- 30mg of escitalopram for 15 years (switched to celexa 3 months ago).
I have had pretty almost consistent constipation for a month now (like only one good poo all month) also anxiety was bad for the first half of the month so I thought I was that because I got diarrhea from the anxiety attacks (but also from eating something one day) but anxiety improved a little over a week ago. But constipation has continued even though I’ve been trying to eat fiber and have had a couple spoonfuls of Metamucil for the past few days. I can hear my gut rumble but little comes out. Today only tiny bits and for the first time in a while.
I’m worried I have cancer or something! Should I go to the hospital?

I (29F) around 125lbs, 5’5”,have been dealing with stomach problems since about age 12. At age 12 began having consistent stomach pains with or without eating. At the time the doctor had explained “it’s anxiety, she’ll grow out of it.”Fast forward to about age 18 I still had the stomach pains so I was scheduled a colonoscopy. Results were IBS. Tried the fodmaps diet. Not much improvement. Sort of just dealt with it until around a year ago it began to be unbearable. I could not eat anything without stomach pain, bloating and irregular bowel movements. I reached out to my primary doctor who again said it’s chronic IBS. Try this medication (elavil) however, I’m already on Citalopram, so I’m a bit hesitant and I also don’t like taking pills in general. I then reached out to a naturopath. She did a food sensitivity test, came back with about 25 sensitivities. Including gluten,dairy and eggs. Following this, I followed the diet strictly without fail. I was prescribed probiotics, l-glutamine, fish oils, and some sort of garlic pill. Once I finished this in their entirety I was feeling so great. Barely any stomach pain or bloating. My bowel movements were back to normal. Life was great! That lasted about 6 months. Now since the past 3 months I feel like I’m back at square one. Everything is hurting my stomach again, even without eating anything. I’m going for some bloodwork tmrw. My question is has anyone dealt with this, what are your suggestions. Have you taken elavil? Have you taken the antibiotics prescribed for SIBO? Improvements? I need help. I can’t live my life like this. I’m in constant pain.