Live Life Team
Flatulence is very common and is experienced by all. Changes in diet, consuming excessive food, certain medicines and various other factors contribute to this. Certain food items such as beans, cabbage have in them insoluble fibres that take longer than usual to digest which can result in wind. Other food items such as kidney beans can lead to excessive flatulence. Some of the common food items that regularly cause flatulence in man people are onions, garlic, apples, sprouts, beans as well as drinks such as coffee, beer.
Some medical conditions can also lead to flatulence. Medical conditions like improper functioning of thyroid, blockage of intestine, irritable bowel syndrome can also lead to flatulence.
Wind is caused by digestive system. Over eating results in flatulence because the metabolic rate in stomach increases to digest the extra food, this ultimately results in the formation of wind.
Apart from all this, the most common reasons for flatulence is swallowing air into the stomach, gulping food, smoking and wearing loose dentures.
Symptoms
Most of the times there are no specific syndromes. Excessive flatulence is almost always accompanied with other syndromes such as:
Belching or burping, bloating and rumbling stomach.
In burping the gas is released through mouth.
Bloating is caused by food items rich that take long time to digest.
Rumbling stomach is due to contraction of stomach and can also happen due to anxiety.
Causes
There are many causes of flatulence:
Diet:
- Over eating.
- Deviation from usual diet.
- Food items with high quantity of insoluble fibres.
- Food rich in sulphur.
Medication:
- Laxatives used for the treatment of constipation can cause flatulence.
- Pethidine and morphine can also cause flatulence and
- Antibiotics.
Medical conditions:
Medical conditions like Irritable bowel syndrome, Gastroenteritis, improper absorption of food, blockage of intestine can all lead to excessive flatulence.
Other causes:
Smoking, Swallowing air into stomach, gulping food can cause flatulence.
Diagnosis
In most cases, flatulence can be over come by taking medications that are available over the counter. However in some cases flatulence ma be associated with other syndromes such as pain in the abdomen, vomiting, diarrhoea, blood in stool, then it is important to diagnose the exact problem.
These can be symptoms of more serious conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, gastroenteritis or other digestive disorders.
Treatment
Usually, mild flatulence does not need any treatment. If the condition is slightly bad, then medications that are available commonly over the counter can be taken.
If the condition is worse and conditions such as vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain also exists along with Flatulence, proper treatment is required in those cases.
Mebeverine and alverine are the most commonly prescribed medicines for this condition.
Prevention
Flatulence can be easily prevented with few simple precautions:
The most important prevention step would be to keep an eye on our diet.
Some of the other steps to prevent flatulence are:
- Avoiding food items that are known to produce excessive gas.
- Avoiding smoking and drinks like coffee, beer.
- Avoiding over eating
- Avoiding food items that contain sorbital.
- Avoiding certain medications,
