Here’s what we’re going to cover
Nobody wants to have gas, especially not when you’re around other people. You can treat it and get rid of it, but first you have to understand why you have it.
If you have gas, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. It could be the answer to the riddle: “What is both an annoyance and a relief?”
Gas.
What Causes Gas?
Gas is produced by the interaction of food with your microbiome. And the reason that you have it is either because there is something wrong with your food, or something wrong with you microbiome. Allow me to explain exactly what I mean by those things, and then I’ll give you an example.
Your microbiome is the ecosystem inside your digestive system. Like all ecosystems, it is teaming with bacteria, but your ecosystem is highly individual and easily impacted and altered by your individual behavior, including your diet and everything else that you ingest.
Your microbiome plays an important role in how food is broken down inside your digestive tract. And when food is broken down, it can either lead to a lot of gas production, or not lead a lot of gas production, depending on the kind of bacteria or yeast (Candida) that are inside you breaking down that food.
And it’s not unlike a compost bin. That stinky smell that comes from your compost bin is created by the bacteria breaking down organic material.
In addition to bacteria, enzymes are also breaking down your food. Some of those enzymes are produced by your bacteria, but they are also produced by your pancreas, and even the cells lining your digestive tract. The health of all of those things affects gas production, which leads to another layer of complexity in whether or not you experience gas.
And then there’s the food itself. Different types of foods break down differently, and they also break down differently depending on the kinds of organisms in your microbiome. They also break down differently depending on whether or not your immune system is reacting to those foods.
So, for example, if you have a lactose intolerance, you do not produce the enzyme necessary for breaking down lactose, which is a component of dairy. This will likely cause gas. But if you you have a dairy allergy, then you have an immune reaction to the proteins in dairy, and that can cause gas. And if you have an imbalance in your microbiome, then you have the wrong bacteria in your digestive system, and therefore those bacteria can have trouble breaking down dairy, which can also cause gas.
That same scenario can happen with gluten, egg, corn, soy, and every single different type of food you ingest. So do the math. Hundreds of foods x enzymes x immune reactions x hundreds of bacteria. It’s a very complex world in there, and almost none of it is being assessed by your regular doctor or your gastroenterologist.
You can be missing enzymes, having an immune reaction, or have the wrong kind of bacteria or yeast trying to break down your food, and therefore be producing gas when you ingest those foods, or ingest nearly any food.
These variables are also what affect the smell of gas, from really smelly gas, like sulfur farts or worse, to seemingly odorless gas.
And all of this goes for gas being expelled at either end, whether it’s burping or farting.
And it goes for gas caught in the middle, which is responsible for most bloating problems and can cause a tremendous amount of pain. You can produce a tremendous amount of gas very quickly, which can in turn produce a tremendous amount of pain if it’s trapped inside that 30 food long tube running through you.
I’d also like to point out that chronic burping is hardly ever from swallowing air. That’s a lame excuse that was told to you by someone who didn’t know what they were doing to get you to go away. You have burping because food isn’t being broken down properly in your stomach or upper intestinal tract.
How To Treat Gas
Most people end up treating gas by taking GasX or simethicone, but this usually doesn’t work very well, because it only addresses one kind of gas production, and it only treats the symptom, not the cause.
This problem is also probably not something that your gastroenterologist will be able to help you with. Solving gas problems is the expertise of an IBS Specialist. An IBS Specialist will help you figure out and treat the issues that we talked about in this video, and then treat them so that you can move forward with your life propelled by something other than gas. Because you do not have to have gas.
We have helped thousands of people from across the U.S. and the world solve stinky gas and irritating and uncomfortable burping, and we’d love to help you to. Visit our website at IBSTreatmentCenter.com to learn more.
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Dr. Wangen is the founder and medical director of the IBS Treatment Center, the award winning author of two books, and a nationally recognized speaker on digestive disorders. He has been on ABC, NBC, and Fox as well as public radio, and was named one of Seattle’s Top Doctors by Seattle Magazine.