Brief overview
- Description: In meteorism, gases collect in the digestive tract. If there is too much air in the abdomen, the abdominal organs have less space and are pushed outwards. The abdomen bulges and stretches. This also causes abdominal pain.
- Treatment: The causes of a bloated stomach are always treated. Sometimes general measures help, sometimes you have to change your diet or use medication.
- Causes: There are many reasons for a bloated stomach, for example gastrointestinal illnesses, food intolerances, stress or side effects of medication.
- Home remedies: Teas with camomile, boldo or dandelion in particular often improve the symptoms. Turmeric and apple cider vinegar are also worth a try.
- When to see a doctor? If you suffer from extreme bloating with other symptoms such as diarrhea, constipation or pain, you should seek medical advice.
Bloated belly: description
Bloated belly is also known medically as meteorism. The definition of meteorism means that air and gases accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract.
The bloated abdomen can look different. The gas accumulation is either actually an increased accumulation of gas and air or the subjective feeling of the patient. Those affected then have the feeling of having a bloated stomach.
This is why people also refer to the bloated belly as a hard bloated belly. Those affected also feel that their stomach is fat. When gas and air stretch the digestive tract, there is less space for the organs in the abdomen.
Because there are not many directions in which the abdomen can expand, its circumference increases. Many people often recognize that they have a bloated belly just by looking in the mirror, because the belly bulges out further than normal. In some cases, the abdominal organs also press against the top of the diaphragm, sometimes causing breathing problems.
Many sufferers have a bloated stomach but no flatulence. The air does not escape via the digestive tract.
To a certain extent, this is normal and does not cause any problems. However, if so much air and gas accumulates in the digestive tract that it stretches, abdominal pain occurs.
Flatulence: treatment
To get rid of bloating quickly, you need to treat meteorism properly. There are three ways to do this: General treatment measures, dietary changes and drug therapy.
General treatment measures
You can avoid a bloated belly by taking preventive measures to heart: sport and loose clothing that does not press on the belly (i.e. no belt or corset) prevent a bloated belly. It is also not a good idea to keep a diary of your symptoms. This can lead to you focusing too much on your bloated belly. This can make the symptoms worse.
If a psychological problem is the cause of the bloated belly, this problem should be addressed. In this case, the bloated belly is only the result of another mental illness. The therapy for the mental illness therefore includes the bloated belly.
Biofeedback is particularly helpful when the diaphragm and abdominal muscles are not working well together, resulting in a bloated stomach. Acoustic or visual signals are used to inform the patient if the abdominal muscles relax at the wrong time or if incorrect breathing causes the diaphragm to rise too high.
Nutrition
If you suffer from a bloated stomach, you should be careful not to eat foods that make your stomach even more bloated. These include onions, beans and cabbage, for example.
Whether a change in diet helps depends on the cause of the bloating. Not all sufferers tolerate the same foods and have the same intestinal bacteria. Whether you can digest something well or not differs from person to person.
Sometimes it helps to avoid honey, sorbitol and xylitol. Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol that is found naturally in fruit and artificially added to ready-made dough products. Xylitol is also a natural sugar alcohol and is sometimes referred to as birch sugar.
Many people cannot tolerate milk. It is better for them if they avoid animal milk (cow’s milk, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk) and products made from it. Animal milk contains the milk sugar lactose. The lactose is normally broken down in the intestine so that it can be digested. This requires an enzyme called lactase.
When changing their diet, those affected often make sure to eat more healthy fiber. However, this change should not be made too quickly. A bloated belly also occurs if you are not yet used to the hard-to-digest fiber. A bloated stomach can be prevented by slowly adjusting the amount of fiber and additional physical activity.
In some patients, coeliac disease causes bloating. They then cannot tolerate the “gluten” from the grain. Gluten is found in many types of grain. If you are diagnosed with coeliac disease, you must avoid foods such as bread and cakes made from gluten-containing flour, muesli, pasta such as noodles, beer and many other foods. Gluten-free alternatives are now available for most products.
Drug treatment
Medication does not always help with a bloated stomach. Whether you can do something about the air in your stomach with tablets depends entirely on the underlying cause of the bloating.
Simeticone is a so-called “defoamer” and ensures that the gas bubbles dissolve. The gases released as a result can then be better absorbed by the tissue.
Metoclopramide is also used for nausea and vomiting and ensures that the gases in the digestive tract are broken down more quickly.
Bismuth subsalicylate is prescribed not so much because of the flatulence, but because of the foul-smelling stools. In some patients, this is accompanied by a bloated stomach. However, if the bowel movements are normal, bismuth subsalicylate is not useful.
In some patients, the flatulence is caused by bacterial colonization of the intestine. In this case, the bacteria causing the symptoms are treated. The antibiotics tetracycline and metronidazole are particularly suitable.
The digestive tract naturally contains countless healthy bacteria that keep the harmful bacteria in check. They help with the digestive process. If this so-called intestinal flora is disturbed, the balance between the bacteria must be restored in order to get rid of the bloating. This can be supported by taking probiotics, i.e. “friendly” intestinal bacteria. The additional colonization of healthy intestinal bacteria helps to suppress pathogenic bacteria and germs.
There is therefore no “best remedy for a bloated stomach”. Treatment is always based on the cause of the bloating. What helps one person may not help another or may even make their symptoms worse.
Bloated belly: causes
A bloated stomach can have various causes. A change in diet often helps. But meteorism can also have other physical, psychological or medicinal causes. The cause of a bloated stomach therefore depends on individual circumstances.
Physical causes
Basically, you always swallow a little air when you eat. This is completely normal and can hardly be prevented. Some people with a bloated stomach may have swallowed too much air. This happens especially when you eat very quickly and drink too many fizzy drinks.
The gastrointestinal system is complex. For example, there are also bacteria in the intestine that can produce or digest gases. These bacteria do not make people ill, but rather help with digestion. If the intestinal flora is disturbed and the balance between the “good” and “bad” bacteria is no longer right, some people also develop a bloated stomach.
The faulty interaction (dyssynergia) between the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles sometimes gives sufferers the feeling of having a bloated stomach. Because the two muscle groups do not work together properly, the abdominal girth increases more and more throughout the day. Many patients have a bloated stomach, especially in the evening.
Normally, the abdominal muscles tense up when food, drink or gases expand the abdominal cavity. The diaphragm then also rises to create more space for the abdominal organs.
If the abdominal muscles and diaphragm do not work together properly, a full digestive tract with food, drink or gas causes the abdominal muscles to relax and the diaphragm to lower. This causes the abdomen, which needs to increase its volume, to move outwards. It feels as if you have a balloon in your stomach and something is pressing on it from above. If a dyssynergy between the diaphragm and abdominal muscles is the cause of the bloated belly, biofeedback treatment can help.
In general, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract also cause meteorism. These diseases affect the pancreas, liver or gall bladder, for example. Infections of the gastrointestinal tract are also a common cause of bloating.
In addition to the causes of bloating in women, there is also the monthly cycle. Sometimes the bloating occurs during the period itself, sometimes on other days. The symptoms then depend on the hormonal changes in the menstrual cycle. This is why the term “hormonal bloating” applies here.
Food as a cause
If you often have a bloated stomach after eating, a food is probably the cause. For example, onions, beans, unripe fruit and cabbage cause bloating. In general, patients with food-related causes are more likely to have a bloated stomach in the morning. However, the symptoms also occur shortly after eating.
Around five to 15 percent of the Central European population is lactose intolerant. This means that products that contain or are made from animal milk cannot be metabolized by the intestines. Instead, the body has to get rid of the lactose (milk sugar) in a different way: It starts a fermentation process for the lactose, which produces gases. This then causes a bloated stomach.
Another food intolerance is coeliac disease. With this disease, the intestine cannot process foods that contain the gluten protein gluten. As a result, the small intestine becomes inflamed and forms gases that contribute to a bloated stomach.
A bloated stomach can also occur if you drink alcohol. Wine, for example, contains sorbitol. Some people have an intolerance to sorbitol, which causes bloating, among other things.
Chronic alcohol consumption causes various illnesses in which flatulence is a symptom. For example, liver damage occurs. Among other things, the liver produces bile, which plays an important role in digestion. If the liver cannot produce bile, digestion suffers, which in turn causes meteorism.
Psychological causes
Psychosomatic complaints can also affect the digestive tract. In most cases, the bloated stomach is caused by stress. Stress causes general physical tension. The intestines also tense up. This causes gases and air to back up in the intestines. As a result, they do not reach the end of the digestive tract and cannot escape. In this case, the tension leads to a bloated stomach.
However, other mental illnesses also cause these symptoms. The treatment of flatulence then consists of treating the mental illness.
Medication-related causes
Gastrointestinal complaints such as nausea, constipation, diarrhea or a bloated stomach are side effects of many medications. If patients with a bloated stomach are taking medication for another illness, it is worth talking to a doctor about whether the symptoms are caused by the medication. If this is the case, alternative preparations or a different dosage should be discussed.
Flatulence: home remedies
Home remedies for bloating help many people and are more pleasant for most people than a visit to the doctor. In many cases, it is worth trying out home remedies to see if you can get rid of bloating. This improves the symptoms in some patients. The following tips often help with a bloated stomach:
Firstly, remedies for flatulence, known as carminatives, such as caraway, fennel and peppermint oil, help with the bloated belly. They relax the muscles and cause the air to escape through the oesophagus, among other things. They also soothe cramps and relieve flatulence.
On the other hand, ginger stimulates digestion. By accelerating intestinal function, the gases move faster to the end of the digestive tract and leave the body.
Chamomile is also useful. Chamomile has an anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic effect. Chamomile tea in particular helps against a bloated stomach.
Turmeric also helps with bloating. Ready-made preparations in the form of capsules or coated tablets combat the symptoms.
If the cause of the symptoms lies in the intestinal flora, apple cider vinegar can also help. Apple cider vinegar kills harmful intestinal bacteria and ensures a balanced intestinal flora.
If you suffer from a bloated stomach in hot weather, light meals can help. Paradoxically, cold drinks make the symptoms worse. This is because cold drinks put additional stress on the body.
If you want to make your own tea or use other home remedies, make sure you find out how to prepare it correctly. You can find helpful information in the overview of medicinal plants.
Flatulence: when to see a doctor?
If you suffer from persistent bloating, it makes sense to visit your GP. Especially if pain or foul-smelling flatulence are also present. An examination followed by a diagnosis is important in order to find the right treatment.
Extreme bloating also causes other symptoms: general malaise, diarrhea or constipation and nausea are just some of the possible symptoms. In these cases too, those affected should consult their trusted doctor.
There are no rules for visiting a doctor. If you feel that you need medical help, then you are allowed to seek it.
Frequently asked questions
You can find the answers to the most frequently asked questions about this topic in our article Frequently asked questions about bloating.