What are Intestinal Gases?

Intestinal gas (belching, abdominal distention, flatulence) Intestinal Gases is not a disease, but an extremely painful symptom in the lower back.

Intestinal Gases or Intestinal Gases is acute pain in the lower back or in the sides of the back.

The pain is usually on one side, but it can be on both sides of the back lower. Intestinal Gases can start quickly, come and go, and get worse over time.

Control intestinal gases

What causes intestinal gas?

The usual cause of belching is excess gas in the stomach that comes from ingesting air.
However, discomfort in the abdomen, for any reason can also cause burps.
Therefore, belching does not always indicate the presence of excess gases in the stomach.

Swelling is the subjective feeling that the abdomen It is full, but it does not necessarily mean that the abdomen is enlarged.
The distension is the increase of the objectives of the abdomen.

The continuous distention of the abdomen is usually caused by fluids, tumors, enlarged organs or fat in the abdomen.

Intermittent distention of the abdomen can be caused by excessive formation of intestinal gas, as well as physical or functional obstruction of the intestines.

Burping and flatulence (farts or passing gas) are practically universal.
The maximum number of farts for a normal person is 20 per day.
Flatulence results from gas production by bacteria in the intestine when sugars and polysaccharides are digested.

Symptoms of Intestinal Gases?

Bacteria play an important role in the composition of intestinal gas.
The colon or large intestine contains a large amount of bacteria.
Some bacteria produce gas while others consume.
The food particles that the digestive system is not able to absorb are decomposed in other, simpler, smaller ones by gas-producing bacteria.
This process is called fermentation
Hydrogen and carbon dioxide are gases released in the process.
Other types of colon bacteria consume large amounts of gas, in particular hydrogen.
They in turn release small amounts of methane or gases that contain sulfur, who are responsible for the bad smell associated with intestinal gas.
It releases the part of the gas that is absorbed into the blood through the lungs and can be detected by breath tests.
This provides physicians with a means of evaluating different system functions digestive.
The remaining gas passes through the anus

Intestinal Gas Investigations?

Researchers, in studies of healthy subjects and patients with gas symptoms, they have learned several things about how gas travels to through the intestine (transit).
Each person can produce 0.6 liters to 1.8 liters of methane and other gases, for day!

In these studies, gas is continuously infused directly into the intestines.
At the same time, researchers measure the amount of gas that passes through of the anus, changes in the circumference of the patients (waist size), and how patients feel bad.
Healthy subjects evacuate all the infused gas without discomfort.
Most of the healthy population can tolerate an infusion without difficulty of gas at a speed of up to 1.8 liters per hour.
Gas passes more quickly through the intestines when individuals stand up after going to bed.
Gas transit is normally very efficient, but if a quantity of gas is maintained Within the intestines, subjects may develop abdominal distention and the symptoms.
The different experimental models of gas retention have shown in subjects healthy that abdominal distension is related to the amount of gas in the intestine.

However , the perception or sensation of abdominal symptoms It also depends on other factors.
It turns out that the gas is better tolerated when the bowel is relaxed and if it is in the large intestine instead of in the small intestine.

Intestinal Gas Therapy?

The treatment of excess intestinal gas depends on the underlying cause and may include changes in diet, medications that reduce gas production (for example, antibiotics), and medications that stimulate the small intestine muscles to reduce production of gas.
There are over-the-counter products that contain activated carbon (Carbolevure, Arkogélules coal ...) have recognized the effectiveness.

They capture the gas molecules, which reduces the swelling.

The gas in the intestine consists almost entirely of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane.
All these are odorless gases

The stench of the winds has to do with a small amount of malodorous gases.
These are often composed of sulfur (rotten eggs), which are released during the degradation of certain proteins.
The composition and smell of intestinal gas must be included in the diet and the intestinal flora.

Do you treat intestinal gas?

El tratamiento depende de la causa de los síntomas.
Treatment options can be classified into two main categories depending on whether the patient has evidence of excessive amounts of gas in the intestine.

If there is no evidence of excess gas and the patient actually has a syndrome of functional bowel with abdominal without apparent cause or symptoms.

Excess gas To patients with excess belching is usually enough to explain the condition and reassure the patient.
However, if another anomaly is present, a specific treatment is required.
In cases where patients have difficulty passing gas through of the anus, biofeedback training can solve the problem.
In patients with excessive or evacuation of malodorous gases, therapy is aimed at reducing the production of intestinal gases.
This leads to changes in the diet, specifically to reduce the amount of undigested waste reaching the colon, where bacteria intestines turn them into gas.

In people with documented lactose intolerance, a diet free of lactose can be recommended.
In particular, recent studies have shown that most of these Patients can consume normal amounts of dairy products without symptoms ABS.

Causes of intestinal bloating?

The most common causes of chronic swelling They are constipation and excess gas.

Less common causes are intestinal obstruction, tumor, cysts or parasitic infection. Most of these are totally treatable and do not necessarily require the attention of a doctor.

Constipation is one of the most common causes of chronic swelling, especially when it is related with a common disorder such as irritable bowel syndrome. There are many causes Constipation potentials, such as eating too little dietary fiber and not drinking enough Water. Adding these two things to the diet usually relieves the symptoms, and Stools often become more regular and easier to pass. If this does not is the case, chronic constipation can be caused by an intestinal disorder underlying that could require treatment by a doctor.

Excess intestinal gas is another of the common causes of chronic distension. This can be caused by two things. Or it swallows too much air during the day and moves down into the stomach or the intestines, or the natural intestinal bacteria create excessive gases during the process of decomposition of food material in the intestine thin or the color. Eat less gas-producing foods, chew and swallow slower and avoid carbonated drinks produces less gas and bloating In most cases.

Although the less common causes of swelling Chronic, tumors, cysts and polyps are still frequent enough as to consider reasonable possibilities for ongoing symptoms. Not necessarily they have to take place in the stomach or colon, although often they do. For example, ovarian cancer can cause bloating or swelling in the abdomen if there is a large tumor The treatments will depend on the size of the growths, whether benign or malignant, and if they seem to grow over time or not.

Occasionally, certain parasitic infections They can also be causes of chronic distension. Some parasites, like the tapeworms, They can grow a lot if they are not discovered and eliminated quickly. Others multiply quickly and can lead to an accumulation of many grouped parasites. Both of them cases can cause swelling and should be treated with antiparasitic medications.

Although usually not serious, any case of chronic distension should be reported to a health care provider if the symptoms do not diminish with the changes in the diet. Intestinal disorders They are relatively common, but may need to be treated with medications prescribed if the symptoms are severe. Causes such as tumors or cysts will need be monitored closely and possibly eliminated.

What are intestinal bacteria?

How beneficial bacteria protect cells intestinal
Scientists from the Faculty of Medicine at Emory University have demonstrated how an ancient cellular regulatory circuit called Nrf2, which is present in both insects and mammals, responds to beneficial bacteria and prepares a protective response to environmental stresses.

The findings could lead to advances in the use of bacteria to treat intestinal diseases or mitigate the effects of radiation therapy for cancer.

The body's response to bacteria is often seen through the lens of the immune system , professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the School of Medicine from Emory University. "The pathway we have identified is not inflammatory or immunoregulatory; rather, it is a cytoprotective. "While many types of bacteria that live in our intestines are inert or even harmful to the cells intestinal, a small subset, the lactobacilli, can stimulate the increase of motility, proliferation and the ability to resist stress, says

"Lactobacilli are present in yogurt, and they are also the first type of bacteria that will colonize a baby's system after the baby is born baby ",
Working with Neish, assistant professor of pediatrics Rheinallt Jones, PhD and colleagues discovered that only lactobacilli could protect previously fruit-free fruit flies from paraquat, a toxic herbicide. Similarly, feeding lactobacilli, but not other types of bacteria, with germ-free mice could protect them from weight loss and death after exposure to radiation.

In the intestinal tissues of flies and mice, the lactobacilli activated a series of genes in a pattern that indicates that the pathway Nrf2 is involved. If flies or mice had a mutation that disabled Nrf2, the protective effect of the bacteria was not seen.

Nrf2 is a cell pathway involved in the protection of cells from external stresses such as toxins and carcinogens, and is activated by reactive oxygen species or ROS. Both paraquat and radiation generate ROS.

"It seems that a little bit of ROS helps cells prepare to resist stress," says Jones. "This is an example of the concept of hormesis, where exposure limited to something harmful protects an organism later."

How can I control the symptoms?

Unexplained abdominal symptoms Guidelines for treatment are more difficult for patients with IBS and related syndromes that attribute their abdominal symptoms to gas.
Because the actual amount of intestinal gas is difficult to measure, tips for these patients it is rarely based on good objective evidence.
Since many patients with symptoms related to gas have IBS, here the same treatment options that apply for the SII would apply.
Recent experimental studies suggest that mild exercise, a recommendation traditional, improves the clearance of intestinal gases.

Reducing gas medications Reducing gas substances, such as silicone or activated carbon derivatives, have been widely used to the treatment of symptoms related to gas.
However, the experimental data are controversial and not too convincing.
Simethicone (Gas-X, Mylanta Gas, Phazyme) has an antifoaming effect, avoiding in this way the capture gas.
However, its effectiveness in the treatment of gas symptoms is controversial. Activated carbon (Caps, charcoal Plux) has adsorbent properties.
However, in controlled studies, activated carbon does not reduced the volume of intestinal gas production in laboratory experiments or in patients, it also did not reduce the formation of malodorous gas.

Eat a variety of healthy foods.
Flatulence can have several causes.
For example, because a person swallows too much air.

This can happen when stress and stress from smoking or a bad false teeth.
People who talk fast, fast food and drinks without a good chewing, swallow additional air.
This is also the case of people who hyperventilate and patients with pulmonary emphysema

When should I seek help?
There are drugs that act on intestinal sensory nerves and reduce bowel perception can also be effective.
Low doses of antidepressant drugs have been shown to be useful in the treatment of abdominal pain and IBS symptoms.
Hypnosis has been used successfully to treat patients with IBS and it has been demonstrated to improve the swelling.
There are no studies on the effect of hypnosis on gas volume and dynamics, but it has been reported that hypnosis adjusts colon motility and normalizes Disordered rectal sensitivity in patients with IBS.