Hi Clare...I often get these cramping pains in my ribs too...it feels as though one rib has moved over the other...and takes a long painful while to come back to normal...I often get it when I bend over to put my shoes on...or like your mum...if I twist my upper body...i.e. reversing my car...(my doctor couldn't understand it)
I also get leg cramps...(especially if I stretch at night in bed)...and have had cramps in my hands too...I've no idea what the cause is...so I'll just share what helps me. I'm not a great fan of doctors and drugs...(they just seem a waste of time to me)...so I've been using homeopathic remedies for years...(no side effects)...I take Cuprum Met for cramp...(it really helps)
For trapped wind and bloating I take homeopathic Carbo Vegetablis...or Nux Vomica. My wind and bloating come on if I get upset or stressed...Nux Vomica is really effective for stress...and Carbo Vegetablis helps with wind. Maybe your Mum could see a homeopath...if not...a good chemist should stock homeopathic remedies.
How lovely that you care so much for your mother Clare...maybe it'll ease your worries to know that I'm 68...and have had these symptoms for many years...but I'm otherwise very fit...and still very much alive.

PS Water...and apples also help.

Much love to you both

Effie

thankyou so much for your reply and your helpful idea's. my mum has since gone to the doctors after much nagging by myself, he has told her its the muscles getting stuck on the ribs due to her being 62 years old the muscles have become a bit slacker and there fore if she moves certain ways the muscle slips into the rib space. hope this maybe of some use to yourself. thankyou again for taking the time to reply.
best regards
clare x

Thank you Clare...I didn't think it was anything to worry about...just very distressing when it occurs.

Bless You both

Effie

hi effie & clare, i have had this strange stomach since i was a little girl (now 46). i used to brag to my friends that i could make myself look pregnant. my mum was horrified and i could never understand why. i felt that i had a gift for blowing my stomach up! i now know that if i sit twisted or lay down on the couch or bed it starts. it used to happen at work all the time when i sat on one foot slightly twisted to one side. it is much worse if i have coffee and i think tea used to be a problem too. it cramps at first and then blows up over a half hour or so and then takes an hour or more to go down, or go out the other end!! my stomach can get to look larger than it was when i was about to give birth, truelly. ive always had a tiny waist, well maybe not so tiny now, and so it really didn't make sense. i now suffer with allergies to wheat (get the runs) and have been tested for gluten - negative. i had an ectopic pregnancy last year and found that after the key hole surgery or the fluid in the stomach, i had no problem . . . for about 6 months. i thought they must have rearranged something in there but no. if i feel it coming on i lay down on my back to relieve or on my knees rocking back and forth until it clears. another way is to lean on my elbows at the bench until it clears. jen