Ok, just out of curiousity for those of you who complain of this phenomenon during class: what types of classes is it the worst in? Small lectures with 20 people, or large lectures with hundreds of people? What about friends; is it worse in classes where you have lots of friends, or in classes where you dont know anyone. I understand this probably applies mainly to people at large universities. I find it is ok when I am in a comfortable situation surrounded by friends in class, but when I am uncomfortable surrounded by strangers it is worse. Sort of a fear of rejection type thing that induces it through nervousness. Any thoughts on this?

Well... Mine actually started in highschool as well. So it's been a few years or so, and after some time in college... I guess the worst of it depends. It isn't as bad in small classrooms where I am comfortable but the worry is still there jumping up my anxiety (which I believe is an enormous factor as we've mentioned) and i'll usually skip those classes if it's already been acting up that day. In large lecture halls i'm usually okay as long as I can find a seat in the back to myself where I don't have to sit near people, and where I can leave if i'd like... Over all though it's just a matter of what you eat, and I really think the stress and anxiety of the situation will be what's going to screw you up the worst. I'm going to look into some kind of anxiety diagnosis. Because if I can get that under control, then I think i'll do a lot better ( I had to ask my teacher if I could take my math final out in the hallway separatly from everyone else because of this a few days ago just to ensure that my anxiety would go down even though my stomach wasn't really acting up). Sorry for all the typing, just a lot of thoughts on this problem.

Thanks for the breakdown on dietary things that have worked. Here are some things i'd like to share.

I have found a solution with prescription medication that seems to work almost always for me. I take a bentyl tablet and also take a 5mg valium tablet. I sort of discovered this solution myself. Bentyl works very well on the physical side of it and relaxes the gut while valium takes my mind off worrying about it. I don't like taking prescription drugs, but for the moment if I am in a meeting and am really afraid of this happening, I just take them. I hope to not have to do this eventually.

Oatmeal seems to be the best breakfast food for me.

I have found that when I feel the noises coming on that if I take deep breaths and hold them for a very long time... ( 25/30 secs ) it seems to alleviate the problem. It's not a total cure, but it works pretty well.

The more meditative types of things I do, it seems the more unlikely I am to get the problem. I have meditation audio tapes that I try to listen to once a day. Something that relaxes that mind for a period of time every day definitely helps.

One solution I found for when the noises happen in bed before I go to sleep is to lie on my stomach instead of my back. This isn't always very comfortable, but if there is a situation where I don't want the noises to happen I have found that lying on my stomach really helps.

I have also found that it is much better to wait to eat when I am very hungry. It seems that my body works harder at digesting food the more hungry I am. I'm still not sure about this. At the moment it's just a theory based on what may be just coincidences.

Exercise really helps. I rarely have any problems if I have just done some very strenuous exercise. For example, if I run 5 miles my stomach just seems to go into a very relaxed state for a couple of hours.

I have noticed that the problem seems to occur when certain foods produce a lot of gas in my stomach. This is occompanied by what feels like cramping in my stomach and intestines. The gas seems to get trapped and when it releases, it makes these very loud noises internally.

Ok, those are some of my thoughts and experiences. Hope it's of some help. I really feel that there is a medical solution to this problem, but there just aren't enough people suffering from it to make it a priority for researchers.

Hello. Just a few comments.
First, what happened to the plan to open a special website for this embarrassing problem, I would be willing to help out with the financial part of it. I think a website will help everyone with this problem to feel that other people are with him, it will be easier to find it on web searches, it will be easier to find a cure with a organized website. And maybe we will raise awareness and some doctors will start researching this problem

i also wanted to know if anyone else has noticed that smoking makes the noises a little easier?

Has anyone tried a colon cleanser? I'm curious if it could help for this problem.

And I would love if this problem becomes a widely known thing, so that we could all live publicly with it and not have to avoid social situations. Maybe a website will help out with this.

I agree a website would be a good idea - unfortunately I have no experience in that department. We need a catchy name for this, like said - social anxiety intestinal disorder. Or something cheezy like that. I am curous to try valium as a treatment option, although thats not a drug I would want to be on long term. It might be a good choice for things like exams or first dates where the problem is most prevalent. Another drug would be librium. I'd also like to try beta-blockers. Anyone have any opinions?

Happy new year everybody!!!

Hi im new in fact this is my first time posting, excuse my little knowledge of how this site works, well anyway my name is amy and I am in 10th grade. I started having awful noises in my stomach in the beggining of 9th grade. It has gotten progressivly worse. I almost hate going anywere in fear of the destined embarassment. I am now homeschooled because of this problem, and another health issue. I found myself dreading going to school for knowing that it would happen, and oh my goodness tests were like heck! I could not sit in a quiet room without my stomach roaring, people looked and laughed and talked about it out of class, I hated it, im a straight a student but when this started, I oculdnt pay attention in fear of it growling. I dread even going to the movies even, anything?!?! I can recall one instance when my homeschool group went on a trip to a little reenactment village about the revolutionary war, and we were told to sit in this little one room bulding and be abssolutly silent. And of course my stomach roared at its loudest in response to the sudden silence. I died, I ran to my dad and left with him crying my eyes out. For the rest of the day I couldnt bare go in and see anymore of the speeches or anything, ever since then I fear even going to church! Wich is terrible because we are strongly involved in our church. I hate it, I hate it, I dont want to live with it anymore. Any suggestions?? Please! I am going to a gastro doctor on the 18th please pray for me! Thank you

Wow, I have the same thing. I tried the prescription elavil, which did help but gave me a rash. Now i'm on tofranil and an over the counter "ibs digestive advantage"....After a few weeks to a month they all seem to kick in and stop the noises. Also, when you're in quiet situations it works sometimes to practice deep breathing. That seemed to help me... But believe me, I know how much of an embarassment it can be.

Erb... I've heard of a lot of people trying meds for this but most of them say that their body eventually gets used to them and they stop working..... How have yours been? I'm having trouble getting anywhere because most people just say "oh its just stress. Prepare yourself better and you'll feel better". But they don't really understand that its more than that and its kind of like a stres--> noises cycle. Our family doctor gave me like heartburn pills? No one really gets what i'm saying so if anything sucessful works with anyone else, I think i'd have a better shot at getting somewhere with a real doctor. Speaking of which my dad is a doctor and keeps telling me its only stress and I know it isn't. Sorry to hear about your situation amy, sounds rough, but I avoid movies and such as well. It's hard to stick on the diet that works because I only know of like 3 things that dn't make my stomach growl... Hard to eat those every day.
And one other question... Does anyeon elese notice that posts on here will just dissappear? Is that mayeb if someone leaves the forum? I don' tknow but it's getting confusing! Hah.

Has anyone had x-rays of their stomach & intestines for this disorder?

I went to a gi Dr. A few months ago and all he said was, "if you don't feel any pain then you're fine." he thought the noises were normal and that i'd have to live with them. The advice he gave was basically garbage.

I think if you treat the disorder as if it's ibs, the noises will reduce significantly. That's my tip for the day.

Cheers.

Ok ok!
Here is where I am now.
I went to my family doctor a while ago, and he recommended gas-x. It worked a little for a year or so, but then it stopped working.

Recently I went to some natural doctor, he gave me pepcid complete and a vitamin called gaba. The vitamin is to reduce stress and so forth, and pepcide was supposed to help my stomach. I started taking it, but decided that it doesn't work, the pepcide only gave me diarria etc.

So last week I went to another doctor and he told me that I have a small form of ibs. He prescribed me with a generic of pamelor! He also recommended taking some kind of fiber, I forgot the name.

So my question here is, why does it seem that every doctor is prescribing some kind of stress/depression relief medication? Could it be that the only problem is stress?
The second thing i'm wondering is, that maybe the medication does not take effect till after a while of taking it, so maybe I had to give it more time to see if it helps?

If anyone has any information please reply and help all of us who are looking for answers on a problem that looks like it has no end!!!

New member here. Same ol' story...This problem is destroying my life..Etc etc.

Anyway, i've found that although stress is a big factor in this, it's not the only factor. Does anyone get these noises while sleeping? I do. This proves to me that it's not just stress that's causing them. There's something else going down there.

Anyway, i'm going to a doctor friday and i'm going to make sure that I dont get a generic answer like "its just stress/normal, you're fine."

oh and I almost forgot, a couple of months ago I went to the e.R. Because I had a severe pain coming from my abdomen area. They took a catscan and said there was some inflammation in my colon. They gave me flagil and I started taking it. It actually worked quite well and I had one of the best days of my life in my night time political science class (which is a class that I always had stomach problems in).

Anyway, the semester ended, so I stopped taking the flagil, but hopefully when I resume classes next month, it'll continue to work.

Yeah... Stress is a huge factor no doubt.... But I agree with coast that it isn't the only thing because i'll wake up and have the noises which makes me think it also happens while sleeping.

Can you mention more about the medication that you are taking coast? What kind of doctor did you see? I'm skeptical about going to gi doctor because I feel like, a lot of us have mentioned, that they'll just tell me it's stress... Which i've heard enough of.

I think if I can bring in testimonies of other people's from this forum and what they've tried and what has worked that some of us could have a better shot at getting it across to these doctors what exactly is going on, maybe? I'm starting class up next week, and if something would work, that would be amazing! I've skipped classes before because of this

Http://noiseyabbey.Forumup.Com/

a forum

I wish people would stop just taking medication, without a doctors knowledge. A noisy stomach or intestines is a normal sign. I would worry if there are no noises. People, think before you take herbal medication and other over the counter. A doctor needs to know everything that a person takes in.

Well, I think the reason we have this forum is because we all feel it is a bit abnormal... On occasion it is as much something to worry about as is no sounds. I'm not sure we could get a hold of serious medication anyway without a doctor's consent.
But, for the rest of you..

Here is something that has worked for me really well so far -
i drink two of the dannon active yogurts (drinkable.. Maybe the other will work as well.. But I do the drinkable), one in the morning and at night, and then for dinner and stuff I have spinach, or brocolli and cauliflaur, and I had salmon one night. Other than that, for lunch and stuff I try and keep it simple and not too crazy, like salad, or lunchmeat and stuff. It's basic, and its a start.

So far, i've done really really great with this! And now that class is out for the weekend... It's pizza time.

I thought that some of you would like to look at the following posts:

http://ehealthforum.Com/health/topic77551. Html

actually, I wrote about this earlier, but the post got deleted. I think that when you go back to edit a post and if you click on cancel ( to cancel editing ), its actually deleting the post along with a couple before it. I'm not sure. I might have done this once or twice. I apologize to anybody whose posts have been lost.

Another thing that I wanted to ask is about your emotional health. Regarding me, i've been feeling like i'm going to have an emotional breakdown even when there is absolutely no reason. I've searched the symptoms of candidiasis and in some websites they mention "inability to cope", "emotional problems" and crying for no reason. And I have been having a hard time coping. ( both physically and mentally ).

Hello everyone,

i can not believe such a small thing can ruin my life (and others have experienced somewhat similar thing i'm assuming).





Anyhow, how can this stuipd intestinal sound thing control our lives? I mean, for god sakes, it ruins your social life, work life, academic life, etc etc etc etc etc.

I mean, what the hell? Didn't any doctor do some research or something? They have cures to diseases you can never imagine of, and yet something this emotionally (and sometimes physically) difficult to deal with has no solutions or cures?

I'm in university now and i'm planning on dropping out because of this stupid little problem. So dam stressful. Sad thing is I really want to be educated; living without being educated for me is like hell...Education means everything to me.

What am I going to do now? Work in an isolated noisy factory, or dream of becoming a wonderful engineer? Oh my, some people dream of being in my situation, that is, university. But sometimes I like to be in their situation, because dealing with these intestinal sounds is actually extremely difficult. I'm skipping lectures, classes, and what not these days. And the sad thing is my academic grades are really well. What is going on???!!!??? *sigh*...I give up....

Hi everyone. I've been following this forum (and others like it) for a while now, because I have been suffering from this for just a few weeks shy of a year. When it first started, I was in my first year in college and it was really really bad, although as of today I had improved. Today (i'm 19 by the way), I can go to almost any class without worrying, although test time is a whole different story. There is definitely is a physical component to this disease/illness/disorder, although I think that most of it is mental. I know that once this problem has started you cannot stop thinking about it, but there are stuff that you can do to help yourself (at least it works for me most of the time).

I went to the doctor and after many blood tests, an endoscopy and a colonoscopy; my doctor diagnosed me with ibs (irritable bowel syndrome). To help this, my doc prescribed me bentyl which is a antispasmodic which I take when I have any pains in my lower left quadrant. I have taken it for about 2 weeks and although it does help with the pains, it doesn't help with the noises. Basically, I think that it is worth taking when needed because if I don't have any pains, then my mind won't be on my stomach.


The thing that has helped me the most (for now) is atenolol which is a beta-blocker which helps me calm down to an extent. Atenolol is mainly used to treat high blood pressure, although it depresses your sympathetic nervous system which doesn't allow you to get super nervous/anxious. If you are looking at some drug that calms you down, atenolol is probably the least effective, although it helps me enough to keep me sane.

Another important thing that helps me to deal with this in a school setting is to sit next to an exit (which is not always possible, believe me I know) because if you feel that you are going to have trouble you can always leave. With having the ability to exit an unpleasant situation, it reassures me so much that this allows me to actually pay attention to what is being taught in class.

I have found that if I have an upset stomach/know that my intestines will give me problems, I sometimes drink some pepto-bismol which helps sometimes, although it is something that I can do without.


Also, this might sound weird, but when this started, I found out that if I don’t have a bowel movement for a couple of days, I won’t hear the noises. I will still feel the pressure that causes the noises, although even though I feel the pressure, my intestines don’t make any noises. This may sound weird and be uncomfortable, but this “method” still helps me before I take a test or encounter a quiet situation.

Even though I have found some things that help me manage my problem, I still do have my bad days, and even though I have exhausted just about every possible solution that I have found, there are still a few that keep me from losing all hope.

If anyone wants to talk, or needs any information clarified, please don't hesitate to post here or to email me. I read my email and this forum very often.


P.S. If you are in a bad situation, take in a big breath and hold it, this will help take your mind off of your stomach, and it helps, give it a shot.


-andrew

Hi guys I have the same exact problem since I started school. Most of the time my stomach would make a loud noise then I get nervous and embarress and and noises would continue and even worsen. Anyways I thought something was seriously wrong with me cuz the noises are extremely loud so I went to a doctor it was very embarrassing but she was extremely nice thank god and basically she said that it's because i've been skipping meals.
She said that if you don't have food in your stomach every 4 hours or so your stomach would digest and instead of food there is empty air bubbles . The stomach acid acting on the air bubbles causes the loud growling sounds. She also said that when ur nervous your body produces more stomach acid hence the additional noises when your embarrassed. Anyways i've been eating regularly and snacking in between my meals and so far I have not had any stomach growling so I jsut thought I should share with you guys. Try it it seriously worked for me. You don't even need to eat whole meals just have a snack or something so that you at least have food that is being digested instead of empty air. Wish you guys the best.