Hey people,
Like others have said, it was really nice to stumble on this thread and hear from others' mouths things I have been trying to explain to doctors, friends, and family members for 2 or 3 years now. One of the biggest difficulties with seeking treatment for this problem is that very few people listen to the symptoms as the patient actually presents them. Friends and family members think you are describing normal digestive noises or indigestion, and doctors probe and prod you and end up calling it IBS. They hand you a bunch of pills and advice designed to treat either IBS or normal digestive issues and are then perplexed and frustrated when you continue to show symptoms and your quality of life continues to plummet. I spend an inordinate amount of time re-explaining my symptoms to doctors who believe they have already treated my problem but have, in fact, only treated what they have misunderstood my problem to be. So, it was with great relief and satisfaction that I read the preceding pages. So many of you exactly describe symptoms that I have been unable to adequately explain to the medical professionals.
Of particular significance to me are: the 'inner farting' - particularly in the upper, left and also lower, rear portion of my abdomen; severe anxiety in quiet rooms; avoidance of those situations to the extent of discontinuing school....someone else recently mentioned night sweats...I get those too. I sweat right through my comforter at night all the time.
My GI doctor has this condition tentatively labeled as some kind of IBS, but none of the IBS related medications help with the noises. I've had all the appropriate physical investigations (Colonoscopy, endoscopy, x rays, etc) and nothing detectable seems to be going on in that area. I've tried probiotics (culturelle and florastor), and several types of anti-spasmodics (specifically the anti-cholinergic drugs nulev and pamine). I've taken a breath test for bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine and that came back positive, although several long courses of antibiotics (flagyl, neomycin, xifaxin) didn't seem to do anything to help.
I developed what I used to consider simply a 'sensitive stomach' when I was in my early-mid twenties. It was annoying but not the end of the world. Several years later, the condition was much worse and two years or so ago, this humiliating, noisy component developed. Like many of you, it wasn't really the uncomfortable, stomach or intestinal symptoms, but rather this totally uncontrollable noise issue that really got in the way of participating in activities. Not only do I feel pretty silly about that, but it's also next to impossible to make a medical professional believe that this noise problem could be as debilitating as it really is.
I am intrigued by both the gluten intolerance (I tested negative on the celiac sprue blood test, but someone mentioned that this doesn't entirely rule out the possibility) and the candida diagnosis...both of which, I'll look into.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. I just thought I'd share the info I had, and commiserate with you all. Keep posting! The information here has been very helpful.