Hello again...

Squirmy girl, your story is so very similar to mine. Like I said in my first entry, I've been dealing with this problem for 20 YEARS!!! I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. From reading all 43 pages of entries, I can unfortunately say... I'm the winner of dealing with this crap the longest. Most of you are college students it seems. I also dealt with this disorder (if that's what it is) all through High School and College. Unfortunately, things got much worse for me once I hit "the real world" and started working for a living. That's when you don't have as many "outs" as most of us are contantly looking for. I've had some of my most uncomfortable episodes while in meetings with company executives with the room being so quiet you could hear a pin drop... not to mention my noisy gut! Each episode brought me down more and more and therefore I would be even more anxious at the next meeting. As you said Squirmy girl, I also have given up on promotions and additional college courses because it would just mean more stress and uncomfortable situations. I do notice my problem gets worse with certain foods and drinks so I try to avoid anything that I know will cause "an episode" at least one day proir to a quiet encounter. I've only ever been able to confide in a couple members of my family about this. My husband doesn't even realize the severity of what I'm going through. He just turns a blind eye everytime I go to the doctor to alter my anxiety medication. I wish there were some magical pill that we could all take that would make us "normal" human beings again. Maybe one of you college students can pursue a medical degree and specialize in digestive disorders. Then we would know there was someone on our side!!!

Hi all,

Nice to meet the newbies, im glad you found us and hope you can get some support from this site.

Squirygirl-sounds like you're going through some big changes in life and are really trying to turn things around for the better-i hope you find true happiness.

A little update from me-for the first time in about 10 years i sat in a silent situation for 2 hours yesterday evening. The evenings are really bad for me but i did it-not a single noise! I had a small meal of steamed fish and veg then sat on the loo for half and hour and hey presto-no noise! I was so so proud of myself!

HW-any update from the doctors?

Welshgirl-hope all your exams are now finished, well done for getting through them. I've been there many times so know what you're going through especially when you say the exam questions don't make you nervous it actually sitting through it and how you have to get the balance between hunger and rumbles just right.

I'm really going for this diet now, i really think its the key for us. I'm eating very little sugar, processed food and i think it'll take a LONG time but hopefully we'll eventually start seeing results!

Hi all,

I am so glad I found you guys! I tot i was the only weird one with aliens growing in my stomach. I first discovered my stomach noises when I was in University while taking a test. It was really weird becoz I recalled I had a good breakfast and wasnt hungry at all.

Subsequently like many of us here, I became anxious in quiet environment and try to shun them at much as possible. I have seen a doc who diagnosed me with lactose intolerence right away (he must have sixth sense). Docs dont understand us if not we wont have 43 pages of this.

My parents have quiet stomaches so I dont understand why I have a noisy one. Probably its becoz i took antibiotics for my acne problem during my teenage years for about 2 years. It probably killed the good bacteria resulting in stomach bacteria being unbalanced. Just my layman guess.


Alright so the measures that helped me so far;
1. Eat light and plain when you know you have meeting in quiet rooms soon.
2. For me, I keep a list of food i know will trigger the noises: so far.. the culprits are (not in any order haha) MILK!, beans (all kinds), artificial sugars (no coke light for me), deep fried food, oily food, cabbage and i am still keeping track
3. I have started taking probiotics recently (In my country I have Yakult which has probiotics to regulate stomach bateria so I have it once a day at night. Also it will compensate my shortfall in milk intake) It is about 100ml. In your countries, you can try taking probiotics in yogurt daily (dont take too much).
4. Try to drink more water, exercise at least once a week and sleep well.

Also, in time of emergency where your lion in stomach is roaring non-stop in a quiet room, try below
1. Tell everyone that you might have ate something wrong and that pls continue the test/meeting. This would make you less anxious/nervy
2. If the noise is unbearable, pls excuse yourself and go out for a walk, take in fresh air, and probably pass gas in open areas before going back
3. Always sit at near exit areas for easy getting out!
4. When going for meetings/tests, make sure take food like half to one hr before
5. Do the 7/11 breathing.. Breathe in 7 seconds and out slowly in 11 seconds... to relax yourself

I feel that if we should not be overly bothered becoz it will affect us in many aspects of life. I know its hard.. trust me.. I been thru it.. it hurts.. but well.. life is too short, so we must get over it. Yeah, some replies mentioned that if there is a college student who can study medicine and major in such problems, it will help us greatly!
Guys, if you have remedies that can help pls post here!

God bless us.

Hello..............................!

Is anybody out there.....................?

I'm lonley, ratting around here on my todd, i miss you all!

Hey pix, sorry to leave you hanging ha.

Songz, nice post, detail is always useful.

Anyway, I got my wisdom teeth out recently and could only eat certain foods, a squishy or mushy kind..

Stomach was amazing. Settled all the time. No noises.

had the best day for me in *years* yesterday

got up had no breakfast. did a 10 mile run with a friend. ate chicken for lunch with a friend. spent whole day out with group of friends. drank some soda. went back out to festival with friends. ate dinner with family.

not a noise was heard - but more than that I felt great!! It was nice to be like my old self!!

back to normal today though.. oh well!!

Still reckon diet is key... if we could only figure it out.
songz, welcome!! some good stuff there.
coheed i often wonder about that kind of food...
pix - i nominate you to be the one to go to college and sort this all out! hurry up, would you?!?!

hello all, im still here pix!
back to the docs today... and same old thing, shes convinced i just have anxiety and IBS. my anxietyy is improving with the anti depresants but my stomach is exactly the same. she seems to think that as my anxiety improves the ibs will imrpove. i think thats rubbish.
the more i read about b12 deficieny the more it sounds like me. im going to push hard for more test on my next visit ( in a month). she thinks that nothings wrong with me becasue my basic blood results were fine, but there are plenty of things that wouldnt show up on that.
doctors.... who'd have em.

Yipeeee! So lovely to hear from you all. I know we haven't got much new to add but it's still good to catch up.

Coheed-maybe the baby food diet is the answer?! Ha Ha, slightly extreme!! When people with crohn's have a flare up they're told to eat soft, mushed food that's easy to digest because it lets the bowels rest so it probably worked because yor digestive system didn't have to work very hard!

HW-glad the anti depressants are starting to work, i also think it's bull that the symptoms will go once you're less anxious but being more relaxed can only be a good thing! I get B12 injections every 6 months (part of the crohn's treatment) and they make you feel great (makes no difference to noises but lifts energy levels). Have you looked for a Vitamin B complex in the health food shops?

Irishlad-i'll get enrolled ASAP! Ironically, i have a Biology degree-fat lot of use that's been!!

Now, this is top secret information so don't tell anyone but me and my hubbie are trying for a baby! So, for me i'm just trying to eat really healthily, relax, excersise and generally look after myself. The relaxing part is SOOOOO difficult though!!x

Hi, It's me GrowlGurl!

I had to change my name and password. For some reason it was not letting me into the system.

Well, I have been doing about the same. The manuka honey didn't work out for me. I find that taking the digestion enzymes 3 times a day before/after meals are the best remedy to combat the noises. It's not a 100% cure, but it gets me through the embarrassment. I still eat whatever I want. I'm not going to deprive myself of food when I see no difference one way or the other. I might as well eat and be unhappy than starve to death and still be unhappy.

Good luck to all...I will be checking in more often now that I got the password problem solved.

Good Luck Pix! That's so exciting! Thinking twice about the babyfood diet yet? Haha. What you said was very interesting to me.. I bought a whole bunch of mostly mushy foods. I hate to have such a good week and have to go back to this again, you know? I think you have it right, Growgurl, it won't make a huge difference what you eat so eat whatever... What enzymes are you taking again?

And glad to hear the anxiety is lessening, HW. I wish I could find the same, but I think I'm slowly coming out of it some on my own. For now at least. We'll see when classes start back up... Anyway, good for you for persisting with these doctors! I couldn't do it.

Thanks coheed, i'm excited but also petrified, sadly because i keep think how the noises would effect pregnancy/looking after a baby etc but there's no way i'm letting it stop me.

Hi GrowlGurl, this site throws me off every few months aswell-it's so annoying! Your definately right to eat whatever you want, there's really no point changing your diet if you see no difference. The manuka honey hasn't worked for me either, i still have it though as i like it. For me, diets been the only thing that's vagely helped so i'm perservering.

I'm currently thinking that this problem is maily down to gas. I get rumbles and digestive noises but they don't bother me so much as they sound 'normal'. The noises that are loudest and most embarresing is when i get gas trapped in my lower rectum/colon area. Unless i break wind, i can't get rid of the noise. I think i'd fart all day long, given the opportunity!

conragtulations pix thats great news!
ywh ive taken b vitamin complex before but it doesnt do anything, from what ive read you dont really absorb that, you need a special syntheitc kind of b12, i need to look into it.
thanks coheed.... ive got no choice now, i have to persist towith the doctors i just feel so tired and ill and my stomach is afffecting my life so much that i need to find someone who can help me. im supposed to be trying to get a place with my boyfriend soon but i cant do it when i have these noises.

HW, if you're worried about moving in with him because of the noises please dont. I felt exactly the same-i was so scared he'd realise i was a freak and i was embarresed but i just went for it anyway and it was the best thing we ever did.

You'll adapt to a new lifestyle and he obviously loves you very much. It would probably do you the world of good to open up to someone and share such a private part of your life, it'll lift a little of the burden.

Do you live on your own now or with parents?

hw - i hope you move in like pix says, itl be great! it will be like a whole new world and i think a lot of the burden will lift! I had a similar situation over here - indescribable

pix - i like your thinking - some good going!! hope you have some more news soon!

yeh it is becasue of the noises, i can manage in the day but my stomach always goes crazy at night and i cant bare the thought of comming home to him everynight with my stomach going mad.
i live with fmaily now but i have my own room so i can get away and hide the noise, at night especially.
whnever my boyfriend stays i keep the tv on untill we both fall aslepp and one of us wakes up and turns it off... that way i have somehthign to help cover my noise untill im asleep. as far as i know i dnt make any nosies whilst asleep.

Everyone sing with me:

"A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we're only dreaming!!!!!!!"

I seriously could have written your exact reply HW, that's exactly what i used to do when i lived with my mum and dad. When we finally moved in together i had no idea how i'd cope as it's ok to fall asleep with the tv on a couple of nights a week but i thought that doing it every night would knacker me out.

Anyway, i did the whole tv thing for the first few months and then it dawned on me that my other half really could not give a sh*t about the noise. Some nights when the noises are really bad and im very uncomfortable, physically, i'll turf him out into the spare room so we can both get some decent sleep.

My next mission is to get back to eating at the dining room table instead of eating infront of the telly!

Anyway, it's not easy, but it's SO worth it and now i can't imagine how i coped sharing a house with my mum and dad and hubbie (when he stayed over). It's actually much much easier now it's just the 2 of us and we give eachother space when we need it.

PS, my noises make noise (?) all through the night!

pix, asmuch as id like to mopve in with him, i just cant whn im like this. i know hed support me if i told him about it but i just cant lie there next to him with mystomach going crazy eveynight.

you said you get b12 injections... do you have low b12? have you had your instrictive factor tested?

and im pretty sure i dont make noises through the night... but i am asleep... so i could be wrong! perhaps ill have to buya recorder!

Fair enough HW, you know your own limits and there's no point pushing yourself if it's going to make you miserable, you'll know when the times right.

I only know i make noise at night because it's woken me up on several occasions!

I do have low b12, never heard of instrictive factor though. What is it? I get a full blood screen every 3 months as part of the crohn's treatment. Only ever showed low b12, protein and iron stores.