Bowel sounds - causes and therapy

Bowel sounds are uncomfortable. When the intestine bubbles, gurgles or moans, then those present also hear it - sometimes from several meters away. But how do these sounds come about??

contents

• What happens in the intestine?
• bloating
• Consciously eat
• The intestinal gases
• intolerance
• hyperinflation
• Serious complaints
• irritable bowel
• What can you do?
• therapy
• prevention

What happens in the intestine?

The gastrointestinal tract looks like a flabby bagpipe, to the gastric sac, the loops of the large and small intestine join. The intestinal walls are made up of muscles, which slacken and contract, transporting the food into the rectum. Now, when gas and fluid are in the gut, it can stretch and cause noise together.

Bowel sounds accompanied by abdominal cramps can be very uncomfortable. Image: Focus Pocus LTD - fotolia

To the air we swallow comes digestive gases, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. If liquid food and these gases come together, then it will chuckle. Gas bubbles drive thereby driven by liquid through the intestine. The air in the stomach pushes through the narrowing of the intestinal walls into the small intestine, and there is the porridge. That sounds like a bubbling.

bloating

We are reluctant to talk about flatulence, and those who let them off in society are considered uncivilized. Everybody knows them, and they are not necessarily unhealthy. Because many ailing foods are on the hit list of a conscious diet. The result is often a so-called belly swelling.

An old farmer's rule has even been that one day of flatulence per week is evidence of good health. These include mainly cabbage, legumes such as beans, onions, garlic and leeks. But also blue cheese, mountain cheese, Camenbert, fatty meat and fatty sausages, goose, chicken skin, soups with lots of animal fat stimulate the concert in the gut. Very fresh bread and other baked goods cause rumors as well as berry fruits, figs and raw plums. The yeast ensures that beer drinkers make themselves felt by unintentional "ventriloquism".

When the intestines make noises from such foods, that is no cause for concern. Such bloating can also be easily remedied: Coriander, cumin and ginger reduce the bubbling of the air in the intestine. Cumin is also a good spice for cabbage. Ginger is even considered superfood and goes well with chicken soups, but less so with fat-rich cheese or fatty pork. But we can well drink a tea with fresh ginger.

Consciously eat

However, we do not cause blubbering in the gut not only by what we eat, but also by the way we eat it.

For many, eating is no longer a fixed ritual today, but they swallow it down between appointments, swallow it down while chatting on their smartphone or chewing on it because they are under stress.

But if we eat too hastily, whether from lack of time, stress or the usual fast food consumption, breathing and speaking at the same time, then we swallow more air than when we focus on the food. It follows a feeling of fullness in the stomach and sometimes rumbles the intestine.

Sweeteners such as lactose, sorbitol and fructose also puff. They are mainly contained in "light" products.

The intestinal gases

Most intestinal gases are produced by digestion, and carbon dioxide forms when gastric and fatty acids neutralize each other. When we swallow sugar, it is fermented in the large intestine to fatty acids.

Only part of the carbon dioxide gets into the lungs and we exhale. What's left must go through the bowel. However, this CO² mixes with hydrogen, nitrogen, ammonia and sulfur. Carbon dioxide itself does not smell, ammonia and sulfur all the more. The more of these digestive gases are contained in the mixture, the stronger are the odors that escape the intestine.

intolerance

Occasional flatulence is therefore no cause for concern. Chronic bowel sounds, a so-called bloating and constant feeling of fullness, however, may be due to the fact that those affected can not tolerate certain foods.

These include, in particular, fructose intolerance and lactose intolerance. If you suffer from it, you should not consume fructose in the first case and no dairy products in the second. These are not diseases yet.

Only when diarrhea and abdominal pain come to it, the doctor is in demand.

hyperinflation

Spasms in the intestine lead to a so-called hyperinflation. The intestine then laces at its curves from the air. This is followed by violent bowel sounds and abdominal pain.

In the worst case, the intestine is trapped by a tumor. Also surgical scars. Inflammation of the intestines or benign growths causes hyperinflation. Before they think about it, however, those affected should consider whether they held back the air.

This happens, for example, in case of heavy stress or great anxiety. If we "hold our breath" so as not to betray ourselves by loud breathing or block (heavy) breathing, so as not to betray that we are aroused, and then the gut gets loud, we probably have no physical illnesses.

Air accumulation in the digestive tract and corresponding bowel sounds can also be due to harmless causes. (Image: ALDECAstudio / fotolia.com)

Incidentally, this also explains why we "grumble on the stomach" or "gut rumble" when we just do not want to attract attention - as an audience during a lecture or a job interview: we hold our breath so as not to bother with loud breathing "And that leads to intestinal noises.

Serious complaints

If it hummocks in the upper abdomen under the diaphragm, this can be due to a biliary colic, rumbling pain on the left side may occur and may even signal a heart attack.

But it does not have to be this: Overinflation is often accompanied by symptoms that could indicate a heart attack but are not. These include breathlessness, dizziness and sweats. This form of hyperinflation is known as Roemheld Syndrome.

It becomes dangerous if the hyperinflation is due to intestinal obstruction or paralysis of the intestine. Both are easily confused with constipation.

irritable bowel

In an irritable bowel, the pain threshold in the intestinal wall is low. The doctor recognizes this by stretching the rectum with a balloon. Irritable bowel syndrome then quickly hurts the intestines.

Those affected suffer from severe gas formation that causes bloating and pain.

You should keep a diary of which foods the symptoms occur. Cause of an irritable bowel may be intolerances to food; If there is still a low pain threshold in the intestine, let's talk about an irritable bowel.

For example, the small intestine normally processes fructose effectively. However, if he does not produce the necessary substances, the fructose enters the large intestine, where it decomposes bacteria that form gases and these gases lead to bloating.

But even diarrhea, which is associated with infections such as traveler's diarrhea, can cause irritable bowel syndrome.

Irritable bowel appears as a change between diarrhea and constipation, chronic abdominal pain and hyperinflation, which decrease after defecation.

Irritable bowel is not dangerous, but unpleasant. Medicines help against the flatulence, fluid against the constipation. In addition, there are preparations that relieve the intestine.

What can you do?

If you suffer from recurrent and strong intestinal noises, you should describe them to the doctor. Write down what and how much they eat, how long your stomach is rumbling, and especially if they have other symptoms.

Abdominal pain, dizziness, constipation and diarrhea, help the doctor as well in the diagnosis as psychological triggers, whether time trouble or stress.

The doctor scans the abdomen and listens to the intestine with a stethoscope - and all parts of the abdominal wall.

therapy

Bowel sounds caused by food usually end when the food is digested.

But if the cause is a gastrointestinal disease, then the stomach can not process the food so that it reaches the pre-digested intestines. Transporting the food through the intestines brings it into contact with the intestinal gases, and this causes the unpleasant sounds.

Dietary fiber and lots of exercise relieves the discomfort and prevents. Picture: photo 5000 fotolia

Gastrointestinal diseases are associated with diarrhea, which means fluid loss. Patients should therefore drink a lot or eat soups.

prevention

Gastrointestinal diseases can be avoided by washing our hands regularly, as most viruses and bacteria enter the body through the mouth.

We should also wash fruit and vegetables thoroughly, so as to prevent infection by attached pathogens.

Otherwise, a balanced diet helps. If we take too little fiber, the protein gets into the colon, and the bacteria there decompose the food, which usually happens in the small intestine, causing bloating. We avoid this by supplying the body with sufficient fiber. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)
Specialist supervision: Barbara Schindewolf-Lensch (doctor)