BALLOONING 21-06-11
When I was young, so many years ago, I used to blow up balloons and let the air flow freely out to sound like a long, wet fart. I played this amusing game with my children and now with my grand children.
Nowadays I no longer need to buy rubber balloons as my stoma has the same effect and it’s still a great laugh for the kids.
My ballooning can sometimes be really painful as the gas builds up and doesn’t seem to want to come out until the pressure is such that huge amounts come out all at once. However, when it does decide to make an entrance (or to be more precise - exit) it does so with very long, loud farting fanfares.
When the children are present it’s easy to make a game of it and all have a good laugh. It’s not quite so easy to make light of it when in adult company as adults are not generally so open minded as children.
I would like to know if anyone has found a way of ‘silencing’ the output so that I could have a little more control as to when, where and how I can let out the gas from my balloon without embarrassing those poor sensitive ‘others’ who don’t seem to understand the difficulties.
Perhaps a little background might be appropriate for those who know of this problem and potential solutions.
I have read the diet sheets and, fortunately for me, I already follow almost all of the diet recommendations simply because I don’t like most of the things that would give me gas.
Whilst I have always had the problem to some extent, my 'excessive' gas problems began very recently when I had problems swallowing and they diagnosed it as a fault in my oesophagus. I was duly prescribed Domperidone which relaxes the muscles in the oesophagus and gets the contractions working both there and down the intestinal tract to help push the food down in the manner which it should travel. This works very well for the problems of the oesophagus but it has an unpredicted and unusual side-effect.
I also suffer from sleep apnoea and have to use a CPAP (Continuous Positive Air Pressure) machine at night times.
The very first morning after taking the Domperidone I was blown up like a balloon. My logic made me think that the relaxation of the throat and oesophagus along with making the mechanism work to push down food, made it probable that the air pressure from the CPAP machine was enough to push the air down the ‘wrong-way’ into the stomach. This problem was therefore nothing to do with actual food or drink but to do with swallowing air whilst I was asleep. I cannot do without the CPAP machine as this is a literal life-saver, so I need to address the problems of reducing the amount swallowed and find a solution to expelling the excess wind. The physical pain is another matter but I’m fortunately quite adept at coping with this aspect. ( ref: my poem on the ‘lump’)
I have reduced the air swallowing by having earlier meals and not having any Domperidone after 5pm. However, this has not resolved the problem entirely so I’m looking to find a way of getting the gas to escape regularly rather than having a build up followed by a noisy, prolonged eruption.
I would be grateful for any ideas
Best wishes
Bill
THE LUMP THAT’S KILLING ME
I wish, I wish I could be free.
From this lump that grows in me.
It's in me growing day and night.
At times it saps my will to fight.
Please, please lump just go away.
And let me have a peaceful day.
Sometimes I think I'll go insane.
Because I cannot hide the pain.
Come tomorrow I just know.
My painful lump will grow and grow.
Each day I feel within my heart.
That soon I'll die for another fart.
Although I'm then released from pain.
I know that lump will grow again.
I also know what all this means.
I'll need to give up eating beans.
Bill Withers 2005
When I was young, so many years ago, I used to blow up balloons and let the air flow freely out to sound like a long, wet fart. I played this amusing game with my children and now with my grand children.
Nowadays I no longer need to buy rubber balloons as my stoma has the same effect and it’s still a great laugh for the kids.
My ballooning can sometimes be really painful as the gas builds up and doesn’t seem to want to come out until the pressure is such that huge amounts come out all at once. However, when it does decide to make an entrance (or to be more precise - exit) it does so with very long, loud farting fanfares.
When the children are present it’s easy to make a game of it and all have a good laugh. It’s not quite so easy to make light of it when in adult company as adults are not generally so open minded as children.
I would like to know if anyone has found a way of ‘silencing’ the output so that I could have a little more control as to when, where and how I can let out the gas from my balloon without embarrassing those poor sensitive ‘others’ who don’t seem to understand the difficulties.
Perhaps a little background might be appropriate for those who know of this problem and potential solutions.
I have read the diet sheets and, fortunately for me, I already follow almost all of the diet recommendations simply because I don’t like most of the things that would give me gas.
Whilst I have always had the problem to some extent, my 'excessive' gas problems began very recently when I had problems swallowing and they diagnosed it as a fault in my oesophagus. I was duly prescribed Domperidone which relaxes the muscles in the oesophagus and gets the contractions working both there and down the intestinal tract to help push the food down in the manner which it should travel. This works very well for the problems of the oesophagus but it has an unpredicted and unusual side-effect.
I also suffer from sleep apnoea and have to use a CPAP (Continuous Positive Air Pressure) machine at night times.
The very first morning after taking the Domperidone I was blown up like a balloon. My logic made me think that the relaxation of the throat and oesophagus along with making the mechanism work to push down food, made it probable that the air pressure from the CPAP machine was enough to push the air down the ‘wrong-way’ into the stomach. This problem was therefore nothing to do with actual food or drink but to do with swallowing air whilst I was asleep. I cannot do without the CPAP machine as this is a literal life-saver, so I need to address the problems of reducing the amount swallowed and find a solution to expelling the excess wind. The physical pain is another matter but I’m fortunately quite adept at coping with this aspect. ( ref: my poem on the ‘lump’)
I have reduced the air swallowing by having earlier meals and not having any Domperidone after 5pm. However, this has not resolved the problem entirely so I’m looking to find a way of getting the gas to escape regularly rather than having a build up followed by a noisy, prolonged eruption.
I would be grateful for any ideas
Best wishes
Bill
THE LUMP THAT’S KILLING ME
I wish, I wish I could be free.
From this lump that grows in me.
It's in me growing day and night.
At times it saps my will to fight.
Please, please lump just go away.
And let me have a peaceful day.
Sometimes I think I'll go insane.
Because I cannot hide the pain.
Come tomorrow I just know.
My painful lump will grow and grow.
Each day I feel within my heart.
That soon I'll die for another fart.
Although I'm then released from pain.
I know that lump will grow again.
I also know what all this means.
I'll need to give up eating beans.
Bill Withers 2005
