So if you haven’t figured it out already, Cystic Fibrosis is not a pretty disease. If it is an icky bodily function, CF makes it worse. I was recently asked by a CF friend about CF gas. We cystics have it, a lot of it, and it surely does not smell like roses. On my way home from work it occurred to me a reason for CF’s ’specially potent gas (don’t ask why it occurred to me on my way home, you don’t want to know). Now, I have not put much thought into this theory, so it is up for your debate. I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.
For the past several months I have had a slight obsession with the show You Are What You Eat on the BBC. On one episode the host, Gillian, describes how intestinal gas is formed in the average digestive system. What she said (in my confusing words) is that if you eat your slow digesting proteins before your fast digesting carbs, the proteins act kind of like a stopper and the carbs sit, digested, rotting, fermenting, and producing gas. This is how “normal” gas, (dare I say FART! hehe!), is made. I have no idea if her theory is valid, but it kind of makes sense to me.
Now with CF, specifically in pancreatic insufficient folks like yours truly, the digestive tract is a bit slow thanks to the lack of water between the poo and the walls of the intestines (epithelial cells, CFTR malfunction, I’ll spare you the details for another post), this could cause a longer digestive process causing the fermenting fast acting foods to ferment further and make even more rotten stinky gas. (oh so pretty, I feel pretty!).
No idea if I am on the right track here or not.
So I will share some things that I have changed recently in my life that has helped me with my gas issues… (except for when I cheat, then all bets are off):
- Drinking lots of water (I am never really good at that and would much rather drink coffee)
- Not eating red meat (no idea how this is related, but there seems to be a connection for me and my body and gas)
- Eating more fruits and veggies
- Taking Miralax when I am starting to feel a bit backed up and bloated.
Anyone else want to take a stab at the causes of gas? Do you have some home remidies to prevent gas? Go ahead, it is a funny topic so be as silly as you want!
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