How can I make my tummy more comfortable after eating?

[Gloriousroundbelly]

Omg my belly aches after eating. It becomes hard & round & really uncomfortable. I eat home-cooked healthy food. Tonights was shepherds pie. Made with beef mince, onion, mini carrots, peas & sweetcorn & a thin layer of potato mashed on the top. I feel like an alien has clamped itself onto my tum, it's massively uncomfortable. I eat sensible portions. This happens now after all sorts of different meals. I'm just coming through menopause if that makes any difference & 2 stone overweight. I want to lose weight but this tummy reaction after most meals is not helping. Today's lunch was a quarter piece of quiche with salad.

Have you tried an elimination diet? It could be a cumulative effect from dairy or gluten, those are most common but it could be anything.

I don't think it's either dairy or gluten since neither of those go into shepherds pie.

Hi i think you should go to docs. Bloating after eating can be a symtpom of a few things x

I cured mine by taking pre and probiotics. I take a probiotic capsule every day and I add inulin to my coffee in the morning. Between them they seem to have done the trick for me

Peppermint capsules?
The GP can prescribe them.

Gp would be sensible to rule out anything that needs treating. I found a low fodmap diet really helped with these symptoms. It was difficult to start with but I feel so much better it is worth it.

Isn’t there dairy in the mash of shepherds pie? It could also be the onions? Either way it’s not normal and worth seeing a GP.

Did you not put butter or milk in the mash?

I do agree with this. You do need to make sure that there isn't anything going on with your ovaries or bowel/guts. While you're eliminating that, you could try eliminating foods that are often known to become troublesome in menopausal years.

The low FODMAP diet (Monash University) can be tough but is definitely worth it.

I could eat your cottage pie, for example, but would need to leave out the onions, and only eat a small portion at a time.

In terms of OTC medicine, anything with simeticone in might help. And clear any constipation with something like Movicol. Good luck. It's awful, I know.

I'm currently sitting here with tummy ache after shepherds pie too! I have IBS and other similar problems it really gets me down.
I think hormones can definitely play a role. Have a look at the Fodmap diet, I know onions can be a problem for a lot of people. A food diary is also a good idea.
Peppermint tea can help with bloating. Might be worth getting checked out if it's new symptoms that don't improve though.

I thought shepherds pie was lamb and cottage pie was beef...?

Yes but it’s possible it’s the previous meal causing your symptoms. The meal you’ve just eaten is in your stomach whereas the the previous meal is travelling through your intestines. So it could be gluten. This is how it happens for me.

Is it the size of the meal that's the problem?

I drink a glass of warm water now before I eat, helps massively. I also found out I was intolerant to dairy and meat has a really bad effect on me, though the latter makes me vomit.

Mince is the worst though.

I had this for a while then started to develop stomach pains. Went to GP and had tests/endoscopy and colonoscopy and they found I had diverticuloses. When it 'flares' it becomes diverticulitis. I've started on a low carb diet to lose weight and it's helping with the bloating and pains.

I love onions but they're definitely one of the foods that don't agree with me now. If I have them, I have to cook them for a very long time to be well tolerated.

Peppermint tea, just after you’ve finished eating

This was my first thought too 🙈

Do you not put milk or butter in your mash?

My mash is raw I put nothing in it. I'll have a look at FODMAP as I've not heard of that before. I think it might be the veg I'm reacting to but we need veg.

You don't need all veg. Lots of people react badly to onion, did you put garlic in?

I have had IBS on and off for years. I have figured out one of my triggers is coffee. Not instant but the nice stuff. So an Americano will trigger a painful stomach.

OP, please go to your GP.
Several PPs have diplomatically tried to hint why, but I think as a retired doctor I need to spell it out.
Bloating and pain after meals can be a symptom of ovarian cancer or bowel cancer.
Yes, it can also be less serious conditions- anything from food intolerance to irritable bowel syndrome to diverticulitis to indigestion, but it is important to get checked out to exclude the nasty possibilities first.

For me that would be the peas and sweetcorn setting me off - see also beans (can cope with a few green beans, the thinner the better as it's the actual bean bit that's the issue, and some very thin flat sugar snap peas) and lentils and soy.

Yes you need vegetables but you can work out which ones do and don't agree with you. And sometimes you can decide it's worth it - hoisin sauce disagrees with me but I love crispy duck so sometimes I eat it anyway.

Low FODMAP is a pain in the arse so I would first consider keeping a really detailed food Inc all ingredients and symptom diary and then sitting down with a different lists (I have this one:The Complete Low-FODMAP Diet Written by Dr. Sue Shepherd, 2014 Edition, it has a load of lists in the front and one day I just realised "oh it's this particular one" - everything else is broadly fine). You might still have to do the full elimination diet but that was a lot less irritating.

For context my IBS was bad enough that I used to take 20+ pills a day and sit crying with pain while I worked. Now combined eliminating those things with a lower stress lifestyle I'm basically unmedicated and fine. No matter how relaxed I am eating beans etc makes me really ill.

I love onions, but over the last few years they hate me. You need an elimination diet to identify the triggers.

Intresting quite a few are us are saying onions.

For me it happened so quickly - onion, garlic, leeks. Make me really unwell for days. And the bloody powder is in everything.