What’s this alien doing inside me?

I’m so fed up. I feel like I have something living inside me!!

People say to me that they feel as though they have something ‘living’ inside their stomach or intestines. This  ‘living thing’ is forever churning, making strange noises, expanding and contracting the abdomen, and generally creating lots of gas, discomfort and worry. They wake up in the morning with a nice flat tummy, but by lunch-time, they’re having to loosen their belt, or undo a button on their trousers/skirt due to bloating.

Of course it’s not an alien, although I can understand that many people feel compelled to use that analogy, particularly if they’ve seen the Alien films, and that shot, in the first Alien film, of John Hurt’s abdomen! If you haven’t seen it, watch it on YouTube. It’s pretty stomach churning.

If you’re getting lots of digestive upsets in the lower abdomen (intestines) then it’s probably caused by:

• Eating too much/of the wrong foods/too fast/and too late
• A problem with unsufficient amounts of acid and digestive enzymes, so food/nutrients  not properly digested, absorbed,  assimilated and wastes eliminated. This leads to excessive gases being produced and irritation, causing swelling of the intestines
• An imbalance with the gut flora, perhaps following a course of antibiotics, steroids, antacid meds etc
• Excessive fermentation and putrefaction in the intestines again causing swelling and inflammation
• Long-term prescription medication interfering with normal processes of digestion
• Stress!!  When we’re stressed, digestion gets ‘switched off’ so we shouldn’t eat when stressed, anxious or angry

Try eating smaller meals, slowly and chewing properly.  If you feel very gassy and bloated, put yourself on a course of a multi-strain probiotic, that contains the lactobacilli and bifidi strains to help re-colonise the small and large intestine.  Take one capsule daily with food. I would recommend Ecodophilus by BioNutri. Try this for a month.

For help and advice, contact a Nutritionist or a Naturopathic Colonic Hydrotherapist, who will be able to get to the crux of the problem, and give you a simple protocol that you can follow, to eradicate the symptoms.

Linda Booth

Nottingham Health & Wellbeing Clinic