Different Types Of Bowel Sounds
While some bowel sounds indicate a healthy digestive system, others signify potential gastrointestinal disorders and diseases. When it comes to classifying bowel sounds, there are three distinct types:
- Normal bowel sounds
- Hypoactive bowel sounds
- Hyperactive bowel sounds
If you want to gain a deeper insight into your gut health, its essential to understand these different types of sounds and their meanings.
Limit Sugar Alcohol And Acidic Foods
Alcohol, sugary foods, and acidic foods can all trigger stomach sounds. Sugars, such as fructose and sorbitol, are especially problematic. Acidic foods, including citrus fruits and coffee, are also known to cause stomach growling.
Alcohol irritates the digestive tract and can cause stomach noises. It also increases acid production and causes inflammation in the lining of the stomach. High doses of alcohol can delay gastric emptying and cause stomach pain.
When To Worry: Signs Of Appendicitis
Most stomach-related illnesses aren’t reasons to panic, says Dr. Regan. But there are a few scenarios to keep your eyes on. Some red flags would be acute tummy pain that hurts “more than ever,” says Dr Regan. If this is accompanied by fever, nausea, or vomiting, you should seek immediate medical attention.
Other signs that might mean a doctor visit, according to Dr. Regan, include unexplained weight loss in your child, behavioral changes , a burning sensation in the throat or stomach, blood in stool, or intermittent fevers.
It can be helpful to know the signs of appendicitis , a condition that requires emergency medical care. Signs of appendicitis include:
- Intense pain near the belly button or low right area of the stomach
Also Check: Can Leaky Gut Cause Abdominal Pain
Gurgling Stomach: Causes And Home Remedies
Jenny Hills, Nutritionist and Medical Writer Health
A gurgling stomach can cause growling and burbling noises from your abdomen at any time of day. These stomach noises can be a source of embarrassment to you and cause amusement for others. Even though gurgling stomach noises are usually associated with hunger, there are many other reasons for rumblings in your tummy. Frequent and recurring gurgling stomach noises can be caused by food intolerances, eating too much sugar, a digestive disorder, or stress.
The medical name for a gurgling or growling stomach is borborygmi. The noises come from the intestinal muscles contracting to move contents of your gastrointestinal tract along. As fluid and gas move through the intestines it causes noises like your stomach is gurgling, rumbling, or growling. Along with the stomach gurgling, you may also experience bloating, pain, discomfort, or excessive gas.
There are many home remedies that can help to relieve the discomfort caused by a growling stomach. Home remedies that include ginger and chamomile tea, can help to improve your digestion and reduce the gurgling sounds. Other helpful ways to treat a stomach that gurgles is to take probiotics and eat slower.
This article examines the most common reasons why you could have a gurgling stomach and what you can do to stop stomach rumbling.
Common Symptoms Of Irritable Bowel Syndrome
IBS symptoms vary from person to person and can include:
- Abdominal cramps often relieved by emptying the bowels
- Change in bowel habit either diarrhoea or constipation or an alternating pattern
- Bloating and swollen abdomen
- An urgent need to go to the toilet
- A feeling of incomplete bowel evacuation
- Gurgling stomach noises
- Passing mucus from your back passage
People with IBS can also experience a variety of other unexplained symptoms including tiredness, backache, bladder frequency, indigestion, headaches, depression and anxiety.
The below webinar contains an overview of what to do once you have been diagnosed, and youll find more information on this topic below.
Kindly reproduced with permission from Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.
You May Like: Does Spinach Make You Bloated
How Is Indigestion Treated
You should not have foods or medicines that cause indigestion. It is also helpful to avoid stressful situations. Your symptoms may feel better if you:
- Take medicines that weaken or neutralize stomach acid
Your healthcare provider may suggest you take medicines that:
- Help your stomach move food more quickly into your small intestine
- Kill bacteria if tests show you have the H. pylori bacteria in your stomach
- Help calm the gut’s nervous system
What Causes Stomach Noises
The noises your stomach makes, called borborygmi, are normal intestinal sounds that occur during the digestive process.
The smooth muscles that line the gut contract and squeeze food and gas through 30 feet of small intestine and large intestine. This process, called peristalsis, generates stomach sounds, Dr. Alsheik says. Even when you cant easily hear these noises, your doctor can hear this digestive activity with a stethoscope.
Dr. Alsheik educates patients about factors that may increase stomach noises and cause mild discomfort during digestion. These causes include:
Also Check: How To Stop Stomach Bloating
How To Get To The Right Diagnosis For Stomach Gurgling
When you go to your doctor with gastrointestinal symptoms, like borborygmi, Dr. Zook says its important they take a look at your health history. She says to prepare to answer a few questions about your symptoms:
- How long have your symptoms been present?
- Do you experience them every day or just here and there?
- Do they seem to get triggered by anything in particular?
- Do you notice the stomach gurgling at a certain time of day?
- Have there been changes in your stool consistency, odor, or color?
- How often do you have bowel movements?
- Is there blood in your stool or on your toilet paper? Or is your stool black or tarry?
- Do you experience pain or cramping?
- Have you been exposed to anyone whos been ill recently?
- Have you eaten any food thats tasted bad, spoiled, or just not quite right?
- Have you traveled out of the country prior to your symptoms starting?
- Do you have pets or work with animals?
- Have you done anything that makes your symptoms worse or better?
What Are The Symptoms Of Indigestion
Each persons symptoms may vary. Symptoms may include:
- Feeling full too soon while eating
- Feeling pain, burning, and discomfort in your upper belly or abdomen
- Feeling bloated
- Burping and loud stomach gurgling
- Having an upset stomach or vomiting
- Having diarrhea
The symptoms of indigestion may look like other health problems. Always see your healthcare provider to be sure.
Also Check: Can You Die From Leaky Gut
Where Is The Bowel Located
The bowel, also known as the gastrointestinal tract , is a critical part of our digestive system as its primary role is to process nutrients and minerals from consumed foods before expelling the waste products. Our bowels are long and hollow tubes that are split into two sections, these being the:
- Small intestine: Located underneath our stomach in the lower abdomen, its main role is to digest food by absorbing minerals and nutrients.
- Large intestine: Located around our small intestine and consists of the colon and rectum. The main role of the large bowel is to turn leftover waste products into stool, before expelling it from the rectum.
It Begins With Your Mouth
And it often has to do more with the digestion of food we already ate, than it does with our need for a new snack.
The easiest way to think of the digestive system is that it begins with your mouth. Each bite of food we take gets churned up in the stomach, which then allows that food to travel to your small intestine.
Once your lunch reaches the small intestine, enzymes are released so the body can absorb all the nutrients from your lunch. This process relies on peristalsis, which is nothing more than a series of muscular contractions.
What youre hearing during digestion is the sounds of air and fluid sloshing around, kind of the like the wash cycle of your washing machine, Raymond says. The technical name for that noise is borborygmi, which is great thing to know if youre playing Words with Friends.
Recommended Reading: Is Apple Cider Vinegar A Prebiotic Or A Probiotic
What Does It Mean When My Stomach Growls But Im Not Hungry
You may have eaten too quickly or at an abnormal time if your stomach growls even when youre not hungry. Non-hungry stomach growling can also be a result of anxiety or stress.
If you experience intestinal noises at the same time as other symptoms like bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or constipation, it is more likely the rumbling sounds are a result of IBS, food allergies, intestinal blockage, or intestinal infection.
Is Stomach Rumbling Common
Borborygmi can occur at any time and are the sounds of peristalsis – a series of wave-like muscle contractions that mix food in the stomach with liquids and digestive juices and move food along through your intestines. During this process, air and gases produced by digestion, also get squeezed and make noises.
A rumbling or growling stomach is a normal part of the digestion process and the body’s way of communicating hunger. Because there is nothing in the stomach to muffle or silence these rumbles, they are often noticeable.
Rumbling noises of an empty stomach will last 10-20 minutes out of every hour, until you fill your stomach up again. It is common both before eating – when you likely feel most hungry – and hours after your last meal.
Why does your stomach rumble when you aren’t hungry?
Recommended Reading: Is Frequent Heartburn A Sign Of Pregnancy
Causes Of Irritable Bowel Syndrome
There is no definitive cause of IBS but the bowel is often more sensitive and reactive to changes in food and mood. Factors that seem to make the gut more sensitive include troubling life events or situations and a bout of gastroenteritis. The sensitivity may be mediated by a chemical transmitter called serotonin.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome affects about 1 in 5 of the UK population, and most of these are Women Dr Dawn Harper, GP
How To Stop Stomach Gurgling
Typical stomach gurgling that accompanies hunger or digestion is natural and doesnt require any type of special treatment. If the sounds are accompanied by bloating, or excess gas, then consider limiting your intake of foods that are known to produce more gas, such as:
A simple remedy for a variety of common digestive ailments is to drink ginger, mint or chamomile tea. Make sure that they are organic herbs, and that the brand you use does not use bleached tea bags. You can also use the loose herbs in a strainer to avoid potential chemicals in tea bags. Drink a few cups of either of these teas throughout the day, and consider eating lighter, simpler meals to give your digestive system a rest.
Some people recommend going on the BRAT diet if you experience digestive issues. BRAT is an acronym for Bananas, Rice, Apples and Toast. This diet was once a staple of many pediatricians’ recommendations for children with an upset stomach. The idea behind this diet is that it gives the gut a chance to rest and reduces the amount of stool produced. It is also high in dietary fiber which may aid the digestive system.
You May Like: What Is The Symptoms Of Ibs Syndrome
Hunger Causes Gurgling Stomach
Hunger is one of the most common reasons for a gurgling stomach. When you havent eaten for a few hours, your gut sends signals to your brain to get your digestive system working. But, why would your stomach emit noises if it is empty?
The journal Frontiers in Pharmacology explains that the connection between your brain and gut can cause the stomach and small intestines to become more active when they are empty. This is described as the Migrating Motor Complex. The noisy contractions from your tummy could be the stomach clearing out accumulated food in the intestines to get ready for the next meal.
Gastroenterologist, Dr. Laurence Bailen, explains that the noises usually stop when you put some food in your system. This is because your digestive muscles start breaking down the food to digest it properly. Dr. Bailen recommends eating food slowly and not talking at the same time to prevent stomach gurgling during digestion.3
Options For The Treatment Of Pms:
- Trial of lifestyle changes such as regular exercise.
- Stress reduction techniques such as progressive relaxation, breathing exercises, or hypnotherapy.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy .
- Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors drugs.
- Hormonal treatments such as combined estrogen-progesterone oral contraceptives if the women need contraception.
You May Like: Which Probiotics Help With Constipation
How To Reduce Stomach Noises
Dr. Alsheik suggests these steps to quiet stomach rumblings and relieve mild indigestion:
- Change your diet: Avoid or reduce portions of foods that cause excessive stomach noises or discomfort.
- Natural remedies: Consider adding ginger chews, peppermint-flavored foods or cinnamon to your diet to help calm digestive noises.
- Add probiotics: To improve the number of favorable bacteria in your gut, you can try an over-the-counter probiotic. Or you can eat foods rich in probiotics, such as yogurt, buttermilk, kefir, kimchi and kombucha.
- Manage stress: Meditation and breathing exercises are some of the ways you can reduce stress before it escalates and causes more serious digestive problems.
Start Here: What’s Your Biggest Gut Problem
Your symptoms: Diarrhea and blood in your poop.
You could have an inflammatory bowel disease, such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that causes ulceration and inflammation of the large intestine. You might have diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and pain, but the classic symptom is blood in the stool. “If it’s been going on for months and there’s a lot of bleedingyou’ll see blood mixed with the stool, rather than streaksit’s most likely colitis,” says gastroenterologist Lisa Ganjhu, DO, clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center. An abnormal immune system response may be involved heredity can also play a role. Mild cases may benefit from lifestyle changes, such as avoiding foods that seem to cause flare-ups and reducing stress. Research suggests that a low FODMAP diet may help some IBD patients. Most cases require prescription drugs, such as anti-inflammatories, steroids or immune suppressors. In some cases, surgery may be needed.
Your symptoms: Diarrhea , along with abdominal pain.
Your symptoms: Diarrhea , and occasional bloat. Symptoms are worse after you eat dairy.
You likely have lactose intolerance, an inability to digest the milk sugars in cow’s milk. Besides diarrhea, you may experience bloating or notice gurgling or other stomach noises after having pizza, a latte or other dairy. You’ll need to cut out dairy or take lactase enzyme pills to ease its digestion.
Recommended Reading: How To Make Heartburn Go Away Without Tums
Abdominal Sounds And Medical Emergencies
If you have signs of a medical emergency, such as bleeding, bowel damage, or severe obstruction, youll need to be admitted to the hospital for treatment.
For some people, receiving fluids by vein and allowing the intestinal system to rest will be enough to treat the problem. Other people may need surgery.
For example, if you have a serious infection or injury to your intestines or if the intestines are found to be completely blocked, you may need surgery to correct the problem and treat any damage.
What Can I Do To Prevent Indigestion
There are many things you can do to try to prevent indigestion.
Making changes in your diet and eating habits can help. These include:
- Eating several small, low-fat meals each day instead of 3 large meals
- Eating slowly and giving yourself enough time for meals
- Limiting spicy, fatty, greasy, or high-fiber foods
- Chewing your food well
- Limiting or not having any coffee, soda, or alcohol
Avoid medicines that hurt your stomach. These include aspirin and over-the-counter pain and fever medicines . If you do take them, do so after you eat.
Other lifestyle changes that may keep indigestion from happening include:
- Quitting smoking
- Finding ways to lower your emotional and physical stress, such as meditation or yoga
- Exercising before a meal or waiting at least 1 hour after eating
You May Like: When Does Bloating Stop During Pregnancy
How To Stop Stomach Growling
There are some ways to stop stomach growling, which includes:
1) Drink Some Water.
When the stomach is growling, you can drink some water. Drinking water helps in two ways. One by improving digestion, and it also fills the stomach, which later soothes the hunger reaction and controls the stomach growling. And drinking enough water can make it easier for the stomach to break down food better and prevent the formation of gas.
To prevent stomach growling, water should be sipped slowly throughout the day rather than drinking large amounts of water at a time. Drinking large quantities of water at a time can lead to gurgling sounds from the stomach.
2) Eat Something.
If the stomach is empty, then the stomach may signal that it is time to eat again. Having food in the stomach can lower the growling noises. One solution for chronic stomach growling is eating small amounts of foods frequently rather than eating large amounts. This helps to improve digestion and metabolism and prevents stomach growling.
3) Chew Slowly.
Digestion begins in the mouth, so by chewing slowly, the food will get digested well. As stomach growling can also be due to improper digestion, chewing slowly can prevent this stomach growling. Chewing properly can also reduce the amount of air that is swallowed, preventing gas production and digestive problems.
4) Try to Avoid Gas Producing Foods.
5) Try to Avoid or Reduce Acidic Foods.
6) Reduce Sugar Intake.
7) Do Not Overeat.
Growling Belly Why Your Stomach Rumbles And How To Stop It
In social situations, theres nothing worse than your stomach doing the talking for you.
The grunting, growling, egregious sounds emanating from the human belly are letting you and sometimes everyone around you know that its time for you to eat.
But maybe you really dont need a sandwich or a slice. Thats because a gurgling belly doesnt always mean its time for lunch.
The noise you, and potentially everyone else is hearing, is perfectly normal, but it isnt always related to the need for food, or even your stomach, says gastroenterologist Dr. Patricia Raymond, Assistant Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
That so-called stomach growl we attribute solely to our bellies also comes from our intestines, specifically the some 20 feet of small intestine.
RELATED: How serious is my headache?
You May Like: Does Ibs Get Worse Over Time