Stomach cramps and bloating

Gas can stretch the bowel and produce pressure, fullness, and spasms. Symptoms may follow a large meal, fizzy drinks, constipation, or a food that your body does not tolerate. Recurrent symptoms can occur with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, lactose intolerance, food intolerance, or coeliac disease. Giardiasis and Helicobacter Pylori Infection are other possibilities, particularly when there is diarrhoea, nausea, weight loss, or upper-abdominal discomfort.

Keep a brief diary of meals, bowel movements, cramps, and bloating so patterns are easier to discuss. Eat slowly, chew well, drink water, and try gentle movement. Avoid repeatedly removing major food groups without professional advice; Nutrition Counselling can help test a suspected trigger safely. Treat constipation if present using advice from a pharmacist or clinician.

Seek urgent help for sudden severe pain, a swollen and rigid abdomen, repeated vomiting, faintness, blood in stool, or inability to pass stool or gas. Arrange an appointment when bloating is new and persistent, wakes you, is linked with weight loss, or changes your usual bowel pattern. A clinician may ask about diet, medications, travel, stool changes, and family history before choosing tests.

Ask which symptoms suggest a food intolerance rather than a condition, whether testing is needed, and how to change your diet without missing important nutrients.