Matters relating to gas problems and low iron with my digestive tract

I have had low iron for many years. That was a major reason for gastro-and colon-scopes that I have had. But I am also concerned about a gas or reflux problem where I seem to generate a great deal of gas in my stomach that I need to release or else it seems to cause my thoracic and abdominal muscles to ache a lot.

I do not know if the low iron and gas are related, so I shall start describing the gas and then the low iron.

I had scopes in October 2019 to look for a possible explanation for the low iron, but also with consideration for the gas/reflux problem. It does not seem to be typical acid reflux although I do occasionally have reflux where I taste bile or some food pushes up into my oesophagus or on rare occasions up into my mouth.

I have learned that I need to release a lot of gas through belching, or else my muscles ache, and I interpret that to be gas entering my blood and muscles. I will have really strong burps several times during the day, usually about five or ten in short succession, and five to ten or more times per day. I have tried Gaviscon, but that does not seem to help very much. Gaviscon, Rennie and Eno Fruit Salt do not sort out the problem although they might relieve it a bit. My physician prescribed Choleste, but that seemed to aggravate the problem because it suppressed the burping apparently resulting in more gas entering the blood and muscles. I have recently tried Gasgon that I saw in the pharmacy, but I am not sure that it really helps - I do taste the fish oil that repeats on me, but it might aggravate the muscle pain because of suppressing the gas release.

Shortly after I started the Gasgon, the gastro-enterologist who undertook the scopes prescribed Progast, so I switched to that on 18 October. I am not sure that the Progast is really sorting out the problem, but it is possibly too early to comment. It  might be aggravating it, again because of suppressing the burping and keeping the gas in the stomach.

I have been recording my food intake since 29 July 2019 to see if I can see trends or causes, but to date I cannot really draw conclusions. There have been no days with no burping. I typically eat simple food with plenty of fruit. There are not really many foods in my diet that are normally associated with flatulence. My symptoms do not seem to match the typical symptoms indicated for these two medicines:

• Abdominal pain and cramps - Occasional
• Heartburn and acid reflux - I do not often have heartburn. I do not often have acid reflux, as mentioned above. Gasgon seems to possibly aggravate this as I taste the fish oil repeating on me, but I would not say that it is chronic.
• Bloating and flatulence - sometimes windy, less often smelly winds. Sometimes feel bloated
• Chronic constipation - Occasional
• Nausea and vomiting - Occasional
• Irritable bowel syndrome - 

Gastrointestinal disorders indicated specifically for Gasgon:

• Dyspepsia - I have some of the symptoms, but most specifically belching and gas.
• Mouth ulcers - Occasional
• Gastric discomfort or pain - Occasional

I do not consume alcohol, tea or coffee, cola drinks, nor do I smoke. I occasionally have rooibos, and sometimes the one with senna. I generally sleep well. I do not often have carbonated drinks. I sometimes have poor bowel movements, but this problem normally settles, possibly because I eat a lot of fruit and fibre. I exercise regularly, usually eat three meals daily and do not often nibble between meals. I generally do not eat fried foods, beans or legumes (most often peanut butter), processed foods, sugar free sweeteners. I do use milk (usually low fat), yoghurt, cheese. I generally use canola margarine and rarely butter or animal fats.

Diarrhea is rare, normally associated with an illness. I am not aware of any food intolerance. I do eat a fair amount of wheat products, but am not aware of problems associated with that, for example I am not aware of a lessening of symptoms when I do not have wheat for a few meals. I remember at school having gas bubbling through my intestines, but I rarely experience this now.

I decided to try going without my Lansaloc (specifically for acid reflux) and Simvastatin (for cholesterol) medication during April 2018 but decided that the Lansaloc certainly does seem to help with the acid reflux. Upon hearing of someone who had his gall bladder removed and then had much less back pain, I felt it worth seeing if the acid reflux type problems and pains from gas in the muscles might be associated with gall bladder, but other than a benign cyst on my left kidney, the gall bladder and other abdominal organs appear to be fine.

I was doing some work on the lawn in the past two days that involved my squatting on my haunches and exerting effort pushing grass sods and I found that it was unpleasant as there were several occasions that food was being pushed back up from my stomach.

I think that my mother may have had, and at least one sibling may have a similar condition relating to the gas/reflux that I have. The thought occurred to me recently that, as I bake bread, I use yeast that produces carbon dioxide in the process of fermentation. Could there be some yeast or fermentation occurring in my gut, producing the gas? Is there something that can or ought to be done to get rid of it, or do I simply accept it and live with it?

Now, regarding the low iron: I started to donate blood in 1972, initially not very regularly, but in later years I was a reagents donor and donated every 8, 10, 12 or more weeks, but usually about five times each year. I donated more than 150 times and stopped donating last year (2018) because of the low iron, more specifically low ferritin as my haemoglobin was usually sufficient that I could donate blood. I reached 75 donations in 1994, 125 in 2005, 153 in 2018. My ferritin levels improved after stopping donating, but are still lower than they should be. I had many tests and scopes in 2009 for checking the cause of the low iron. I had another gastroscopy and colonoscopy in 2013 that confirmed that there is no obvious cause of the iron deficiency.

I frequently took iron Ferrimed tablets or capsules over the years, but not consistently. In 2017 I had an infusion of Venofer, and received 9 x 5 ml intravenous infusions over a period of five months. The physician prescribed Sideral Forte 15 which I started taking 16 September with a break for a few days before my previous scheduled scopes, but commenced them when the scopes were postponed, then stopped them a week before the scopes. To date I have had about 40 capsules, one per day since 16 Sep.

There were about three occasions when the blood transfusion service found that my haemoglobin was too low to donate. There were also a few cases where my wife Sally who is a family doctor, or the physician, advised that I not donate blood for a few months in order for my iron levels to increase.

There would probably be a record at Western Cape Blood Transfusion Service of those times that I could not donate. I might have more information in my various journals, but it will be quite a search to find it.

I hope that this gives some information that might help someone with similar symptoms of the gas problem or the iron deficiency problem.