Treatment of Excessive Intestinal Gas

Symptoms of excessive intestinal gas may be related to eructation, excessive or odoriferous gas evacuation, and/or abdominal symptom attributed to gas retention. Patients with aerophagia and excessive eructation can be usually retrained to control air swallowing, but if present, basal dyspeptic symptoms may remain. Patients with excessive or odoriferous gas evacuation may benefit from a low-flatulogenic diet. In patients with gas retention due to impaired anal evacuation, anal incoordination can be resolved by biofeedback treatment, which also improves fecal retention, and thereby reduces the time for fermentation. Other patients complaining of abdominal symptoms that they attribute to intestinal gas, probably have irritable bowel syndrome or functional bloating, and their treatment options specifically targeting gas-related symptoms basically include prokinetics and spasmolytics. There is no consistent evidence to support the use of gas-reducing substances, such as charcoal or simethicone.