I finally figured out what makes my stomach upset

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Purpletree

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My husband and son love pizza and pasta (I'm the only one in the family who's overweight, lol). After starting tirz, I tried hard to work out why I get sulfur burps, and last weekend I finally identified the trigger — though I still don't know the full reason behind it. We were celebrating my son's Fifth birthday with family, and the menu had cake and pizza. I made the cake from scratch, so I didn't eat any of it, but I did eat 3 slices of pizza (that was all I ate the whole day). On Sunday morning I woke up with the BURPS again. Then it clicked: every time I've had them (3 times in 4 months), I'd eaten pizza the day before. I should say I don't fully understand why it triggers me: in my country pizza isn't necessarily greasy and loaded with fat to the point where it's hard to digest or eat — I'd say it's fairly balanced in taste, grease, fat, etc. Overall it's tasty. The thing is, since I can't handle too much food, I never really eat enough for my body to be full to the brim and cause the burps, and somehow my body ONLY reacts to pizza. Sulfur burps only happen when I eat pizza. You learn something new every day, I guess. I'm glad I worked this out, because now I'll avoid eating pizza as much as possible at any time (we don't buy pizza very often anyway, just once in a while). I eat other greasy foods on other days too, and so far nothing else has caused it. I find it interesting.

I posted this hoping that someone else dealing with the same thing will connect the dots like I did and find their trigger element — what I learned is that you don't have to eat a lot for them to be triggered.

Do you have other trigger foods like I do? I'd love to read some similar stories.
 
plant_lady said:

Tomato-based sauce is a major acid reflux trigger for certain people, which explains the sulfur burps. I'm glad you identified the cause.
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I do have pasta with red sauce — homemade, so at least I know what's in it, unlike whatever the pizza place puts in theirs — and it never caused me any trouble.

Actually, while I was typing this it hit me: since starting tirz, I haven't eaten a full plate of pasta even ONCE in the past 4 months. A few spoonfuls is all I can handle, which might explain why pasta never gives me the burps. God, I miss actually craving pasta — it used to be my comfort food (maybe a little too comfortable, since my back and knee began aching at 26, so honestly I'd rather stay grossed out by the idea of pasta and keep being sexy and skinny, haha 😂)
 
sheilarae74 said:

Ever since I started taking an acidophilus probiotic daily, I've been able to eat whatever I want without getting sulfur burps.
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Taking a Lactobacillus acidophilus probiotic every day goes right to the source of sulfur burps by restoring the balance of bacteria in your stomach and intestines.

Why does this usually help? Here's the science.

A GLP-1 medication makes digestion slower, so food lingers in your stomach for a longer stretch. That gives "bad" sulfate-reducing bacteria an ideal place to multiply. These particular microbes "feed" on the sulfur present in pizza (the cheese, meats, and gluten), and their waste product is the foul hydrogen sulfide gas.

With daily Lactobacillus acidophilus, it's as if you upgraded your microbiome.

  • Your digestive tract gets flooded with "good" bacteria. These helpful microbes compete directly with the sulfur-producing bacteria for food and space, essentially starving them out and keeping their numbers low.
  • Lactobacillus acidophilus makes lactic acid, which brings the pH of your stomach down a little. Sulfate-reducing bacteria do best in less acidic conditions. A lower pH turns your stomach and upper tract into a very unwelcoming place for them, halting gas production before it can begin.
Since the probiotic holds the sulfur-gas-producing bacteria in check, it stops mattering whether pizza stays in your stomach for hours. The medication will still make those ingredients digest slowly, but the specific microbes that would ferment them into "rotten egg" gas just aren't present in large enough numbers to cause trouble.

Sometimes all it takes is fixing the bacterial environment that's handling the food!
 
Just A Cat said:

Taking a Lactobacillus acidophilus probiotic every day goes right to the source of sulfur burps by restoring the balance of bacteria in your stomach and intestines.

Why does this usually help? Here's the science.

A GLP-1 medication makes digestion slower, so food lingers in your stomach for a longer stretch. That gives "bad" sulfate-reducing bacteria an ideal place to multiply. These particular microbes "feed" on the sulfur present in pizza (the cheese, meats, and gluten), and their waste product is the foul hydrogen sulfide gas.

With daily Lactobacillus acidophilus, it's as if you upgraded your microbiome.

  • Your digestive tract gets flooded with "good" bacteria. These helpful microbes compete directly with the sulfur-producing bacteria for food and space, essentially starving them out and keeping their numbers low.
  • Lactobacillus acidophilus makes lactic acid, which brings the pH of your stomach down a little. Sulfate-reducing bacteria do best in less acidic conditions. A lower pH turns your stomach and upper tract into a very unwelcoming place for them, halting gas production before it can begin.
Since the probiotic holds the sulfur-gas-producing bacteria in check, it stops mattering whether pizza stays in your stomach for hours. The medication will still make those ingredients digest slowly, but the specific microbes that would ferment them into "rotten egg" gas just aren't present in large enough numbers to cause trouble.

Sometimes all it takes is fixing the bacterial environment that's handling the food!
Click to expand...
I've discovered through unpleasant experience that missing a few days brings the sulfur buildup right back, stronger than before.
 
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