Yes, simethicone makes you fart. It contains ingredients that cause your body to easily expel extra gas from your digestive tract through farting or belching. It relieves any uncomfortable and painful feeling in your stomach due to trapped air inside your body. Some lifestyle changes may help you prevent swallowing lots of air inside your stomach and gut, including mindful eating, quitting cigarettes, exercising regularly, etc.
Farting may be disgusting, but it’s only normal. However, it can be unpleasant when you constantly want to pass gas, especially when you’re in the middle of a meeting or dinner with family and friends.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation like this?
Along with wanting to fart or belch constantly, you also have other symptoms like painful pressure and a feeling of fullness or bloating, which calls for a solution.
Simethicone is just about the right remedy! Though it still makes you fart, you’ll eventually thank it later at your dinner table!
How does simethicone works?
Simethicone help relieves discomfort, feelings of painful pressure, fullness, and bloating due to extra gas in your stomach and/or gut.
Gas in the stomach can result from swallowing too much air while eating or drinking.
On the other hand, gas in your large intestines is a by-product when microorganisms break down undigested food from your small intestines.
Certain types of food aren’t digested by your small intestines easily, which gives you gas symptoms after consuming them.
Simethicone comes in capsules, non and chewable tablets, liquid, and drops. It is available over the counter.
Simethicone may interfere with absorbing thyroid medications like levothyroxine. Therefore, taking thyroid medications 4 hours before or after simethicone would be best.
What are simethicone’s side effects?
Simethicone has no severe side effects. But below are some common side effects of the drug:
- Mild diarrhea
- Nausea and vomiting
Please get help immediately when signs of an allergic reaction occur. Signs and symptoms are below:
- Hives and/or rash
- Itching, swelling of the face, tongue, or throat
- Severe dizziness
- Difficulty breathing
Why does simethicone make you fart?
Simethicone contains activated liquid dimethicone and silicon dioxide, which works in two ways.
First, it breaks up gas bubbles from forming in your gastrointestinal tract (GI), allowing your body to pass gas easily.
Second, it combines lots of tiny gas bubbles, forming larger bubbles, then expels them out from your body, causing you to pass gas less but with larger farts.
Simethicone works 30 minutes after taking it.
It isn’t absorbed in your blood but will exit your body through your stool.
How can I use simethicone to reduce farting?
Farting is a natural part of our life.
It’s a sign of a healthy digestive system. When gas doesn’t come out of your digestive system, it can cause discomfort and pain.
Simethicone relieves gas symptoms by helping your body to expel those gas through farting and/or belching.
If you find yourself farting more from taking simethicone, it’s normal and is doing its purpose.
As soon as that extra trapped wind leaves your body, you will notice yourself farting less.
It may take you several doses before you achieve optimal relief.
Ask your doctor or pharmacist how much and for how long you should take simethicone. Then, take the medicine as directed.
Sometimes, farting can be embarrassing, and you may have to make some changes if it’s making you uncomfortable.
Below are ways to help you prevent having too much gas in your system:
1. Eat meals and snacks slowly and mindfully
Eating fast may cause you to swallow lots of air, leaving trapped gas in your body.
Though we can’t entirely avoid this from happening, it’s best if you sit down and take time to swallow your food slowly.
Avoid eating while walking, driving, or biking.
2. Avoid chewing gum
Are you worried about having bad breath?
Try a sugar-free mint or a long-acting mouthwash instead of chewing gums.
You’re technically swallowing more air while you chew gum.
3. Limit gas-producing foods
Your small intestines can’t efficiently digest some types of food.
These foods travel to your large intestines, and when microorganisms break them down, they produce gas which causes digestive problems.
Foods that cause more gas than others include carbohydrates, complex sugars, fructose, lactose, insoluble fiber, and starches.
Examples are the following:
- Complex sugars. Beans, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, whole grains, and other green leafy vegetables.
- Fructose. Soft drinks, fruit juice, artichokes, onions, pears, and other fruits.
- Lactose. All dairy products, including dairy foods and drinks.
- Insoluble fiber. Fruits, oat bran, peas, and beans.
- Starches. Starchy foods like potatoes, pasta, corn, and wheat products.
You don’t have to ditch these foods altogether, as each is part of a healthy, well-balanced diet. However, you can try to eat less of them.
4. Check for food intolerances and allergies
You should check if you’re sensitive to certain types of food through an elimination diet. Food intolerances can give you symptoms of gas, bloating, diarrhea, and nausea.
Through doing the “elimination diet,” you will find out what causes your gas symptoms.
It’s eliminating gas-producing foods and slowly adding them back into your diet, one at a time, and keeping a record of your meals and when symptoms occur.
5. Avoid carbonated drinks and drink plenty of water instead
Carbonated beverages like soda or beer contain air bubbles causing you to burp and fart more.
Try drinking plenty of water instead to help eliminate waste from your body and prevent constipation which causes smelly wind.
You can also try other alternatives like tea, wine, or sugar-free juice.
6. Quit smoking
Along with the other health risks of smoking, it also makes you swallow a lot of air into your body, whether it’s a cigarette, cigar, or e-cig.
7. Take probiotics and enzyme supplements
Probiotics are healthy gut bacteria that help break down your food.
These also break down hydrogen gas that other bacteria produce during digestion.
Taking probiotics will help gas symptoms. In addition, taking enzyme supplements helps your body digest hard-to-digest food.
For example, galactosidase supplements will quickly break down complex carbohydrates in your small intestines, so they don’t have to be broken down by gas-producing bacteria in your large intestines.
The same goes with supplements containing lactase which helps in digesting dairy products.
8. Exercise more
Exercising will keep your digestive tract in shape.
Take a slow walk after a large meal and kickstart your digestion.
9. Treat your constipation
Stools that stay in your colon for extended periods will continue to ferment, producing lots of foul, extra-smelly gas.
Treating constipation may vary, but increasing your water and fiber intake will allow things to move.
Takeaway
Trapped air in your stomach and gut could be bothersome.
Simethicone helps in relieving your gas symptoms by releasing that extra gas out of your body. It works by breaking up and reducing gas bubbles from forming so they can quickly go out from your body through farting or belching.
Farting is normal. But, you can prevent allowing lots of air inside your body by changing some lifestyles, such as practicing slow and mindful eating, avoiding chewing gums, limiting your intake of gas-producing foods, taking probiotics and enzyme supplements, and treating constipation.
