Members,
This is a sensitive and sometimes embarrassing subject for many. Please know that you are not alone in experiencing this withdrawal symptom and there is much you can do about it.
Smoking increases gastro intestinal mobility (how your intestines move) when you quit, you intestines slow down. Your food spends more time traveling through your gut and naturally produces more gas.
Try cutting out foods that naturally aid in gas production, carbonated drinks and chewing gum. More air swallowed, more gas you'll have. Lastly, regular physical activity has also been helpful as it encourages your gut to start moving.
Smoking can indeed alter a change in our digestion system when we smoke and also when we quit smoking. Why you ask? Cigarette smoking can affect all parts of the body, including the digestive system. This is especially damaging because the digestive system processes the food we eat into substances that are needed for the body to function properly.
It has been shown that smoking creates harmful effects on all parts of our digestive system. These harmful effects can contribute to develop common disorders such as heartburn and peptic ulcers. It also increases the risk of Crohn's disease and possibly gallstones. Smoking seems to affect the liver, too, by changing the way it handles drugs and alcohol. In fact, there seems to be enough evidence to stop smoking solely on the basis of digestive distress.
Current research suggests that the effects of smoking on the gastrointestinal tract are temporary and most problems will reverse themselves when smoking stops. Some of the effects of smoking on the digestive system appear to be of short duration. For example, the effect of smoking on bicarbonate production by the pancreas does not appear to last. Bicarbonate is important because it neutralizes and protects our digestive enzymes. This is where one may feel some of the common disorders listed above i.e. heartburn and or ulcers.
Hope this helps and please feel free to share what tricks have worked for you.
Sylvie, Bilingual Health Educator
