Lemon water causing bloatedness

[oshirowanen]

I've been reading about the benefits of lemon water and it sounded really amazing for such a simple thing. I've been trying it out for the last week and I am not impressed at all. All week I have been experiencing generalised stomach pains and bloatedness. 1 of the main benefits of lemon water was to reduce stomach bloatedness.

So, I've stopped having lemon water since Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday, my stomach bloatedness has reduced, i.e. I never had a bloated stomach before started lemon water, and not it's returning to normal after stopping lemon water. I started lemon water for all it's other benefits.

Why would I be getting a bloated stomach after drinking lemon water plus the generalised stomach pain?

All I am having is a warm glass of water in the morning with a quarter of a lemon hand squeezed in about an hour before breakfast. After this, I have a bloated stomach all day. I've done this for a week and for a week I have had a bloated stomach. I've stopped not for 2 day and the bloated stomach has started to reduce and the pain has almost gone...

[CarolineN]

Hi Oshirowanen

It's interesting that you have this reaction. I have some thoughts about it.

Often the lemon water is used first thing in the morning to help empty out the contents of the gall bladder which have collected overnight. If you follow this with oat bran this will help mop up unwanted hormones and cholesterol (wheat bran does not do this) to excrete them. This is usually considered a good thing as it helps avoid reabsorbing them lower down the digestive tract.

If you have an intolerance reaction to citrus (lemon), then this could cause bloating. Does other citrus fruit cause bloating too?

The other thought is having so much bile entering the digestive tract all at once might sort of overload the system. If you try a teaspoon of cider vinegar in the water instead and get the same reaction then perhaps that is the cause. If not it could be a citrus intolerance.

If intolerance is involved then you need to avoid it completely for a month or two and try it again in quantity and see what the reaction is. I would also take a quality probiotic to help reduce inflammation in the gut from toxins or intolerance reactions.

If that doesn't sort it out see a registered Nutritional Therapist who will sort out a protocol for you.

[Tashanie]

What were you hoping the lemon water would do? Was there a specific thing you thought it would help with?

[oshirowanen]

Originally Posted by CarolineN

Hi Oshirowanen

It's interesting that you have this reaction. I have some thoughts about it.

Often the lemon water is used first thing in the morning to help empty out the contents of the gall bladder which have collected overnight. If you follow this with oat bran this will help mop up unwanted hormones and cholesterol (wheat bran does not do this) to excrete them. This is usually considered a good thing as it helps avoid reabsorbing them lower down the digestive tract.

If you have an intolerance reaction to citrus (lemon), then this could cause bloating. Does other citrus fruit cause bloating too?

The other thought is having so much bile entering the digestive tract all at once might sort of overload the system. If you try a teaspoon of cider vinegar in the water instead and get the same reaction then perhaps that is the cause. If not it could be a citrus intolerance.

If intolerance is involved then you need to avoid it completely for a month or two and try it again in quantity and see what the reaction is. I would also take a quality probiotic to help reduce inflammation in the gut from toxins or intolerance reactions.

If that doesn't sort it out see a registered Nutritional Therapist who will sort out a protocol for you.

Thanks for the reply. I wil try out cider vinegar asap to see what happens. Thanks.

[oshirowanen]

Originally Posted by Tashanie

What were you hoping the lemon water would do? Was there a specific thing you thought it would help with?

Some of the benefits listed here:
10 Reasons Why You Should Drink Lemon Water

[oshirowanen]

Just an update. Took about a week after stopping the lemon water for the bloating and the stomach pain to enough for me to no longer notice it.

This morning I have had a teaspoon of cider vinegar in water and have not experienced any bloating and/or stomach pains at all. I will continue for a week to see if it does cause any bloating/pain.

[Jabba The Hut]

You may want to increase the amount you are putting in the water over the next few days - I have found over the years that if I take less than a tablespoon of ACV, very little happens! I mix mine in warm water with a teaspoon of manuka honey. Both appear to be contributing to my ongoing fairly healthy life!

[Tashanie]

Originally Posted by Jabba The Hut

You may want to increase the amount you are putting in the water over the next few days - I have found over the years that if I take less than a tablespoon of ACV, very little happens! I mix mine in warm water with a teaspoon of manuka honey. Both appear to be contributing to my ongoing fairly healthy life!

I remember my parents taking cider vinegar and honey over 40 years ago to help with arthritis..

Personally I think anything that encourages people to drink more water has GOT to be good.

[oshirowanen]

Well, the week is over, and although the cider vinegar didn't cause bloating, it caused lots and lots of heartburn and also caused pains in left side of my waist (details at the end).

So before I tried any of these, I was not experiencing bloating or heartburn.

Week 1: Quarter of a lemon squeezed into warm water in the morning caused me bloating.
Week 2: Stopped the lemon water and the bloating slowly disappeared. Took about a week.
Week 3: A teaspoon of cider vinegar in warm water in the mornings gave me very uncomfortable heartburn, still experiencing it.
Week 4: I have stopped the cider vinegar and am hoping the heartburn will be gone by tomorrow.

The pains to the side of the waist was on the left side, I think the kidney type of area. The pain would last about 30 minutes soon after waking up and would go like this:

1. Pain for about 20 seconds
2. No pain for about 90 second
3. Pain for about 20 seconds
4. No pain for about 90 seconds

This would continue for about 30 minutes. This happened 3 times during this week. It wasn't extreme pain, more of a dull pain where I felt look squeezing my waist area, roughly around the kidney area I think.

So what does all this mean? Why the bloating with lemon water, and why the heartburn and waist pain with cider vinegar?

I just wanted to start lemon water because of the benefits, I wasn't expecting all this...