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Dr. Chrysoula I. Liakou MD, PhD
- Treated online: Yes, usually. A doctor can find the likely cause by video and plan treatment; bloating with weight loss, blood in your poo or a lump needs tests in person.
- Most common cause: a lot of gas in the gut, from swallowed air or from bacteria breaking down food in the bowel.
- What is normal: people pass wind around 15 times a day, and about 7 in 10 parts of the gas in the gut are absorbed and breathed out.
- Watch for: in women, bloating on most days, 12 or more times a month, can be a sign of ovarian cancer and needs a doctor.
- Emergency: call 112 if you cannot poo or pass wind and are being sick, or have sudden, severe tummy pain.
Bloating is rarely an emergency. Call 112 or go to an emergency department if you cannot poo or pass wind and are being sick, have sudden or severe tummy pain, or a tummy that is rigid or painful to touch. Chest pain or pressure spreading to the arm, neck or jaw needs 112 too, even if it feels like wind.
Can an online doctor treat bloating and trapped wind?
Yes, usually. Bloating and trapped wind are diagnosed from your symptoms and habits, and the usual causes, such as swallowed air, gassy foods, constipation, IBS or a food intolerance, can be worked out and treated by video. The doctor checks for the signs that need tests, such as weight loss, blood in your poo, a lump in your tummy or bloating that will not go away, and tells you where to have them.
How an online consultation helps with bloating
- The cause found: Swallowed air, food, constipation, IBS or an intolerance: the pattern tells them apart.
- A plan that fits: Which foods and habits to change first, one step at a time.
- Medicine when it helps: Simeticone, laxatives or treatment for IBS, checked against your other medicines.
- Warning signs checked: Bloating that lasts, or comes with weight loss or bleeding, is a reason for tests.
What the doctor checks in an online bloating consultation
The doctor checks for warning signs first, then the pattern. The doctor asks about:
- Warning signs: weight loss without trying, blood in your poo, a lump or swelling in your tummy, vomiting, a high temperature, or being unable to poo or pass wind.
- The pattern: how often you feel bloated, and whether it links to meals, your period or stress.
- Your bowels: constipation, diarrhoea, straining, or a change in your usual habit.
- Food and drink: fizzy drinks, beer, sugar-free sweets, beans, cabbage, onions, dairy and wheat.
- Other symptoms: heartburn, burping, feeling full quickly, or needing to pee more often.
- Your health: IBS, coeliac disease, lactose intolerance, pregnancy, and the medicines you take.
Before the call, keep a food and symptom diary for a week, noting what you eat and drink, your bowel habits and when the bloating is worse.
What causes bloating and trapped wind?
The most common reason for bloating is a lot of gas in the gut. Gas comes from air you swallow, from stomach acid mixing with digestive juices, and from bacteria in the large bowel breaking down food that was not digested. About 7 in 10 parts of it are absorbed into the blood and breathed out, and the rest is passed as wind. The clues below help tell the causes apart:
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| Cause | Clues | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Swallowed air | Burping; eating fast, fizzy drinks, chewing gum, straws or smoking | Eating slowly with your mouth closed; fewer fizzy drinks |
| Gassy foods | Wind after beans, lentils, cabbage, sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, onions, dried fruit or sugar-free sweets | Smaller portions, and tinned, rinsed pulses |
| Constipation | Hard poo, straining, or feeling you cannot empty your bowels | Water, soluble fibre such as oats or linseed, and laxatives |
| IBS | Cramps that ease after a poo, diarrhoea or constipation, worse with stress | Diet changes, a low FODMAP diet with a dietitian, and medicine |
| Lactose intolerance | Wind, bloating and diarrhoea after milk | Less lactose, and lactose-free products |
| Coeliac disease | Bloating with diarrhoea, tiredness or weight loss | Tests first, while you are still eating gluten |
| Your period | Bloating around your period | Tracking it against your cycle |
| Ovarian cancer, rarely | Bloating most days, feeling full quickly, pain low in the tummy, needing to pee more often | See a doctor promptly |
Why am I so bloated that I look pregnant?
A tummy so swollen that you look pregnant is usually caused by gas building up in the gut. Constipation, IBS, a food intolerance, large meals and fizzy drinks are the common reasons, and some people swell around their period.
See a doctor if it happens regularly, does not go away when you change your diet, or comes with weight loss, blood in your poo or a lump in your tummy. In women, bloating on most days, 12 or more times a month, with feeling full quickly, pain low in the tummy or needing to pee more often, needs checking for ovarian cancer. A swollen tummy with yellow skin or swollen ankles can be fluid from liver disease and needs urgent care.
What does trapped wind feel like?
Trapped wind makes your tummy feel tight, swollen or uncomfortably full, with rumbling noises, burping, passing wind and cramping pain.
How long does trapped wind last?
Trapped wind usually settles once the gas is passed or absorbed. See a doctor if bloating lasts more than 2 days with pain, or keeps coming back.
When is it something else?
Burping with chest discomfort or pain, especially when you exert yourself, needs checking for a heart problem, and chest pain spreading to the arm, neck or jaw needs 112. Severe pain, or a tummy that is rigid or painful to touch, is an emergency.
How to relieve trapped wind and bloating
Most bloating and trapped wind improve with simple changes:
- Massage your tummy from right to left, which helps release trapped wind.
- Walk or move about: mild physical activity helps gas clear from the gut.
- Drink peppermint tea.
- Eat smaller, more frequent meals, slowly and with your mouth closed, and drink between meals.
- Cut down on fizzy drinks, beer, caffeine, chewing gum and sugar-free sweets.
- Ask a pharmacist about simeticone, which gathers gas bubbles so they are easier to pass.
What relieves bloating fast?
There is no instant cure. Moving about, massaging your tummy from right to left, peppermint tea and simeticone can ease trapped wind, and IBS cramps usually ease after a poo.
Is there a position that relieves gas?
No single position has been shown to work best. Gentle movement, such as walking, and massaging your tummy from right to left help gas move along.
Which foods cause bloating and wind?
Foods that are hard to digest feed the gas-making bacteria in the bowel. The main ones are:
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| Group | Examples | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Brassicas and onions | Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, onions, garlic | Smaller portions |
| Pulses | Beans and lentils | Tinned, rinsed pulses in smaller portions; alpha-galactosidase supplements help digest them |
| Sweeteners | Sorbitol, mannitol and erythritol in sugar-free foods and gum | Cut down |
| Drinks | Fizzy drinks, beer and wine | Drink water, between meals |
| Fruit | Dried fruit, and the fructose in fruit juice | Smaller portions |
| Fatty food | Fried and high-fat food | Cut down: it can make wind louder |
| Helpful fibre | Oats and linseed | Include them: they can reduce wind and ease constipation |
The low FODMAP diet
FODMAPs are carbohydrates found in many foods, including onions, garlic, wheat, pulses, lactose, fructose and some sweeteners. A low FODMAP diet helps around 5 to 7 in 10 people with IBS. Foods are cut down for a short time, then added back one by one to find your own triggers. It is complex, so do it with a registered dietitian, and only after simpler diet changes have not helped.
Which bloating treatment might the doctor recommend?
Treatment follows the cause. This is the framework the doctors use, in line with NHS advice:
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| What you have | Likely first step | Suitable for online care? | When in-person care is needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Occasional bloating after meals or gassy foods | Changes to food and eating habits | Yes | Not usually needed |
| Bloating with constipation | Fluids, fibre and a laxative | Yes | If you cannot poo or pass wind |
| Bloating with cramps and diarrhoea or constipation, for months | Assessment for IBS, and a coeliac blood test | Yes | For the blood test |
| Bloating after milk or dairy | A trial of less lactose | Yes | Not usually needed |
| In women: bloating most days, feeling full quickly or needing to pee more often | Tests for ovarian cancer | Yes, to assess | For the tests |
| Bloating with weight loss, blood in your poo or a lump | Tests to find the cause | Partly | For tests in person |
| Unable to poo or pass wind, with vomiting or severe pain | Emergency care | No | Call 112 now |
Bloated and not sure why? A doctor can find the likely cause and plan treatment in one consultation.
See available times →Treatment options for bloating and trapped wind
What you can do yourself
- Keep a food and symptom diary to find your triggers.
- Change one thing at a time, such as fewer fizzy drinks or smaller portions of pulses.
- Exercise regularly to keep your digestion moving.
- Treat constipation with water and soluble fibre, such as oats or linseed.
Prescription treatment
A prescription is never issued without a consultation. Simeticone and laxatives are available from a pharmacist. The doctor may prescribe treatment for the cause, such as a laxative for constipation, a medicine for IBS cramps, or treatment for reflux. Simeticone is not suitable with levothyroxine unless a pharmacist or doctor says it is. If the doctor prescribes, use the prescription at a pharmacy near you.
What does not help
Activated charcoal: the evidence for it is conflicting, and it can stop other medicines being absorbed. Probiotics help some people but not others. Cutting out whole food groups without advice, which can leave your diet short of nutrients.
Special situations
Pregnancy
Tell the doctor if you are pregnant, because it changes which medicines are suitable. Constipation in pregnancy has its own page.
After a stomach bug or a trip abroad
Tell the doctor if bloating started after a bout of diarrhoea: a bowel infection can leave a temporary lactose intolerance. The travellers’ diarrhoea page covers what helps.
Heartburn and burping
Feeling full and bloated with heartburn, burping or feeling sick can be indigestion or acid reflux; see indigestion and GORD.
Children
Mobi Doctor consultations are for adults aged 18 and over. A child who is unwell needs a paediatrician or a local doctor in person, and emergency signs in a child mean 112.
When bloating is treated online, and when you need in-person care
Treated online: bloating and trapped wind from food, swallowed air or constipation, IBS, lactose intolerance, advice on diet and the low FODMAP diet, and medicines.
In-person care: blood tests and scans, bloating with weight loss, bleeding or a lump, bloating on most days in women, and any emergency sign.
When to get in-person care
Call 112 or go to an emergency department now for:
- being unable to poo or pass wind, with vomiting or a swollen tummy
- sudden, severe tummy pain, or a tummy that is rigid or painful to touch
- vomiting blood, or black, tar-like poo
- chest pain or pressure spreading to the arm, neck or jaw
Get medical advice the same day for:
- bloating with vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation
- bloating with a stomach ache
- a high temperature, or feeling hot, cold or shivery
- a swelling or lump in your tummy
- being unable to pee
See a doctor if you feel bloated regularly, it does not go away when you change your diet, or it comes with weight loss or blood in your poo. Women who feel bloated on most days should mention it, so the doctor can check for ovarian cancer.
How Mobi Doctor works
- Book a time that suits you: daily 7am–11pm CEST. You can see a doctor over video, usually within 15 minutes. No subscription, and the exact price is shown before you pay.
- Speak to a licensed doctor about the bloating: say how often it happens, what seems to set it off, how your bowels are, and anything that worries you, such as weight loss.
- Leave with a plan: what to do, what to take and for how long, and which signs mean you should be seen in person. If the doctor prescribes, use the prescription at a pharmacy near you.
No sign-up needed
Bloating can have more than one cause. Tick every symptom you have to see each condition page that mentions it. It finds the right page, not a diagnosis: a doctor gives you that on a video call.
Tap the body — an area or a point — to browse symptoms anywhere
Similar symptoms, different condition? Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) can start the same way. Compare them, or look up any other symptom in the full symptom checker.
Frequently asked questions about bloating and trapped wind
Why am I so bloated that I look pregnant?
Usually because gas has built up in the gut, often with constipation, IBS, a food intolerance, large meals or fizzy drinks. See a doctor if it happens regularly, or comes with weight loss, blood in your poo or a lump in your tummy.
How do I get rid of trapped wind at home?
To get rid of trapped wind, move about, massage your tummy from right to left, drink peppermint tea, and ask a pharmacist about simeticone. To prevent it, eat slowly, cut down on fizzy drinks and gassy foods, and treat constipation.
What causes bloating?
Most often a lot of gas in the gut, from swallowed air or food fermenting in the bowel. Constipation, IBS, food intolerances, coeliac disease and periods can all cause it, and rarely ovarian cancer.
What does trapped wind feel like?
Trapped wind feels like a tight, swollen or uncomfortably full tummy, often with rumbling, burping, passing wind and sharp or cramping pains that move around and ease when the gas is passed; the belly can look visibly larger by the evening and flat again in the morning, and the discomfort is often worse after meals, when sitting hunched or during a period.
How long does trapped wind last?
It usually settles once the gas is passed or absorbed. See a doctor if bloating lasts more than 2 days with pain, or keeps coming back.
What position relieves gas?
No single position has been shown to work best. Gentle movement such as walking, and massaging your tummy from right to left, help gas move along.
What relieves bloating fast?
There is no instant cure. Moving about, massaging your tummy, peppermint tea and simeticone can ease trapped wind, and IBS cramps usually ease after a poo.
Which foods cause the most wind?
The foods that cause the most wind are beans and lentils, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, onions and garlic, dried fruit, wholegrain bread in large amounts, sugar-free sweets and gum with sorbitol or xylitol, milk for people low in lactase, and fizzy drinks and beer; most are healthy foods, so the aim is smaller portions, slower eating and soaking or cooking beans well rather than cutting them out.
How can I prevent bloating and trapped wind?
Eat slowly and chew well, which cuts swallowed air, keep meals smaller and regular, limit fizzy drinks, chewing gum and sugar-free sweets, go easy on the gassiest foods or build them up gradually, treat constipation so gas is not held up behind hard poo, walk after meals, check whether milk or wheat set it off, and manage stress, which slows digestion. Bloating that persists despite these changes for 3 weeks deserves a consultation rather than more trial and error.
How many times a day is it normal to pass wind?
Around 15 times a day is normal, and up to 25 is still within the usual range, although what is normal is different for everyone and depends on diet; most wind is passed without noticing. Passing wind far more than usual, with bloating, loose stools or weight loss, is worth a consultation, because a change in the amount of gas can point to lactose intolerance, coeliac disease or IBS.
When should I worry about bloating?
Worry about bloating if it is regular, does not go away with diet changes, or comes with weight loss, blood in your poo, a lump, vomiting or a high temperature. Women bloated on most days should see a doctor to check for ovarian cancer.
Can an online doctor help with bloating?
Yes, usually. A doctor can work out the likely cause of bloating by video from the pattern, your diet and bowel habit, plan diet changes and treatment such as a laxative for constipation or a trial of a low-FODMAP approach for IBS, and tell you when tests such as a coeliac blood test, a stool test or, for persistent bloating in women, an ovarian scan are needed; a prescription is never issued without a consultation.
- Bloating, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 21 January 2026.
- Flatulence, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 2 April 2026.
- Wind, Guts UK, leaflet 2024, updated 7 August 2026.
- Managing bloating and wind, Pelvic Floor Service, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, accessed 15 October 2026.
- Ovarian cancer: symptoms, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 17 November 2025.
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): symptoms, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 17 March 2025.
- Abdominal pain, MedlinePlus, US National Library of Medicine, reviewed 13 January 2026.
- Stomach ache, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 26 May 2023.
- Cirrhosis, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 10 February 2025.
- Heart attack, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 31 March 2026.
- Coeliac disease, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 31 March 2023.
- Lactose intolerance, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 8 July 2026.
- Indigestion, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 5 May 2023.
This page is for information only and is not a substitute for a medical consultation. Guideline links are provided for transparency; treatment decisions are made with your doctor.
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