How to relieve bloating

¦ What can I take to relieve the bloating and full feeling I get when I eat late at night?

My digestion seems to stop when I eat late or eat too much as is inevitable in a restaurant. This means I am awake half the night.

>> There are a couple of things that you can do to optimise your digestion. The first is to ensure that you eat a leafy green salad before your meal. Either order a leafy salad (preferably without dressing) as a side, or choose a meal which comes with a salad and make sure that you eat this first.

Greens work by stimulating the digestive process and can be extremely effective in reducing the likelihood of heartburn, indigestion and bloating.

The other thing that may help is taking a digestive enzyme supplement, preferably one which is combined with Betaine HCl since this helps to protect the chewed food from putrefying and creating gas/bloating.

Viridian’s High Potency Digestive Aid is a combination of digestive enzymes and Betaine HCl. It is available from health stores or www.hereshealth.ie — 90 capsules cost €22.60. Take one capsule before each meal, up to three times daily.

Do not take if you suffer from stomach ulcers.

¦ My 21-year-old daughter has just been diagnosed with an over-active thyroid gland. Is there is a natural way to treat this? Also, what causes this to happen? She eats a lot of tinned tuna which contains mercury, could this be a contributing factor?

>> Tuna has been suggested as a great food for helping to balance out thyroid activity, so your daughter is on the right track with her dietary choice.

If she is concerned about the mercury levels, then eating it with fresh coriander will help to chelate the mercury out of food.

As far as what may have caused her thyroid to become hyperactive, there are so many potential factors that I wouldn’t dream of suggesting a reason without knowing the full picture.

At a very basic level, her thyroid is overproducing thyroid hormones, which is why this condition is called overactive thyroid or hyperthyroidism.This butterfly-shaped gland, located at the base of the throat, controls all aspects of the metabolism including blood-pressure, heart rate, libido, breathing rate and mental alertness.

There are a number of natural remedies and treatments, but without knowing the specifics of her case, it is too risky to self-prescribe — even with natural alternatives.

It may be a good idea for your daughter to contact Dr Patrick Magovern who is based in Dublin. He has a particular interest in thyroid function and uses a combination of conventional and alternative therapies.

¦ Following your recent recommendation, I purchased Solgar B12 to alleviate my tinnitus. The product was purchased from two different suppliers and one container says 1000µg and the other 2500mcg.

Are these equal dosages or will I have to alter the number of nuggets which I take? I currently take two 1000µg nuggets per day and propose taking one per day after the first month by which time I will be using the second batch at 2500mcg.

>> What you have purchased is in fact two different strengths of B12. The unit symbols µg and mcg both stand for micrograms, indicating one millionth of a gram (one thousandth of a mg/milligram).

The 2500mcg nuggets are two and a half times the strength of the 1000µg nuggets. You can either switch to the 2500mcg nuggets now while you are aiming for around 2000 micrograms daily, or divide the nuggets in half so that you are halving the dosage to 1250 micrograms.

The best option, if it is viable, is to approach the supplier to see if you are able to exchange the higher strength B12 for the correct strength of 1000mcg/ µg/micrograms.

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NOTE: The information contained in Megan Sheppard’s column is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a doctor.