The Balloon Belly: Chronic Bloating Recovery Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe chronic bloating and abdominal distension. Writers describe the body speaking up: the visible change across a day, the clothes bought in two sizes, the pain and pressure, the social withdrawal, and the years of being told it was nothing. There is the search for a name — coeliac screening, endoscopy, SIBO breath tests and the arguments about them, IBS, gastroparesis, pelvic floor dyssynergia, ovarian causes ruled out late — and the elimination years: low-FODMAP done properly and done badly, dairy, gluten, the diets that shrank a life without shrinking the symptom. Writers describe what actually helped, including gut-directed hypnotherapy and neuromodulators, and cover the gut-brain axis without dismissing anyone. Later chapters hold clinicians' perspectives and the cases that never fully resolved.

Who it's for

For anyone whose abdomen distends daily, people midway through elimination diets, and readers who want to know which investigations are actually worth pursuing.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.