Twin Bump Mystery Solved!!!

I have finally found an answer to my twin bump! For months I have thought that this was just the way my body was after having Bob.

When it got to the stage that people were referring to me as ‘the pregnant one’ I thought that maybe my bump was a bit out of the ordinary. I also started getting stomach pains, tummy ‘troubles’ and feeling generally unwell so I decided to mention it to the nurse when I went for my routine asthma review.

When the nurse saw my bump she tried to be diplomatic but said she could understand why people had thought that I was pregnant. She said that it might be due to anemia and sent me for a blood test.

The blood test came back negative so I made an appointment to see my doctor. He said that there were many things that it could be. Just to be on the safe side he wanted to test for nasty things first. When we had ruled them out we could start testing for the not so nasty causes.

He sent me for further blood tests, a urine test and a scan to rule out cancer, thyroid problems, cysts and fibroids. Luckily all of these were clear. After I received my results I had planned to go and see my doctor to begin the other tests.

After carrying around my bump for several months, one evening it vanished! I was amazed! I had no idea how it could have happened until my husband pointed out that We had run out of bread the day before. Since Bob came along I eat bread every day as it is convenient. The day that my bump vanished was probably the first day in months that I didn’t eat any.

I initially thought that it was gluten causing my bump but then I realised that I had eaten noodles on the day that my bump disappeared. I thought that maybe I was only intolerant to high levels.

I was bump free the following day too and I was so pleased! After turning to Doctor Google (I know that is the worst thing to do) I found out that to test for gluten intolerance you need to have it in your system and you must not change your diet before testing. We had a busy day visiting friends so I decided to eat as I normally would.

I had a sandwich at 12.30pm and by 5pm my bump had returned. 🙁 I called my doctors to make an appointment but I was told that unless I called every morning at 8am and tried to get an emergency appointment I would not be able to see him for 3 weeks!

My husband read about a home test for gluten intolerance so we went to buy one. The test was so complicated but in the end you get a result like a pregnancy test, one line for negative two lines for positive. It was negative.

When I shared my findings with my doctor he referred me to a gastroenterologist who said that the problem could be caused by IBS. He gave me a diet to follow called FODMAPS but, if I am honest, I would have found it impossible. It involved cutting out all wheat and all dairy and some vegetables. There wasn’t a lot left to eat so I decided to cut out bread from my diet and see how I got on.

Since then I have realised that bread, crisps, crackers and onions make my twin bump appear but, if I eat something that disagrees with me, my bump only lasts for 24 hours. The difference is unbelievable and it is no wonder that I was getting congratulated on my pregnancy when I was eating bread daily!

Below is a before and after shot of when I had eaten onions. My bump is even bigger when I have eaten bread!

* It’s actually an after I’ve eaten onions then after my bump has gone shot as I didn’t purposely bloat myself for the photograph. Apologies for the quality of the photos and the dirtiness of my mirror.