I've had sporadic episodes of sometimes quite bad bloating for the past year or so (final j-pouch op during 2015). Had one of these just over a month ago, but it went away after a few hours (with the help of mint tea). However, I developed a fever which was 'on and off' for a few days following, which resulted in a late-night visit to the hospital. I was admitted with suspected Covid, which proved negative. Then, they thought it may be UC (I haven't had any UC since my j-pouch). Cut a long story short, I had a rectosigmoidoscopy, which showed no sign of UC and a biopsy was taken from the small bowel (prior to this, I had around 3 x-rays and a CT scan showing some slight dilation of the small intestine). The gastro consultant suspected chronic intestinal pseudo obstruction CIPO. Spent a not very pleasant week in hospital..... At a recent follow-up appt, I asked whether the fever could have been caused by an infection in the intestines, due to food sitting there too long. Yep, he agreed that was a strong possibility. My use of loperamide was questioned. To be honest, I've been taking 4mg most nights, just as a 'precaution'. It seems my 'over-use' likely caused the intestines motility to reduce too much, causing the food to sit around too long,etc. (Causing the bloating).
Since leaving the hospital on 30th July, I've dumped the loperamide and I've only had one bloating episode (more than likely due to eating 2 meals too close together) Moral of the story: if you've got any unresolved/unexplained bloating issues please consider whether your use of loperamide may be the culprit! Of course, this drug can be a very useful part of some individuals' 'toolkits', but I just thought I'd let you have my experience.
