Not the most pleasant subject, I know. I have found some advice, but not a lot about this. What do you think, especially if you are a distance or open water swimmer?
After swimming hard or for more than a mile in the open water, I'm left with the most bloated feeling! I WANT to (let's put it politely) FLATULATE, but just remain bloated for up to 4 hours. I have a feeling this has to do with not exhaling completely, thus compounding the air in my stomach and gut.
When I really pay attention to expelling all the air as I swim, I get winded!!
I have tried Gas-X after swimming, but it doesn't really work. I just have to wait for the air to "filter out" over time. It can be painful!
Do particular foods create gas? Should I hold to the old dictum of never eating less than 2 hours before swimming? Is this something that plagues older swimmers more than young ones?
What's going on with me? I'm a 54 year old woman.
THANKS!
I would recommend speaking with your doctor about this. I cannot say I have ever experienced the issue you are describing. Are you swallowing the air you are breathing? Perhaps add coffee to your pre-swim routine, that always helps my digestion.
As for this Should I hold to the old dictum of never eating less than 2 hours before swimming?I would say no. You need to eat and hydrate before, during, and after swimming (depending on the distances).
Again, I would speak with your doctor, or talk to a nurse if you don't want to set an appointment.
Guila,
At first I found it very difficult to believe that swallowing air could, in point of fact, lead to flatulence. So I did a little bit of Internet searching and found that most sites seem to agree with Quciksilver's Triathlete article.
The phenomenon is called aerophagia, and it looks like you can also get it from chewing gum.
Fats and proteins tend to produce little gas. Perhaps if you know you are doing an open water swim, you might eat something like eggs before the swim.
The other thing I wonder about is not the production side of things, which might be accounted for by both diet and air swallowing, but the elimination/escape element. It wouldn't be a problem if the gas could get out, but it sounds like it's caught in your digestive track.
Interestingly, you could cut your intestines in half with a pair a scissors and feel almost no pain. But if you distend the intestines slightly with air pressure, the pain of cramping can be very intense. An odd little quirk of intestinal nerve physiology I learned while undergoing a "virtual colonoscopy" at Harvard, a procedure which involves inflating the intestines with carbon dioxide like adding air to a bicycle tire.
In any event, I wonder if the various sphyncters that regulate the passage of things through the digestive system might somehow be clamping down, perhaps from nerves, perhaps from the cold water, perhaps from the physical activity itself?
Good luck and let us know if you find a solution. It's probably not safe, but if you could find some sterilized aquarium tubing....
Doesn't keep it inside make you more buoyant?
if you are wearing a wetsuit and let it out if might make your bouyancy shift.
and if you have a full body wetsuit, the only real place it can escape is your neck......
I'm getting old. Oh for the bygone days of anonymous message boards and forums. Back in 1996 this girl posted something similar about passing gas after eating power bars or equivalent, this while running. She posted the question on Runnersworld.com a very busy running internet forum. I couldn't resist and came out with a long post titled: "The Art of the Fart". This was about the same time the Trump book, the art of the deal came out. I recall mentioning "after burner" effects, where using a match might make you go faster, and many many other humorous takes. The only time I can actually see a problem in the water farting department is when being in a big tub without bubbles and your partner might see the bubbles coming up. Or if aside from "air" you are also passing a lot of methane, where the smell will get you. An odorless fart in the wetsuit might not be bad, but it is like farting under the covers: do you want the fart to stay under, or are you opening part of the cover to let the thing out, or are you hoping it will die away and be reabsorbed ?....
...this would be cause for joking and appreciate your taking it seriously!
Happy swimming-
GMYou're very welcome. ;)
Jim...this is no laughing matter. Apparently it's cause for disqualification by FINA.
www.totalprosports.com/.../flavia-zoccari-swimsuit-rip-1.jpg
