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!
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....
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....
