Lots and lots of GAS!

Haha what a funny thread :D prouppp Reason why I'm laughing is that I used to have the same issue. I remember after some ld workouts, sometimes, in the showers, I would deliver some 1minute long bombs. It was pretty amazing. In my case, the cause was very simple. I was swallowing little too much water while breathing, and some air would find its way down to my stomach along with the water. When you think about it, it is pretty obvious that with the little time we have to breathe, if we swallow water, it is very hard to conceive that no air passes along with the water. After all, making sure no air passes would probably translate into missing a breathe. Either you drink air along with water, either you drink the water without breathing. No more complicated than that. These gas aren't really gas other than O2. There's a good thing, and a bad thing with this problem. Good thing is that it means that your throat is making great job in making sure none of the water you glup mistakenly ends up in the lungs. Bad thing is that it denotes that you often swim with some water in your mouth, which in turn means that your breathing action (rotating the body and head, Popeying your mouth) isn't optimal. I made some effort to get rid of this issue and it wasn't that difficult. Now, maybe an opinion different than some expressed in the thread so far. I do not think that this issue is related to exhaling air underwater or not. To some extent, holding air underwater and exhaling it when face is outside the water (we all agree that it is not recommended) can only help the water left in your mouth to be thrown off the mouth when exhaling. To me, the issue was more related to the fact that I was constantly swimming with some water in my mouth. That used to occur because I was just not paying enough attention to make sure it doesn't get in my mouth at the first place. Fixed the issue by using the Popeye sort of mouth (the lower half of it completely sealed).

Ahem, Solar, you wish 02 was all that was coming out of us....Jim, here is the recipe for "gas" (not foul smelling gas): cook wheat with lentils, then eat. You will start leaking air through both openings. The foul smelling stuff is a mixture of gas producing stuff and some protein...sauerkraut and potatoes and some blood pudding work well. I miss my younger days when we had farting contests, and better yet, burping contests...this before the advent of large coca colas, we had to burp with just the regular size stuff...I could burp the national anthem, wait, that's from "9 and half weeks of love". For you naive persons, try this:http://www.fart.com/

Is this something that plagues older swimmers more than young ones? Not necessarily. Gulping air while swimming can occur at any age. (I have a teenager who's pretty adept at sounding off after practice.) This is most likely your cause. triathlon.competitor.com/.../ Intestinal bloating and flatulence: There are two reasons for this: swallowing air and ingesting a high concentration of simple sugars. Air ingestion occurs most commonly while swimming. Once in the stomach, air can pass into the intestines. Having significant quantities of air in the bowels causes uncomfortable bloating and cramping. The best way to avoid this problem is to encourage belching to expel any air that you have ingested while swimming. Your stomach might not completely absorb simple sugars in high concentrations. This too can cause uncomfortable bloating and cramping. The best way to avoid this problem is to minimize the concentration and amount of simple sugars ingested.

I have pain in my stomach with excessive bloating. I went to a specialist that she said there is no specific reason to have this problem, and she is guessing that I have functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs). When I did Google, I found that air swallowing is one of the FGIDs, namely aerophagia (air swallowing). I just realized that this problem almost started 1.5 months ago and around that time I joined to master swimming team. I haven't swum long distance last 20 years, and now I am swimming almost 2500 meter, two times a week. Do you think that may be the reason? Let's say yes, what should I do. I am not able to fart/burp maybe small amount and very much rare. Gas X is not working. I have started wearing my oversized jeans to work, and people think I am pregnant. I love the team, my coach is so good, I don't want to stop swimming. However, I have this health problem. Now I am stuck. Do you think I should swim more frequently or do ab exercise? I hope I can find an answer from this group. Thanks in advance Fay If it is from swallowing air while swimming, you might be able to ask your coach to watch your breathing pattern and make recommendations. You might also try a swim snorkel for a practice for a week or two. If your symptoms improve, this might explain it. Then you'd know you have to work on the breathing in the water.

try drinking peppermint tea, often..it works great!

I have pain in my stomach with excessive bloating. I went to a specialist that she said there is no specific reason to have this problem, and she is guessing that I have functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs). When I did Google, I found that air swallowing is one of the FGIDs, namely aerophagia (air swallowing). I just realized that this problem almost started 1.5 months ago and around that time I joined to master swimming team. I haven't swum long distance last 20 years, and now I am swimming almost 2500 meter, two times a week. Do you think that may be the reason? Let's say yes, what should I do. I am not able to fart/burp maybe small amount and very much rare. Gas X is not working. I have started wearing my oversized jeans to work, and people think I am pregnant. I love the team, my coach is so good, I don't want to stop swimming. However, I have this health problem. Now I am stuck. Do you think I should swim more frequently or do ab exercise? I hope I can find an answer from this group. Thanks in advance Fay

Gas is goood!

Funny thread - I started swimming a couple of years ago - I am a 48 yr guy and I was getting a lot of gas if I was swimming 2 or more km. I found as I got better at breathing and stopped gulping so much air and water the problem stopped.

It's part of the swim...farting is cool :D

Yep I get it too after long and/or hard swims. I always just assumed it was from gulping air. I'm getting a lot better at belching while swimming now and it seems to be improving. For long swims in the pool, a well timed toilet break is invaluable (as documented in my blog, "Chicken's Nuggets").