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!
Former Member
Just my experience:
I'm 50+, but what I'm going to say has applied for me for quite a while.
When I over-tax my body physically, one of the first things to start failing on me is my digestive system. And gas is a major result of that.
It's not just swimming. Nor is it a one-day thing. If I have a series of physically overtaxing days -- or just pushing my limits for several days in a row -- I experience the digestive behavior. Sundays are often a casualty of this condition, because I do a ton of physical stuff on Saturdays. (Workout, as usual, and then yard work, or construction work, or helping someone move, whatever...) Saturday nights at the movies can be embarrassing unless I can keep the gas quiet.
And the embarrassment especuially affects my wife, who has to be with me -- whether in the house or at a gathering of some sort. She often gives me orders to rest on Sunday. It would be a running joke in the family if it weren't such an assault on the senses and on decorum...
Gas-ex helps. But only with limited effectiveness sometimes.
This isn't an every day thing. Nor is it an every Saturday thing. But Saturday bears the burden of this condition the most because of the additional physical activity that is more likely to happen on a Saturday. Still, it can crop up on any day that I do an especially vigorous and lengthy workout.
(PS: Lack of sleep -- especially several short nights in a row -- can be a big contributor to this too. Not by itself, usually, but in combination with extreme activity.)
