When you say bloated, are you saying that you are swallowing air when you swim ... ?

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I must be. But I don’t know how not to, as I just feel like I’m inhaling & I can’t slow my breath down anymore.

This is the worst. Oh the pain! For me, it was worse the faster/harder I swam.

I took several months off last year from swimming. When I started again this year, I have not experienced the problem. I wish I knew how I solved it.

I can only say what I am doing differently this year. I do believe it is breathing related.

I have been swimming earlier in the day and usually on an empty stomach - as opposed to at 2pm a few hours after lunch and sometimes a beer or two.

I also seem much more relaxed in the pool this year.

My breathing pattern has not changed at least not that I can tell. I still breath to both sides and usually every three strokes.

I wish I could help you more. Good luck!

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I've gone through this same thing in the last two months. I almost made a post about it because I was so frustrated, but found a few older threads.

I started with some gas-x before and that helped a little, but I'd still get bloated. Then I tried to be very conscious of my swallowing, because I realized the harder I went, the more I would swallow and the more bloated I'd get.

As I worked on that, I took some time to try to stop breathing in through my nose, as I'd keep getting water in and it felt like it would then dribble down the back of my throat which would make me swallow.

In the last two weeks or so I've gotten up to 50-100m with only one or two swallows, and it's made a ton of difference. Did about 1500 last week and didn't have any problems. Even had a race yesterday with no issues at all. I've been swimming 3-4 x a week the last month and I think being more relaxed has helped a lot, too.

I don't feel like I'm swallowing air at the time though, I just feeling like I'm inhaling - admittedly it feels like a sharp gasp in - but with limited time I don't know how to make this in breath less gaspy.

Oh yes! Gas-X is helpful too. It doesn’t prevent swallowing air but it definitely helps, uh, releasing it after swimming. I forgot I _used_ to use that.

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Yep. That's exactly how I felt. Gasping for every breath, then head under the water, then swallow, blow-out, head out, gasp, etc.

Curious if you are still dealing with this?

I had a mild re-occurrence last week and I thought of this post.

It seems, for me anyway, the bloat is way worse if I am swimming without any pool toys. If I do a pull set (buoy, band, and paddles), I can go as long and as hard as I want (#twss) without any bloating. If I get rid of the buoy and band and actually kick while I swim and go hard, I am more apt to get bloated afterwards.

I don't know what causes this other than adult onset swimming. I wish I did. But curious if you notice a higher occurrence also when you swim without toys versus with toys.

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something for me which is more likely to cause swimming bloat is if i have a drink bottle pool side during my training. if i drink from a bottle way more likely to get the bloat pain.

i used to get it bad when i swam as a kid too.

I swallow air when I swim and I have been trying to fix this for years with little success

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
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