Does this happen to anybody else? For your infomation, I swim in a saline pool. So i am not sure if i am unknowingly swallowing tiny bits of water at a time that, after an hour+ long workout, end up giving my stomach irriatation. The problem is this only happens maybe 33% of the time and i have tried everything to prevent it - from filling my stomach with foods / excess water / milk prior to the workout to taking nexium. Havent figured out a solution but maybe someone out there can offer some advice or perhaps recommend a treatment…
Don’t know if this is the problem, but I occasionally get some stomach upset after long swims due to “swallowing air” for lack of a better description. Gas X cures in minutes. It was the first thing I took after my only IM swim as well. Works well for me.
Cheers!
I often get HUGE stomach gas/air issues swimming. Mostly can be cured by stopping and standing up and issuing forth TREMENDOUS burps. thank god doesnt happen when racing, no idea why…
i also get a weird muscle pull in my stomach sometimes when swimming- may be also gas? not sure.
a little more info would help us know what could be the issue: how long before do you eat? How much? Do you take in anything while you swim?
One thing for me is I need the most time for my food to digest before getting int he pool before any other sport. Being that there probably is alot less blood flow that is going to your stomach as well as heavy use of your core which would put strain on your stomach. But I have had the same issue its either for me that has been:
not enough time for food to digest before swimming or too many cal while swimming. too much water could leave you bloated too. I now make sure I have 2ish hrs to let food digest or have smaller snack or gel then just a few sips of water while swimming no gels or drink!
I always used to get nauseated when I swam, often times making me vomit. Then I learned bilateral breathing - problem solved!
(I am also prone to sea-sickness, car-sickness, etc. So I think its an inner ear thing)
well the onset of the tummy issues came when i used to NOT eat prior to. Then someone metnitoned that the excess salt intake from the water in the pull could be remedied thru dilution (thus excess water intake prior to workout) and / or by absorption (breads, cereals, etc before). Also tried milk to offset any pH changes that might be occuring. None of these have worked; i continue to experiement but also continue to get the stomach pains as often. FYI, personally i have no problem eating and then swimming.
Attempting to eat 2-3 hrs before swim is tough b/c my swim workouts are t,thurs,fr at 530 am.
I swim in a saline pool as well, and this definitely happens to me when I have swallowed some of the pool water. Happens when I’m working on breathing “in the bow wave” and I don’t turn my head quite enough. Feels like bloating, pretty uncomfortable. Never happens to me in chlorine-based pools or open water. I’m convinced its due to water being swallowed. Gas-X seems to help.
I call it swim farts, actually made a thread about it on here when I first joined.
every time I swim I get horrible gas for about 1 hour after
still happens
Wait till those Wisconsin people hear about “pool farts”!!
do u take the gas-ex before / after? I actually tried that one time but it didnt seem to work.
my school has just opened a new rec center so i will be swimming there from here on out…i just heard form acquatics dept that the pool is bromine based so hopefully this a fond farewell to the swim farts…
Try ginger - ginger tea, candied ginger, etc. Helps with some stomach ailments.
I take it afterward to reduce the bloating feeling- seems to help (though not instantly). I haven’t tried taking it before a swim. I don’t experience this all the time, only when I ingest the pool water (though it doesn’t take much.)
How do you feel when you breath while swimming? The phenomenom of “pool belly” is caused by not breathing in a relaxed manner with your diaphragm. When you start to “chest breath”, you force a lot of air into your stomach - hence the gassy and bloated feeling. So it may be a swim fitness issue as much as anything else - the harder you work, the more likely you are to alter your breathing pattern to get as much oxygen as you can, anyway you can. Just a thought though.