Does anyone know whether the use of Pepto Bismol during a race would inhibit the absorption of fluids and calories? Since Pepto “coats” your stomach, it seems that the “coating” may inhibit absorption. Feel free to mock and ridicule my lack of knowledge with respect to anatomy and bodily functions.
Doesn’t sound too healthy - why would you want to do that?
Despite experimenting with different sources of nutrition and electrolyte replacements, my stomach tends to take a turn for the worse at some point later in long events (HIM and IM) and always after long runs (2:30+) while training or marathons. I was considering carrying chewable Pepto with me during my upcoming IM in case it gets ugly but don’t want to use it if the Pepto would actually cause more problems during and/or after the event.
Hi:
As some one who travels around the country and aboard to do races (i.e. marathons and tri’s) I find my self eating food and drinking water that I don’t consume daily at home. I particularly think the changes in mineral content found in “normal tap” water can give me a upset stomach and diarrhea. I have found Pepto Bismol tablets to be very useful for short term diarrhea. It would be better to stop the loss of water through loose bowl movements with P.B. then to get dehydrated. Obviously you would want to step up your electrolite drinking to replace any thing that you lost before the race even started. Tim
To get back to your question, I don’t think that PB would inhibit consumption b/c of the coating of the stomache. I certainly understand your concern, though - there’s nothing worse than that (well, maybe a few things).
I ran a marathon once after taking immodium ad because of the same issue - but found that it still dehydrated me - even though no movements occurred - I think it just threw my system off. I’d do a long run for practice with PB and see how you react - certainly before the actual race.
I had my stomach sort of go south on my late in the IM run. A guy running next to me asked how I was feeling and I told him I had stomach cramps. He said he had some Pepto he didn’t think he would need and that I could have them if I wanted. I took them and the definitely settled things down. I seem to have a generally sensitive stomach that can get sort of “crampy” and the Pepto always helps.
I actually caught and passed him around mile 24 and he laughed saying it was because of his help. I really don’t think there is any real danger from doing it as long as you are following recommended doses.
Are you sure you want all those salicylates?
My guess is that you are doing too many calories during your race… Is this correct?
Long runs and shitting—try psyllium husk once or twice a day (firms everything up) helps you shit everythign out before your run.
I like tums. They seems to settle down my stomach almost instantly and are not nearly as harsh as Immodium or Pepto.
I found in my 50 miler that Pepto doesn’t really work all that well while racing. Immodium (1/4 or 1/2 of a tab) and Tums are the best bets in my experience. And I raced the GFT last year after getting food poisoning (probably from a rotten pistachio) the night before. Tums was the key to finishing that race.
Thanks everybody for your feedback. I will monitor more closely my calorie intake while training and then while racing. If problems persist, I will most likely carry some Tums with me rather than Pepto.