abdominal distention after swimming

[pgeorge]

After swimming at a very fast pace or hard work out I get severe bloating or distention. I'm pretty certain that my breathing is correct with freestyle from what i've read. The bloating which starts about 1 hour after the swim is very painful and can take up to 2 hours to dissipate either thru burping or flatulence. Heavy deep breathing seems to help dispell the gas as well as lying down in the fetal position and doing stretches that i've learned from Yoga. It does not occur when I do a casual easy swim of say 30 or 40 minutes only when I push myself to go fast. This has been happening for 15 to 20 years and none of my primary care physicians have ever thought it very serious.
I'm a long time smoker, have hypothyroidism , 43 years old, not overweight and in relatively good shape. I also bike and sometimes go pretty fast and the bloating does not occur with this sport or any other just swimming.
Does anyone else have this problem? I've tried to eat before swimming, drink more water, not eat before swimming, drink during the workout,, and can not figure out what works. Please let me know if you have any remedies or diagnosis.
{i've just reduced my smoking in half and on my waay to quitting and haven't seen any changes}

[yoshi]

Did you check to see if your LES is loose??

[pgeorge]

what is LES?
thanks for your reply

[yoshi]

lower esophagus sphincter is the valve between your esophagus and your stomach,it can get loosen due to age,medication,certain exercise.

[star queen]

When you are swimming at a casual pace your breathing is measured and usually goes in/out the same depth via the mouth.  Air breathed via the mouth moves up into the lungs via the asophagus and fills the lungs to capacity. If your breath is larger than the lung capacity, this excess air still being breathed in goes into the stomach. When you release the air at the end of respiration, lung air is released before stomach air.  Excess air in the stomach is belched out or moves along with food into the intestines.  Normally it is a small amount of air and gives no problem. When you swim at an increased pace over a longer period, or in a panic state such as with racing or just pushing yourself, then your breathing becomes uneven and gasping. You may skip (hold) a breath in order to give yourself more time to pull yourself through the water.  This time increases swimming speed. When you take that breath, you will breathe in great gulps of air at one time and then blow it out at a slower pace.  When you gulp air, that air goes into the stomach with each breath and instead of moving into the intestines with food processing, it is pushed out of the stomach into the intestines without food because it has no where else to go; you need more space for incoming air.  The air becomes a "bubble" moving along. Because there is no food, there is little bacteria hanging onto it to break it down into smaller pockets of air as it moves along the intestional tract. With great bubbles, the intestines expand or distend to allow the air to move along.  Your stomach seems a bit firmer or harder to the touch, you feel bloated, which can be painful, until the air is either released from the rectum or is reduced in size from residual bacteria in the bowels.  This can take several hours.  As long as the manner in which you breathe during swimming continues, the problem will persist.  Hope this helps

[pgeorge]

star queen,
thank you for your thoughtful reply to my problem. from what i understand in your message it might be that my breathing is problematic during sprinting and that i might be gasping on the intake part or that intake/outake is not synchronized well. today i noticed that i definately hold breaths when kicking off teh wall and that my first breath off the wall is so needed.
i think what would be the best diagnosis is for someone to say "BECAUSE YOU SMOKE.. your lung capacity is compromised and you're not getting the CO2 out quick enough under stressful conditions". Tomorrow i'll buy the patch and get rid of this horrible addiction once and for all. its so time for that.
thanks again.
pgeorge

[chloejayne]

reading your article about flatulence and swimming as this is happening to my three year old grandaughter who spends more time under the water than above it. The wind has been so severe after swimming that she has had a bowel motion at the same time. So what you are saying is she has to learn to breathe properley for this not to happen ?

[SeeMomRun]

Star queen's explanation makes A LOT sense to what I have been experiencing!  (and this is the first time I have ever seen somebody explaining why I am experiencing this).  I am a triathlete and I have to throw up either during a cyling or running leg of a triathlon race after swimming.  I think I do breathe properly but maybe there are opportunities for better breathing.  Is there anything else that could help avoiding this air buble issue.....

[Alastair]

well done to star queen for coming up with a likely cause! I've been pushing myself swimming, and gasping at the end of a double length. Stomach gurgling is the bane of my life at the moment! (I've also lost a lot of weight, so thought that stomach/imtestine shrinkage may also be a factor. Think I've been over-stretching too (dull pain, lower-left stomach.) So, I'll try swimming less vigorously and control breathing more. Will let you know how it goes!

[fastswimming]

Has anyone experienced a change after star queen's suggestion to breath at a normal pace?

[andy_g]

I swim and I have all the above problems. They start the first moment I eat something sweet, like chocholate or cereal bar. If I do not eat than I will not get the pain. Unfortunately, I swim 3 times a week for 10 months a year, and I do want to eat after a workout. Any opinions? Thank you !

[andy_g]

I swam today and our coach wants us to push it every swim for certain workouts. I tried to watch my breathing but I think I still got more air than needed. I talked with the coach about it and he also knew of certain phenomena! Bottom line, after workout, I wated 1 hour before having my chocolate, and everything was fine! I will also try to sip as less air as I can (optimal needed) for the swim!  I hope this helps someone else in our shoes as well!

PS: Keep on changing the setup until you find the cause, that is how I found this post!

Initially I though it was gaterode + chocholate in the morning with empty stomach! I got rid of the gatorade, which is fine during my runs or cycling workouts, and I still got the pains after eating a chocolate right after swim! I also got rid of eating and lunch time would be fine, but I would be starving for the day. 1 hour fasting works for me now :)

Cheers!