UKC

Hi

Wondering if anyone else has experienced abdominal/stomach problems which seem to be related to their climbing training?

I climb indoors twice a week and have done for years, but often get a painful/bloated stomach afterwards, especially the days after a harder session.

I've considered it being related to diet, what I eat before training, and the possibility of it being technique related, bad breathing habits etc... but interested to see if anyone else has noticed anything like this? Anyone??

Maybe it's just the crappy coffee and 7 servings of cake mid session?

Ta

I went through something similar in the last year - eventually discovered I'm allergic to milk and soy products. Eliminated these from the diet and symptoms vanished. Suddenly and weirdly onset as I was vegetarian all my life and lived on the stuff. Plus side is training seems to work much better now! 

Maybe worth having a chat with a doctor and getting some tests done to see if it's diet related. 

Farting is the best cure for bloating

Only if you are absolutely sure that it really is only a fart, as I found out to my horror when lying in my top of the range sleeping bag high in the Himalayas following the onset of Delhi Belly..........

Are you in your late thirties, forties or fifties?

A gastroenterologist will tell you that as we age we make less of the enzymes needed to digest lactose and carbohydrates. So milk, beer, some breads and energy foods (especially maltodextrin) will give you wind. Have you eaten baked beans or quinoa recently?

Also consider the possibility of reflux / hiatus hernia, especially if at the upper part of this age range.

Thanks for the reply, appreciated. 

Thanks for the reply. Appreciated. I am late thirties yes. I don't drink milk, but I have been known to consume a beer or two... I wouldn't describe it as wind though, it's more of a very tight sensation, like the muscles are restricting the flow of food, and even making breathing feel a bit different to normal. 

I've wondered about it being exhaustion/anxiety related. I don't get much sleep which I know is a mistake, and have a occasionally stressful job. (doesn't everyone...)

cheers

sleep is essential so lack-if will always contribute to probs. If u have a diet related prob then start testing by elimination - start with the things u habitually eat - do u really eat 7 servings of cake ?! A useful start would eliminate ALL sources of sugar - at least on the day of / around the event. Try bananas instead.

Climbing can sometimes be quite intense on the core, particularly steep climbing and hard bouldering. Try climbing on a really empty stomach, maybe fast before you climb for 4 or more hours and see if it makes a difference.

Sorry to be picky, but you're probably intolerant rather than allergic to lactose/soy. 

I had similar problem few years ago and wasn't aware of the fact that you can build up the intolerance later on in your life. Took me half a year to figure out why I kept going to a toilet 3-5 times a morning! I cut down some milk intake and it got better. Coffee does have similar effect as well. 

Try climbing on an empty stomach?  Nobody gonna let you climb on their stomach if they haven't had breakfast.

Seriously, peeps, this is not how climbers used to write about climbing.  Forgive me - or not - for having an intolerance intolerance.

Intolerance is 100% the problem. As I wrote, you become less able to process lactose and carbohydrates as you enter your forties and beyond. Charlatans and modern witch doctors will tell you you have an allergy.  The tightness is caused by trapped wind - you've seen the ads in the backs of magazines and thought it was an old people's obsession but now it's happening to you. Most intestinal gas is reabsorbed but some makes it through the large bowel and is expelled.

Aye, we assumed as much but as it's progressed it gets more and more like an allergic reaction - does weird things to the skin etc. 

I'm off to a gastroenterologist soon to get some clarity on it before going to a nutritionist to make sure I'm eating the right things. I'm only 23 as well so it's onset pretty early considering these things seem to usually kick in later in life. 

Nice to know what's going on though, I thought I was going mad for a while.  

I was 100% one of the intolerance intolerant until I got one and it became clear remarkably fast how utterly shit it was. I do my best not to complain about it, but f**k me do I miss cheese. 

There is another factor, which nobody has mentioned: adrenaline. One of the side-effects of a surge of adrenaline is the need to empty the bowels; I remember reading an account of a gunfight breaking out in an African city and the reporter mentioning that citizens, caught out in the open, were so frightened that many had to drop their trousers and go on the spot, leaving the streets dotted with poos.  I also remember being on the Cuillin ridge with a pal and finding ourselves in a slightly worrying situation and both of us starting farting!  This is also, according to my gastroenterologist cycling buddy, the reason why caffeine makes the bowels work. 

You must drink scarier coffee than I do!

Caffeine stimulates the production of adrenaline... etc....

Surely that was ‘Kathmandu Follow-thru’?