[Guest]

Hello, everyoneLast week, I suffered an intense bout of "something" that nearly put me in the hospital

It started off as gas pains and bloating, then added nausea to the list, then finally intense abdominal pains that kept me up all night and for which I could not get any relief. No vomiting, no fever, no diarrhea. The next morning, I managed to get myself to the doctor's office, cried until they would fit me in, and finally managed to see a doctor. I'm still waiting the test results and have not received any form of diagnosis (I did get some antispasmatic drugs, though), but my research points straight to IBS.The more I read, the more I realize that what I thought was normal isn't. Hopefully awareness and knowledge will help me not only prevent painful recurrences of last week's incident, but also help me live a more normal life!As the title suggests, I am a runner as well. When I started running last year, I noticed that I was passing mucus. I figured it was something related to running. Then I started noticing small amounts of blood in my stool, again, only after running.

I did some research and this seems to happen to runners, particularly after long distances. Again, thought nothing of it. Now I'm starting to think that maybe this was also symptomatic of IBS.I'm curious to see if there are any other athletes, runners or otherwise, on the boards, what symptoms they experienced, and how they have managed.

 

[On Edge]

I have been running for many years, but not competitively, about 10k a day for overall fitness etc. I have had IBS and bouts of ulcerative colitis for about 24 years, and I still manage. I never run first thing in the morning, but make sure my gut has done its thing first, I run most of my route through a large park with open public washrooms in summer and lots of trees and bushes year-round. In all the years, I can count on my hands the times I ever had an emergency requiring a BM stop while running.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for replying!I've noticed that I need to be very careful of what I eat before I run and give myself plenty of time between eating and running. I'm training for a half marathon and my long runs are over 1.5 hours. Definitely noticing sensitivity to sugar and trying to find an alternative to Gatorade as that brings on cramps, very unpleasant 12ks into a run, 3ks away from home, and not a bathroom or private spot in sight! Looking for more natural alternatives to what's sold in most running stores, especially those easy to carry on race day!