post marathon stomach cramps

[belleville runner]

question for Sandy....any ideas what could be causing stomach cramping two days after a marathon?  I took almost 5hrs. to finish....I drank about 2 REALLY big bottles (2L?) the day before and then drank lots and lots and lots of water during the race.  (pretty much a cup or two at each water station I'd say) I had my own sports drink in my belt and drank all of it (less than a litre).  I had an ibuprofen at about the 35K mark at the aid station, my one calf was bothering me a bit....varicose veins.  Anyways, the cramping did not start until the drive home and kept up all day, and would come in waves.  In between cramps I'd feel fine.  Monday I felt a bit better through out the day, the cramps were very mild, but later in the day, around 4:00 they got quite bad again, to the point of almost being doubled over.  This morning brought relief, I felt good througout the day however had the occasional cramp.  It is now Tues night and I'm still getting them....like I said they come and go.  when they come they are pretty severe and then they're gone as quickly as they came.  Other than the cramps I have no other symptoms.  I feel great as a matter of fact.  I considered hyponatramia, looked it up on the internet also.  I learned from several websites that I should not have consumed ibuprofen!  Then why do they offer it on the course I wonder??   I got the impression from most of the websites that any cramping from hyponatramia occurs while you're running.  Does it ever present after a run? Anyyways, any help you can offer is appreciated.

[Sandy]

Hmmmmm.  My first thought based on what you said is hyponatremia and the quick fix to that is to either take some electrolyte tabs OR eat something salty.  Have a bag of salt and vinegar chips, some pretzels or peanuts.  If the salt tastes like the best thing you've ever had it's probably that.  The timing is a little peculiar but runners are so careful about what we eat and tend to eat too little salt on a daily basis so if you were depleted from your run then never put it back in it's possible.

Ibuprofen is not a good idea while running because if you get dehydrated it can cause kidney failure among other issues.  Why some races hand it out I can't answer, sponsors maybe.  Tylenol is safe to take while running.

If the salt doesn't work and your symptoms persist see your doctor.

[The Moose]

Sounds like runners trots to me...Let me know how you make out, because I tend to get them after any particularly taxing effort.  Seems to me I get them worse when taking ibuprofen.  I've been taking 2 Tums before big efforts lately to great effect.  NO stomach issues at all to report, but I may not be pushing myself to that kind of extreme either????

Keep me posted....

Mike

[belleville runner]

well Mike, I don't know if I had runner's "trots" simply because when I think of the word trots, I think of diarrhea....I did not have any of that....don't know if that's what you're referring to or just upset stomach.  I'll give you a briefing of my symptoms and what happened.  And just to let you know I have never experienced any type of nausea or upset stomach before a run.  I've been lucky that way.  Anyways, I started feeling this cramping about an hour to two hours after the finish.   I was crampy, on and off, for the whole drive home from Ottawa.  They would come and go and they were sharp at times. This kept up Sunday and was so bad by evening that I took some Pepto Bismol (it was the ONLY thing in my med. cabinet that fit the bill) and went to bed hoping i'd fall asleep and not be plagued by these cramps.  I did sleep and when I woke  Mon. morning the cramping seemed to have disappeared.  BUt a couple of hours later it started again, but not as bad as the day before.  They were mild cramps, and they were more infrequent through the day BUT around 4 p.m. they got bad again....so bad I was almost doubled over a couple of times.  And like I said before, they came as quick as they went.  Tues. was a bit better but still there was cramping on and off....by Wed. the cramping was almost gone completely, except for maybe three or four episodes during the day, but nothing serious.  By Thursday I was pretty much over it....no cramping since.  So in a nutshell i have NO idea what i had but it had to be marathon related, and the only thing I can think of is maybe a  mild case of hyponatremia?  However almost anyone I've spoken to about hyponatremia was quite perplexed that my cramps lasted two -three days. No one's heard of that.   Leave it to me to present a new challenge.  I did drink a lot more water this time than my last marathon...so it makes me wonder. Nutritionally I didn't change anything else, I consumed gels and water and gatorade, but I didn't overdue it on the gatorade.

[Jane]

Is it possible that you just picked up some kind of bug???  And that it wasn't related to the run at all?

[belleville runner]

sure, I guess anything is possible right?  Only thing is that any time I've ever had a "bug" that has caused stomach upset I've ended throwing up eventually.  So this instance was different.  I guess we'll never know!  Could've also been food related....mild food poisoning perhaps.