Am I overdoing it or do I need a trip to docs?

[lesley_x]

Hi guys,

I took up cycling last March. Loved it, and within a few months was doing rides ~3 hours. My fitness progressed really quickly.

I fell quite unwell around November, so I have been trying to build lost fitness back up for the past few months. I am literally starting from scratch.

However, sometimes when I'm riding I can feel really, really sick with really bad tummy pain. I was out for half an hour there having a great time, stopped to return my husbands call and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I felt like I was going to vomit. I had to sit by the roadside for 40 minutes until I could physically stand up without doubling over before I could wheel my bike home, making me feel like a total loser.

In that time I covered 6.5 miles at a speed of 12.20mph with a max of just over 28mph with a few climbs (computer says 1519 feet, I'm not convinced that's true!)

My last ride I covered 4.53 miles at 12.68mph with a max of 20mph and felt fine, if a little dizzy.

Am I overdoing it, given that I am starting from scratch?

What I'm trying to establish is if there is something related to my training that is causing this or something health related. I have been seeing a GI doc for ~3 years who is none the wiser as to my period of illness so I will report back to him.

I also have a tendency to be absolutely fine on the bike, sit down for a break or when I get home then when I get up, I can be close to passing out. On occasion I have had to lie on the floor for a while until I recover.

I don't want to give up cycling

 

[ttcycle]

lesley, that sounds horrible.

It could be the case that your fitness is not what it was? Have you tried keeping the intensity low and easing off on the hills?

If you're concerned though, worth a trip to the GP but as you say, you're under the GI already.

I'm having similar problems but not necessarily related to cycling - I had a period of illness with about 5/6 courses on antibiotics close together (yuck!) and since then I've had an involuntary retching/sickness thing that has not been due to abnormalities as two oscopy investigations have shown. Awaiting a gastro appointment at present.

I don't know what to suggest apart from going back to doc/Consultant and easing off the intensity a bit- though you wrote 12mph average which isn't pushing too much?!

 

[ttcycle]

Just a thought are when do you eat for the rides?
It sounds really unusual that you feel sick on stopping...is this related at all to the sickness in November?

 

[ttcycle]

Another thought- do you know what your heart rate/blood pressure is like?

 

[lesley_x]

Hiya,

I'm not going to lie, the symptoms aren't dissimilar to the period of illness, which is lingering on although improving. My main problem was pain after eating and nausea.

I normally leave at least 1hr before I go out after eating and I don't go out if there's a hint that my stomach is not settled.

I also find it bizarre that it came on after stopping, and the sudden nature of it is what concerns me. It could happen at any time.

I have no idea what my heart rate/blood pressure is like? Would this be of relevance?

 

[lulubel]

Everyone here will probably recommend seeing your doctor as soon as you can, and I'll recommend that too, but here are a few things to think about.

Are you eating properly? Are you getting enough sleep?

Lack of food (especially carbs) will cause me to feel sick and dizzy. Severe tiredness causes pretty much the same symptoms.

Is there a bug going round?

Last summer, I picked up something that made me feel sick, dizzy and gave me awful stomach pains. It was bad enough that I had to lie down and fight to stay still because the stomach pains made me want to move, but moving made me feel like I was going to throw up. It would go away after a few minutes, by which time I'd be soaked with sweat and physically exhausted. The symptoms usually came on about 1-2 hours after eating.

It's hard to judge anything from distance and speed, to be honest, because how much effort you're having to put into that depends totally on your fitness, the bike, the terrain, the conditions, etc, etc, but if you feel like you're working very hard, chances are you are.

Overall, though, if you're suffering from symptoms like that, there must be something wrong. Hopefully you'll get it figured out soon.

 

[ttcycle]

I don't think BP has a bearing in this case but sometimes, low blood pressure and low resting heart rate can cause dizziness on stopping etc.

It sounds like you've not yet recovered from the original illness. My only suggestion is to cut down on mileage and just take it really easy on the bike for now and see if your Consultant offers any insights? He might not as not all docs are cycling friendly. Keep going but keep the riding easy to maintain your current fitness rather than trying to make gains whilst all is not quite well yet with your health.

I have a couple of friends who have gastro problems including myself with the undiagnosed issue presently- A friend of mine had bacteria in her gut that was causing irritation and lasted for a long while (couple of years but she was in the midst of a stressful work situation at the time too). So don't kick yourself if the health is taking a while to normalise.

 

[wheres_my_beard]

Would you mind if I asked what illness you had?

It sounds like digestive/ gastro problem rather than being strictly related to cycling, so I can't help feeling a trip to your GP's would be the sensible thing to do.

 

[lesley_x]

Everyone here will probably recommend seeing your doctor as soon as you can, and I'll recommend that too, but here are a few things to think about.

Are you eating properly? Are you getting enough sleep?

Lack of food (especially carbs) will cause me to feel sick and dizzy. Severe tiredness causes pretty much the same symptoms.

Is there a bug going round?

Last summer, I picked up something that made me feel sick, dizzy and gave me awful stomach pains. It was bad enough that I had to lie down and fight to stay still because the stomach pains made me want to move, but moving made me feel like I was going to throw up. It would go away after a few minutes, by which time I'd be soaked with sweat and physically exhausted. The symptoms usually came on about 1-2 hours after eating.

It's hard to judge anything from distance and speed, to be honest, because how much effort you're having to put into that depends totally on your fitness, the bike, the terrain, the conditions, etc, etc, but if you feel like you're working very hard, chances are you are.

Overall, though, if you're suffering from symptoms like that, there must be something wrong. Hopefully you'll get it figured out soon.

Unfortunately this is not the first time this has happened to me. And I feel 100% fine now, in fact I feel great, and hungry, not sick anymore. So I don't think it was a bug.

I don't personally feel like I was struggling.

To be fair I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, maybe about 6 hours when I normally get 8. I had cereal with milk about an hour before I went out, and last night a big helping of spaghetti bolognese

I don't think BP has a bearing in this case but sometimes, low blood pressure and low resting heart rate can cause dizziness on stopping etc.

It sounds like you've not yet recovered from the original illness. My only suggestion is to cut down on mileage and just take it really easy on the bike for now and see if your Consultant offers any insights? He might not as not all docs are cycling friendly. Keep going but keep the riding easy to maintain your current fitness rather than trying to make gains whilst all is not quite well yet with your health.

I have a couple of friends who have gastro problems including myself with the undiagnosed issue presently- A friend of mine had bacteria in her gut that was causing irritation and lasted for a long while (couple of years but she was in the midst of a stressful work situation at the time too). So don't kick yourself if the health is taking a while to normalise.

I am due to see my gastro doc in about a month. The last appointment we had was not promising, as he gave me a prescription for cocodamol and buscopan and told me to come back in 3 months. He has suggested it might be gastroparesis, it might be problems with blood supply to my stomach, it might be my pancreas, but that's really as far as it goes.

Cutting down my mileage sounds horrible to me considering it is so low already

I could pootle about for hours last year, it's so depressing!


I hope you get your prob sorted! It sounds awful.

Would you mind if I asked what illness you had?

It sounds like digestive/ gastro problem rather than being strictly related to cycling, so I can't help feeling a trip to your GP's would be the sensible thing to do.

If I could answer your question I would be a very happy lady. In short, I don't know. I was having near constant stomach pain and nausea, always aggravated by eating/exercise. I dropped 3 stones in weight and pretty much felt sick just thinking about food. I am much better but not 100%. They found out at the same time I have an autoimmune disease called sjogren's syndrome. Very unusual for this to cause GI complaints though.


Ironically it was the exact reason I took up cycling to improve joint pain caused my sjogren's.

 

[wheres_my_beard]

It may be that having some symptomatic treatment may be helpful.

One of the clients I work with (as mental health support worker) uses an anti-nausea medication (broadly called antiemetics), which seems to be very effective.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I don't think you're over doing it. It sounds like you're still unwell.

 

[pepecat]

Perhaps rather than cut down your mileage, maybe slow down a wee bit - take your average mph down to say, 10 or something, and see how you get on? If you can manage that fine, then maybe increase slowly back up to where you were. It might not be distance so much as effort. I can walk miles without a problem, but i can't sustain the effort to run very far. I think it's the same with cycling sometimes - slower means less effort, and then build up from there.

As for heart rate and BP, they do have a bearing on things. I did a 65 mile rather hilly ride the other week, and whilst i felt fine ON the ride, about half an hour after I finished my heart rate went up and i felt really wobbly. Visit to the first aid tent confirmed my BP had dropped as well, which didn't help. I wasn't dehydrated, oxygen and blood sugar were fine (so I'd obviously been eating enough)....took about an hour to settle down, and i think it was my body just going 'what the hell was that??!!'. I'd not done a ride that long or hilly before, so i think it was the effort to do it that caused the wierd reaction. Perhaps as you've been ill, your body is still in the 'what the hell are you doing to me' phase.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I'm no expert on the stomach thing but ....

having read what you've written it sounds like you're not letting yourself warm-up properly when cycling. We discussed this elsewhere recently. Most of us (especially as we get older) need some good 4 or 5 miles gentle pootling to get our bodies 'prepared' for cycling and then we can turn-up the wick. The body needs a bit of time to go from sitting in front of the telly mode, to bas;lls-out pedalling. It needs to change it's fuelling strategy, change blood flow etc etc. One of the things it will do very rapily is divert blood form the business of digestion to move more oxygen to the muscles. This might be exacerbating your GI condition.
Firstly see your GP.
Secondly, warm-up gently/slowly for a longish period, allow your body to adapt to the effort, steadily increasing your work-rate (after say 15 to 20 mins gentleness). Avoid big exertions where possible, and see how you go.

 

[lulubel]

I had cereal with milk about an hour before I went out, and last night a big helping of spaghetti bolognese

That last advice from Fab Foodie sounded very good to me. In addition, and especially since you're already aware you have a GI problem, it's probably worth a try to leave longer between eating and cycling - maybe 2 hours?

On the GI problem itself, have you experimented with eliminating certain types of food from your diet for a while (such as dairy, wheat, etc) to see if that results in any improvement. I'm not suggesting it could be as "simple" as a food allergy or intolerance, but a lot of conditions are aggravated by certain foods (my sister-in-law has Crohns, for example, and one of the things that aggravates that is the humble tomato), so a bit of experimentation might be helpful. Alternatively, keep a detailed food, exercise and symptom diary to see if you can see any patterns, then try cutting things out if you can see a possible association between certain foods and increased symptoms. You might have already been down that route, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[lesley_x]

One other thing, could dehydration cause these problems? I am guilty of not drinking as much as I should for the simple reason of, I'm scared it's going to upset my belly! I wondered perhaps if 30 minutes of exercise when I'm not hydrated particularly well in the first place could cause this.

I must sound nuts!

It may be that having some symptomatic treatment may be helpful.

One of the clients I work with (as mental health support worker) uses an anti-nausea medication (broadly called antiemetics), which seems to be very effective.

I have anti-emetics already. I may try taking one an hour or so before I go out, to see if that helps.

Perhaps rather than cut down your mileage, maybe slow down a wee bit - take your average mph down to say, 10 or something, and see how you get on? If you can manage that fine, then maybe increase slowly back up to where you were. It might not be distance so much as effort. I can walk miles without a problem, but i can't sustain the effort to run very far. I think it's the same with cycling sometimes - slower means less effort, and then build up from there.

As for heart rate and BP, they do have a bearing on things. I did a 65 mile rather hilly ride the other week, and whilst i felt fine ON the ride, about half an hour after I finished my heart rate went up and i felt really wobbly. Visit to the first aid tent confirmed my BP had dropped as well, which didn't help. I wasn't dehydrated, oxygen and blood sugar were fine (so I'd obviously been eating enough)....took about an hour to settle down, and i think it was my body just going 'what the hell was that??!!'. I'd not done a ride that long or hilly before, so i think it was the effort to do it that caused the wierd reaction. Perhaps as you've been ill, your body is still in the 'what the hell are you doing to me' phase.

I do find it very difficult to 'slow down' and take it easy. Particularly in traffic. But I'm definitely going to try

I'm no expert on the stomach thing but ....

having read what you've written it sounds like you're not letting yourself warm-up properly when cycling. We discussed this elsewhere recently. Most of us (especially as we get older) need some good 4 or 5 miles gentle pootling to get our bodies 'prepared' for cycling and then we can turn-up the wick. The body needs a bit of time to go from sitting in front of the telly mode, to bas;lls-out pedalling. It needs to change it's fuelling strategy, change blood flow etc etc. One of the things it will do very rapily is divert blood form the business of digestion to move more oxygen to the muscles. This might be exacerbating your GI condition.
Firstly see your GP.
Secondly, warm-up gently/slowly for a longish period, allow your body to adapt to the effort, steadily increasing your work-rate (after say 15 to 20 mins gentleness). Avoid big exertions where possible, and see how you go.

I think you may be right on that, I don't warm up properly as I feel under pressure when in traffic. It's also in my nature to want to go flat out right away

I would, however, expect this to cause nausea/pain straight away rather than 30 minutes into a ride when I've stopped?

That last advice from Fab Foodie sounded very good to me. In addition, and especially since you're already aware you have a GI problem, it's probably worth a try to leave longer between eating and cycling - maybe 2 hours?

On the GI problem itself, have you experimented with eliminating certain types of food from your diet for a while (such as dairy, wheat, etc) to see if that results in any improvement. I'm not suggesting it could be as "simple" as a food allergy or intolerance, but a lot of conditions are aggravated by certain foods (my sister-in-law has Crohns, for example, and one of the things that aggravates that is the humble tomato), so a bit of experimentation might be helpful. Alternatively, keep a detailed food, exercise and symptom diary to see if you can see any patterns, then try cutting things out if you can see a possible association between certain foods and increased symptoms. You might have already been down that route, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

I am already wheat and dairy free

Would leaving it say 2 hours be okay in terms of the energy you have?