Some times, like today, if I do a very intense workout (I’m talking totally covered in sweat, sweat puddle on the floor, HR close to anaerobic for the majority of the workout), I get very painful period-like cramps. Painful enough that I usually check to see if I have my period early, and sometimes enough that it makes me have to have a bowel movement for some reason. The pain usually lasts about 10 to 30 minutes, and once in a while it’s so bad I have to lie down.
Does anyone else experience this, and if so, any idea what’s happening?
No, but on what might or might not be a related note I often do get bloated like I do just before my period. I know it’s not my imagination because I used a measuring tape to do pre and post workout waist measurements, and there’s a difference.
Another thought: I don’t know if you read your body better than I do, but I have some trouble telling uterine cramps from intestinal cramps, which is annoying at times when I could have either. Are you sure where you’re cramping?
Sometimes. Often if I’m near or on my period, I’ll get cramps when I run or right after. (But in the long term, I’ve gotten fewer/less painful cramps since I started running.)
One time last month, though, this happened to me and it definitely wasn’t period related. I split my running up into bits and I did my first bit of running before I took a walking break and right after, I got horrible cramps. They subsided and I finished up with no problem. But I wasn’t pre menstrual (my period was maybe two weeks away?) and I felt pretty confused.
I’m pretty sure the cramps are occurring in my lady bits, but you know how when you get really bad period cramps and you end up having a bowel movement - that’s kind of what happens afterwards.
No BM, but I’ve experienced pain after running when I was near my period (a few days before). Once it was so bad that I half-crawled into the shower (I was at home) and curled up on the floor, trying not to vomit. I’d rank that moment somewhere in the top ten worst pain experiences ever.
Yeah, that’s sort of how it felt for me. And that often happens during my period–the bowel movement/cramp thing. I guess it’s common, though.
Small Hen, my period cramps used to be so bad sometimes I’d vomit, and feel better afterward–I’d be like trying to make myself throw up, it hurt sooo bad.
I’m a guy. One possible explanation is that blood is shunted away from the internal organs to fuel the working muscles. I have known many runners get abdominal cramps from intense exercise. I never had cramps but after a very intense workout or race, I wouldn’t feel like eating for several hours. I usually could only tolerate things like plain bagels, bananas, etc.
Yes, but the most common reason you get the bm problem doesn’t have to do with cramps themselves, it has to do with hormones that cause the cramps (prostaglandin) also targetting your intestines when they’re not supposed to. They’re what causes our backs and thighs to ache at the same time too. So, like runner pat said, it could be abdominal cramps that both genders get, and they’re being “read” wrong because the two types of cramps often happen at the same time in women.
Well then the next question would be how much water you’re drinking. I used to take supplements that would dehydrate me before working out, and that would produce a similar reaction to what you’re describing. I would assume that you would have mentioned it if you were taking any supplements that would be causing that sensation, so the next thing I’d recommend is just making sure that you’re drinking a lot of water.
I drink a LOT of water. I’m the water queen! About 12 to 15 cups a day.
I might try to change what I eat and see if it makes a difference. I was actually thinking that the pain might be caused by something that my body releases under cardio stress that could affect my insides, similar to when the blood is pulled from the core during a workout.
