I’ve been running rather consistently for about 6 years now. I’ve had the occasional injury that I’ve managed to work through. But this latest thing… well, nothing has crippled my running like this.
Runner’s trots. It is really hard to get motivated to run at a good clip when your stomach is a bit cramped and you’re keeping your butt clamped as tight as you can hoping you can make the next restroom.
I’ve been to my GP and he had me stop off at the hospital during one of my runs to draw some blood to check electrolytes. They were fine.
I typically run at 5:00am which means it has been at least 8 hours since my last meal.
I go before I run but it doesn’t seem to help much. My last run I had to stop 4 times.
At various times I’ve tried cutting out dairy, gluten, caffeine (diet soda) and chocolate.
I’ve tried taking imodium but that hasn’t helped.
I’ve tried ibuprofen the night before a run without success.
I’ve hydrated the day before a run to the point where I was up 3 times peeing that night.
I can bike or swim or play other sports without issue. It is just running that does this to me.
Has anyone else dealt with this type of thing? I’ve read several of the medical papers that I could find on this but there doesn’t seem to be a known cause and therefore no known cure. Many of the above techniques have anecdotal evidence to support each has worked for someone, but none have worked for me.
Hopefully this won’t be considered seeking medical advice, as I’m already going down that path. I’ve been to my GP and I saw a gastroenterologist yesterday (the GI just wants to do a colonscopy and plans to put me on a script that apparently dries up the colon).
I used to have this problem, or I guess I should say a similar one. At my old house, whenever I took a particular route, I had to stop running after about an hour, clench the cheeks, and speedwalk to the closest public facilities. Every time I took a certain route.
If I went the other way out of my driveway, I only had the problem maybe 10% of the time. I guess it was a coincidence, but it seemed strange.
On the other hand, I was never able to go before a half marathon or full marathon, nor did I ever need to go during. But those early-morning runs occasionally gave me a problem. Sorry, but I never did find a solution other than to design routes that didn’t take me far from known public facilities, or my own house.
I thought ibuprofen could cause the trots. It’s one of the reasons I take it so sparingly.
ETA: My sister started getting runners trots in her mid-30s, but it turned out to be the onset of lactose intolerance which affects most adults to some degree (but usually not enough for most people to notice it). Her doctor said that her running was probably exacerbating the symptoms, but once she stopped consuming dairy, it sorted itself out completely.
My hubby gets this too, usually about 7km or 8km in. I don’t really have any suggestions, because he hasn’t found a solution either. I think it has something to do with when and how much he eats before running, but he’s made a few modifications with no results.
Huh, looked it up and taken ibuprofen the night before is often recommended. Man, that would totally give me the trots, not prevent it!
Thoughts: have you ever tried an exclusion diet to rule out food allergies? Did you GP also rule out any other “intestinal issues” or was it just sending you to get blood work done during your run?
My GP said it wasn’t likely to be Crohn’s Disease nor IBS since it only occurs during running. He seemed well aware of this condition and asked about acid reflux or other symptoms, so I figured he knew what to look for.
I’ve tried cutting out the foods I mentioned above, as those seemed the most likely to cause issues. I can certainly try cutting out other foods and see what happens.
I used to have them, too, everytime I did an early morning run. So I started training in the evening and didn’t get them anymore. There was something about the food sitting in my gut, then all the bouncing (or even the anticipation of all the bouncing) that would send me straight to the bathroom a few times a run, but only if I trained early in the a.m.
Have you experimented and tried running an equal distance on a treadmill? Just to see what happens. If something is a little mechanically off, maybe you’re getting extra shockwaves making your guts wobble around a bit too much. It would be interesting to see if the same thing happens when running on a cushier surface.
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to have a time dependence, either. I’ve run early morning and mid-afternoon and had the issue both times.
I’m really beginning to think much of this is psychological. I have no idea how to fix that, though.
Swallowed My Cellphone I haven’t tried running on a treadmill yet. Last weekend I ran 8 miles around a track and while I didn’t get the runs, I was still nauseated afterward (the nausea being another symptom that is on the rise through all this). I’ll certainly give this a try, though. I just absolutely cannot stand running on a treadmill. It will be tough to get through.
Yes, the dreadmill can be dull, but if it’s a “bounce” issue, and it turns out that you can run the distance if you aren’t on concrete, maybe you can talk to a physiotherapist or someone who can help you adjust your mechanics to be less stomach churning.
Related: my girlfriend can’t do any sports that involve her head going lower than her waist or she’ll puke from motion sickness. Yoga in particular makes her barfy.
How much do you drink before you run? Over hydrating shortly before a run can cause this. Try either drinking earlier or drinking less. You could also drink diluted sports drinks instead of water.
Rather than psychological, you may have trained your body to dump while running. I don’t know how, but my body always knows when I’m going to run, and I always have to go before a run, no matter what time of day. I don’t know how my intestines know I’ve changed into shorts, they just do.
Typically the day of a run I wouldn’t drink anything before a run. For me it was always just get up, throw on shorts, shoes and shirt, stretch about 3 minutes, use the bathroom and I’m out the door. For anything under a 17 mile run I never even carried water. This worked great for me up until about 8 months ago.
A friend of mine had painful intestinal cramping, really with any distance event, but you might have a similar issue. I’ll try to contact him and double check, but I believe his problem turned out to be a weird allergy issue. Try taking antihistamines before a run.
The only times I’ve had this problem running (which has only been twice) is when I didn’t eat enough, didn’t drink enough and/or ran too hard. I can’t go more than about 11 miles without water and I have to eat before I run. I would suggest trying to eat something and possibly drinking more during your run. You might have to experiment with what works best to eat before a run - for me, it’s a bowl of granola. I eat it and run right out the door and never have any issues.
I think I’m gaining quite a list of things to try, thankfully.
For tomorrow I’m just going to do my normal run and see what happens. I’ve been drinking lots of water today so maybe that will help. I’ve tried it before but I might as well try it again.
For Friday I’ll give the antihistamine a try. That should be an interesting experiment.
For Sunday I’ll give the script the GI specialist gave me a try.
Next week I’ll try running on a treadmill.
During all this, I’m going to start keeping a food log and eliminating certain foods. Unfortunately my GP didn’t think this issue is dietary, but there seems to be enough anecdotal evidence to suggest it is at least worth a shot.
I’d really like to be able to go do an Ironman in the next two years but I’ll never get there if I can’t get this under control!
I know that a number of people get trots from coffee, and they only drink coffee at certain parts of the day (e.g., the morning). So they would run at night and not get the trots and never connect the two facts: Running in the morning with coffee doing its thing (stimulating the bowels) versus running at night without such a dose of caffeine.
And this just isn’t for runners. I had the same issues just weight training, and it carried over into running…
I only starting running recently, but if I ran in the mornings my bowels would require me to hover near a bathroom for a number of visits. My girlfriend, who is just about the most athletic person I have ever met, loves to run in the morning, and not wanting to let her down, I made serious adjustments to my diet for the 2 days approaching any morning run with her. I have one cup of coffee, and we run about 30 mins after that coffee. But for two days I am really eating very well, and very lightly. On the morning of my runs with her, it seems the intestines don’t have this urge the normally would have if I maintained my much fuller diet.
Immodium and drinking very, very, very little during long run (a swallow or less every two or so miles). Hydrating while running has unpleasant side effects.