Intense stomach pain after exercise

[ctwiggy]

I'm a teenager, just sixteen and I eat pretty well, but also a good amount of sweets. For a few years I have been having intense pain in my stomach/abdominal area after I play soccer and/or run untill I'm very tired. I started going to my doctor first when I was thirteen about this and she has not the slightest idea what is going on. I read the tag about stomach pains after tennis and my syptoms sound very similar. I am in good shape and exercise regulairly, and it only happens on random days spread by weeks of no problems, and it only happens when I push myself to my limits. I have asthma, but I can outrun any person in my school so I do not think that is a problem. When it happens I usually can't sit still and it feels as if someone is driving a knife into my stomach. It only last for about an hour, and I find drinking water and eating helps ease the pain. If anyone has any ideas please get back to me because it has become more frequent recently and my parents worry it might be accociated with diabetes because my grandfather had it (type 2). thanks.

[Jake14H]

I have very similar symptoms to the original comment. It started about 2 years, and has become gradually more frequent. I now suffer from stomach cramps after every game, and training, this is frustrating as you could imagine. I'm well hydrated, I drink the recommended daily amount every day, and eat healthy. I start to feel stomach cramps during my match, they soon fade, and i then get them around 20 minutes after the final whistle. I'm not sure whether it's worth noting that my testicle's feel a bit more sensitive during these pains as well.

[marylander38]

I am a 39-year old female and have had stomach cramps after intense workouts for the last 13 years. What has worked for me is to warm up and stretch before working out.  I sometimes do spinning and start growing the intensity little by little but if I feel the stomach cramps, I start lowering the intensity to the minimum until they are gone. Then I move it back up and the stomach cramps are gone. If I ignore the stomach cramps, I start feeling my stomach bloated, I start bleeding as if I was on my period, and I get the chills. I have to go to the bathroom right away and sit there for a while and eventually the pain goes away.

[Jennyct10]

I had and still do have abdominal pain after using my abs, even doing push ups.  I found that I had diverticulitis, an inflammation of intestinal pouches, and adhesions.  After being treated for the diverticulitis, I felt better, but now it's coming back.  I can't discern whether it could be more adhesions or another attack, or even premenstrual cramps.  After 3 or 4 abdominal cat scans and antibiotics to which I am starting to have reactions to, I want to avoid more testing and drugs.  Guess I will just have to wait it out until it's more obvious.  I also have a kidney stone that's been hanging around for years (I know this from all the testing!)

[deadgamegrrl]

You are probably experiencing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).  This happens when a muscle (in this case all your abdominal muscles) is overworked to the point of causing microscopic tears in the fiber.  Usually DOMS peaks at about 48 hours after the exercise but in your case you overloaded muscles that had not been used much so its taking longer to recover.
You may find heat, either a hot shower or a heating pad, will help, as will OTC meds like Advil.
If you can run without causing additional pain it should be ok, otherwise just rest until you feel better.
I would also consider getting another instructor.  Good trainers don't push their clients beyond their capacity to the point of pain, especially those new to a training program.
Good luck and I hope you feel better soon!

[Volfer]

I am a 23 year old male. I quite often play football or jog atleast 3 times a week. Because of my friends I got the sudden urge to join a gym. I spoke to the instructor mentioning that I was not interested in weight training and i just wanted to lose weight. I did the usual running and cycling. After that he made me to do a series of floor exercises which exerts ur stomach. The ones where u lift ur legs moving up and down and I pushed myself so much on the first day that its been 3 days now and i am in extreme pain in my stomach region.

Its getting difficult for me to reach my feet as it hurts when i bend similarly wen trying to lie down. I have no past stomach pains of this sort but my dad does suffer from kidney stones.

Do i continue only doing my running and cycling or should i take more rest until the pain stops.

[jessewenger]

This is the first night this has ever happened to me.  I also have asthma, and usually have heartburn.  But this pain in my stomach is definitely not heartburn.  Even if it was, I take alka-seltzer for it, and it goes away.

I've got a stomach ache from exercising before tonight.  This hurts a lot.  I'm going to go out on a limb and take a guess.  I think the pain is caused from not doing a proper "warm down."

Doing intense physical exercise and then suddenly stopping might be harder on our bodies then we realize.  My body might be dumping all kinds of kinds of acids and chemicals stored in my fat cells into my system so it can burn it up, but if I suddenly stop, then all that crap just sits there and hurts like heck until my metabolism slowly burns it up.  

Like I said, I also have asthma; and I am 30 years old.  But I am very physically fit and I'm a former Marine.  

If anyone can tell us what the problem is for sure then I would be happy to hear it.  But I would say it's the sudden stop of our physical activities that is causing the problem.  I'll just have to start doing a warm-down, or cool--down, whatever it's called; from now on.