Crohns and exercise

Before I was diagnosed with Crohns disease, I was going dancing [rock 'n roll, ballroom] two or three times per week, and had few symptoms apart from frequent bms and night sweats . After diagnosis I stopped dancing for several months, but recently started going again to get some exercise. However I now find that every time I do it,I get real bad gut pain the next morning. This truly sucks!

It is vigorous exercise, yes, but not real hard exercise, especially as I am only having a few dances, leaving early, and not even drinking any alcohol.

How do others find doing moderate exercise - does it upset your gut?

I find that I need to do continuous exercise to feel good. If leave it too long then I feel bloated. Doing light to moderate exercises gets rid of that, but if its my 1st time for a while I do find myself going to the toilet more the next day.

I also find if I work my stomach too much it does irritate it. Its just finding a balance that you are happy with i guess

I am not diagnosed (haven't voted in poll) but I found it curious when I went from being a super fit road cyclist doing 20 mile trips with ease to being crippled within a mile of getting on the bike. I miss exercise so much.

lsgs said:

I am not diagnosed (haven't voted in poll) but I found it curious when I went from being a super fit road cyclist doing 20 mile trips with ease to being crippled within a mile of getting on the bike. I miss exercise so much.

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I don't have Crohns (Pancolitis instead), but I feel the same. I could easily do 20 mile trips in about 1.5 hours during remission but during my flare it's extremely difficult to do 5 miles, 10 miles if I really push myself on 'good' days. It's not really gut pain for me it's just general fatigue...I miss my regular exercise too (and it's only been 2 weeks)

I have UC but have been in remission for many years, and I also experience abdominal pain several hours after an intense work out. The pain can vary in intensity but [recently] has been severe enough on a few occasions to send me to the emergency room. In fact, it has woken me up in the middle of the night with an absolutely amazing agony almost as if I was paralyzed leaving me gasping for breath. The most severe episodes usually occur if I work out vigorously and not consume extra calories to replace what I burned off.

I used to go long distance running before being suffering with crohns. I plan to start up some gentle running when or if I feel up to it again.

I noticed after running (LOL, yeah right, I don't exercise) but seriously, when I used to run I noticed I got some weird side cramps. They went away after a few minutes but I never knew if they were related to crohns or not

It really depends on the type and intensity of the exercise. I'm in remission and I work out 3x per week, mainly lifting weights. I tried jogging but it aggravates my hip arthritis too much and ends up being very painful so I lift weights instead and I love it. I avoid doing the abs machines if my tummy is not happy, but I can do arms & legs etc even if I'm not feeling great, and I do not pay for it the next day (I don't know if that would be true if I were not in remission though, I think I probably would pay for it). I sometimes do a bit of yoga or bike riding too and those are also fine, I do not pay for it the next day and it does not aggravate my arthritis. I was able to do yoga before I hit remission but that was about the extent of my pre-remission exercise. I do a lot more now.