Exercise: a trigger for IBS?

Okay, so this morning I decide to start running (jogging/walking actually...it's been a while). It's the only time I have to devote to exercise during the day and I used to do it a few years back. Granted, I went really slow and didn't push myself...it felt good just to get out there and do something good for my body.

Once I got in my apartment, my heart rate skyrocketed for a long time (but it was fine during the run). I was having another IBS attack...once I had a BM (which was yellow and full of bile) I started to feel better. I drank a couple cups of peppermint tea, which always reduces the intensity of my attacks. In my readings I cannot fathom if it's gall bladder issues or if it's food allergies. I'd been tested for food allergies years ago and have been off of gluten/wheat ever since. Should I get re-tested?

Anyway, the previous night, I had a fruit smoothy that I found out later had apple juice in it. Apple juice is pure evil on my gut. It could have been that.

Could exercise trigger an IBS attack? I don't want to be scared out of running, but I don't want to experience this every time. It's terrifying. I know that exercise (at least for me) makes me have to "go" and I usually "go" in the morning. Does this sound like a food intolerance or gall bladder issues?

Frustrated and slightly freaked. Thanks for your thoughts!

Hi Shadow,
I tend to get explosive diarrhea with exercise.
When you said your HR went up afterwards, its what happens to me too. When we are exercising, our bloodvessels are all constricted. But when we stop, they dilate, and I believe that causes our heart to have to pump faster. I also think it dilates our GI vessels, which causes diarrhea. This is just my own theory, which could be completely wrong, but yes, I get diarrhea after exercise........that's why I really try to avoid it. hahaha
Do you do a cool down? Next time, try to not just stop running and doing nothing. Maybe decrease it to fast walking, and then slower walking for a little while. Sometimes the sudden stopping of exercise lets our vessels dilate suddenly and drastically. Good luck.

Yep, yellow, butt-burning poops are hallmarks of bile.

Now, you could have two reasons for pooping bile. One, obviously, is that your gall bladder is messed up. No, you don't have to hurt on your right side. I didn't hurt on my right side for five years--except for the month before I had it taken out. I did hurt when I had attacks, generally along my diaphram, although nowhere specific, really. Oh, and I hurt into my right shoulder, arm, and down into the elbow. That's a CLASSIC symptom (read about it in my mother's nursing book). But some people never hurt, never ever know there's a problem.

The other reason why you can have bile is that your intestinal tract is just operating too fast and food--including your stomach acids and bile--are flowing through you so fast, there's no time to absorb them in properly. There is a prescription medicine called Welchol (also a couple of others in the same family) which will help absorb that bile and keep you from having the my-butt's-on-fire yellow bile poops.

Other than that, there's nothing else that I know of that causes bile poops. I'm sorry, but if you want them to stop, you need to see a doctor and get your gall bladder checked. If it's okay (which I seriously doubt, based on the heart-racing episodes you talk about), then you can be diagnosed with IBS and get the prescriptions. Calcium pills might help the bile D some, but they've never been enough, on their own, to get rid of mine; only the Welchol makes me normal. A very low-fat diet might also help some, but if your gall bladder's bad, it's a temporary solution.