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What might be causing morning stomach upsets in Austria

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I have researched this online but can't find anything and wondering if anyone suffers with the same problem that blights every ski holiday I go on (14 so far). From day 2, about 20 mins after finishing breakfast I am racked with stomach cramps and diarrhoea . This lasts for about 2.5 hours. After numerous anti diarrhea tablets, visits to the loo and pain killers, everything returns to normal and I spend the rest of day on the mountains with no sign of any trouble. But it starts all over again the next morning. I drink a mixture of bottled still and carbonated water with our evening meal, tap water during the day and drink the local milk in tea and coffee. It's obviously something I eat or drink that does this but the only things I can come up that may be potential causes are eggs, cheese, milk or water. Not that there is anything wrong with these, just that my gut is over sensitive to the changes. We always stay half-board so it's not our dodgy cooking! This problem delays us getting out every morning and it's become so debilitating that I can't face another ski holiday! I've travelled all over the USA and never had a thing, having eaten in some very odd places!

Does anyone else out there have the same problem?
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@sharon1953, Mrs intermediate gets something similar but probably not as severe as you describe. She puts it down to sleeping at altitude but I'm not so sure.
Eating some locally produced natural yogurt, as soon as possible after arrival, might help. Supposedly helps your system get used to local bacteria.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@sharon1953, Could it be IBS-type symptoms caused by the anticipation of a skiing day - raised adrenaline, possible anxieties, even stress? Do you ever take a day off skiing and still have the symptoms?
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@sharon1953, as @motyl has suggested these very much feel like IBS symptoms. I suffer from occasional IBS flare-ups which over the last 2-3 years have been much more stark when I'm at altitude. Everyone is obviously different but here are a few pointers that seem to work for me (they don't fully eliminate the relevant symptoms BUT make them noticeably better) : limited alcohol intake (most resort bars tend to stock alcohol-frei beers now), no milk or caffeine, no cheese or dairy, no carbonated water / soft drinks etc. I'm not an expert but you may want to see if your local GP can refer to to a dietician - it's been very beneficial to me.
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I take it that you only ever suffer this on skiing hols, so isolating what is different, possibly by a matter of elimination, might shed some light.

- Have you had these symptoms in different countries, at different altitudes and with different Breakfast/Dinner foods...or is this only in Austria?
- Is your breakfast similar to what you have at home?
- Does the evening meal ever cause these symptoms, or is it just in the morning?
- Are the symptoms exacerbated with any particular food types?
- Does the thought of skiing make you nervous (as stated above)?
- Does it ever settle during the holiday and does it immediately stop on returning home?
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@sharon1953, yes, that all sounds quite familiar, though my symptoms are not as severe but you can add vomiting to the list when it gets bad Confused

I've put it down to 1. altitude and 2. change in diet.
When I am at a lower altitude resort ~1000m, symptoms are very mild and it doesn't really affect me too badly. Higher up ~1500m, it can be a lot worse if I have had significant diet changes (more red meat, less veg, meat generally more 'rare' than I'd have at home - the gazpacho really did for me). But if my diet remains similar to normal (e.g. In Val Thorens 2300m, we self-cater so eat roughly the same as what I'd have at home) then symptoms return to 'mild'.

My partner has a pretty similar experience. We refer to it as 'mountain tummy' and expect it's not particularly unusual. We always drink the local water.
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Most of Austria has been badly affected, it's been traced back to @queen bodecia's ski boots wink
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After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Oh my. What have I started?
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queen bodecia wrote:
Oh my. What have I started?

Is inoculation an option? Toofy Grin
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Old Fartbag wrote:
queen bodecia wrote:
Oh my. What have I started?

Is inoculation an option? Toofy Grin

Amputation possibly
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JohnHSmith wrote:
Old Fartbag wrote:
queen bodecia wrote:
Oh my. What have I started?

Is inoculation an option? Toofy Grin

Amputation possibly

CDC now on alert, so damage should be contained. snowHead
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Its the beer!
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DrLawn wrote:
Its the beer!



Yep - Stubby blonde bottles give me the 5h1ts as well. Laughing
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Thanks everyone. I have never suffered with IBS and at 63 I guess if I was going to start it would happen elsewhere. As soon as I get home it disappears the very next morning. It happens at high and quite low altitude resorts. I am tea total apart from a couple of mulled wines in 6 days! I have tried drinking those special yoghurt drinks to increase gut activity before I go and live yogurt when I have the first breakfast. I have also tried avoiding fresh fruit and the fruit juice. I get the same symptoms if I have a day off and the morning we depart (always have to make sure flight home is late in day). I don't eat any of the cold meats at breakfast, just bread, eggs, cheese, jam etc. Occasionally I've had bacon, but not this time and still got it. It happens if I stick to tea or coffee. I thought that as it takes 8 hours to digest food the cause is more likely to be what I eat at night, which is 5 course meal, often quite rich. I've also stopped eating any salad bar stuff. The reaction is too sudden to be food I eat a breakfast, which is why I think it's something to do with what I eat in the evening. In fact over 14 years I've tried adding and leaving stuff out at breakfast to no avail! I have never had this in Denver, which is high, or other places that are high altitude, only the Austrian Alps.The only thing I haven't tried yet, is not eating at all in the evening!


Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Sun 26-03-17 20:32; edited 1 time in total
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
It would certainly appear that you are allergic to Austria. Puzzled
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Morning sickness! 😋
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@sharon1953, if it's a 5 course meal do you go to the same place every time? Have you tried not having 5 courses, staying elsewhere or even going self catered then you can choose whether you make your own or eat out?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I think I would try going skiing somewhere else. Thoughts are a possible intolerance to lactose if you are consuming a lot more dairy products than usual.
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Hey @sharon1953 I've had 5 skiing holidays and have had a similar thing to you in the higher resorts. I get a bad tummy from really first thing in the morning and then for about 3 to 4 days and its exactly the same as you, once passed (pardon the pun) all is good for the rest of the day.

I've always just put it down to the altitude, nerves and adjusting. I have a hiatus hernia and wonder if that affects things. I always try to drink the local water and drink lots at bed time, although I avoid any chemical remedies as I wonder if these just cause a knock on effect. @Hells Bells point is a good one since this affects my hernia considerably.
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What does 'local' milk mean?
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I would also most certainly be taking Imodium in advance of the problem occurring.
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I don't really eat any more cheese etc than I would eat normally, as I eat a lot of cheese at home. I have eaten out when we've done B & B and had the same thing. When I say 5 courses, one is always the salad bar, another is soup and the last one is dessert and the portions are quite small. If they were large I'd bring the lift system down! My gut feeling (no pun intended) is that it's the accumulation of the water I drink drink during the day, more at night and the milk in coffee and tea, but I could have that wrong as I eat pretty much the same stuff on other holidays and never have any trouble. If it were a bacteria based issue, I suspect I would feel sick or be sick, which I never am.
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Hells Bells, Imodium by the dozen, at least 3/4 per morning and before I go!
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Flangesax. Well I often wonder if the milk is straight from the local farms, as the hotels are always surrounded by them, and not pasteurised. It certainly doesn't taste the same as ours, but then that might be down to their winter diet. I mean it's not bought from a shop.
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@sharon1953, how about taking the Imodium, and an antispasmodic, such as Buscopan or mebeverine the night before?
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dfs - that's interesting, I have hiatus hernia too and take Omeprazole, which I know suppresses the way acid works to protect the gut. I appreciate that my gut is therefore compromised to start with. But why doesn't this happen in other countries where food hygiene isn't great and food quality isn't that good either?
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@sharon1953, If I remember correctly you use skibikes. Anything to do with how you sit on them all day. Posture etc.
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@sharon1953, That'll be it then!
Many of the local hotels and cafes will use unpasteurised milk that thy collect or is delivered by the farm next door.
It is easy to recognise as it will taste a little 'biley' and if left in a glass it often leaves a yellowish tide mark rather than a white one.
It'll be used in any 'squirty' or whipped or normal cream and in hot chocolates so it is easy to rack it up!

'Shop' milk will be pasteurised and tastes pretty similar, long-life is normally a little sweeter.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I had similar. I have found if I avoid the bread then I am normally fine. I always thought that foreign bread had less gluten and thus was better, but I react really badly. This is a pain (in more ways than one!) as I love the fresh morning baguettes and some of the chalets we went to had bread and cheese alongside the cake in the afternoon.
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High mineral content in tap water?
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 Poster: A snowHead
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@sharon1953, Have you tried eating Bisto.......It won't stop the diarrhoea but it should thicken it up a bit. Toofy Grin
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@Thornyhill, lol

I did take Ibuprofen on my last trip and that help me, mind you from reading your post again you do seem to have it worse than me. p.s. I'm normally on Lansoprazole but try to only take now on occasions, never got on with Omeprazole. Very Happy
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@cad99uk, we sit in normal position and the longest run we did was 3 mins. Same posture really as sitting at sitting at table but softer!

Having read all your great replies I've come to the conclusion it's a combination of the water minerals specific to the alps, the milk/cream, eggs and maybe the bread, which I do eat quite a bit of, as well as croissants every morning! Not sure how I can avoid all this on a holiday but I will try a process of elimination so I don't miss out on most of the things I love about ski holidays!
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It's all about the milk!
I can't believe that the minerals will do that to you in such a short time at such a small level.
Any cooked dairy won't be a problem as the bacteria has been killed.
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I expect you'll find flangesax will be right, but i'm with old fartbag ie you should try a process of elimination...

There's a number of theories above, some related to what you're consuming, and some "environmental"...

If it always starts on day2, how about firstly finding out whether it's something you're consuming, or something environmental, eg take a day's supplies of food/drink from home, and stick to these on day1 ?
(It may feel like less of a holiday until you nail it, but hopefully the end result will be worth it.)

When you find you're ok on day 2, this has (i think ?) eliminated all the environmental causes, and you can then keep an eye/vary what you're eating and review the results.
If milk/dairy is favourite suspect, i'd start with keeping off both milk & dairy on day 2 and see how you are on day 3.
How you are on day 3 will influence what you try next...

Good luck.

Ps. I have no professional experience in any of the above, I just had a few spare minutes Smile
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@Adam123, thats what i was going to suggest. I think that is the most likely culprit. It's a pretty common complaint. The tap water is perfectly safe to drink in the sense that it is clean, but it has very high mineral content which can cause illness if you aren't used to it.
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@Hells Bells, Could it be the omneprazle? I can't take Omneprazole and Immodium together as the result is stomach cramps and then exactly what I take the Immodium to prevent occurs Toofy Grin
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@sharon1953, clearly you need a few weekends away skiing to try different tactics, inc taking UK water with you Smile
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Combination of dairy intolerance and higher stress than normal. On a normal day you wouldn't be stressed and would be able to handle a little bit of lactose in your diet. I'd cut out dairy and see what happens and if you must eat dairy take whichever combination of buscopan (off the shelf) for the bloaty crampy stuff or mebeverine (over the counter) works for you. I wouldn't touch immodium. Read this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance


I'm not a doctor, so I would say get yourself checked out as there are other more sinister things it could be. If it is lactose intolerance don't expect much help from the NHS as although it can make your life extremely difficult it won't kill you.
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Just to add coffee and beer can irritate the stomach and everyone is different but in my experience they are more likely to add to the problem rather than cause it so you might need to reduce or cut out those as well.
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