Long ride, strange body reaction

[Bikeridindude]

I've had a weird reaction a couple of times after completing long rides. Last year I rode about 250 miles in one 24-hour period. The next day at breakfast, I had a cinamon roll, and my mouth felt as if it were saturated with kerosene and lit afire with one heck of an itch too. The roof of my mouth also became swollen up somewhat. Naturally I quit eating it and it went away seemingly completely after about an hour or so if I remember correctly. Later that day I had a pre-packaged apple strudel with frosting from the gas station and it flared up again. I have since eaten both several times with no problems. This past weekend I did a 200 mile race, and the same thing happenned again. This time it was less severe and it was caused by Shot Bloks. I was thinking that it was just a reaction my body was having with something in the stuff because I had depleted it of some nutrients or something. Hell, I don't know. Anybody ever heard of this before? Thanks.

 

[discobean7]

That is an interesting one. Can't say that I've heard of it, but I'll take a stab. What was the weather like during these rides, temp? humidity? Was just the roof of your mouth swollen or was your tongue swollen as well? Did you have any other symptoms like a rash on other parts of your body? Since you've been able to eat these same foods at other times without incident it is unlikely that this is a food allergy. The easiest explanation would be that due to the many hours of open-mouthed breathing you have dried out and irritated the oral mucosa. The first two items you ate possibly had cinnamon and the shot bloks have citric acid. These are caustic/irritating substances that could cause the reaction. Also ultra-endurance activities cause a profound inflammatory reaction during the first 24-48 hours post-race. So with some micro-tears in the oral mucosa, throw some cinnamon or citric acid in there, along with a hyperstimulated immune system and you have your reaction. This is what I cooked up in my head, I haven't seen anything similar described in journals when I searched this AM.

 

[Bikeridindude]

I had no tongue swelling, just the roof of my mouth. No other rashes or anything else out of the ordinary. Last year's temperatures were probably something like: 50 in the morning, up to mid to high 60's during day, back down to 50's or high 40's at the end (about 2:00 am). Mostly it was clear that day with one stretch of about an hour with a pretty good rain. I also had about 5 hours of sleep before we went to breakfast. The temperatures on the one last weekend was 40's and 50's and raining for a majority of the race. Though I really have no idea, your explanation seems to make sense. I do not have any known allergies. Thanks.

 

[Dr.Hairybiker]

I had that happen last year after a 12 hour race. My mouth was on fire for a few days. It was really difficult to eat the day after. I reckoned it was just dried out from breathing so hard for so long. Of course, lots of other things were hurting also, so the mouth ailment had company.......