LET’S TALK ABOUT… GUT PROBLEMS
“I flares up and my stomach disagrees with what I’ve put inside it, I know I’m ruined,” says Mel Sykes. “For seven years, if I’d eaten something I shouldn’t have on a Thursday, I wouldn’t be able to ride on the Saturday because I would be so bloated that I wouldn’t be able to get any fuel in me for the ride. Until two years ago, I couldn’t ride for more than two hours because I couldn’t find any food that would sustain me.”
Sykes, 38, is a committed amateur club cyclist and won’t let digestive issues hold her back. The Yorkshirewoman rides 6,000 miles a year and competes in ultra-marathon and Ironman races too. The symptoms she describes above are the effect of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a chronic intestinal condition that disturbs the functioning of the digestive system. Conservative estimates suggest 10% of the British population
