A ride a day...

[betagirl]

So I rode my bike the other day to my 3 month check up with the gastroenterologist, and I must have looked all healthy with my sweaty glow. I was running a bit late so I didn't have time to change, so I had to sit there in my bike clothes. Thankfully I had on some knickers over my bike shorts :D Anyway, I walked out of that appointment on less medication than when I walked in. He took me off of one med completely (it's making my hair fall out) and cut the dose of the other in half. Score!

So the moral of the story kids: a bike ride a day keeps the doctor away :p

[Lise]

Congratulations, beta! I am so glad for you. Keep up the good work. Nice when it pays off like that. :D L.

[Fuji Girl]

Yay! Good for you, that's awesome! Now if only I could convince my neurosurgeon to stop some of my meds...

[KnottedYet]

Yay! Good for you! (and I hope your hair comes back quickly now!):D

[Geonz]

Yay! Yay! Yay!

[Grog]

Good job Betagirl! Keep riding!!

[margo49]

Well done, Betagirl
That is the process: Get advice > get treatment > get well (or well-er) >get checked > adjust treatment
All while on the bike (if not physically at least mentally eg TE forums, reading , watching tv)

[SadieKate]

Thankfully I had on some knickers over my bike shorts :D I bet all the non-Americans on this forum are wondering why you're wearing your undies over your bike shorts.

Great news!

[betagirl]

LOL. Must be a side effect of the medication :D

Thanks everyone. I'm so stoked to be on less drugs.

[Duck on Wheels]

Hi Beta,
Just curious ... which medication was making your hair fall out? Mine's pretty thin too. Could it be one I'm on too? Would it help to bike to my next GI appointment and maybe get taken off it? I biked to the pharmacy yesterday, but they refilled everything anyway. ;)

[betagirl]

Hey BWI, it was 6MP. I was on 75mg/100mg alternating daily dose. The other med I'm on is Humira, which he's thinking will hold its own without the 6MP. Let's hope he's correct :D Imuran will do the same thing with hairloss.

[Duck on Wheels]

Sigh. Imuran is the same as Azathioprine? My GI just put me on that. Along with Asacol. But he's taking me off Budesonid soon, I think, which is what I was on before. My impression is that my hair thinning came way back when the inflammation was running rampant and I was seriously undernourished.

[betagirl]

Yeah, he said it's either the 6mp or I'm not absorbing stuff. We're betting on the 6MP, since I'm not losing a ton of weight. I guess I'll see in a few months :)

Imuran = azathioprine, yes. I was on that a couple of years ago but it gave me wicked nausea. So I switched to 6MP. Wasn't as bad. I've also been on "the cort" as I call it. It's my band aid steroid when things get bad. I take it for 3-4 months about once a year. Nowhere near as bad as prednisone :D I hope the Imuran treats you well.

[Duck on Wheels]

Been doin' ok on it so far. No nausea, and less cramping than when budesonid was doing the job on its own. Should be tapering off the budesonid soon. We'll see how that goes. Remembering to hydrate has also helped, as well as eating less fiber.

[Lise]

You guys. :(

You've got all my respect for the struggle your body gives you. Glad you're both (all) biking.

L.

[Duck on Wheels]

You guys. :(

You've got all my respect for the struggle your body gives you. Glad you're both (all) biking.

L.

This brings to mind a J. Golden Kimball story. One of my mom's old professors at Sonoma State College did a lecture on J. Golden Kimball stories in a Folklore course, and an old family friend of ours taped that lecture and made an lp of it. It's a kick. Now I'm not a mormon, or a believer in any other kind of organized religion, but there is one J. Golden Kimball story I find rather inspiring:

Now, imagine a taaaaaall skinny (!) and (for his time) old man (for a visual aid see http://personal.atl.bellsouth.net/w/o/wol3/kimbajg1.htm.) Imagine also a high squeeky voice to match the body. J. Golden was a much loved elder of the LDS church, in spite of drinking coffee, tea, and sometimes stronger drinks and having a hang towards swearing. So there are lots of stories about the man. In one, somebody asks him how he got to be so old and whether he had any lessons in healthy living other folks could learn from. His response (purportedly):

"The secret of a loooong liiiife ... is to get yourself an incurable disease ... and take care of it."

[betagirl]

Aww, thanks Lise. Sometimes it sounds worse than it is. Grant it, there are days it's no picnic. But we all have our own struggles that we deal with every day.

BWI - great quote. I hadn't heard that one before.

My signature line is from a silly (but freakin' awesome) movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I was watching it for the 937th time when I had had surgery in 2003 and was laid up on the sofa. When I heard Ferris say to Cameron outside Chez Luis "Only the meek get pinched, the bold survive" that became my mantra for life. So far it's held up pretty well :D