Performance enhancing drugs

[Duck on Wheels]

Woops. Turns out I've been on a performance enhancing drug these past years. Budesonide -- a steroid. Not that I've really noticed the performance enhancing effect. I was taking the drug for Crohns, which it did help control. But now I'm in the process of phasing it out. The doctor said to take 2/3 my former dose for 4 weeks, then 1/3 for another 4, then stop -- but to extend the 4 weeks as needed if my body was slow to adjust. "How will I notice that?" I asked. "You'll feel tired," he replied. At that point I'd been on the 2/3 dose for 2 weeks and hadn't noticed anything. But today, 5 days later -- wham! I suddenly feel leaden. So I guess it was pepping me up after all. Be warned Trek420. I may be really slow on a bike again when we go for a ride next week. I'm hoping I'll have adjusted to the lower dosage by then, though.

[Fuji Girl]

Yeah, steroids are tough. I've been on so many - Dexamethasone, Cortef, Prednisone. They're terrible. I'm also on Growth Hormone, which is definitely considered a performance enhancing drug (although no one would guess that I'm on it because my performance hasn't improved one bit!). All the guys at the gym keep asking me for some. I had brain cancer a few times, and I have to take all sorts of meds plus the GH injection every day, for the rest of my life.

Be careful with the tapering of your dose. Slow and gradual are the way to go. Don't want to go into an Addisonian crisis! If you feel tired, sluggish, sleepy, call your doc or endocrinologist!

[Duck on Wheels]

Just sent my doc an email. He did tell me to expect this, though. We'll see if it goes over on its own. I haven't noticed any performance enhancement effect either. I guess the disease and the drug more or less cancel each other out. I hope yours are well balanced in that regard. If so, then training should bring results pretty much as for (temporarily) healthy folks without the steroids or growth hormones. Right? That's what I'm hoping, anyway. And of course that ol' J. Golden Kimball was right when he purportedly said that, "The secret of a loooong life, is to get yerself an incurable disease ... and take care of it."

Have a long and fun life, Fuji!

[pyxichick]

Congratulations on getting off the steroids!

I hope that means that you've either found a better drug or your Crohn's has gone into remission.

I have Ulcerative Colitis and had to be on prednisone for several months. I did notice that it gave me energy and I was more flexible and could function on much less sleep. However, I was very happy to get off that drug, and gladly exchanged those side-effects for feeling normal again.

Good luck keeping the Crohn's in check ;)

[betagirl]

Hey duck, and they say that budesonide isn't supposed to be systemic! When I was on it the first time it gave me high blood pressure and killer headaches. My GI was like WTF basically. I have to take it at 6mg when I do, the 9mg sends me over the edge. Non-systemic my heiny. I never really did notice any performance enhancement on it either. I didn't really get hit by any withdrawal either though. Maybe because I was on a lower dose. Hopefully yourtaper effects are short lived. Good to see you're getting off of it.

Hey pyxchick, nice to see another IBD-er biker chick :D

[uk elephant]

Another one with Chron's here......Steroids certainly don't seem to help my performance much either. Just giving me headaches and trouble sleeping which certainly doesn't make me feel any less tired than before.

So how do the rest of you deal with chronic illness and training? I find myself collapsing at least one afternoon a week and just having a three hour nap instead of riding then feeling guilty about not getting out to train and just being lazy in bed. I thoroughly enjoy riding when I get out there, even on days when I'm feeling tired and sluggish and just can't seem to make my legs pedal. It's just hard to get out there some days.

[betagirl]

Hey UK

I've had crohn's a little over 4 years now. I have times of the year that I usually flare up so those times I never ride. I also live in Chicago, so I don't get much riding done between say October and March. Though this year I'm going to attempt to ride some in the winter. Last year I totally lost my fitness in August. I completely tanked rather quickly, and I'm pretty sure the crohn's had something to do with it. I grew frustrated and basically stopped riding. Then it was winter, so I was off the bike from August til March. So this year has been a little slower to get back up to speed. There are days I know I couldn't get on the bike because of the fatigue, but thankfully my disease is pretty well under control now. I even got my meds cut back and 1 removed completely at my last GI appt (woohoo). Speaking of meds, I'm sure some of the side effects don't help us to be motivated to ride either. When I was on Imuran, it made very tired and somewhat nauseated. Great riding condition! :) I also have fistulizing disease, and have had 3 fistulas in the past 4 years. My doc wanted me to stay off the bike for a while, and I told him flat out I'd rather be dead than have to sit in the house to have manageable crohn's disease. I think that drove my point home because he backed off. Grant it he will put me on mandatory rest when I overextend myself, but that has more to do with work or school than biking.

On the flip side, riding is my solstice from this stupid disease. For me, as long as I can get on the bike and ride I'm not "sick." It's also mental therapy. I think I ride more post diagnosis than before.

Happy riding :)

[pyxichick]

UK,

I'm lucky because I found a drug that keeps my colitis under control and has tolerable side-effects. I agree with Betagirl that I do more now than I ever did before the diagnosis. I guess having the disease makes me appreciate and take advantage of all the times that I feel good and can get outside and play.

The motivation factor may be more common than you think, and not entirely reserved for people with health problems. I know lots of perfectly healthy people who can't make themselves get out there some days. However, when I'm having a day like that, I either force myself to at least put on the gear and get on the bike, and by then I'm usually motivated, or I do one of my indoor hobbies that day, and promise myself that I'll get out tomorrow.

Remember, we ride because it's fun!

And a side note... I just started riding this spring, and when I first started out, I would get terrible cramps if I ate or drank anything before or during the ride. I was afraid this would prevent me from being able to take up cycling (I assumed it was the position on the bike that caused it, since I never had problems with gu, energy drink, water, etc. while xc skiing.)
Well, the good news is that after about a month or so of riding, the problem seems to have mostly gone away. I still have to make sure I don't go down in the drops too soon after a drink or gel packet, but it's manageable. Just wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences.

Take care and stay healthy;)