Excerise the answer?

[amrycrohns]

I am new to posting here, been reading for year or so now. The dr.'s finally figured out in 2009 I had crohn's with fistulas. They suspect looking at past medical records that I actually had crohn's since at least 2004 (ER visits/ dr. visits).

What I can't figure out is why during deployments to Iraq I have been symptom free and when I am at home symptoms flare very bad. I am a infantry soldier, so stress should have been much higher deployed with partols and missions daily or twice a day.

What's different I ask well first off we would walk or be moving around 6-8 hours a day, then I would workout rather intensely at least 1 hour daily and played basketball with whatever free time was left. I was taking about 400 dollars a month in supplements (Cell Mass, Nitrix, NoXplode, Animal Pack, T-bomb, BCAA's, Protien, Glutamine and probably some others at random times). While on main Base's we had 4 meals a day with unlimited selection and food and we could always take to go box's for in between meals. I was probably consuming around 6,000 calories a day at least. I was normally around 220 and grew to 250lbs. of muscle this last deployment.

It is impossible with work and family to remain at that level of physical fitness, just not enough hours in the day. I still workout almost daily and backpack when I am not in severe pain. I surely can't afford to eat unlimited amounts of food and take 400 dollars worth of supplements. So the question is.

Does excerise at extreme levels give you body so much to repair and rebuild that it just doesn't have enough energy left to cause a issue with crohn's flare?

Did the combination of supplements 1 or as a whole play a role in elimanating the flares?

Did eating massive amounts of food help?

If this happened over 1 deployment I would say it was concidence, but since it has happened 3 times over years, I think something bigger is going on here for me.

 

[Gianni]

This is seems to be a common theme when it comes to symptoms presenting themselves for just about any disease or condition. If people go on a trip or away from home for an extended period of time, the symptoms stop presenting themselves. I believe this is because your body does not want to stress itself out and present symptoms during a period of stress. This is why I believe my symptoms presented during the summer after i graduated from high school. the last year was stressful to me and my body didn't want to compound the stress; so my body waited till my stress was relieved (graduating) to present and make me aware of the potential problems within my body.

This phenom interested me because it seemed to happen to quite a bit of people so I made a thread asking other peoples stories that were similar, you can read that thread here: http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=41793

I can't tell by your story but I am guessing that your symptoms get abnormally extreme when you return home from deployment. I believe the body puts off presenting the symptoms but the disease is still very much manifesting so it may come back with a vengeance when the symptoms do indeed present themselves.

When i was diagnosed the doctors told me I had most likely had crohns for 4 or more years. I was hospitalized for 4 weeks including a few days in I.C.U. Now looking back, it does make sense that possibly i had crohn's for all of high school but my body didn't want to present the problem while i was stressed about school so it waited until after my 4 years.

All in all it is just a theory but one that I think may explain a lot of the same phenom people do experience whether it be Crohn's, cancer, or any number of disease.

Gianni

 

[Maree.]

What about the climate/exposure to the sun was that different in Iraq to where you live at home? If not could it be something to do with the climate differences that's could be contributing to the difference.

I've read some speculation of a seasonal/climatic involvement in Crohn's flares for some people but not sure if that is common or what the trigger would be, perhaps level of sun exposure (Vitamin D).

 

[wildbill_52280]

i took the time to look up every supplement you listed and animal pak, im not sure if this is the precise product but here is a link-http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/univ/animalpak.html

there are lots of herbs that have potent medicinal properies, here is a list from the animal pak supplement-


Uni-Liver™ 4080mg **
Carnitine 25mg **
Choline 250mg **
Eleuthero (Root) 1750mg **
Hawthorn (Berry) 250mg **
Inositol 125mg **
Milk Thistle 500mg **
Oriental Ginseng (Root) 250mg **
Para-Aminobenzoic Acid 400mg **
Pyridoxine Α-Ketoglutarate 200mg **
Antioxidant Complex
Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) 100mg **
Citrus Bioflavonoids 1000mg **
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) 5mg **
Grapeseed Extract 50mg **
Lutein 1mg **
Lycopene 1mg **
Pine Bark Extract 200mg




and t bomb supp-

Tribulus Terrestris (Standardized To 60% Furastanol Saponins And 15% Protodiocin), Fenugreek 4:1 Extract (Seed), Tongkat Ali 20:1 Extract (Root)(Eurycoma Longifolia Jack), Red Clover Extract (40% Isoflavones), Chrysin, Kudzu Root (Pueraria Lobota)(40% Isoflavones), DIM (Diindolymethane), Avena Sativa 10:1 Extract (Aerial Parts), Zinc (As Zinc Aspartate), Pygeum Africanum Extract (25% Total Sterol)(Bark), Stinging Nettle Leaf 4:1 Extract, Beta Sitosterol, Saw Palmetto Berry Extract (90% Total Sterols & Free Fatty Acids), Bioperine® (Black Pepper Extract).
2nd Messenger™ Hormone Amplifiers:
Receptor Signal Transduction Blend: 625mg *
Flaxseed (Fatty Acid Profile [Linolenic 8.0%, Linoleic 2.5%, Oleic 2.5%]), Glycine, L-Arginine, Magnesium Oxide, Dipotassium Phosphate, DL-Malic Acid, L-Methionine, Cordyceps (Cordyceps Sinensis), NADH.


i have read lots of studies on the potential of many of these herbs to improve inflammation and immune function, this is a super mega medicinal herb blend you are unknowingly taking. i suppose yet another good testimony for the use of herbs to help manage this disease.

i believe i had a similar experiance with herbs, I theorized that my crohns was initiated during and after a round of antibiotics, because thats when my health declined severely, but i had no symptoms of crohns for a whole year a, but after the antibiotics, i just knew something was dramatically different about my subjective well being, oh, that and my hair was falling out and i had severe anxiety, my brain function was complete haywire.

a year later my heart beat was very irregular, i got freaked out and went to the ER, then it kept happening, and i associated the events with a copper supplement, then i threw all the supplements i was taking in the trash, then , my health became much worse, i started noticing swelling in abdomen, maldigestion etc, over the course of two months of stopping my supplements i now had diarhea and abdominal swelling and pain, then diagnosed. i now believe the supplements i was taking were holding back most of my symptoms, until, i threw them all away!!!! so now i have begun systematically testing which ones were working, not done yet, but i found the resveratrol supplement i was taking was supressing symptoms quite a bit, and the conjugated linoleic acid supp i was taking has been shown in human studies to achieve a remission, i still have to test soy isoflavones i was taking. i was also taking melatonin, alpha lipoic acid and i have retested those, but they make me feel so weired its not something i woudl ever take on a consistent basis, but i believe they were both contributing as antioxidants can lower inflammation. i tentatively believe the CLA and resveratrol to be the main thing the kept me in remission, and the fact that i basically was on a low sugar diet similar to specific carbohydrate diet, that woudl also explain why i had no diarhea.

 

[xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx]

What you have said is very interesting, you are living two very different lifestyles so its hard to tell which factors were helping, or which combination of factors. What Gianni has said is an interesting thought as well. And I did also think of sunlight.
I have another thought. I do not have the extremes of lifestyle which you have described but I have noticed my crohn's going through a kind of cycle. Its the same time of year that my symptoms tend to get worse. I start getting more symptoms around november time, I'm quite bad by december. Then I start more treatment in Jan, I'm fine for the rest of the year and then I get worse again. I think this is a mix of the weather getting colder, and that the treatment I get in January doesn't last me the whole year, and my maintenance meds aren't doing enough for me.
My thought is, are you coming home at around the same time in the year? You could maybe be in a similar cycle, but with all your lifestyle factors playing a role.

 

[Price]

If your heartbeat is irregular I'd highly suggest not taking most of those supplements, lol

That said yeah some of the ingredients would be beneficial to anybody, not just crohns patients. Problem is when you take that many you can't tell which, and you're gonna be putting some serious strain on your CNS which obviously isn't healthy for anyone.

Picking out some of the ingredients that are beneficial while dropping the ones that just rile you up would be the best thing to do. If you stayed too long on those supplements I think you should definitely be checking in with the doctors on a regular basis. Just looking at that stack gives me the shakes.

 

[UnXmas]

It's funny - I would say I have the opposite experiences to you.

For one thing I can't do any extreme exercise at all and I can't eat very much. Count yourself lucky that despite Crohn's you can still live this kind of lifestyle!

But also, the more I eat the worse my digestive problems get. It doesn't even matter what I eat, everytime I increase the amount I'm eating in order to try and gain back some weight (I'm always losing too much), it makes me sicker, and eases off when I stop trying to eat so much.

I can't do any strenuous exercise, but if I spend much of the day on my feet - say, several hours out shopping - it sometimes seems to trigger worse diarrhoea.

I've never found my symptoms to vary when I go on holiday - wherever I am, whether I was working, at uni, on holiday or at home doing very little, my symptoms are pretty consistent.

I wouldn't have thought eating a lot would make your disease better, at least it seems that food often triggers people's symptoms to get worse rather than better, and I've never heard of Crohn's flares being avoided due to eating more or exercising a lot. Perhaps being super-fit helps your body stay healthier? I've never heard of that before either though.

Perhaps it's something you do when at home which is triggering your flares?

I always thought Crohn's comes pretty randomly, or at least it's determined by factors in our bodies that we can't identify.

 

[amrycrohns]

I should have probably explained myself better when I am at home flaring I am far from working out hard if working at all. I get such intense pain and cramping that at times I do not leave my bedroom for days on end. I am currently 170lbs. April 2012 I had a flare that landed me in ER and I lost in the ballpark of 50lbs. in 6-8 weeks and just haven't been able to recover it yet. I have 0 iron saturation, but my hemoglobin hangs in there around 11.5 so just a tad low somehow. Soon to start Venofer or something like that via infusion. My T levels are slightly low as well, but they need to test low overtime before my Primary will place me on a T supplement.

When I deploy I do not have the luxury of choosing if I want to or even if I can do something I just have to do it. If you have patrol at 0400 no matter how you feel, you patrol at 0400. Which I think in and of itself is beneficial, anytime I am flaring I attempt to do a few sets of light exercise and almost always feel better even if only for a short time.

I plan on starting to take the Animal Pak again, just to see if it has any effect on this current flare. I have taken Cimzia, Humira, and Remicade already. Humira was about 85% effective niether Remicade or Cimzia had any effect on me. Predison is 100% effective for me at high dose's, but for obvious reasons I can't stay on that forever. I been taking Probiotic, Ginger Root, Tumeric, Garlic, Krill oil and D3 for about 2 weeks now and will continue with that to see were it takes me.

I defaintly don't have the same sun exposure here as I did in Iraq since there work was generally patrols and missions outside and here I work in a building that doesn't even have window in my office. In Iraq I wonder how much effect that extra sun would have since when in full gear you have only part of your face exposed to the sun. here if I am outside I generally just have shorts on even though it's for far shorter time.

It is semi important I figure out a way to defeat this disease without the aid of Humira or that type of drug, since I can not deploy while on immune suppressent and will be medically discharged. I have little less then 8 years to retirement and even though I will get paid if medically discharged. I rather finish my time and reitre.

 

[UnXmas]

It is semi important I figure out a way to defeat this disease without the aid of Humira or that type of drug, since I can not deploy while on immune suppressent and will be medically discharged. I have little less then 8 years to retirement and even though I will get paid if medically discharged. I rather finish my time and reitre.

I know how tough it is when the illness takes away the things that matter to us, and the fear that it's going to take away even more. Unfortunately sometimes acheiving remission isn't possible. Sometimes a person with Crohn's can do all the right things to get healthy, and still end up with a bad flare.

Are you allowed any medication at all, and could you talk to you doctors about trying alternatives to immune system suppressants? Is surgery an option for you?