Exhaustion and Sports

[Mehita]

DS came home from his first session of conditioning for tennis today absolutely exhausted. Before my friend dropped him at home, she texted me and said he didn't look good and she was worried about him. When he walked in he was looking pale and tired but not as bad as I was expecting based on the text. He chugged two Gatorades (the little ones, so 24oz?) and then perked back up. After dinner he was back to normal. I'm thinking tomorrow he's going to be pretty sore.

Do kids with IBD need to be more careful than others with hydration during sports? Even when they are in remission, do they tire more easily than others? How am I going to tell the difference between exhaustion from Crohn's (one of his signs) and simple tiredness from being active? And joint/muscle pain? He's never had joint or muscle pain related to IBD before so that might be a little easier to see... maybe? Do your kids do anything special or different while in training or competition? And in kids with IBD is an electrolyte drink better than just water?

Two weeks into the season last year he started flaring and now I'm all crazy paranoid it's going to happen again. Borrowing trouble, I know. The mental toll this stupid disease takes on parents really irritates me. :ymad:

 

[Jmrogers4]

Jack drinks water during practice and a gatorade after. We've worked really hard the last couple of years on drinking the water during.
But yes definitely first week or so he was really tired and would fall asleep on the couch every afternoon.
I think this year has been harder then previous years as since he didn't do anything in the fall which usually helps maintain his stamina with him being sick it's been a whole year since he was really active. It's definitely more of a struggle getting into shape this year and I think he is really frustrated by it.

 

[momoftwinboys]

Hi there
I do not know the answer to your question. I wonder also.

I know when H did cross country this fall his muscles would cramp. We added a boost shake at school a couple of hrs before his practice. He also added Nuun tablets to his water. They are electrolyte tablets without a lot of sugars and such. A runner at work suggested them. I looked and it says they are gluten free. I found them in the health food area of the grocery store. http://www.nuun.com/company/faqs. Between the two, he did fine
He has a reg gi appt tomorrow. I may ask about this since this month he has started swimming five days a week after school for swim team and goes to lacrosse after that twice a week. Just found out this week lacrosse is 4 times. I am trying to get him to take water breaks during swim but he does not think he needs to. Perhaps GI can offer suggestion.
It is a lot of activity and his twin is doing it too. H may b a tad bit more tired than his twin but not that noticeable. They both sleep hard at night
Good luck to your son in tennis. My guess is a number of boys went home exhausted too.

 

[crohniekid]

My twins play basketball and lacrosse. They had four basketball games last weekend and R was DONE at the end. That being said he played much harder/longer than his brother and will push himself to the end...years before this started (they started hockey and soccer at 4). So while I thought he was maybe a tad more tired because of his IBD I think most of it comes from his fierce competitive streak. T is far too laid back and lazy to push himself that hard...but we love him....lol. R's GI said the best thing we could do was keep him in sports if R felt up to it and was enjoying it. It's good for him and helps him feel 'normal'. Hopefully your son is just a competitor too!

 

[crohnsinct]

Athletes and hydration? It is key to drink water and hydrate throughout the day all day. Not just before, during or after practice. Have them bring a water bottle to school...if you need a note (we did) I am sure your ped or GI will oblige.

Muscle cramps are a popular consequence of not enough hydration.

It just wouldn't be a post from CIC if I didn't also stress the importance of good nutrient dense foods. We are asking a lot of our kids these days...pushing their bodies harder than ever. we have to give their bodies the food that will help them perform.

You could go with the IBD kids need more hydration/food etc but I also athletes need more hydration/food/sleep etc.

Fatigue? Could be because he was out last season and cooped up all winter. I would watch it.

Pale? I would be more concerned about this but again not freak out just watch it.

Pain? O seems to know if it is workout pain or CD pain.

How is he today?

 

[my little penguin]

You have to remember prior to remicade he couldn't function on a normal day forget training .
We noticed with DS it took close to a year for the excess fatigue to stop from exercising .
Even then he was not up to pre dx speed /skill.
Those took a little longer
We do lots of peptamen jr shakes on race days as well as prior to practice .

 

[Tesscorm]

Yes, good point MLP... S started to really show symptoms in March (but probably started having mild signs months earlier), diagnosed in May. During this time, he stayed quite active, so while losing weight, fatigued, etc. he did stay 'conditioned' to a degree. And, while he responded immediately to EEN symptom-wise and was back to sports within a month, it probably took until November before his strength and energy/endurance was recovered to what it had been before getting sick.

 

[Mehita]

Thanks for all the feedback. He woke up pretty sore today. He stiff legged it down the stairs. Is it mean that I laughed?

After dinner he continued to drink a ton of water, so I'm guessing dehydration might have played a small part yesterday. Today I packed extra water, extra food, and a Gatorade. We're very lucky in that DS has a bunch of wonderful friends, so when I mentioned to DS to drink more today, his friend totally picked up on it and said he'd make sure that didn't happen again. Wow, huh? DS responded with, "Great, now my mom has Crohn's minions." I will happily welcome minions to my village!

Today after practice he was tired, but not exhausted like yesterday. He still went to bed early though. For now I'll chalk this all up to the extra exercise.

One week and counting until infusion #5.

 

[Jmrogers4]

I think you should do Crohn's minions t-shirts for the Take Steps.. Love it. What good friends he has.

 

[Sascot]

Glad he seems okay. We have really struggled with tiredness and sport. PE at school wipes him out for the day

 

[ChampsMom]

Unfortunately my IBDer is not a plain water drinker. He used to drink a TON of G2 (which had been recommended by the nutritionist and what they gave him in the hospital). Last year he started trying different flavored waters and settled in on Mio (water flavoring). That is his main "go to" these days.

Hydration is VERY important for him and I see huge differences in him when he's not hydrating well.

Right now he's in the middle of a sports change from ice hockey to baseball and it's wiping him out. The conditioning for baseball is so different and the stress on the joints is much harder than ice hockey (as odd as that may sound - it is especially harder on the knees).

One other thing he does is takes extra B12 prior to games and/or days when he's feeling more tired than usual.

 

[my little penguin]

I would really look at the warnings for MIO first .

 

[ChampsMom]

I would really look at the warnings for MIO first .

I would expect (hope) anyone in this group would look at "warnings" prior to using a new product.

 

[Mehita]

Thanks, I'll look into B12. Coincidentally, that something lacking in the GF diet usually. Double whammy.

 

[Mehita]

I'm at a loss. DS's math teacher just called me this morning, worried and wondering if he's been feeling okay. Of all his teachers, he is the last one I'd expect a call from, so it stopped me in my tracks. He's the third person this week to express concern. What am I not seeing?

It's finals week, so lots of tests and studying going on. It's the first week of tennis. It's week 7 of 8 in the infusion cycle. Triple threat.

Aside from being tired, and looking the part, nothing else has changed. Appetite is good, BM's are normal, sleeping well, gaining weight. My momma antenna are up, but not going crazy or anything.

I really hope I'm not missing something here. He's scheduled for his annual well child check up on Monday with his ped. Think I should ask for labs? We've only ever run labs through the GI, but maybe we should check for anemia? I don't know...

 

[Clash]

I hope all is well and the teach is just seeing the normal reaction to the stress of finals and fatigue of practice starting. Labs aren't a bad idea if you are concerned. HUGS

 

[Tesscorm]

ditto to Clash's post... teacher may just be trying to keep a watchful eye and may just be seeing what you're seeing - tiredness from sports, school, etc. But, labs are always good! S doesn't see his GP very often but, when he does, I have usually used that as an opportunity to get an extra look at labs (since GI only runs them every three months) and/or request something that isn't on 'standing orders' at infusion centre. Perhaps ask to test for vitamin levels.

 

[crohnsinct]

I agree with the committee...everyone notices when our kids aren't looking top notch because their antenae are up as well. It is super nice to have so many people looking out for our kids. BUT a lot of the time it is just normal kid stuff. This has happened to me a few times.

If he has infusion next week, will GI pull labs then? I know ours does at every infusion. If so, I wouldn't bother the ped with it as it is just a few more days. However, a finger prick to quickly check iron never hurt anyone. If it is low then you can start labs and calls to GI etc.

Who schedules the start of a sports season to coincide with finals?!