Prednisolone and the gym

[FrankieFredericks]

I'm going to go on a 8 week course of prednisolone 40mg per day for a week then taper by -5mg per week..

My crohns has been playing up badly, I recently booked a trip to Paris for my girlfriends birthday only for crohns to show its ugly head on the first day, I had to get a flight home straight away and it left me basically depressed, costing me hundreds.

One of my hobbies is the gym and lifting weights, luckily I am able to take care of myself, I know some people with crohns are not afforded this luxury.

I was just wondering how many people have experienced muscle loss with this particular steroid as I know it is part of the side effects, I would hate for years and years of progress to shred off me in a few weeks.

Do you guys think that's possible? To lose years of work and progress in a few weeks? Its just got me feeling down in the dumps

It may seem trivial to some but those who understand where I am coming from I am very grateful to,

Thanks everyone.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

8 weeks isn't super long so I think you should be okay. If you're able to continue going to the gym while on pred, then keep working out to maintain your muscle mass. I was on budesonide (a similar corticosteroid) for most of 2014, and I was concerned about muscle loss as well. I continued working out the entire time I was on budesonide, and I maintained my muscle mass (I don't think I gained any muscle mass, but I didn't lose much/any and I only gained about 2 lbs of fat/water weight throughout that entire time). Long story short, no, I don't think you'll lose years of progress in a couple months. Worst case scenario, if you're not able to work out, you might lose a little progress, but 8 weeks is not long enough to do major damage to your muscle mass. I've had the flu for about 8 weeks myself and am just getting back to the gym recently (it was respiratory flu which affected my ability to do any exercise), and I haven't lost much progress at all. I think you'll be fine.

 

[FrankieFredericks]

8 weeks isn't super long so I think you should be okay. If you're able to continue going to the gym while on pred, then keep working out to maintain your muscle mass. I was on budesonide (a similar corticosteroid) for most of 2014, and I was concerned about muscle loss as well. I continued working out the entire time I was on budesonide, and I maintained my muscle mass (I don't think I gained any muscle mass, but I didn't lose much/any and I only gained about 2 lbs of fat/water weight throughout that entire time). Long story short, no, I don't think you'll lose years of progress in a couple months. Worst case scenario, if you're not able to work out, you might lose a little progress, but 8 weeks is not long enough to do major damage to your muscle mass. I've had the flu for about 8 weeks myself and am just getting back to the gym recently (it was respiratory flu which affected my ability to do any exercise), and I haven't lost much progress at all. I think you'll be fine.

Thanks very much for the reply,

It may seem stupid to some people as health can be valued so much more than just muscle mass, but as im sure you know, much energy, effort and time goes into lifting weights and the gym,

Sometimes with crohns I just feel asif I am "peeing into the wind" when it comes to the gym, but it does help, thanks anyway for the reply.

Cheers

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I completely understand. I only worked out sporadically before I got sick. Then, the first year I was sick, I was so so sick and I lost a bunch of weight including a fair amount of muscle mass (I'm a fairly slim 5'8" female and I went from a healthy 136 lbs down to an almost scary underweight 115 lbs). Then I was on steroids for a long time and gained my weight back but also lost most of the rest of my muscle mass - I got back to the mid 130s but my body was definitely weaker and flabbier than it had been. By the time I finally hit remission, I was a mess and had to build myself up from scratch. I started lifting weights in 2011 and it took months just to get my muscle mass back up to where a normal human would be and to shift some of that flab into muscle. I've continued working out since then and I love it. So yeah, long story short, because of what I've been through and how hard I've worked in the past few years, I absolutely understand how important muscle mass is and how much work it takes to maintain/build, particularly when you have chronic illness and certain medications standing in your way. Just keep doing what you can do!

 

[alex_chris]

In the many years of being a Crohn's patient, I had steroids 4 or 5 times. Last time was 3 years back. I don't think I experienced any muscle loss, as a matter of fact, I was too thin and had quite some problems back then and started training slowly during my steroids course, so gained muscle weight.

General question, are you on any maintenance meds? You do not mention any.

 

[FrankieFredericks]

I completely understand. I only worked out sporadically before I got sick. Then, the first year I was sick, I was so so sick and I lost a bunch of weight including a fair amount of muscle mass (I'm a fairly slim 5'8" female and I went from a healthy 136 lbs down to an almost scary underweight 115 lbs). Then I was on steroids for a long time and gained my weight back but also lost most of the rest of my muscle mass - I got back to the mid 130s but my body was definitely weaker and flabbier than it had been. By the time I finally hit remission, I was a mess and had to build myself up from scratch. I started lifting weights in 2011 and it took months just to get my muscle mass back up to where a normal human would be and to shift some of that flab into muscle. I've continued working out since then and I love it. So yeah, long story short, because of what I've been through and how hard I've worked in the past few years, I absolutely understand how important muscle mass is and how much work it takes to maintain/build, particularly when you have chronic illness and certain medications standing in your way. Just keep doing what you can do!

Thanks very much for your support, its very comforting talking to people in the same boat as myself, I shall be spending more time on this forum.

My parents do not understand my worry of losing muscle (im 20), and they think I am being silly for even mentioning it which is so frustrating, I'm grateful for your kind words of support.

 

[FrankieFredericks]

In the many years of being a Crohn's patient, I had steroids 4 or 5 times. Last time was 3 years back. I don't think I experienced any muscle loss, as a matter of fact, I was too thin and had quite some problems back then and started training slowly during my steroids course, so gained muscle weight.

General question, are you on any maintenance meds? You do not mention any.

Thanks for the reply, it has soothed my worry slightly, I thought it was a certainty that I would lose muscle and become weaker.

I am not on any maintenance medication, I have been prescribed pentasa for the last 3 years but told not to take it by my gastroenterologist as of 2 days ago when I was given the steroids, I assume they want to blast the inflammation with steroids before taking further action, I am able to self medicate the pain with the foods that I eat (bland, boring diet)