[pct-l] Ibuprofen
Ellen Shopes
igellen at comcast.net
Mon Oct 5 19:32:26 CDT 2009
Maybe like Lucy from Charlie Brown, I should set up a booth at Kick-Off:
"the Nurse is In"! :-)
----- Original Message -----
From: "William A. Chavez" <wctrekker at dslextreme.com>
To: "Ellen Shopes" <igellen at comcast.net>
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 8:18 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Ibuprofen
Wow. Perhaps your trail name should be "Ms PDR." :)
On Oct 4, 2009, at 6:28 PM, Ellen Shopes wrote:
> Ibuprofen, Advil, Naproxen, etc are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
> (aka NSAID). Tylenol (or acetaminophen) is also a NSAID, although it's
> in a
> different class.
> The Advil group interact with prostaglandins, inhibiting their action.
> Prostaglandins come in many different 'flavors' in the body.
> Unfortunately,
> prostaglandin inhibition is generally non-specific. That means that this
> class of drugs will effect all prostaglandins in the body, regardless of
> their function. Some prostaglandins increase renal blood flow. With
> NSAIDs, renal flow is decreased, predisposing one to renal failure. The
> drugs do not themselves cause dehydration, but can increase the risk of
> kidney damage in dehydrated individuals. In the hospital, we are avoid
> it
> in patients who are dehydrated or have decreased renal function from
> other
> causes.
> There has been debate for a long time about delayed bone healing with
> NSAIDs, to the extent that some orthopedists avoid it in patients.
> I am unaware of any problems with the liver with the Advil class.
> Tylenol
> is metabolized into a substance, that when sufficiently concentrated in
> the
> liver can cause damage, but this does not occur (to my knowledge) with
> the
> other NSAIDS.
> Prostaglandins are also involved in blood clotting, and Advil and such
> can
> increase bleeding/bruising with injury.
> Use these drugs when you have to, but I would discourage routine use if
> you
> can avoid it!
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Thomas Jamrog" <balrog at midcoast.com>
> To: "PCT MailingList" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2009 10:41 AM
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Ibuprofen
>
>
> I have problems with arthritis, and occasionally bursitis and
> tendonitis. My 59 year old body is a roadmap of surgeries dealing
> with high wear and tear . I was in the habit of dosing with liberal
> vitamin when I backpacked -I until I met the best shoulder surgeon in
> Maine, who did the best he could to clean out a shoulder two years
> ago. He instructed me to cut back on ibuprofen, due to the toxicity
> associated with use. He advised me it was better to learn to live
> with unmedicated low level pain and save the ibuprofen for the times
> when the pain was really invasive, and then stop it when things
> returned to baseline discomfort. He instructed me that folks who
> practice daily dosage are putting themselves at risk for premature
> liver failure.
> Uncle Tom
>
> Blogging about the Great Outdoors
> on http://tjamrog.wordpress.com ( hotlink)
>
>
>
>
> On Oct 4, 2009, at 7:46 AM, Mountaingoat Fraser wrote:
>
>> Very, very interesting. I was on 12 Vitamin I a day on my first ill-
>> fated
>> shot at the AT. Breakfast began with four of the buggers... I was
>> later
>> diagnosed as having stress fractures in both legs, and I'd been
>> limping
>> bravely on for about 200 miles until I bailed in mid-PA. I read on Ray
>> Jardine's blog that on his latest AT thru-hike (this year) his total
>> ibuprofin intake for the whole walk was...zero. I'm hoping to avoid
>> the
>> stuff as well next year, replacing it with an old folk remedy called
>> Lightweight Hiking.
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 12:50 PM, Spring <kjssail at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I think this article from the NYT is worthy of being read by all of
>>> with
>>> aches and pains from long distance hiking. I learned something new
>>> (to me)
>>> when I was informed that the fellow who won the 100k race at
>>> Willamette Pass
>>> in August had been in the hospital with renal failure due to due to
>>> the use
>>> of ibuprofen on top of being dehydrated. This is a bit more news
>>> on that
>>> front to be aware of.
>>> Spring
>>>
>>>
>>> http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/phys-ed-does-ibuprofen-
>>> help-or-hurt-during-exercise/?scp=1&sq=ibuprofen&st=blog
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> September 1, 2009, 11:59 pm
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Phys Ed: Does Ibuprofen Help or Hurt During Exercise?
>>>
>>>
>>> By Gretchen Reynolds
>>>
>>>
>>> Dan Saelinger/Getty Images
>>> Several years ago, David Nieman set out to study racers at the
>>> Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile test of human stamina held
>>> annually in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. The race
>>> directors had asked Nieman, a well-regarded physiologist and director
>>> of the Human Performance Laboratory at the North Carolina Research
>>> Campus, to look at the stresses that the race places on the bodies of
>>> participants.
>>> Nieman and the race authorities had anticipated that the rigorous
>>> distance and altitude would affect runners’ immune systems and
>>> muscles,
>>> and they did. But one of Nieman’s other findings surprised everyone.
>>>
>>> After looking at racers’ blood work, he determined that some of the
>>> ultramarathoners were supplying their own physiological stress, in
>>> tablet form. Those runners who’d popped over-the-counter ibuprofen
>>> pills before and during the race displayed significantly more
>>> inflammation and other markers of high immune system response
>>> afterward
>>> than the runners who hadn’t taken anti-inflammatories. The ibuprofen
>>> users also showed signs of mild kidney impairment and, both before
>>> and
>>> after the race, of low-level endotoxemia, a condition in which
>>> bacteria
>>> leak from the colon into the bloodstream.
>>> These findings were “disturbing,” Nieman says, especially since
>>> “this wasn’t a minority of the racers.” Seven out of ten of the
>>> runners
>>> were using ibuprofen before and, in most cases, at regular intervals
>>> throughout the race, he says. “There was widespread use and very
>>> little
>>> understanding of the consequences.”
>>> Athletes at all levels and in a wide variety of sports swear by their
>>> painkillers. A study published earlier this month
>>> on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine found
>>> that, at
>>> the 2008 Ironman Triathlon in Brazil, almost 60 percent of the racers
>>> reported using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers (or
>>> NSAIDs,
>>> which include ibuprofen) at some point in the three months before the
>>> event, with almost half downing pills during the race itself. In
>>> another
>>> study, about 13 percent of participants in a 2002 marathon in New
>>> Zealand
>>> had popped NSAIDs before the race. A study of professional Italian
>>> soccer
>>> players found that 86 percent used anti-inflammatories during the
>>> 2002-2003
>>> season.
>>> A wider-ranging look
>>> at all of the legal substances prescribed to players during the 2002
>>> and 2006 Men’s World Cup tournaments worldwide found that more than
>>> half of these elite players were taking NSAIDS at least once during
>>> the
>>> tournament, with more than 10 percent using them before every match.
>>> “For a lot of athletes, taking painkillers has become a ritual,”
>>> says Stuart Warden, an assistant professor and director of physical
>>> therapy research at Indiana University, who has extensively studied
>>> the
>>> physiological impacts of the drugs. “They put on their uniform” or
>>> pull
>>> on their running shoes and pop a few Advil. “It’s like candy” or
>>> Vitamin I, as some athletes refer to ibuprofen.
>>> Why are so many active people swallowing so many painkillers?
>>> One of the most common reasons cited by the triathletes in Brazil
>>> was “pain prevention.” Similarly, when the Western States runners
>>> were
>>> polled, most told the researchers that “they thought ibuprofen would
>>> get them through the pain and discomfort of the race,” Nieman says,
>>> “and would prevent soreness afterward.” But the latest research into
>>> the physiological effects of ibuprofen and other NSAIDs suggests that
>>> the drugs in fact, have the opposite effect. In a number of studies
>>> conducted both in the field and in human performance laboratories in
>>> recent years, NSAIDs did not lessen people’s perception of pain
>>> during
>>> activity or decrease muscle soreness later. “We had researchers at
>>> water stops” during the Western States event, Nieman says, asking the
>>> racers how the hours of exertion felt to them. “There was no
>>> difference
>>> between the runners using ibuprofen and those who weren’t. So the
>>> painkillers were not useful for reducing pain” during the long
>>> race, he
>>> says, and afterward, the runners using ibuprofen reported having legs
>>> that were just as sore as those who hadn’t used the drugs.
>>> Moreover, Warden and other researchers have found that, in
>>> laboratory experiments on animal tissues, NSAIDs actually slowed the
>>> healing of injured muscles, tendons, ligament, and bones. “NSAIDs
>>> work
>>> by inhibiting the production of prostaglandins,”substances that are
>>> involved in pain and also in the creation of collagen, Warden says.
>>> Collagen is the building block of most tissues. So fewer
>>> prostaglandins
>>> mean less collagen, “which inhibits the healing of tissue and bone
>>> injuries,” Warden says, including the micro-tears and other trauma to
>>> muscles and tissues that can occur after any strenuous workout or
>>> race.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The painkillers also blunt the body’s response to exercise at a
>>> deeper level. Normally, the stresses of exercise activate a
>>> particular
>>> molecular pathway that increases collagen, and leads, eventually, to
>>> creating denser bones and stronger tissues. If “you’re taking
>>> ibuprofen
>>> before every workout, you lessen this training response,” Warden
>>> says.
>>> Your bones don’t thicken and your tissues don’t strengthen as they
>>> should. They may be less able to withstand the next workout. In
>>> essence, the pills athletes take to reduce the chances that they’ll
>>> feel sore may increase the odds that they’ll wind up injured — and
>>> sore.
>>> All of which has researchers concerned. Warden wrote in an
>>> editorial this
>>> year
>>> on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine that
>>> “there is
>>> no indication or rationale for the current prophylactic use of NSAIDs
>>> by athletes, and such ritual use represents misuse.”
>>> When, then, are ibuprofen and other anti-inflammatory painkillers
>>> justified? “When you have inflammation and pain from an acute
>>> injury,”
>>> Warden says. “In that situation, NSAIDs are very effective.” But to
>>> take them “before every workout or match is a mistake.”
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> if (typeof NYTD.Blogs.user != 'undefined') {
>>> if(NYTD.Blogs.user.isLoggedIn()) {
>>> var dcsvid=NYTD.Blogs.user.getId();
>>> var regstatus="registered";
>>> }
>>> else {
>>> var dcsvid="";
>>> var regstatus="non-registered";
>>> }
>>> }
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> And That's All the Goat Wrote
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