extreme athletics

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jerrygallow
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extreme athletics

Post by jerrygallow »

Is there any basis to think that extremely vigorous exercise is bad for MS? Someone here lately mentioned that it seems common to see people here with MS who compete/ have participated in extreme sports. I know when I was first diagnosed I was lifting, jogging, biking. I noticed I felt terrible afterward. Terry Wahls says her first symptom was during rigorous judo training if I recall. I have a friend with MS who is a triathlete. I know of MS patients who run marathons. We are conditioned to think that extreme training, either running or lifting is healthy, but perhaps we with MS have some deficiency or imbalance that is worsened by exercising beyond a moderate amount.
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jimmylegs
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Re: extreme athletics

Post by jimmylegs »

arg. somehow i just closed the browser window on myself and lost my post >:P

so anyway. briefly, if you don't feed your body what it needs, there's a problem. ms patients are low in nutrients, and athletes use more nutrients than the more sedentary.

just taking the example of magnesium, the general population doesn't get enough, ms patients are even worse off. athletes are at risk of depletion through sweating and physical stress. given the issues with testing, docs don't see the red flags they should.

it's been suggested that serum magnesium is not a good measure, because you can have low cellular magnesium and normal serum magnesium. what that actually means is, the RANGE for serum magnesium is no good. if you only accept 0.90 - 1.10 mmol/L as acceptable for serum magnesium, it actually correlates just fine with RBC mag.

a friend of mine, one who is particularly active and athletic, was able to get some tests and had low normal serum mag results by even the usual subpar standard, but at her particular lab the range was even worse than usual (range went down to .65!! terrible), so no red flag for the doc. but, we pushed her mag level up to high normal (as well as fixing several other problems) and her issues resolved.

so yes, some exercise is certainly better than none for ms patients - but the nutrition status must be monitored and optimized. and if not monitored and optimized, i would say yes extremely vigorous exercise could be bad for anyone and particularly for those with previously depleted nutritional status, such as those with chronic illness including ms.
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want2bike
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Re: extreme athletics

Post by want2bike »

Everything I have read suggest exercise is necessary for healing. That does not mean you should run a marathon everyday. Exercise increases blood flow which is a good thing. Things like yoga, tai chi, walking, jogging, swimming are all good for increasing the blood flow. Do not believe pushing the body to the extreme is a good thing. You do need some exercise if you want good health. Sitting all day is not healthy.
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jimmylegs
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Re: extreme athletics

Post by jimmylegs »

just chatting with somebody in my non-TiMS network and this ended up in the mix:

On the Significance of Magnesium in Extreme Physical Stress
http://link.springer.com/article/10.102 ... 7708918683
In a double-blind randomized study, 23 competitive triathletes competing in an event consisting of a 500-meter swim, a 20-km bicycle race, and a 5-km run were studied after 4-week supplementation with placebo or 17 mmol/d Mg orotate. The tests were carried out without a break. Blood was collected before and after the test, and between the different events for assaying energy stress and membrane metabolism. Swimming, cycling, and running times decreased in the Mg-orotate group compared with the controls. Serum glucose concentration increased 87% during the test in the control group and 118% in the Mg-orotate group, while serum insulin increased 39% in the controls and decreased 65% in the Mg-orotate group. Venous 2 partial pressure increased 126% during the test in the controls and increased 208% in the Mg-orotate group. Venous 2 partial pressure after the bicycle race decreased 66% (significantly) in the Mg-orotate group compared with 74% in the controls. Blood proton concentration decreased to 90% in the Mg-orotate group (significantly) compared with 98% in the controls. Blood leukocyte count increased from 5.92/nL to 11.0/nL in the controls and from 5.81/nL to 9.10/nL in the Mg-orotate group, a significant difference. Serum cortisol was lower in the Mg-orotate group before and after the test compared with the controls. CK catalytic concentration after the test was elevated 140% in the controls compared with 122% Mg-orotate group. The stress-induced modifications of energy and hormone metabolism described in this study indicate altered glucose utilization after Mg-orotate supplementation and a reduced stress response without affecting competitive potential.
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Kronk
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Re: extreme athletics

Post by Kronk »

jerrygallow wrote:Is there any basis to think that extremely vigorous exercise is bad for MS?
I don’t think exercise is a cause of MS, but I do believe based on the research below, that it can highlight the presence of MS sooner than in idle individuals due to endothelial damage caused by intense exercise.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24194479
"...it appears that the BBB may be compromised following exercise, with the severity dependent on exercise intensity..."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1650437
"...These results suggest that short-term Free Swimming increases BBB permeability in specific brain regions..."

I personally don’t think this injury to the endothelial or Blood Brain Barrier is all bad… much like training a muscle you have to break the fibers so that they “super-compensate” and build larger and stronger than they were before. This is the basic fact of bodybuilding.

I truly believe exercise is critical for health I do power lifting 4 days a week at the gym. I much prefer intense anerobic to aerobic exercise. This approach was also promoted by the British neurologist Ritchie Russell, Professor of Clinical Neurology in Oxford, who published a book entitled ‘Multiple Sclerosis: Control of the Disease’. It was called the Rest-Exercise Program (REP). The program involved people with MS doing short bursts of vigorous exercise, preferably in the lying position, such as press ups or weight-lifting exercises, followed by periods of rest. Russell thought this would help by protecting the blood-brain barrier which we know is intimately involved in the development of MS. He reports in his book details of 21 patients of various ages and the good results he achieved with this multiple sclerosis exercise therapy.

As with every MS theory there is good and bad... but you have to pick a side of the fence :)
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