Copaxone 40mg and intense exercise
Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 8:18 am
Hello been a long while since I posted on this site. I started taking 20mg Copaxone around 2010. I used it everyday for 3 years but eventually had to stop. I ran out of injection sites my tissue became really hard. I am skinny so not much fat on me so I repeated a lot of the injection sites. Before my MS diagnoses I was active and would run. Not a crazy amount I never trained for anything etc... probably the most I ran was 4-5 miles at that time which to me was great! Little did I know... When I was diagnosed it was because my legs were numb while running so I stopped exercising because running became painful. This was around 2010.
So 2014 pretty much everything changed no more Copaxone but I also wasn't feeling terrible. I was at my doctor's office in January and he suggested I do Bike MS with him. I had a mountain bike and rode a bit in 2012-2013 but I never did the road bike thing even though I LOVED to ride my bike as a kid for some reason I never did it as an adult. So I went on Craigslist bought a pretty amazing road bike. I was a natural at it... 3 months later in March of 2014 I did the Bike MS event. Rode 100 miles the first day and 80 miles the next. It didn't stop from there. I started attending the group rides in my area and 100 mile rides became something I did 2-3 times per month. In 2014 I rode about 12k miles alone! In 2015 I got a USA Cycling license and did amateur race events. Placing top 10 (7th) in 2 events that year. I was in such good shape that I could even run! At one point I took a few days off from riding and decided to run. One day as a joke in a group text my bike friends were like "lol run a half marathon". Put on my sneakers and ran 13 miles without even a sip of water in a little over an hour. Not bad for someone who was supposed to be a cripple!
Well my luck ended at the end of 2015. I caught the "Flu" was sick for a whole week, felt good one day and then the very next day I ended up in the hospital. Somehow whatever virus I had got into my heart and I was diagnosed with myocarditis. My heart was inflamed. Spent a week in the hospital with a ton of IV drugs etc... I got really lucky tho after numerous tests, MRI, Cat Scan etc... They determined I had no damage.
2016 was terrible tho. I tried running after my Cardiologist gave me the ok a month after I got of the hospital. I watched my heart rate all the time. Started biking again but then I started having panic attacks. The stress of everything hit me at once and I was unable to exercise. It's taken me a year to fully recover. The myocarditis had nothing to do with MS it was just bad luck. Of course not being able to ride/exercise and my mental state led to a few relapses. Which got me back to neurologist after not visiting for about 3 years.
Ok sorry about the long back story. I just want people to understand my situation.
So my question is there anyone here who takes Copaxone or knows of someone who can still compete competitively? Riding/Racing changed my life for the better but I never did any intense exercise while on Copaxone. I have no idea if there are side effects. Is it safe?
So 2014 pretty much everything changed no more Copaxone but I also wasn't feeling terrible. I was at my doctor's office in January and he suggested I do Bike MS with him. I had a mountain bike and rode a bit in 2012-2013 but I never did the road bike thing even though I LOVED to ride my bike as a kid for some reason I never did it as an adult. So I went on Craigslist bought a pretty amazing road bike. I was a natural at it... 3 months later in March of 2014 I did the Bike MS event. Rode 100 miles the first day and 80 miles the next. It didn't stop from there. I started attending the group rides in my area and 100 mile rides became something I did 2-3 times per month. In 2014 I rode about 12k miles alone! In 2015 I got a USA Cycling license and did amateur race events. Placing top 10 (7th) in 2 events that year. I was in such good shape that I could even run! At one point I took a few days off from riding and decided to run. One day as a joke in a group text my bike friends were like "lol run a half marathon". Put on my sneakers and ran 13 miles without even a sip of water in a little over an hour. Not bad for someone who was supposed to be a cripple!
Well my luck ended at the end of 2015. I caught the "Flu" was sick for a whole week, felt good one day and then the very next day I ended up in the hospital. Somehow whatever virus I had got into my heart and I was diagnosed with myocarditis. My heart was inflamed. Spent a week in the hospital with a ton of IV drugs etc... I got really lucky tho after numerous tests, MRI, Cat Scan etc... They determined I had no damage.
2016 was terrible tho. I tried running after my Cardiologist gave me the ok a month after I got of the hospital. I watched my heart rate all the time. Started biking again but then I started having panic attacks. The stress of everything hit me at once and I was unable to exercise. It's taken me a year to fully recover. The myocarditis had nothing to do with MS it was just bad luck. Of course not being able to ride/exercise and my mental state led to a few relapses. Which got me back to neurologist after not visiting for about 3 years.
Ok sorry about the long back story. I just want people to understand my situation.
So my question is there anyone here who takes Copaxone or knows of someone who can still compete competitively? Riding/Racing changed my life for the better but I never did any intense exercise while on Copaxone. I have no idea if there are side effects. Is it safe?