Two Italian Races to Consider and Advil warning

There's an earlier post below about the fine skiing in the Dolomites
around Cortina. This is certainly true. There is a yearly weekend of
races in the Dobbiaco-Toblach area that is great fun. Saturday race is
classic, Sunday is skate. Both go from the valley of Toblach basically
up to Cortina, a long, mostly gradual climb with spectacular views. At
the finish, the cool guys have good looking girls pick them up and the
rest of us take buses back to the start. The races seem to be held the
first weekend in Feb every year. You can register on the spot.

These are largely regional races of a few hundred racers but are very
well organized and have the feel of a smaller Worldoppet race without
any of the logistical problems of a huge race.

I did both this year and as usual, probably took a few too many Advil
before and after. This time it caught up with me and a couple of days
later (in Albania, of all places), I developed severe bleeding from
ulcer I didn't know I had in my esophogus. Not a fun time, lost 2/3rds
of my blood, and no doubt that the use of Advil and other like NSAIDS
over the counter drugs (Aleve, etc.) was a major factor.

In my case, I had been skiing like crap ever since the Canadian Ski
Marathon last year with some strange asthmatic like symptoms and now
it appears the culprit was this ulcer, for lots of complicated
reasons. Even though I had relatively high hematocrit (47), I wasn't
getting enough oxygen. For the first 25 km of Craftsbury this year,
for instance, my heart rate was at 95% of max and it wasn't like I was
trying to sprint. I did last 25 km in a trance like shuffle and was so
slow I had to be timed with a calendar. Anyway, once I get pumped
back up with blood, I hope to be able to return to my old level of
mediocrity.

Stats show that around 15,000 people die a year in US from overuse of
these over the counter anti-inflammatories, a stat I'd always ignored,
of course, when I wanted to take Advil, but, hey, take it from me,
these things can be nasty, nasty. So don't use too much and if you
feel like you are developing an ulcer problem, go see a doctor! A
little Nexium can go a long way to stopping any serious problems and
probably improve your performance.

Stuart, thanks for the info. Sorry to hear about your ulcer. Good
message of caution about due care in using anti-inflammatories. I used
to pop'm as 'sports candy' and stopped after some stomach problems
too.

I kept an eye out for you in Mora, now I know why you weren't there.
Wish you a speedy recovery. See you on the tracks before too long.

Parham.

On Mar 12, 1:00 am, "Stuart" wrote:
There's an earlier post below about the fine skiing in the Dolomites
around Cortina. This is certainly true. There is a yearly weekend of
races in the Dobbiaco-Toblach area that is great fun. Saturday race is
classic, Sunday is skate. Both go from the valley of Toblach basically
up to Cortina, a long, mostly gradual climb with spectacular views. At
the finish, the cool guys have good looking girls pick them up and the
rest of us take buses back to the start. The races seem to be held the
first weekend in Feb every year. You can register on the spot.

These are largely regional races of a few hundred racers but are very
well organized and have the feel of a smaller Worldoppet race without
any of the logistical problems of a huge race.

I did both this year and as usual, probably took a few too many Advil
before and after. This time it caught up with me and a couple of days
later (in Albania, of all places), I developed severe bleeding from
ulcer I didn't know I had in my esophogus. Not a fun time, lost 2/3rds
of my blood, and no doubt that the use of Advil and other like NSAIDS
over the counter drugs (Aleve, etc.) was a major factor.

In my case, I had been skiing like crap ever since the Canadian Ski
Marathon last year with some strange asthmatic like symptoms and now
it appears the culprit was this ulcer, for lots of complicated
reasons. Even though I had relatively high hematocrit (47), I wasn't
getting enough oxygen. For the first 25 km of Craftsbury this year,
for instance, my heart rate was at 95% of max and it wasn't like I was
trying to sprint. I did last 25 km in a trance like shuffle and was so
slow I had to be timed with a calendar. Anyway, once I get pumped
back up with blood, I hope to be able to return to my old level of
mediocrity.

Stats show that around 15,000 people die a year in US from overuse of
these over the counter anti-inflammatories, a stat I'd always ignored,
of course, when I wanted to take Advil, but, hey, take it from me,
these things can be nasty, nasty. So don't use too much and if you
feel like you are developing an ulcer problem, go see a doctor! A
little Nexium can go a long way to stopping any serious problems and
probably improve your performance.

Stuart,
Good to know about these races, but not to hear that you've had
serious problems. I quit taking the typical anti-inflammatories some
years ago just for fear of the type of reaction you had. Weight gain
and intestinal changes were bad enough, but the other effects seemed
like a crap shoot. Someone here or elsewhere suggested gamma lineolic
acid-based (GLA) herbal anti-inflammatories, such as black currant oil
or borage oil (more GLA), and they've done me well, along with
strengthening the injured body parts. Dr. Andrew Weil is big on herbal
anti-inflammatories and also recommends Circumin (sold as Turmeric),
fish oil or EPA (Omega-3), and ginger in food. I'd been using fish
oil and noticed even less swelling and better recovery from the
Turmeric/Circumin. See http://www.drweil.com/drw/ecs/index.html,
http://www.drweilselfhealing.com/.

rm

"Stuart" wrote:

There's an earlier post below about the fine skiing in the Dolomites
around Cortina. This is certainly true. There is a yearly weekend of
races in the Dobbiaco-Toblach area that is great fun. Saturday race is
classic, Sunday is skate. Both go from the valley of Toblach basically
up to Cortina, a long, mostly gradual climb with spectacular views. At
the finish, the cool guys have good looking girls pick them up and the
rest of us take buses back to the start. The races seem to be held the
first weekend in Feb every year. You can register on the spot.

These are largely regional races of a few hundred racers but are very
well organized and have the feel of a smaller Worldoppet race without
any of the logistical problems of a huge race.

I did both this year and as usual, probably took a few too many Advil
before and after. This time it caught up with me and a couple of days
later (in Albania, of all places), I developed severe bleeding from
ulcer I didn't know I had in my esophogus. Not a fun time, lost 2/3rds
of my blood, and no doubt that the use of Advil and other like NSAIDS
over the counter drugs (Aleve, etc.) was a major factor.

In my case, I had been skiing like crap ever since the Canadian Ski
Marathon last year with some strange asthmatic like symptoms and now
it appears the culprit was this ulcer, for lots of complicated
reasons. Even though I had relatively high hematocrit (47), I wasn't
getting enough oxygen. For the first 25 km of Craftsbury this year,
for instance, my heart rate was at 95% of max and it wasn't like I was
trying to sprint. I did last 25 km in a trance like shuffle and was so
slow I had to be timed with a calendar. Anyway, once I get pumped
back up with blood, I hope to be able to return to my old level of
mediocrity.

Stats show that around 15,000 people die a year in US from overuse of
these over the counter anti-inflammatories, a stat I'd always ignored,
of course, when I wanted to take Advil, but, hey, take it from me,
these things can be nasty, nasty. So don't use too much and if you
feel like you are developing an ulcer problem, go see a doctor! A
little Nexium can go a long way to stopping any serious problems and
probably improve your performance.

Thanks very much for suggestions! Will give them a try. I had heard
something about GLA but this is first actual account from someone who
tried it.

Many thanks!

Stuart







On Mar 12, 10:29 am, wrote:
Stuart,
Good to know about these races, but not to hear that you've had
serious problems. I quit taking the typical anti-inflammatories some
years ago just for fear of the type of reaction you had. Weight gain
and intestinal changes were bad enough, but the other effects seemed
like a crap shoot. Someone here or elsewhere suggested gamma lineolic
acid-based (GLA) herbal anti-inflammatories, such as black currant oil
or borage oil (more GLA), and they've done me well, along with
strengthening the injured body parts. Dr. Andrew Weil is big on herbal
anti-inflammatories and also recommends Circumin (sold as Turmeric),
fish oil or EPA (Omega-3), and ginger in food. I'd been using fish
oil and noticed even less swelling and better recovery from the
Turmeric/Circumin. Seehttp://www.drweil.com/drw/ecs/index.html,http://www.drweilselfhealing.com/.

rm



"Stuart" wrote:
There's an earlier post below about the fine skiing in the Dolomites
around Cortina. This is certainly true. There is a yearly weekend of
races in the Dobbiaco-Toblach area that is great fun. Saturday race is
classic, Sunday is skate. Both go from the valley of Toblach basically
up to Cortina, a long, mostly gradual climb with spectacular views. At
the finish, the cool guys have good looking girls pick them up and the
rest of us take buses back to the start. The races seem to be held the
first weekend in Feb every year. You can register on the spot.

These are largely regional races of a few hundred racers but are very
well organized and have the feel of a smaller Worldoppet race without
any of the logistical problems of a huge race.

I did both this year and as usual, probably took a few too many Advil
before and after. This time it caught up with me and a couple of days
later (in Albania, of all places), I developed severe bleeding from
ulcer I didn't know I had in my esophogus. Not a fun time, lost 2/3rds
of my blood, and no doubt that the use of Advil and other like NSAIDS
over the counter drugs (Aleve, etc.) was a major factor.

In my case, I had been skiing like crap ever since the Canadian Ski
Marathon last year with some strange asthmatic like symptoms and now
it appears the culprit was this ulcer, for lots of complicated
reasons. Even though I had relatively high hematocrit (47), I wasn't
getting enough oxygen. For the first 25 km of Craftsbury this year,
for instance, my heart rate was at 95% of max and it wasn't like I was
trying to sprint. I did last 25 km in a trance like shuffle and was so
slow I had to be timed with a calendar. Anyway, once I get pumped
back up with blood, I hope to be able to return to my old level of
mediocrity.

Stats show that around 15,000 people die a year in US from overuse of
these over the counter anti-inflammatories, a stat I'd always ignored,
of course, when I wanted to take Advil, but, hey, take it from me,
these things can be nasty, nasty. So don't use too much and if you
feel like you are developing an ulcer problem, go see a doctor! A
little Nexium can go a long way to stopping any serious problems and
probably improve your performance.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Some things you may hear of as anti-inflammatories that I'd suggest
staying away from are MSM, which messes with your intestinal tract and
isn't that effective, and Glucosamine/Chondroitin. There were a
coupple of small studies in the '90s that found the latter, singly or
together, seemed to hold the line against cartilege deterioriation, and
somehow that morphed into them being anti-inflammatories, which they
are not.

rm

"Stuart" wrote:

Thanks very much for suggestions! Will give them a try. I had heard
something about GLA but this is first actual account from someone who
tried it.

Many thanks!

Stuart







On Mar 12, 10:29 am, wrote:
Stuart,
Good to know about these races, but not to hear that you've had
serious problems. I quit taking the typical anti-inflammatories some
years ago just for fear of the type of reaction you had. Weight gain
and intestinal changes were bad enough, but the other effects seemed
like a crap shoot. Someone here or elsewhere suggested gamma lineolic
acid-based (GLA) herbal anti-inflammatories, such as black currant
oil or borage oil (more GLA), and they've done me well, along with
strengthening the injured body parts. Dr. Andrew Weil is big on
herbal anti-inflammatories and also recommends Circumin (sold as
Turmeric), fish oil or EPA (Omega-3), and ginger in food. I'd been
using fish oil and noticed even less swelling and better recovery
from the Turmeric/Circumin.
Seehttp://www.drweil.com/drw/ecs/index.html,http://www.drweilselfhealing.com/.

rm



"Stuart" wrote:
There's an earlier post below about the fine skiing in the Dolomites
around Cortina. This is certainly true. There is a yearly weekend of
races in the Dobbiaco-Toblach area that is great fun. Saturday race
is classic, Sunday is skate. Both go from the valley of Toblach
basically up to Cortina, a long, mostly gradual climb with
spectacular views. At the finish, the cool guys have good looking
girls pick them up and the rest of us take buses back to the start.
The races seem to be held the first weekend in Feb every year. You
can register on the spot.

These are largely regional races of a few hundred racers but are
very well organized and have the feel of a smaller Worldoppet race
without any of the logistical problems of a huge race.

I did both this year and as usual, probably took a few too many
Advil before and after. This time it caught up with me and a couple
of days later (in Albania, of all places), I developed severe
bleeding from ulcer I didn't know I had in my esophogus. Not a fun
time, lost 2/3rds of my blood, and no doubt that the use of Advil
and other like NSAIDS over the counter drugs (Aleve, etc.) was a
major factor.

In my case, I had been skiing like crap ever since the Canadian Ski
Marathon last year with some strange asthmatic like symptoms and now
it appears the culprit was this ulcer, for lots of complicated
reasons. Even though I had relatively high hematocrit (47), I wasn't
getting enough oxygen. For the first 25 km of Craftsbury this year,
for instance, my heart rate was at 95% of max and it wasn't like I
was trying to sprint. I did last 25 km in a trance like shuffle and
was so slow I had to be timed with a calendar. Anyway, once I get
pumped back up with blood, I hope to be able to return to my old
level of mediocrity.

Stats show that around 15,000 people die a year in US from overuse
of these over the counter anti-inflammatories, a stat I'd always
ignored, of course, when I wanted to take Advil, but, hey, take it
from me, these things can be nasty, nasty. So don't use too much
and if you feel like you are developing an ulcer problem, go see a
doctor! A little Nexium can go a long way to stopping any serious
problems and probably improve your performance.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 09:29:30 -0500, wrote:

Stuart,
Good to know about these races, but not to hear that you've had
serious problems. I quit taking the typical anti-inflammatories some
years ago just for fear of the type of reaction you had. Weight gain
and intestinal changes were bad enough, but the other effects seemed
like a crap shoot.
If you were gaining weight when taking NSAIDs, it's probably because
your kidneys are sensitive to the nephrotoxic effects. This leads to
water retention and elevated blood pressure which can be very serious.
I ended up in intensive care for a day. This effect becomes more
pronounced as people age and the over 65 group is at most risk for
serious complications. Because of the age link, most MDs do not
consider young people at risk - a blind spot created by faulty logic.
Some people are acutely sensitive even in their teens.

[snip]