Training with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

[di1an]

Coach, just wondering if you've ever trained anyone with Ulceratice Colitis or Crohns disease. I'm 26 and have had colitis since 2003. Not being a pussy I stuck with weightlifting through the years (though with little progress) and discovered your books and programs recently. My strength (see sig) has improved dramatically, and I dropped BF, but am still real thin at 150lbs. The major issue is diet and nutrients. Getting the calories in (ie bigger quantities of food) puts stress on my already fucked up gut (running to the shitter very couple hours.) Milk is, I'm afraid, highly problematic for IBD. If you've ever encountered a case like mine iId appreciate any advice. In any case I want to stick with the lifts and get as strong as possible. Cheers.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Never trained anyone with your problem. The board is free to chime in.

[TPrewittMD]

I am not a trainer so I haven't dealt with IBD from an athletic standpoint. But I have done plenty of scopes on Crohns and UC patients over the years, so I have some understanding of the disease.

Seems to me that you need to go back to the basics before you start worrying about training, weight gain, etc.. Chronic diarrhea suggests that your disease is currently not under control. And if you have active, untreated disease, then you need appropriate medical intervention.

A visit with a decent GI guy is in order if you haven't had one in a while.

And I agree with your plan to continue to train. I am of the opinion that serious training helps many things, often dramatically.

And I kinda learned that from Rip over the last couple of years.

[Zach Passman]

Di1an,
I have had Crohn's since 1990, and was a pretty good powerlifter for a number of years (ending in 2003).
I have been sick for many of the years I have been training, but I've never been hospitalized due to Crohn's, or had any surgery because of it. If you are in that boat, sorry. My experience might not be of benefit.
You can absolutely get bigger and stronger even while you are sick. Learning what things in your diet affect your illness is a huge learning experience--and helps with your ability to eat (and keep in you) more and better food than whatever you're eating now.
Unless you are unable to live normally because of your illness, there's no reason you can't reach your goals. If you'd like, send me a PM and we can talk about the details some more.

Zach

[jerryb]

hey di1an i just wanted to encourage you to keep lifting and share my experience. Maybe some of it will help you. Disclaimer: I am not a super athelete, i just have some buddies who have tuned me into Starting Strength and keep me honest on my squat depth.

I was diagnosed with crohn's disease almost two years ago, and i lost a significant amount of weight waiting in a hospital for a diagnosis. I did what I could to work out and gain weight (I did not know about starting strength at the time, that is one advantage you have on me.) Honestly, my weight was primarily dictated by my disease. But I did have moderate success with weight gain.

You hit the nail on the head when you said nutrients are the problem. For me, I had a hard time absorbing most foods. So i just ate as much of the foods i knew my body would get the most from. For me that was lots of carbs, some chicken, and little fat. There are plenty of reasons why that is not the ideal diet for any sort of athlete, but what is worse than with a bad diet is working out and then starving yourself. I lost almost 50 pounds from my first flare up and hospital stay. Exercise and that terrible diet helped me get about 20-25 pounds back. Also, im sure you know about immodium. Stuffing yourself with food and then taking immodium can give you some serious nausea, but it may help your absorption.

If you are wondering why I have written this all in the past tense, about 10 months ago I had my large intestines removed and now have an ileostomy bag. The good news for me is that as of right now i have no active crohn's inflammation in my body, so i can drink milk. Honestly, the milk has helped tremendously with my strength training and weight gain. I am using milk and SS to try and gain as much good weight as possible prior to my next surgery.

You've been dealing with crohn's for longer than i have, so I may not have too much advice for you on the topic, but I just want to say that i am stoked that you are weight training.

[di1an]

Thanks for your responses guys. It's great to know there are people out there with IBD who train hard, since, no offence to them, but every other IBD sufferer I've met has been a lardy layabout. I guess that's what pissed me off the most, since I was a very healthy lifter with everything going great before I got diagnosed. AS for seeing a GI, I have health insurance and have regularly seen the the most qualififed authorities on IBD in the UK. After BUPA, my provider, paid out close to ?10 000 fees since 2003 (not to mention other costs out my own pocket). I can summarily say all these so called experts were USELESS. The amount of drugs they put me (steroids, azathioprine, etc) on would probably have killed a another person by now, honestly the weight training has kept me significantly more resilent than other patients, who, again no offence intended, are content to lie down and take it. I now know more more about IBD than any doctor I've met (my GP though I had frickin piles for two months! moron), none of whom themselves have had the condition, and whose opinions are secondary/borrowed from the next guy. Would you believe they all are adamant that diet has nothing to do with the condition? Baloney! We know that is not the case. Eating plenty of greens calms down the condition significantly. Back to topic, I have been eating more recently, hitting the lactose free milk, increasing my lifts and, ever so slightly, my BW. Certainly, my upper body is getting broader and fuller by the week, and I feel strong. I don't look unwell at all. After six years experience, I've come to the conclusion that doctors conventional "wisdom" is to be avoided like the plague. I know every possible treatment protocol there is for Colitis (I don't have Crohn's) and how they simply do not work, but simply mask symptoms whilst pummeling you with side effects. Serious strength training is essential for me - it teaches the body to adapt to harsh stress in spite of whatever condition. Remember the intro in SS by Rip, about the lifter with cancer who squatted with an oxygen tank attached. Well hell, when I read that, I realised I had no more excuses. And then there's multiple UK gold medalist rower Steve Redgrave, who not has Colitis but also diabetes! No excuses. You'll have to cut my hands off to get me outta the barbell room.
I must say I'm very impressed you (above poster) powerlifted with Crohn's and still lift after having an ileostomy. I made the decision pretty much on the spot in 2003 that I would never take it that far, and I stick to that. (plus the fact my colitis is limited to the very lower regions of the tract) I believe I can own this condition in the near future with the right combination of diet, training, and the right mental conditioning. If anything, it's made me way tougher mentally than the average person. And I'm actually stronger now than ever before, and at a lower BF (thanks to Rip/Kilgore) I remember Rip talking about something similar in an earlier post, about prisoners who train. Something about the body not being designed for optimal conditions all of the time, since that is just plain unrealistic, and adapting to the sub-optimal ones. I guess I'm in that boat, and I am adapting now before my very eyes.

I guess there are some lessons you just don't learn till you get under the iron.

[M_B]

I'm training sucessfully with UC, which I've had since 21, it's not in remission, but it is under relative control. I don't know whether you have Colitis, Ulcerative Colitis, or Crohns, or if you're on any medication, but it does sound like it's a bit more active than you would like and the advice from the TPrewittMD, sounds spot on.

Likewise I have found symptoms improve through exercise, my GP generally say's "ah... well... you've boosted your immune system", I don't know if that's the case, but things do seem to improve.

From my own experience these diseases are not well understood, and what helps one person may not help another, so I won't offer suggestions, other than to listen to your body, and find out what works for you. It's my quality of life which matters, and I try not to let the disease stop me from doing what I want to do.