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Running and Motrin (Ibuproen) (Read 2401 times)

    Do any of you run while taking Motrin?

     

    I have a pain in my foot, and I will definitely be looking at having my doctor check it out (soon). However, I have a race in two weeks. Is it safe to run after taking motrin, or perhaps to take it in the middle of a run?

     

    Trent


    Good Bad & The Monkey

      < rant>

      Pain.

      or Dialysis. Forever.

      I'll take pain.

      -----------------------------------

      Blood flows into your kidneys in arteries. The arteries branch smaller and smaller until they are tiny little arterioles. These deliver blood to the microscopic unit in the kidney responsible for making urine, called the glomerulus. Those arterioles delivering blood to the glomerulus are called afferent arterioles. Those collecting the blood out the other side are called efferent arterioles. There are several hormonal mechanisms for making sure that the pressure head on the blood is sufficient so that you make appropriate urine even when you are dehydrated.

      Ibuprofen and other NSAIDs mess with the hormonal control over the arterioles and essentially causes the blood to stop flowing to the glomerulus. This can cause a sharp decrease in urine and in oxygen delivery to the kidneys. The latter can kill off kidney cells in great number.

      The effect of NSAIDS is mitigated by adequate hydration. If you are dehydrated, the protection is gone and the effect of the NSAIDS on the hormonal control over your afferent arterioles is gone. You can cause substantial and permanent kidney damage. Bad.

      When glomerular filtration is limited, your body may try several mechanisms to fix the problem using other hormonal systems. This combined with reduced renal function can cause a dangerous increase in potassium and a drop in your sodium. Also bad.

      -----------------------------------

      You never know the day that your ibuprofen or other NSAID you take while running will cause renal failure, and it is not wholly dependent on hydration.

      The pain of marathoning and training can be expected. Why do you feel the need to stop that pain? Because you don't like it? Marathoning is supposed to hurt. I'm not talking about the pathologic pain of injury; if you have that, address the injury (rather than hiding it under some drug). I see way too many people in my practice and in the world who want to run but don't want to hurt while running. Sadly, it does not always work that way. Don't risk your health to hide the pain. Learn to accept it, to feel it flow through you, to guide you and teach you. Pain is not your enemy.

      Jeff, a local RA member, a 2:35 marathoner and professional philosopher (really) once wrote this: "For me, racing is not about overcoming pain. It's about as running fast as I can. The pain is just the way the body speaks to you, a side phenomenon. It's silly to try to overcome it or attack it. We talk about the "pain" of running as if it were a single phenomenon. Actually, in running as in life there are many different sorts of pains, and one can learn to distinguish these pains in order to respond to them differently. It is very rare that generating the sensation of "pushing through it" is the appropriate response to pain. My sense is that generating that feeling is just layering one type of pain on another."

      -----------------------------------

      The standard nonprescription dose of motrin/ibuprofen/advil is 400 mg every 6 hours. Not 600 mg. Not 800. And certainly not 1000 mg. Sure, your doc may prescribe doses higher than 400 mg, but you are NOT your doctor (nor should you be, even if you are a doctor). The higher the dose, the greater the risk of injury to your kidneys, to your electrolytes and to your GI tract.

      < /rant>
        Trent do you have a keyboard shortcut that just pastes that automagically?

        Runners run

        wyerock


          I think eric made a macro so that the site automatically replies for Trent.  Must be a lot of GPS imports going on since it took 3 minutes to respond.

            Thanks Trent!

             

            Scary stuff... I'm not sure if I will embrace the pain and run through it, but I will come up with something (that doesn't have motrin involved).


            an amazing likeness

              You might as well ask for the rest of the story while you're in uptake mode and get Dr. Trent to clue you in on the issues with acetaminophen...

               

              One you can't run, one you can't drink, I can never remember which is which.

              Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.

                I forgot to mention in my response what the pain was. From what I have read online, and from what I feel, I believe the pain is stemming from Morton's Neuroma. It is just my left foot. I have tried changing shoes, and also increasing the padding, but it just has never improved.

                 

                Basically, by mile 4 there is a zing between my toes (the smaller three), but mile 6 they are numb, mile 13 and on it is intense pain. I have ran through the pain during training runs but I did not relish the idea of completing the full marathon in a couple weeks.

                 

                Again, I will try something other than Motrin. Perhaps ice pack the evening before.

                 

                By the way, does this mean you shouldn't take Ibuprofen following a marathon (say an hour afterward) if you have been re-hydrating?

                 

                 

                flovesparko


                  Trent, 

                   

                  How soon before a race should you not be taking Ibuproen?  I'm assuming what you wrote was during a race? Thanks. 

                  Trent


                  Good Bad & The Monkey

                    24 hours before and 6-12 hours after the race should be ibu - free.

                     

                    For a MN, you may consider cutting a hole out of your shoe's insert right under the neuroma.

                    xor


                      Why does that only work for a Minnesotan?

                       


                      A Saucy Wench

                        I forgot to mention in my response what the pain was. From what I have read online, and from what I feel, I believe the pain is stemming from Morton's Neuroma. It is just my left foot. I have tried changing shoes, and also increasing the padding, but it just has never improved.

                         

                        Basically, by mile 4 there is a zing between my toes (the smaller three), but mile 6 they are numb, mile 13 and on it is intense pain. I have ran through the pain during training runs but I did not relish the idea of completing the full marathon in a couple weeks.

                         

                        Again, I will try something other than Motrin. Perhaps ice pack the evening before.

                         

                        By the way, does this mean you shouldn't take Ibuprofen following a marathon (say an hour afterward) if you have been re-hydrating?

                         

                         

                         I have similar pain, but mine is not MN, it is metatarsalgia.  The symptoms are very similar.  Unfortunately the rough and dirty treatment is exactly the opposite.  For MN you cut the hole as Trent listed.  For metatarsalgia you tape in an extra piece of foam (cut it from the insert of an old shoe) under your insole to lift it up.   Around nickle to quarter size

                         

                        To find the location to cut or support in either  case find the point on your foot where the pain FIRST starts and put a dot of lipstick right there on the bottom of your foot.  Then put your shoe on and walk around.  This makes it easier to find the proper location. 

                         

                        I would start by making the pad because it is removable.  If that makes it worse try the hole.

                         

                        Pray for metatarsalgia of the two.  Weight loss will clear up 90% of it, I only occasionally get bouts of it now and I can correlate weight and pace.    MN treatment kind of sucks.

                        I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets

                         

                        "When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7

                            I forgot to mention in my response what the pain was. From what I have read online, and from what I feel, I believe the pain is stemming from Morton's Neuroma. It is just my left foot. I have tried changing shoes, and also increasing the padding, but it just has never improved.

                             

                            Basically, by mile 4 there is a zing between my toes (the smaller three), but mile 6 they are numb, mile 13 and on it is intense pain. I have ran through the pain during training runs but I did not relish the idea of completing the full marathon in a couple weeks.

                             

                            Again, I will try something other than Motrin. Perhaps ice pack the evening before.

                             

                            By the way, does this mean you shouldn't take Ibuprofen following a marathon (say an hour afterward) if you have been re-hydrating?

                             

                             

                             I also have Moton's Neuroma in my left foot.  Flares up every so often, and the best thing I found was to tie my left shoe less tight... sometime this gives me a blister, but no Neuroma pain.  I also ice my foot directly after a long run, which seems to help.  My podiatrist made inserts for me, and they really seem to help.  There are non-surgical options for MN.  They now inject an alcohol substance into the nerve, which kills it.  If mine flares up again, I may go that route

                            JerryBZA


                            Runs with the pack

                              My wife's a pharmacist.  She has me take Naproxen for pain and/or swelling.
                              Trent


                              Good Bad & The Monkey

                                My wife's a pharmacist.  She has me take Naproxen for pain and/or swelling.

                                 

                                Everything I said about ibuprofen applies to all NSAIDs, including naproxen.

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