Forums >Health and Nutrition>Advil During a race
Run like a kid again!
<rant> Hmmm. 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 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>
Runners run
"If you have the fire, run..." -John Climacus
rectumdamnnearkilledem
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
Just run, baby.
If it is sore, push through it. If it is injured, stop.
That said, I know lots and lots of folks who pop the little brown pills. They do not all spontaneously combust. It is not a certainty. So you will see folks do this and say "wow, no big deal". But the risk is high and the damage big. No thanks.
[tangent rant]
Lots of people will tell you not to take NSAIDs because they might "mask pain" of an injury. Folks, when was the last time you took advil in normal situations and had it really mask pain? My experience is that advil never covers up pain; it just takes the edge off. Anyway, it ain't morphine. Masking? Nah.
[/tangent]
Last marathon I ran had a couple of super annoying guys behind me and leap-frogging me for almost the entire race. At about 12 miles in they were popping Advil. I found myself silently wishing/hoping that they'd both collapse with failed kidneys so I wouldn't have to listen to their constant, stupid, machismo babble any longer. No such luck.
The dark side is strong in this one!
Ostrich runner
http://www.runningahead.com/groups/Indy/forum
I look my best blurry!
Good Bad & The Monkey
Do any of you take Advil during a race or a long run?
ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reduce swelling? Dude. People with kidney failure swell all the time.
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
Listen to your body, your "inner coach". Taking pain meds is like turning off your "inner coach". I did it a little while back. No kidney problems but I did mask the pain of what ended up being a stress fracture in the neck of my femur, a frayed labrum and gluteus medius tendonopathy. I should have been listening.
Did you end up having the labrum scoped? My gf is having it done in a month.
Thank goodness no! 6 weeks running in a pool. Ugh. But it is over. Hope your GF is OK. Bummer.
ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
he lives!
I don't understand then why the running group was giving them out. I was never saying to do it but just trying to understand why one would want to take it during the race. Would it actually help you during the race?
Found this interesting:
The Bottom Line on NSAID Use During Sports The bottom line was ibuprofen use by endurance athletes did not affect performance, muscle damage or perceived soreness but it was associated with elevated indicators of inflammation and cell damage. It’s a reasonable assumption that using NSAIDs has no positive effect on sports performance. It may, in fact, cause a serious health risk in some endurance athletes.
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/medicationanddrugs/a/NSAID_endurance.htm
This was more interesting:
Beer While presented with humor, the panel noted that beer provided hydration, carbohydrates, salts, and pain relief when taken during the marathon. In fact, it was prescribed by one physician as a quick remedy for muscle cramps. Personally, I can attest to the amazing restorative qualities of Belgian beer in the final mile of the Blankenberge Two-Days Walk. Portland Marathon Race Director Les Smith experimented with beer as his sole hydration during a marathon and the results were "When I finished, I was looped." It was noted that beer decreases athletic performance, "It was a slow marathon."