Vitamin I (Ibuprofen)
It got to the point that I was taking a lot more than I felt comfortable with. My usual problems were my offside shoulder and my knees. I got better about stretching, and started doing some light weights, and I have a lot fewer problems now. Hopefully it will stay that way.
Plain old paddling and more paddling
works wonders for this over the hill paddler.
It is the same with any sport. If you are in shape and stay in shape you shouldn’t need any pain meds wile you are doing it
The only time I’ll take any ibuprofen is following a intense training paddle on the way home.
If it is a hot day, I’l use watered down gator aid to replace the electrolights I loose sweating, so I won’t end up cramping in the middle of the night.
And if it is a long paddle (all day) naturally I’ll take some nurishment during it
Cheers,
JackL
Percocet
I keep them in a pez dispenser and eat like candy. Sometimes I’m not even sure if I’m paddling or at work.
Mustard for cramps too
I may take a banana when paddling, but heard that yellow mustard was a better source of potassium to ward off leg cramps. So after paddling (I rarely eat anything substantial when paddling) I usually have a big dose of mustard on whatever … hamburger, hot dog, double cheesburger, ham sandwich. It does seem to help cramps and works fast. I’ve started carrying packets of it along with Aleve and crystal ginger in my first aid box.
Aleve - long term
My father in law began to experience shaking in his hands (he could not pour coffee into a cup without spilling) and dizziness to the extent that he didn’t feel safe walking to the store. His doctor was shocked to learn that he had been taking Aleve every day for more than a year for pain related to gout. The symptoms slowly disappeared when he stopped the Aleve. Age does impact ones response to medication, so I don’t know how much that had to do with his reaction to long term use of Aleve. The happy news is a 92 year old who doesn’t take any pills and who can now resume his daily walks to the grocery store and library. If he would only agree get a hearing aid, things would be grand!
What did you say sonny ?
– Last Updated: Sep-03-09 6:26 PM EST –
Speak up, I can't hear you!
would you like something stuck in your ear all day long?
I wouldn't and that is why he and I refuse to get one.
The way I look at it is, if you want me to hear something, you can speak louder, or I won't bother paying any attention to what you are saying.
Now if I could only figure how to make that obnoxious rock music quiet when I am dining out, I could be a happy old grouch.
Cheers,
JackL
You’re probably also…
…not sure if those are yours or Jerry Lewis’s argyle socks you’ve got on inside a pair of cast-off, blood-stained Bruno Maglies. And, why are you in Hillary’s lacey scarlet garter belts?
(Welcome back, Mr. T!)
Ibuprofen
I often take it after a paddle and I typically take two. Three is the prescription dosage. It seems to reduce soreness. On a really strenuous paddle I take it before and after, usually two. I am also an old geezer.
good God
I’d like to see some of those livers.
I’m a bit like you Frank. I try to rely on stretching, deep breathing and biting on a bullet or almost anything else before resorting to painkillers. I used to take them quite a bit but suffered increasing side effects. I’m not sure if it’s just an increased tolerance or decreased dependency but I found that the less I took them, the less I felt like I needed them.
Having said that, as a part of my first aid kit I have naproxen and aspirin. Sometimes I take some aspirin at night or in the morning with a meal but otherwise I tend to do without.
w/vodka chaser!
Really?
Are these the same people that overload on diet drinks?
football Rx
I once knew an ex professional football player. I asked him what he used to take after games. His answer: “pitcher of beer and a Percocet”.
New findings on NSAIDs
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/phys-ed-does-ibuprofen-help-or-hurt-during-exercise/?em
There is an association between NSAID use and increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Aleve is farther away from the COX-2 pathway and is probably safer than Ibuprofen.
Lyn
Their conclusions may be true
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Oops, should be under posting below>
But like so many medical studies there is no random assignment of persons to conditions. There is no clear interpretation of those results since it is quite likely the two groups differed in other ways that are related to the measurements taken.
some, but not regularly
3 Advil and 2 Tylenol sounds excessive to me. My stomach can be sensitive to NSAIDs so at most I take one ibuprofen with one Tylenol. Sometimes if I have bad form and tweak my shoulder (rare now thankfully) and sometimes on very long, but slow paddles my lower back gets sore. I find that my lower back isn’t sore if I make full use of my legs while paddling. I suspect some folks need to either stretch more, work on form or just get on the water more often.
I think Warden is overdosing on his own
evidence, but it is clear that taking prescription level doses or more, routinely, for workouts, is a bad idea. Whether there is a danger for most people taking lower doses of NSAIDs is unclear. SOME people probably should not take NSAIDs routinely, but we don’t yet know how to identify all of those people, and they don’t seem to be dying like flies.
Interesting… but
did anyone read the Wired magazine article about placebo response and how it is affecting the pharmaceutical corps? Kind of a side tangent to this discussion, maybe, maybe not.
I take an Aleve every morning
and two for severe joint pain. Aspirin for headaches and fever.
brainwashed by Big Pharma?? (rant here)
I’m appalled at that level of pill popping. Yeah, it’s hard on your body and probably counter-productive as well. Can’t quote chapter and verse at the moment but I have heard of studies that indicate that chronic use of NSAIDS and other “anti-inflammatory” drugs actually leads to a sort of systematic tolerance so they really no longer work and the side-effects outweigh any benefits.
First off, what is wrong with feeling a little achey after heavy exertion? If you are really feeling intolerable pain, perhaps you ought to seek out the source and get it treated, and/or condition yourself better for the activities that trigger it. Yoga stretches or even just walking it out can burn off the lactic acid after a hard paddle or portage and prevent a good bit of the rebound discomfort of unfamiliar exertions.
And speaking of pills: how many of you are taking statins for cholesterol or just because your Doc puts everybody on them “because it can’t hurt.”? Well, it DOES hurt – Big Pharma doesn’t want you to know this but statin use can and does contribute to the damage and deterioration of your muscles more frequently than they will publicize. Just last year at 58 I began feeling severe physical aches and weakness after even moderately heavy exercise (like the first all-day paddling trip of the season or a few hours of heavy yard work.) At first I figured it was just age – sad but inevitable. Then I started having actual weakness and spasms in arm and leg muscles the day after exertion and became alarmed. I’d taken a small daily dose (10mg) of Lipitor for about 15 years for borderline (low 200’s) cholesterol and asked my doc if I could quit for a while and see what happened. He agreed and I stopped taking it. Within a week the muscle aches and weakness disappeared completely and now 8 months later I rebound from heavy exercise like I was 25 again and haven’t taken an NSAID or any other “pain reliever” in over a year. I seem to be able to match or even out-pace more “fit” people who are younger than me now.
Talk to your doctor – typically stopping statins briefly is not a problem (in fact, I used to regularly stop them for a week before every time I donated blood.) See if that helps.
I’m no super-jock and admit I am about 15% above my best weight, but I keep in reasonable shape (walking daily, moderate gym workout on treadmill and weight machines 1 or 2 times a week, plus a longish trail hike, bike or flatwater paddle several times a month). I’ve also, through trial and error, found a combo of cheap vitamin supplements that seems to keep me flexible and energetic: one Centrum multi, 1200IU of Omega 3/6/9 plus another 1100 of Omega 3, 500IU of Vitamin E and a gram of C with bioflavinoids. Other than eschewing coffee and soft drinks, I’m basically an omnivore (with a sweet tooth) though I probably eat half as much meat and twice as much fruits and veggies as the average American, just out of taste preference.
Also – and this is purely anecdotal – I have never drunk coffee or cola yet have noticed among the dozens of folks who have been my recreational buddies over some 40 years, that the heavier the caffeine drinker, the more they seemed to be troubled by joint and muscular pain. I couldn’t offer any explanation for this observation (though I have noticed that many coffee drinkers tend to substitute the jolt of caffeine for food, especially at breakfast.)
Pardon the rant (and would expect it to trigger some backlash) – just offering my own experiences and some no-cost suggestions that might preserve or enhance somebody else’s health and paddling enjoyment.
yes - Ibprophin due to shoulder and
sometimes tylenol for back. Age sucks.