Crohn's Disease & Working Out...

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NicoleMensigg
NicoleMensigg Posts: 40 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi- does anyone have any tips to help staying "awake" or less fatigued when you have a condition such as Crohn's Disease? I stay very tired all the time due to the CD and it makes it very hard to work out when I stay up all day for work. Some days it's very easy and I feel fine, those are the days you'll notice I'm walking the dog five miles, biking, working out or doing something along those lines. But, other days, like yesterday and today, I cannot wait to get off work, take a shower and crawl into my bed and sleep! It's not a laziness issue it's just I'm so sleepy. I desperately want to work out and have the energy but it's taking all I have to keep my eyes open. Any tips? Any tricks?

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  • cazyll
    cazyll Posts: 184
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    I have Ulcerative Colitis and know what your going through. I have to take my hat off to you for even going to work! I think you should just applaude yourself for getting up and being able to do what needs doing on those days without putting pressure on yourself to workout.

    At the end of the day we have a chronic illness that will flare up and at those times you need to be easy on your self. I hope things get easier on you, I have been lucky for the last 2 years and have been "normal", but I will never forget the tiredness that comes with being sick.

    Good luck with your weight loss
  • NicoleMensigg
    NicoleMensigg Posts: 40 Member
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    I'm sorry you're sick as well! I just feel that I've came so far that I don't want to turn around and gain all of what I lost.
  • cazyll
    cazyll Posts: 184
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    If your careful with what you eat, if you even have an appetite then you won't gain any weight. Are you not finding your losing weight at the minute if you are having a flare up?
  • NicoleMensigg
    NicoleMensigg Posts: 40 Member
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    No, due to all the steroids that I was taking for the first two years of it, I gained exactly 100lbs! Prior to being diagnosis I was trying to lose and was working out pretty hard every day-my story kind of long on how they found it but it was a life changing issue that caused me to just go down down down and now I'm trying to pick myself up and have done semi-ok, not as good as I want to be and def not as good as I should be! I still have a long ways to go before I reach my goal weight.
  • becka63
    becka63 Posts: 712 Member
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    I think if fatigue is a symptom of your Crohn's then just take each day as it comes, don't beat yourself up on days you're too tired to do anything. Even when I'm not in flare up, I still have days when I'm exhausted, it seems to me to be when I'm in need of my next b12 jab!

    I'm lucky at the moment in that I'm able to exercise each day and I do think that the more you do, the more stamina you have, but you have to move at your own pace.

    Depending on what your diet permits, fresh fruit and veg seem to give me a lot of energy. If you're based in the UK, Crohn's and Colitis UK have just received funding for a study on fatigue, it might be worth visiting their homepage.

    Good luck!
  • cazyll
    cazyll Posts: 184
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    Ah the wonderful steroids, thats my story too. When I was ill I went down to 7 st (98lbs) and then i could not stop eating with those drugs. I gained 3 st (42lbs) in 2 months and that is where i still am today. I naively thought the weight would just drop off again.


    Well done on how far you've come, I can only hope to have a little of your determination and will power to loose just some of this weight. Look after yourself and rest when you need to, you can always work out tomorrow :)
  • NicoleMensigg
    NicoleMensigg Posts: 40 Member
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    Sadly, I am in the States! That is a wonderful study that is going to be taking place and I hope that they find some information that is helpful to us all. What do you think of the B12 jab! lol. I've contemplated this many many many times but I've never actually known someone who has CD and gotten the shot-so I'm curious...is it really helpful? As for the fruits-I'm allergic to a great many that have any type of acid in them so that is bad but veggies!!! I LOVE VEGGIES!!! I try to eat them as much as possible but it's hard to find fresh things sometimes around here.
  • toonzy
    toonzy Posts: 28
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    Hi, me too, I've got Crohns and do a lot of excercise right now.But when I get tired I really try to just listen to my body and rest. Sometimes I push through, but if it gets bad I do tend to go to bed and sleep, sleep sleep! I've had tons of surgery too, so sometimes have to be careful not to do too much too soon.
    I'm training for a triathlion just now, and hoping I can manage on top of CD! (:

    Sorry, got no tips/advice apart from do as much as you can when you feel good, buy remember to rest too.

    Also know what you mean with steroids, I have been up and down in weight so many times!!
  • j5965
    j5965 Posts: 1
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    I'm a 22yr old male and have had Crohns for a good (or bad!) while and had some surgeries this summer and have started doing some work at the gym. I've struggled to put on weight and steroids helped but even now that i'm well (long may it continue) I piled on the pounds yet have plateaued at 10 stone. I still look as thin as i did when i was eight stone nearly!

    Anyway after the surgeries and all i hoped that the tiredness and brain fog would lift or gradually decrease. I tried to aid this by going to the gym now that i feel better to increase my stamina and give me more energy.

    Again unfortunately so far this hasn't quite proved to be the case but at least i'm doing some exercise.

    I suppose though this disease saps our energy and strength for years (until it gets diagnosed/treated etc) so it will take more than a few weeks/months to bounce back. As yet I have unfortunately not discovered that magic remedy that gives us Crohnies the energy of our other counterparts.

    Just listen to your body (as it sounds like you are already doing) and don't push yourself too hard!

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