The Weasel
11-13-2003, 14:07
In the last three months, I have found out why, at least in large part, I failed to get past Mt Rogers in '00 on my thruhike. Since it is an object lesson in how medications can affect performance, I'll do my usual thingy of over-explanation:
In 1998 I received a triple bypass due to severe coronary arterial blockages in three arteries. After my bypass operation in '98 (yeah, great surgeon: 20 months later I was doing Springer) I was placed on cholesterol-reducing meds, initially Lipitor, which was later changed to Zocor. As I trained, I felt aching in my calves, and attributed it (duh!) to the training process. And as I did the Trail, I'd ache (surprise! surprise!) and feel, especially in Trail towns, incredible weariness (surprise! surprise!). I sloughed this off as the inevitable feeling that one gets from long trail hiking. I finally stopped my thruhike as I approached Mt Rogers, with a sense of total fatigue and, despite moving well - I was by then averaging 20 miles a day - continued full body aching. I just assumed that was how it felt to thru hike, and couldn't countenance it any longer. To steal a phrase from Madelaine Kahn in Blazing Saddles, "I'm so tired!"
It was not for almost two years that I found that the source of this was NOT the Trail, but an adverse reaction to the class of anti-cholesterol drugs known as "statins" (Lipitor, Zocor, etc.) which, in up to 2% of users, causes generalized myalgia - full body pain - particularly centered in the calves, and significant tiredness and even lethargy. Several months ago, my cardiologist tinkered with my meds, taking me off the statins entirely for a while to verify (along with blood tests, which confirmed it) that this was the cause, and has since given me alternatives to the statin drug regime. Since then, muscle pain is gone, and my energy level is incredibly high.
There are a couple of lessons I pass along from this: First of all, for those in my age group who are taking one of these specific meds (statins - Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol), do NOT dismiss these symptoms as "training pains" or the like. Raise them IMMEDIATELY to your doctor. While rare, in the extreme they can lead to liver failure or even death, both of which can really screw up a thru hike.
More generally, however, check ALL of the possible adverse reactions to any meds (INCLUDING "OVER THE COUNTER" DRUGS), and ask your pharmacist for possible interactions (again, include the OTC drugs in this). For example, if you're taking a "daily dose" aspirin (and if you're 40 or over, you'd better!) AND taking a blood thinner (almost guaranteed if you're seeing a cardiologist), you do NOT want to use ibuproen ("Advil") since it too has anti-clottiung properties. I learned this little gem as I bled all over the floor of the Blueberry Patch from a small scab I picked....the combo of all 3 - aspirin, blood thinner and Advil kept me from clotting for 15 minutes. NOT good.
And there are other adverse reactions, even if you don't take anything, and it helps to just be aware of what they are. Believe it or not, there can be adverse reactions even to vitamins; taking too much of some can be toxic, and in other cases some vitamins can interfere with absorption/effectiveness of prescription drugs and vice versa. I've taken the time with my pharmacist to inventory what I take regularly and symptomatically (e.g., I only use acetominophen/Tylenol now for pain relief) to minimize these situations or at least know what causes them.
This is probably good advice anytime, but when you gear up physically and mentally for a thru hike, it's very uncool to find that trying to keep yourself healthy actually resulted in being UNhealthy enough that you dropped out without even realizing why. Frankly, had I stopped the statins, I would have been restored then (as now) and be able to put "->ME" after my name here, which would be nice.
The Weasel
So yeah, I was doomed.
In 1998 I received a triple bypass due to severe coronary arterial blockages in three arteries. After my bypass operation in '98 (yeah, great surgeon: 20 months later I was doing Springer) I was placed on cholesterol-reducing meds, initially Lipitor, which was later changed to Zocor. As I trained, I felt aching in my calves, and attributed it (duh!) to the training process. And as I did the Trail, I'd ache (surprise! surprise!) and feel, especially in Trail towns, incredible weariness (surprise! surprise!). I sloughed this off as the inevitable feeling that one gets from long trail hiking. I finally stopped my thruhike as I approached Mt Rogers, with a sense of total fatigue and, despite moving well - I was by then averaging 20 miles a day - continued full body aching. I just assumed that was how it felt to thru hike, and couldn't countenance it any longer. To steal a phrase from Madelaine Kahn in Blazing Saddles, "I'm so tired!"
It was not for almost two years that I found that the source of this was NOT the Trail, but an adverse reaction to the class of anti-cholesterol drugs known as "statins" (Lipitor, Zocor, etc.) which, in up to 2% of users, causes generalized myalgia - full body pain - particularly centered in the calves, and significant tiredness and even lethargy. Several months ago, my cardiologist tinkered with my meds, taking me off the statins entirely for a while to verify (along with blood tests, which confirmed it) that this was the cause, and has since given me alternatives to the statin drug regime. Since then, muscle pain is gone, and my energy level is incredibly high.
There are a couple of lessons I pass along from this: First of all, for those in my age group who are taking one of these specific meds (statins - Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol), do NOT dismiss these symptoms as "training pains" or the like. Raise them IMMEDIATELY to your doctor. While rare, in the extreme they can lead to liver failure or even death, both of which can really screw up a thru hike.
More generally, however, check ALL of the possible adverse reactions to any meds (INCLUDING "OVER THE COUNTER" DRUGS), and ask your pharmacist for possible interactions (again, include the OTC drugs in this). For example, if you're taking a "daily dose" aspirin (and if you're 40 or over, you'd better!) AND taking a blood thinner (almost guaranteed if you're seeing a cardiologist), you do NOT want to use ibuproen ("Advil") since it too has anti-clottiung properties. I learned this little gem as I bled all over the floor of the Blueberry Patch from a small scab I picked....the combo of all 3 - aspirin, blood thinner and Advil kept me from clotting for 15 minutes. NOT good.
And there are other adverse reactions, even if you don't take anything, and it helps to just be aware of what they are. Believe it or not, there can be adverse reactions even to vitamins; taking too much of some can be toxic, and in other cases some vitamins can interfere with absorption/effectiveness of prescription drugs and vice versa. I've taken the time with my pharmacist to inventory what I take regularly and symptomatically (e.g., I only use acetominophen/Tylenol now for pain relief) to minimize these situations or at least know what causes them.
This is probably good advice anytime, but when you gear up physically and mentally for a thru hike, it's very uncool to find that trying to keep yourself healthy actually resulted in being UNhealthy enough that you dropped out without even realizing why. Frankly, had I stopped the statins, I would have been restored then (as now) and be able to put "->ME" after my name here, which would be nice.
The Weasel
So yeah, I was doomed.