Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Some MD's probably do some probably don't. I expect one of the problems is
heat - at least that is what Lynn said when we were discussing it. And just
like any drug it probably effects people differently. Most of our durgs today
are sledge hammers. They provide the chemical activity to treat a specific
ailment but their activity is not to isolated to just the biochemistry associated
with that particular ailment. That's what the next geneartions of durgs will
do. 

 At the Big South Fork one year we were out hiking before the ride and I
got into a buch of chiggers. My ankles were covered. In order to sleep I
took Bendryl at night. It was a 3 day ride at the time and it was hot that
year.  The first two days was fine. The third morning I got up and was trashed.

When I got back home I still didn't feel well so I went to my MD and could
find nothing wrong - excpet I was still dehydrated even after a few days
and drinking lots of water - and concluded that the side effects of Bendryl
had done me in. He said he had seen heat induced problems with the use of
Bendryl and I'd be smart not to use it when it was hot and I was going to
be active outside. 

So if I were on something like a beta blocker and wanted to ride I start
first with a few LD's and see how that went and maybe find an MD that is
farmiliar with human distance sports medicine and talk with him. 

You may just be one of the lucky one that a particular side effect doesn't
impact. I can go roll in posion ivy or posion oak and never have one reaction.
If some people did that they would die. 

Cheers
Truman

Heidi Smith wrote:
> > On Behalf Of Truman Prevatt
> >
> > I have a friend who is pharmacologist at a medical school down here. Her
> > husband and son are both endurance riders and she crews.  I asked her
> > why she didn't try riding ( she does hack around but doesn't do any
> > endurance) and she told me she was on beta blockers and the stresses of
> > endurance riding and the use of beta blockers did mix and it would be
> > risky for her to ride endurance.
> >
> > So I think your friend's MD is probably right.
> >
> > Truman
> >   
>
> I'd be much more concerned about being on beta blockers and participating in
> an anaerobic sort of sport that really gets your heart rate up--and where
> you'd be more apt to pass out if you couldn't get your heart rate past a
> certain point.  I don't think most MD's have a clue what endurance riding
> is--they think we are out here at maximal exertion for hours upon hours,
> which for most of us, at least, simply isn't the case.  Riding in general is
> an exercise like walking or jogging that is good for the cardiovascular
> system in general because it causes a sustained effort but does not tend to
> have bursts of extreme exertion.  Endurance riding is just more of it.
> Thank heavens my own MD's haven't been silly enough to suggest such nonsense
> to me--I've been on propanolol for at least 12-14 years, and my main problem
> being that I'm too pudgy, my docs would really like to see me ride a lot
> MORE than I'm currently doing!  (And I hope to comply, now that we're
> reasonably settled in our new place, and I've got a couple of other health
> issues behind me.)  I'm fortunate in that both my OB-GYN and my general
> practitioner are riders--although neither one of them does endurance,
> likewise neither one of them sees anything even remotely of concern about me
> doing endurance on the meds that I'm on, including the beta blocker.  And
> both agree that if endurance will help me to regain some fitness, then it is
> a positive thing for me to be doing.  Endurance riding isn't anywhere NEAR
> as taxing or stressful as some of the stuff I do in the hay fields here in
> the summer, and it's darn sure more fun!
>
> Heidi
>
>
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