Unable To Work Out

[masterjen]

Working out is a passion of mine; what might be called a hobby. However, the worst of all the celiac symptoms kicked in when I was diagnosed (in Feb. 2010). When I've tried to work out, even for 10 minutes and doing perhaps a tenth of the intensity I normally would train at, I would end up with muscle tremors, extreme weakness, and then headache. I have "tested" myself periodically during this time with similar results. A few days ago I tried again (and for 25 min. rather than 10 min.): the tremors did not occur, and the post workout weakness and headache were much less intense. So, I am improving with those symptoms, but for the next day I had diarrhea, felt generally unwell for the next 3 days (headachy and lethargic, with stomach/intestinal discomfort). Has anyone been similar to me? Is there hope for me to resume one of my favourite hobbies?!

[nyctexangal]

I feel your pain. I've been unable to work out due to the chest pain I have with Celiac. I was just Celiac diagnosed (and have gone gluten-free) for the past 7 weeks. I was a personal trainer for 3 years as well. I know the deep desire to get in the gym and rock it out. But I think it's really important to allow the body to heal, and not add any more stress to it than we already are.

Since in Celiac, we experience severe malabsorption, the symptoms of Celiac can be WAY worse after working out, since you're depleting your body of vitamins and minerals- which it is already having to struggle to absorb. So in my opinion, once the body heals, working out will be awesome. So for now...lots of gentle walking to this end. Make sure your taking the correct vit/minerals. Especially B vitamins- it's helped my symptoms a lot. That and Fish oil.

[tictax707]

Hi... I am so sorry to hear about your battles. Although I haven't had your symptoms exactly, I had have problems working out in that past when I get sick, either from gluten/dairy or eventhe common cold or flu. Ultimately I would say that your body is still adjusting to the changes in your diet. In the grand scheme of things two months is nothing compared to how things have been during your whole life up until now. It might be rough going for a bit, but I promise you it will get better as long as you are extremely strict with the diet and don't "cheat." One of the things that I have found recently is that I am extremely sensitive to dehydration. Your symptoms post workout might be due to dehydration...? It couldn't hurt to make super sure you are well hydrated before attempting your next training session. And it sucks but you do have to ease into it too. After trying in 10 minute intervals, a 25 minute interval is more than twice that! Your body was probably pretty overwhelemed. I find that sports drinks are very helpful - even if they are pretty dilute. For your symptoms now i would reommend pedialyte, although I am not sure what the equivalent would be for your area. It's basically a liquid given to babies to help get their electrolytes back in balance when they are sick. Hope this helps, and feel free to ask more questions! I love, love, love, my training and working out, so rest assured I understand both the passions and the frustrations!

[Heidi S.]

Have no fear, you will feel better!

I suffered from horrible fatigue and became unable to exercise at all before going gluten free. To my knowledge with NO Contamination set backs it takes ~3 months for your system to heal internally. Your body is still working very hard to repair damage and that is not taking into account that there is a gluten-free learning curve about everything in your life becoming gluten free (food, drink, skin, hair, body products, exposure, cross contamination, etc.). You may be still be getting small amounts that you are fighting. Every glutening will set your system healing back as well.

Do not be discouraged I have been able to exercise being almost a year gluten free MORE than ever in my entire life! My vitamin levels are back up, I have more energy, and my endurance increases with less chest pain now more than ever! Gluten has a detox period and you will overcome your hurdles. Be patient with your body, you are healing, and when setbacks occur listen to your body and take it easy. I step up my exercise when I can and step it down if I am having a problem. The increase in adrenaline and endorphins can make an already upset system a bit more irritated.

I would not worry yet, give it a few months and keep pushing through with what you can handle! This is just my opinion, I am not a doctor but from my experience celebrate your healing and every baby step you can! Best of Luck!

[masterjen]

I really appreciate the supportive and encouraging input! Thank you!!! It helps to hear this from those who also love to work-out and exercise, rather than to hear comments from my non-exerciser friends and family who say 'you were probably working out too much before anyway" - lol.

[tictax707]

ha, ha...! True that. People have thought I am nuts for my hobbies, and that's not even taking into account the celiac disease! Heidi is right - that once you get the hang of it, you will almost certaintly feel much better than you ever did before you were diagnosed. I finished my first full ironman in November, and I am sure I would have nearly killed myself trying to finish that distance before my diagnosis. Hang in there, and keep coming back for questions!

[Glutenfreenoobie]

Working out is a passion of mine; what might be called a hobby. However, the worst of all the celiac symptoms kicked in when I was diagnosed (in Feb. 2010). When I've tried to work out, even for 10 minutes and doing perhaps a tenth of the intensity I normally would train at, I would end up with muscle tremors, extreme weakness, and then headache. I have "tested" myself periodically during this time with similar results. A few days ago I tried again (and for 25 min. rather than 10 min.): the tremors did not occur, and the post workout weakness and headache were much less intense. So, I am improving with those symptoms, but for the next day I had diarrhea, felt generally unwell for the next 3 days (headachy and lethargic, with stomach/intestinal discomfort). Has anyone been similar to me? Is there hope for me to resume one of my favourite hobbies?!

Young male here. I've had problems working out. In fact the reason I decided to go gluten free in the first place was because I was having trouble working out. I tried increasing my protein but I ate my protein on bread (sigh). My main problem is just the general feeling of unease and bad when I start warming up. I mean I go on my stationary bike for 2 mins at low intensity and I feel awful.

Second main problem is my abs. I get through the workout but then I have to run to the toilet every 10 mins for the next couple days. Could gluten intolerance weaken my abs? I know in Pilates class I was getting beaten by middle age guys with beer bellies that claimed this was their first Pilates class. Meanwhile I've been training my abs for years and couldn't do 1/3 of what these middle age guys were doing.

[Heidi S.]

Young male here. I've had problems working out. In fact the reason I decided to go gluten free in the first place was because I was having trouble working out. I tried increasing my protein but I ate my protein on bread (sigh). My main problem is just the general feeling of unease and bad when I start warming up. I mean I go on my stationary bike for 2 mins at low intensity and I feel awful.

Second main problem is my abs. I get through the workout but then I have to run to the toilet every 10 mins for the next couple days. Could gluten intolerance weaken my abs? I know in Pilates class I was getting beaten by middle age guys with beer bellies that claimed this was their first Pilates class. Meanwhile I've been training my abs for years and couldn't do 1/3 of what these middle age guys were doing.

Have you gone to a celiac or gluten intolerance specializing nutritionist? One thing that helped me very much was working with a nutritionist to balance my gluten free diet. I also had significant vitamin deficiencies and need prescription vitamins for a time and now I remain on a multi-vitamin. Also take vitamins at night before bed and I do not eat very much before working out. I normal stick to cereal or like a little rice, chicken or avocados (stomach settling food). Heavy protein before working out maybe too much on a healing system. I know my energy and strength has increase with balancing my vitamins. Hope it helps!

[Glutenfreenoobie]

Have you gone to a celiac or gluten intolerance specializing nutritionist? One thing that helped me very much was working with a nutritionist to balance my gluten free diet. I also had significant vitamin deficiencies and need prescription vitamins for a time and now I remain on a multi-vitamin. Also take vitamins at night before bed and I do not eat very much before working out. I normal stick to cereal or like a little rice, chicken or avocados (stomach settling food). Heavy protein before working out maybe too much on a healing system. I know my energy and strength has increase with balancing my vitamins. Hope it helps!

I don't have a lot of extra money so I try to avoid seeing extra professionals, in this case a nutritionist. For the same reason I avoid supplements. I'm just going to go gluten-free and listen to my body. Hopefully my digestive system is still intact enough that I'm not suffering from any malnutrition.

[dilettantesteph]

You haven't been diagnosed very long. I imagine you just need more time to heal and figure out the diet. I found that working out seemed to point out any trace gluten that I might have missed. I would notice symptoms if I worked out that I missed if I didn't do much. I just got my diet more and more pure until I stopped having the symptoms. Friday I swam 2000 yards. Can't do that with GERD! It took me 2.5 years to get here. I hope you manage to get there faster. Good luck to you.

[bridgetm]

I've been having the same problem. I kayak upwards of 15 miles a week during the summer so once I'm back on campus I do a lot of ab and core work, lats, triceps, everything. It always takes me a while to build up my program in the fall because I don't do any dry-land work in the summer, but I was doing great this year (from cruches, to sit-ups, to weighted sit-ups and Russian twists)... until I started having trouble with gluten.

I won't ramble on here with how my symptoms started since I've described that on a few other topic posts. Long-story short, my lower-left quadrant abdominal pain has decreased some in the last month that I've been gluten-free. I know I'm probably being cross-contaminated here and there and at times I get tired of reading labels and won't check until after I've spent the day curled in a ball (I've learned my lesson), but overall I've noticed improvement.

After about two weeks, since I wasn't in any acute pain (my abdomen often only hurts if I put pressure on it) and stretching didn't aggravate it, I decided to stretch out really well and try some sit-ups. I think I got through about 2 sets of 6 before I was exhausted. To put that into perspective, in January I was hitting 3 sets of 10 with no weight and 2 sets of 8 with a 10 lb steel plate. I thought it was because I had gone from 3-4 workouts/week to no activity for almost a month, but then for a few days after I just didn't feel good. Abdominal pain, bloating, etc. All the good stuff. Since I've been so up and down since then (due to cross-contamination in a school cafteteria, misreading of labels and who-knows-what else I did wrong) I haven't even done crunches.

I'm trying to be more careful (once I get home from school in three weeks and control every surface that all of my food touches it will be much easier) and I'm really hoping that this improves soon because this lack of activity is driving me insane. I can't even hit my makeshift kayak ergometer without facing about a week of recovery time. Gatorade and peanut butter always set me up for a smooth recovery day and immediate progress, but even those miracle-workers don't touch this.

[tictax707]

Bridgetm, have you tried pedialyte? I have found that when Gatorade doesn't help me out, pedialyte will. More electrolyes maybe? The clear stuff is well, clear, so no funny dyes like the bright, vivid colors of gatorade. I can't imagine that all those dyes are good for you, but unless I am really bad off, I guess I can handle them ok.

I too, am a huge peanut butter fan. YAY for PB!! Going to make my own here in a little bit.

One of the things that makes me the most depressed is when I can't work out either - I feel ALL out of whack and batty. I trust you are keeping the foods really easy and basic (rice, bananas, PB) to help your tummy rest...?

I am sorry you have been knocked down, and I hope you feel better soon!!!

[bridgetm]

Tictax- I didn't think of trying Pedialyte; maybe I'll pick some up this weekend. I am trying to eat only simple foods. Bananas, peanut butter, sweet potatoes and Uncle Ben's microwave-ready rice are staples. I also eat some gluten-free rice cereals and cereal bars, Bakery on Main's trail mix bars, and of course Lara and Bumble Bars. Sometimes I'll go for a few Lay's chips but I always know immediately that my stomach's not happy with that decision. I definitely need to be a bit more careful about that processed stuff, but right now I'm living in a dorm room with no fridge and a packed schedule. But bananas, Bumble Bars and peanut butter are pretty convenient.

[tictax707]

Tictax- I didn't think of trying Pedialyte; maybe I'll pick some up this weekend. I am trying to eat only simple foods. Bananas, peanut butter, sweet potatoes and Uncle Ben's microwave-ready rice are staples. I also eat some gluten-free rice cereals and cereal bars, Bakery on Main's trail mix bars, and of course Lara and Bumble Bars. Sometimes I'll go for a few Lay's chips but I always know immediately that my stomach's not happy with that decision. I definitely need to be a bit more careful about that processed stuff, but right now I'm living in a dorm room with no fridge and a packed schedule. But bananas, Bumble Bars and peanut butter are pretty convenient.

Cool - I hope it helps you too. If you remember, let me know if you think it worked for you too.

Sounds like you have a good simple-food plan. I love love love the bumble bars, but have found they can cause my system to get a bit rumbly when I am healthy, so I stay away when I am not. (but that's just me)

[pamelaD]

I am also a workout fanatic...

I was so sick just before I was diagnosed and lost ~25 lbs (down to about 105) and could not do my usual workout: short of breath, weak, tired. As I started to feel better and wanted to get back to physical activities, I discovered yoga. I started slow and fell in love with it.

Now - 6+ years later, I do my cardio workout in the gym in the morning and then go to my yoga studio 3-5 times a week in the evening and on weekends.

Seriously- start back slow... don't push it. Take care of yourself. Yoga, for me, was the perfect way to get back into feeling better physicaly.

Good Luck,

Pam

[Wheatfreedude]

Meanwhile I've been training my abs for years and couldn't do 1/3 of what these middle age guys were doing.

Middle aged guys rule!