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oklahoma86
New member
Hey! Does anybody here have chronic gut disease, Chrohn's/UC type afflictions? If so, I am wondering what interactions, if any, you notice between your disease and different AAS compounds. I have been basically out of the gym for a year and a half due to Chrohn's, and dropped from 212lbs@~9-10%bf (6'0) down into the 170s at the worst, and currently in the low 180s trying to get things back going now that my disease seems to be under control.
Always been athletic/worked out/played sports, and more recently (since 2009 or so?) I have some prior AAS experience, if you look up my previous posts I was pretty active a couple years ago on the EF boards and I have NEVER felt/looked/lifted better than when I was on my last cycle, a 14 or 16 week Sust/Mast combo - I think 600-800mg/wk of Masteron and about 500-750 of Sustanon (EOD pins, so total dosage varied by week)- like I said, the details would be on here from my older posts, so I should be able to find more specific information if needed.
That has been 2 or 3 years ago. Since my last cycle, I have been diagnosed with Chrohn's (well over a year ago), the disease is moderate to severe and primarily located at and just past the illium. Genetics to blame- father, two uncles, and three of four male cousins have it. My onset was recent apparently, estimated less than 6 months before I was diagnosed, so it did not cause any scarring or stricture in the gut prior to detection, for which I am certainly counting myself lucky. As far as I can tell there is no reason to think this would have changed since my last 'scoping. I spent a year on Entecort, with an incompetent and disinterested GI doctor, with the only positive result being that I was able to get somewhat back to day to day life, but very little. Basically spent the last year feeling horrible, couldnt keep weight on, virtually no appetite, couldnt work out (every once in a while I would wake up feeling "better", like everything was fine, but within two days I was back to shit), couldnt even barely go to work every day in a given week, and no energy really at all. The only reason I could considered myself "better" than before I began treatment was that I was no longer shitting out water 5-15 times a day, and I could actually work some days... which was better than the months before I got in to see him!
Long story short, I got a much better doctor in the last 6 months, they took me off the Entecort the day of my first visit, switched me to Prednisone (short term... 90mg for 8 days/50mg for the next 8/20mg for 6,1mg for 6, then I was off). I am doing MUCH better, and now that things are under control, and have been long enough for me to feel confident, I am able to live life just as before - tons of energy, eat like a horse (especially when I was at 90mg and 50mg of Prednisone!), and am just feeling great. Humira and/or Remicade are the next planned course of treatment, I was initially turned down for the Remicade because it was not an "approved" treatment according to insurance, but they do cover it if one of their approved methods fail - which means my year on Entecort qualifies me. So, moving forward, while I cant help but keep in mind that I can always flare up, I am ready to move on with life as usual.
Now that it is no longer an exercise in only frustration, I am back in the gym nearly every day, able to eat about 2700-3600 good clean calories per day and I think absorb a good portion of them (always a concern when your gut is irritated and not working right - you can throw all the food in the world at it and not get any results besides a sore asshole), I dont think I have had less than 3k cals a day in a few weeks, and I am slowly seeing my strength come back - even on a catabolic like Prednisone, I have put on weight and strength, and as soon as I was off the Prednisone, water retention that was starting up has begun to dissipate, and my weight isnt exactly plummeting, so I must have made some actual gains. Recovery (short term muscle recovery) is incredibly frustrating, especially on the Prednisone - the first couple weeks I would find myself able to blast through a set and get 10 reps with little effort at, say, 175lbs on flat bench, and then after a minute or two start the second set of 10 and fail at my third or fourth rep, like drop the bar, never should have lifted that much weight in the first place, fail - even though the first set was great and nearly effortless. I dropped down to just a plate on each side of the bar, and even that is INCREDIBLY different during the first set than the third or fourth, and the extra "push" that I used to always be able to rely on to finish a lift when I needed it just isnt there yet. This has been improving as well, though, but shit.... I was just fine @ 270lbs for 7-9 reps this time a couple years ago, so you may imagine how much of a kick in the dick it is to walk into the same gym and drop 135lbs on my chest halfway through my 3rd set of 10 reps, even knowing I am in a much different place health wise.
I am posting all the above just because I would like to have a dialogue about this sport/pastime/profession as it relates to people with similar disease, but more specifically, I am trying to design a cycle to get back into things. Obviously not quite ready to pin yet, I would like to see my strength and especially recovery improve a bit more before I hit the afterburners, per se, but when I do go back on the last thing I want to do is cause a flare. I have done some basic research, and looked though threads on these boards and others that people have posted regarding autoimmune disease, gut disease, and steroids, but a lot of the information is fairly old, and since the EF community is pretty dynamic, I am sure there are some new members, or other members like me who have a new diagnosis to deal with, I figured I would put this out there. If you comment, especially with advice, I would ask that you give a basic description of both your disease pattern and/or your credentials for giving the advice you post - I dont mind if it is just anecdotal and based only on your experience, but I am also somewhat more curious what someone with a medical background or a more thorough understanding of the issue has to say on the issue.
Thanks to anyone who is able to offer advice, and I look forward to maybe running into some members with the same condition who are able to maintain this lifestyle and share ideas, etc that have helped them to do so!
Always been athletic/worked out/played sports, and more recently (since 2009 or so?) I have some prior AAS experience, if you look up my previous posts I was pretty active a couple years ago on the EF boards and I have NEVER felt/looked/lifted better than when I was on my last cycle, a 14 or 16 week Sust/Mast combo - I think 600-800mg/wk of Masteron and about 500-750 of Sustanon (EOD pins, so total dosage varied by week)- like I said, the details would be on here from my older posts, so I should be able to find more specific information if needed.
That has been 2 or 3 years ago. Since my last cycle, I have been diagnosed with Chrohn's (well over a year ago), the disease is moderate to severe and primarily located at and just past the illium. Genetics to blame- father, two uncles, and three of four male cousins have it. My onset was recent apparently, estimated less than 6 months before I was diagnosed, so it did not cause any scarring or stricture in the gut prior to detection, for which I am certainly counting myself lucky. As far as I can tell there is no reason to think this would have changed since my last 'scoping. I spent a year on Entecort, with an incompetent and disinterested GI doctor, with the only positive result being that I was able to get somewhat back to day to day life, but very little. Basically spent the last year feeling horrible, couldnt keep weight on, virtually no appetite, couldnt work out (every once in a while I would wake up feeling "better", like everything was fine, but within two days I was back to shit), couldnt even barely go to work every day in a given week, and no energy really at all. The only reason I could considered myself "better" than before I began treatment was that I was no longer shitting out water 5-15 times a day, and I could actually work some days... which was better than the months before I got in to see him!
Long story short, I got a much better doctor in the last 6 months, they took me off the Entecort the day of my first visit, switched me to Prednisone (short term... 90mg for 8 days/50mg for the next 8/20mg for 6,1mg for 6, then I was off). I am doing MUCH better, and now that things are under control, and have been long enough for me to feel confident, I am able to live life just as before - tons of energy, eat like a horse (especially when I was at 90mg and 50mg of Prednisone!), and am just feeling great. Humira and/or Remicade are the next planned course of treatment, I was initially turned down for the Remicade because it was not an "approved" treatment according to insurance, but they do cover it if one of their approved methods fail - which means my year on Entecort qualifies me. So, moving forward, while I cant help but keep in mind that I can always flare up, I am ready to move on with life as usual.
Now that it is no longer an exercise in only frustration, I am back in the gym nearly every day, able to eat about 2700-3600 good clean calories per day and I think absorb a good portion of them (always a concern when your gut is irritated and not working right - you can throw all the food in the world at it and not get any results besides a sore asshole), I dont think I have had less than 3k cals a day in a few weeks, and I am slowly seeing my strength come back - even on a catabolic like Prednisone, I have put on weight and strength, and as soon as I was off the Prednisone, water retention that was starting up has begun to dissipate, and my weight isnt exactly plummeting, so I must have made some actual gains. Recovery (short term muscle recovery) is incredibly frustrating, especially on the Prednisone - the first couple weeks I would find myself able to blast through a set and get 10 reps with little effort at, say, 175lbs on flat bench, and then after a minute or two start the second set of 10 and fail at my third or fourth rep, like drop the bar, never should have lifted that much weight in the first place, fail - even though the first set was great and nearly effortless. I dropped down to just a plate on each side of the bar, and even that is INCREDIBLY different during the first set than the third or fourth, and the extra "push" that I used to always be able to rely on to finish a lift when I needed it just isnt there yet. This has been improving as well, though, but shit.... I was just fine @ 270lbs for 7-9 reps this time a couple years ago, so you may imagine how much of a kick in the dick it is to walk into the same gym and drop 135lbs on my chest halfway through my 3rd set of 10 reps, even knowing I am in a much different place health wise.
I am posting all the above just because I would like to have a dialogue about this sport/pastime/profession as it relates to people with similar disease, but more specifically, I am trying to design a cycle to get back into things. Obviously not quite ready to pin yet, I would like to see my strength and especially recovery improve a bit more before I hit the afterburners, per se, but when I do go back on the last thing I want to do is cause a flare. I have done some basic research, and looked though threads on these boards and others that people have posted regarding autoimmune disease, gut disease, and steroids, but a lot of the information is fairly old, and since the EF community is pretty dynamic, I am sure there are some new members, or other members like me who have a new diagnosis to deal with, I figured I would put this out there. If you comment, especially with advice, I would ask that you give a basic description of both your disease pattern and/or your credentials for giving the advice you post - I dont mind if it is just anecdotal and based only on your experience, but I am also somewhat more curious what someone with a medical background or a more thorough understanding of the issue has to say on the issue.
Thanks to anyone who is able to offer advice, and I look forward to maybe running into some members with the same condition who are able to maintain this lifestyle and share ideas, etc that have helped them to do so!
