Kinda OT - Diverticulitis

Stephen Baker wrote:

You have a lot of courage to tell us of your intestinal complaints and use your name in the
process.

> Having just discovered yesterday that my current woes are due to this obnoxious-sounding
> condition, I have to ask

Obnoxious-sounding? Try obnoxious. Little sacs in your intestines called diverticula are impacted
with feces, man, and have become infected. That has to hurt!

> a) does anyone else out there have this,

I don't, but my step-mother has for some time now.

> and
> b) if so, does it affect your biking. Or, more importantly, does your biking affect the condition.

The old woman used to ride a mountain bike (she's developed all kinds of other maladies in her older
age), leisurely of course, but it never stopped her from plodding around. That little bit of
exercise, which is about all she ever got, probably helped more than it hurt. I never heard her
complain about the bike aggravating her, ummm, condition.

The only way I can see how it can affect your riding is that your doctor has probably placed you on
a very high fiber diet which could make nature call while you're out on your bike. Oh yeah, you'll
probably experience some bloating and gas (drastic gas) until your intestines adjust if you're not
used to a high fiber diet. At least you don't pedal with your intestines, but everything's better
when they work right.

I'll give you the same advice a dirty old bartender told me when I was 12, "If it feels good, do it.
If it hurts, don't." I'm sure that's as apropos for biking with diverticulitis as it was for
whatever he was talking about. 0

> Replies by email would be fine, so as not to gross out the other denizens of this ng.

And ruin the opportunity of publicly discussing intestinal health? Not on your life!

cyclist101 says:

>You have a lot of courage to tell us of your intestinal complaints

That's called "guts", dude.... ;-)

>and use your name in the process.

"Like the pine trees lining the winding road....."

>Try obnoxious.

Ummmmmm - yeah....

>Little sacs in your intestines called <snip> That has to hurt!

Uh-huh!

>That little bit of exercise, which is about all she ever got, probably helped more than it hurt. I
>never heard her complain about the bike aggravating her, ummm, condition.

i'm more worried about the "bouncing", shall we say, upsetting the diverticula to the point of
bursting. But the "If it hurts, don't" thing should help there.

Thanks for the reply.

Steve

"Stephen Baker" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Having just discovered yesterday that my current woes are due to this obnoxious-sounding
> condition, I have to ask
>
> a) does anyone else out there have this, and
> b) if so, does it affect your biking. Or, more importantly, does your
biking
> affect the condition.
>
> Replies by email would be fine, so as not to gross out the other
denizens of
> this ng.

What meds are you on and what dietary changes have you made. Did the doc give you any advice about
active sports. Mike

Taywood says:

>What meds are you on and what dietary changes have you made.

Hefty antibiotics. dietary changes are waiting until I'm off the antibiotics, as they have theor own
specific diet so my stomach survives them ;-(

>Did the doc give you any advice about active sports.

Not yet. I asked about biking, but he didn't seem too worried. Mind you, he's a runner and swimmer,
so what TF does he know ;-) I'm more interested in MTB-ers experiences at this point (since it will
be a few days till I feel up to hitting the saddle again) which I can combine with "Doctor's Orders"
to try to figure out if I should worry or not. The reason i ask is that there is history of the
diverticulae bursting in the family, resulting in some very unpleasant cutting and sewing
procedures. I don't want to tempt Providence any more than i have to, and would rather stop riding
off road than risk being shuttled out with a split lower intestine. ;-)

Steve

I'm an internal medicine doc who is also an avid biker. Your condition should not affect your riding
AT ALL. Don't worry about doing any damage to your diverticuli by riding - just avoid riding when
you're having a full blown attack. Make sure you follow your doc's dietary orders to prevent the
condition from getting worse...the main thing you have to do is increase your fiber intake to
prevent constipation.

[email protected] (Stephen Baker) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Taywood says:
>
> >What meds are you on and what dietary changes have you made.
>
> Hefty antibiotics. dietary changes are waiting until I'm off the antibiotics, as they have theor
> own specific diet so my stomach survives them ;-(
>
> >Did the doc give you any advice about active sports.
>
> Not yet. I asked about biking, but he didn't seem too worried. Mind you, he's a runner and
> swimmer, so what TF does he know ;-) I'm more interested in MTB-ers experiences at this point
> (since it will be a few days till I feel up to hitting the saddle again) which I can combine with
> "Doctor's Orders" to try to figure out if I should worry or not. The reason i ask is that there is
> history of the diverticulae bursting in the family, resulting in some very unpleasant cutting and
> sewing procedures. I don't want to tempt Providence any more than i have to, and would rather stop
> riding off road than risk being shuttled out with a split lower intestine. ;-)
>
> Steve

[email protected] (Stephen Baker) wrote in news:[email protected]:

> Peter says:
>
>>I'm an internal medicine doc who is also an avid biker. Your condition should not affect your
>>riding AT ALL.
>
> <snip>
>
> ...the main thing you have to do is
>>increase your fiber intake to prevent constipation.
>
> Thanks, Peter. That is _exactly_ what I needed to know.
>
> Steve
>

Just to make a point. Diverticular disease is a very common condition that results in outpouchings
or "herniations" of the large bowel wall. These outpouchings are called 'diverticulae.' They are
usually associated with constipation and the typical North American diet does not help much. I agree
that high fibre is the right answer. In this state, patients feel no pain and most people are not
aware that they have the disorder. Occasionally diverticulae can bleed and this causes a great deal
of alarm for patients but is is usually nothing to worry about.

Diverticulosis is the condition mentioned above. DiverticulITIS is what happens when one of those
outpouchings gets blocked and infected. THEN, a patient will experience a great deal of pain,
usually in the left lower part of the abdomen. The infection is usually treated with antibiotics and
rarely with surgery. It is during the 'ITIS' part of the disorder that a diverticulum is at risk of
rupturing, whereupon surgery is almost always necessary.

So, in answer to your question, diverticulosis itself is no concern for mountain biking.
Diverticulitis, should it develop, might be a reason not to mountain bike during the flare up. Most
people, when they have severe abdominal pain and fever don't really feel like biking anyway.

If you have had diverticulitis, and the pain and fever has settled fully, I don't think there is any
reason not to bike.