I have active Crohns disease and I train and Fight

I have active Crohns disease and I train and Fight
2005-06-03
JennyP

I have active Crohns disease and I train and Fight ( I've just defended my British FC kickboxing title).

I have had the disease for 10 years and I have been training for about 5 years so I can't really remember what it's like not to have it and have never trained without it.

The disease is active in my colon and I have just about got it under control with medication. I take azaithiaprine , an immunosuppresant and Budesonide, a time released steriod.I have taken a large amount of other medication in the past but this seems to be the best mix for me at the moment. Prednisolone is the best drug I have found to control it so far but this is an evil form of steriod and causes many side effects. Osteoporosis and weight gain to name a few. I have also had to stay in hospital for intevenance steriod treatment a few years ago now.

Lots of people confuse IBD(inflamatory bowel disease)with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). They are of course very differant however it can be difficult to explain to someone about the seriousness of the disease because you many well look fine from the outside and the disease can menifest in so many differant ways. Everyone experiences whom I have spoken to have been very differant. However I have never met anyone else involved in martial arts who is affected.Its good to know I'm not alone.

I like to think that the disease has partly made me into the person that I am and it has definately made me a fighter in all senses of the word. I have always tried to maintain the idea that this disease will not beat me.
It is a difficult balance to try to maintain and I still havn't figured out my triggers for an attack. However what I have sussed is that my training helps to keep the disease dampaned down. When you exercise endorphins, or hormones are released in the body. Steriods are basically hormones and these have an anti-inflamatory affect in the body. Why take medication when your body naturally produces them anyway. Obviously a healthy body can cope better with the stresses of disease aswell.

As far as training goes I have never let Crohns stop me, obviously you need to listen to your body. If you are unwell and train then you will do yourself damage both physically and mentally. Only you know how your body feels and usually an unwell body will have an accompaining mind which is not in the right place either! However if you are having a good day(and they do come quite frequently along with the bad days!) training gives you that lift and will make you forget that the disease is there.

Fighting just kinda happened for me and I've been honest about the Crohn's from the beginning and I've never had any problems with Doctors or anything. Infact most people I train with don't know that I have it and they probably wouldn't know what IBD is anyway. I don't want to be treated any differant from the next person so if it's a problem for me I just don't do it.

My trainer has been fantastic from the beginning. carl has never put pressure on me when I'm not 100% yet has still applyed enough to make sure I achieve everything I can. I have fustrating times when I'm not 100% and always have some sort of ailment, inflamed joints, stomach ache and back ache to name a few but if you sat around waiting until I always felt 100% I'd never leave the house! Most of the time I've trained myself to ignor these little niggles.
Sometimes I look at myself and say "what the hell am I putting myself through this for" but never have I added "because I'm ill". That what I love about fighting/teaching/training is I can forget I've got it.
I intend to carry on for as long as I can. I'm realistic in the fact that somewhere down the line I may need surgery or things can get worse but that not happening at the moment and I've got loads more to achieve before then anyway.

I could talk for hours about IBD and thats how I've managed to cope so well I think. Finding someone you can talk to about it is helpful just so you have someone who you can just turn to and say I feel awful today and then go and get on with things.

Knowledge is power! I found out as much about it as I could too, I know more about Crohns disease than most of the Dr's , afterall it is my body!