Recent Articles and My Comments 2 of 2

OK, now on to the get happy pills. 

"You can't fool mother nature", and it seems, every time we find something we all love and want to abuse, there's downsides. Dammit! I have been schizo on IBU for years. Sometimes I love it, then I read articles on how bad it is, and my stomach revolts because it's really tough on the lining.

There's increasing evidence that this may be a secretly nasty drug. It attacks stomachs and intestines, and it may DELAY recovery rather than enhance it. It surely can be convicted of being a masker of your real physical condition, and therefore, it could be argued, keep all of us from engendering a balanced approach to our training and racing. 

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/for-athletes-risks-from-ibuprofen-use/

So for a while I have been in search of a substitute. Tramadol in low 50mg doses really makes me feel better on the pain/ soreness front. I occasionally take it ever since my partial knee replacement. This drug helps me avoid the IBU debate, but of course, opens up it's own can of worms. 

IF you are having issues with IBU, consider asking your doc about this as an alternative. I do not intend to offer any medical advice here, just discussing ideas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramadol

So lets talk themes here. These articles all bring into focus something we athletes all struggle with. The M word. 

MODERATION

My blog here is not to tell you how to live your life, or what to believe or not believe. I make controversial statements not to necessarily piss folks off, but hopefully to pass along info, a point of view, and share what has worked with me for this short time I am slogging around planet earth. 

Moderation can also keep us from falling into addictive behaviors, besides keeping us out of really bad trouble. My philo take on this is....

If it controls me, or forces me to NOT want to be open minded and it causes me to discard the scientific method to protect a belief or a dogma, there's prolly something wrong.

So if you get hooked and "need"  IBU, Tramadol, pot, booze, Vicodin or whatever; if you NEED to run or work out obsessively without clearly defined reasons as to WHY, and have trouble keeping things in perpective,  a little introspection my be a good thing.  :>)  We all fight our demons.

Now have a good day, and get a workout in.