I was looking on the celiac.com forums regarding sports and fitness. “Sandylulu” wondered if celiac disease is triggered by exercise. This is a very interesting question and I tend to agree with some of the answers – during strenuous exercise while you are malnourished your body cannot handle the exertion. I was diagnosed after I had begun bicycle training. I was seeing stars and feeling faint while biking and, finally, all day long. I discovered that I was severely anemic. We eventually discovered that the anemia was due to celiac disease. I feel that exercise saved my life because if I hadn’t been pushing myself and having such serious problems, I may never have been diagnosed with celiac disease. The exercise didn’t cause the celiac disease but it brought it to my attention – to be sure!
After 3 years on a gluten free diet I’m working to get strong again and I’m doing pretty well. Now my problem is that I’m 50 years old and it’s harder to push myself!
I don’t know if your allegations are true, there is no proof provided. I can only speak to my situation and I know that my anemia was caused by malnutrition due to celiac disease. I doubt if all the pro bikers or even many of them have undiagnosed celiac disease. You are really getting onto another subject. By the way, when I first found out how anemic I was I wondered if I would be a candidate for EPO but never considered it seriously. My anemia was cured within 2 months on the gluten-free diet.
Massive proof everywhere except of main stream media. Just follow Olympic and/or cycling for two weeks. It has a 125+ year history of drug cheating.
The USA cycling team did human blood transfusions at the Ramada Inn Hotel in Carson in 1984. They used the picture hooks in lieu of IV poles.
You cannot make up this crap. It is true. Only Nike or ESPN-Disney denials feed doper apologies.
Google doping in any sport. The TDF = life sciences
http://www.biopure.com Michael Rasmussem’s cow blood
http://outside.away.com/magazine/0799/9907tour.html
http://www.thinkmuscle.com/articles/hoberman/tour.html
http://www.cyclingnews.com/results/archives/dec97/dec1.html
http://www.casewatch.org/doj/shortt/indictment.shtml
Read and embrace anemia in elite sport. They all use steroids and blood doping for endurance sports.
I looked at your links, they are all old. I know there is controversy on drugs in sports but this blog is about celiac disease and how the gluten free diet relates to an athletic (non-professional) person. I don’t feel this is an appropriate blog for your views.
Incase you were wondering about gluten free sports products (like energy bars and drinks) the Race Director for the Got Guts 5k researched common sports products and listed the information on their website under the “athletes” page. http://www.GotGuts5k.com
From Kathy: Thanks, I’ll look at that. I love more information.
Hi Kathy,
I read your post about exercise triggering a bout of celiacs disease, and found a familiar tune. 2.5 years ago, I was putting 100 miles a week on my mountain bike, and weightlifting, and playing soccer, and drinking microbrews. One morning I woke up and couldnt walk because of arthritis in my spine. Things got quite a bit worse, and I was diagnosed in April 2007. It is now Oct 2, and I am slightly better, though my spine is still very painful and my body is still thrashed. I am convinced that my body couldnt handle the malnutrition and exercise load, and that the exercise was the straw…
How long did it take you to begin feeling better after diagnosis?
By the way I live in Ketchum, too, for the moment.
Jon, I felt better within weeks. I think it was mainly recovering from the anemia that had been making me so weak. Within 4 months I was running with my husband and beating him! I am still trying to build muscle which is harder at my age but I am determined!
I developed osteoporosis from the malnutrition and I’m trying to build my bones. My bone density has improved every year for the past 3 years but I am still in the severe category. I did break my tibial plateau 2-1/2 years ago. I don’t know if it was from the osteoporosis.
The break is the reason I took up biking. I have been road biking and just bought a mountain bike. Now I feel that I am recovered since I am strictly following the gluten-free diet. How are you doing with your diet?
Good Luck, Kathy
Thank you for sharing!
Hi Kathy — I like your site and topics. We share a common interest in being active with Celiac Disease. I was also diagnosed with CD because anemia was disrupting my training for a marathon back in 2005. And a few years before that I was diagnosed with Osteoporosis (now improved to Osteopenia, thank goodness).
In the 2.5 years since I’ve been diagnosed, I’ve noticed an increase in awareness of Celiac Disease, particularly among athletes/runners. I don’t have data to support this, but it would be great to collect that. I’m also starting to hear from athletes who are following a GF diet because they feel and perform better when they avoid gluten. Some are diagnosed as gluten sensitive and some have just figured it out through the process of elimination.
I would like to see more research conducted on training and competing with Celiac Disease.
Sorry for such a long post — this is a hot topic with me!
Good luck with your cycling,
Christine
Hi Kathy,
Reading your article about your experienced inspired me! I had been diagnosed with celaic since 3 years … I am not able to ride my bike as much I used to be due to chronic fatigue … Can you please write me back to my email, if it’s possible with you. I am in around your age group as well.
Thanks!
I had a regularly recurring situation where I’d come down with “the flu” a few days after I got back into going to the gym. Even if I was insanely careful about using Purell after touching anything, cleaning the equipment and going when nobody else was around, I’d still end up sick (it was like clockwork). The only thing that convinced me that it wasn’t something in the gym is that it occurred after I bought equipment and started exercising at home.
Just over a year ago, I was diagnosed with celiac. The “flu” issue has pretty much gone away since I went gluten free. However, when I get mildly “glutened”, exercise makes the reaction significantly worse. I suspect that if I kept up the gluten and exercise, I’d probably end up sick again. Instead, I back off and avoid strenuous exercise for a day or two.
There is a relatively rare syndrome called Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis where people have an allergic reaction that’s triggered or made significantly worse by exercise. While I haven’t been able to find any evidence or documentation, it would seem to make sense that something similar might occur in some Celiacs. Of course, diagnosing that would be a lot harder than just watching for hives or someone going into respiratory distress.
Just a thought. Maybe if enough people seem to have the issue, someone will study it and publish some findings.
I was diagnosed with Celiac in Nov. 2008. I developed major symptoms late winter of 2006. At that time I put on 20 lbs in a short period of time and couldn’t exercise anymore – and I was a sprint triathlete! I have managed to train and run in a couple of half marathons and am now trying to get back into sprint triathlons. My problem is now that I am back training – not only is it difficult mentally, but my celiac symptoms are returning! And I’m not losing that 20 lbs I gained either. I am careful about what I am consuming and am wondering if my symptoms are due to the extreme heat we are experiencing here in SE Texas. I didn’t experience this training for the Houston Half Marathon after my diagnosis last fall. It is frustrating to have symptoms returning!
I don’t know what is causing your symptoms but stick with your training if you can. Good luck. Kathy