The Colon Club

18 months out from the end of chemo and I think that the Neuropathy issues are fading. It's pretty cold in the Northeast and my cold body bothers me but I don't really notice the toe tingles unless I think about it. They do tingle but I just don't notice it and they aren't painful like they used to be on a cold floor.

I took a probiotic on Saturday and one last night. It's possible that these things are great at evacuation as things went really well last night (after running) and this morning (again, after running). My sample size, unfortunately, is very small but I'll continue to take them to see if they're the cause for the improvements last night and this morning.

On probiotics, how often do you typically take them?

NHMike wrote:I took a probiotic on Saturday and one last night. It's possible that these things are great at evacuation as things went really well last night (after running) and this morning (again, after running). My sample size, unfortunately, is very small but I'll continue to take them to see if they're the cause for the improvements last night and this morning.

On probiotics, how often do you typically take them?

Hi Mike,

Glad the neuropathy is doing better. I had no issues this summer but now that it is starting to get colder, the bottoms of my feet tingle a little but no real big deal.

As to probiotics, I take them daily and at higher than maintenance dosage. I read some paper on LARS that theorized that the change in the angles of the colon after resection changed the amount of flora and the type that thrives. My theory is that the probiotic helps keep the kinds of bacteria the gut needs around.

Dave

Gravelyguy wrote:Glad the neuropathy is doing better. I had no issues this summer but now that it is starting to get colder, the bottoms of my feet tingle a little but no real big deal.

As to probiotics, I take them daily and at higher than maintenance dosage. I read some paper on LARS that theorized that the change in the angles of the colon after resection changed the amount of flora and the type that thrives. My theory is that the probiotic helps keep the kinds of bacteria the gut needs around.
Dave

I guess I'll take it daily for now. At some point, I need to consider the Prebiotic as well. It would be nice to replace the pill form with real food but it's a lot more convenient, though more expensive, to use the pills.

Hi Mike- I take probiotics daily in two doses, morning and evening. I also take digestive enzymes before meals.

rachelfromnyc wrote:Hi Mike- I take probiotics daily in two doses, morning and evening. I also take digestive enzymes before meals.

I will keep that in mind. I'm going to stick with once a day for now and will have to decide on experiments with prebiotics after current experiments. If the probiotics work out well, then there's less motivation to try other things.

I got in 24 miles of running. Yesterday was a clustering day. It is nearly impossible to run on a clustering day. I took Miralax in the early afternoon and it cleaned me out by nighttime. I hadn't really been taking Miralax as much as I was experimenting with the Probiotic but it's clear that I need to take Miralax daily to prevent accumulation.

I haven't done 24 miles in a week since before diagnosis (previous high was 21) so that's encouraging. I'll try to get in 24 again this week and see how I do. I am trying to do intervals mixed in with low-intensity running. Low-intensity running is where you can just keep going and going. It does improve cardiovascular health and stamina.

Interval training is for higher-intensity and it can make your heart stronger more quickly. It will also burn more calories. But it's not the most pleasant of things to do. Sometimes I just don't feel like I can do it either. My Garmin has something called Recovery Time and you're not supposed to do intense workouts during the recovery time. I guess I can understand the metric. I don't know how it computes Recovery Time though. Sometimes it's as long as 36 hours.

I haven’t taken any probiotics but I did start drinking kefir and eating sauerkraut. I think it helped.

CF_69 wrote:I haven’t taken any probiotics but I did start drinking kefir and eating sauerkraut. I think it helped.

Kefir is a source for probiotics (for those that don't know).

I read they were prebiotics and that your body may not actually like probiotics and could attack the bacteria as an invader but of course I do know that everyone reacts differently and there’s a lot of bro science with health supplements too.

Seemed to help.

CF_69 wrote:I read they were prebiotics and that your body may not actually like probiotics and could attack the bacteria as an invader but of course I do know that everyone reacts differently and there’s a lot of bro science with health supplements too.

Seemed to help.

Yes, Prebiotics. I guess spellchecker switched it on me.

There are primarily two types of probiotics in the commercial stuff. Prebiotics feed what you already have in your gut.

I didn't feel like running today but I went to the YMCA and ran a mile around an indoor track (weather was awful today). I much prefer an indoor track to running on the treadmill. My YMCA has limited hours though. Several years ago I did a "streak". Run at least a mile every day for a year. Total miles was 1,542. It was truly a year of running for me (I realize that there are people that run far more than that). Running at least a mile a day would be a good goal for 2020.

I'll get in some Yoga and bodyweight stuff this evening. I usually don't do that much on Sundays as it's an errand day.

Hi! It is always hard to run after a period of stop. Here it is very icy and I prefer to run outside with my dog while the kids are running indoor. So it is more a matter of balance and trying to see the slippery spots in the darkness.

All the best

Claudia

Atoq wrote:Hi! It is always hard to run after a period of stop. Here it is very icy and I prefer to run outside with my dog while the kids are running indoor. So it is more a matter of balance and trying to see the slippery spots in the darkness.

All the best

Claudia

I imagine your dog provides a lot of motivation to run.

I got 25 miles in last week. I ran 7 on Wednesday and 8 on Thursday and was wiped out for a few days afterwards. I played tennis on Friday as well but I didn't play so well. So I can do 30 or 40 but my body will protest. So probably a good idea to keep things around 21-28 miles per week.

I got a VO2Max reading from the Garmin at 40. I checked the table and 40 is an Excellent score for my age range. I'd need to get to 44.2 to get to the Superior category. Of course I had a look at the numbers for the 50-59 age range and my score is only Good for that age range. It's also Good for 40-49 and only Fair for 30-39. So I'm in good shape compared to my age peers but I should really work on trying to get it higher to compare myself for say, 40-49. What the table really tells me is that cardiovascular health drops off sharply after 50 years for men which I guess shouldn't be surprising.

I spent about 75 minutes clearing snow this morning. We had about a foot of snow and it was heavy and wet. What I noticed is that it was quite a bit easier this year than last year and I attribute that to the barbell work weight increases this past summer. In general, I haven't noticed the additional strength (outside of moving a window air conditioner), because I normally don't lift a lot of heavy things in regular life. But it is nice to feel the strength when it gets used. I also assume that the additional strength decreases injury risk.

I really do not like running on snow or ice because of the chance for injury. I don't mind running when it's cold or windy so much as I have clothes for that. If you can manage it, then you have a lot more options for running. Though I suppose that when your dog wants to go, you have to go outside.

I got some more wild blueberries this past week. I don't know if they help though I do not have to fast as much if I use Miralax every day.

Just dropping by to say that I really enjoy reading your updates on your life You're an inspiration!