Should ear drops for swimmer's ear be gluten-free?

I haven't been posting for awhile, because after I started swimming again, my increased efforts resulted in a truly nasty bout of swimmer's ear. Very painful - very annoying - very tiring. So I was back out of the pool for a couple of weeks. Here's what I learned:

• I should have been using earplugs to keep out the water
• I should have used a half vinegar/half rubbing alcohol solution and dropped that in my ears before and after the workout. Evidently, the vinegar is the correct PH while the alcohol kills the infections before they get started.
  
• q-tips can irritate your ear canal, so don't go there
  
• Antibiotic ear drops were, bizarrely, very hard to acquire, resulting in an extra day of totally unnecessary pain
• I really didn't care if my ear drops were gluten free or not (but should I?)

That extra day of pain reminds me of the (thankfully infrequent) times when I am absolutely miserable and am asking a pharmacist if the medication is gluten-free or not. You'd think that this information would be readily available, but it isn't, and it's especially aggravating on the weekends when the manufacturer is closed.

It makes me wonder when the pharmaceutical industry is going to wake up on this topic -- probably not until people start reporting adverse reactions...

Anyway, I'm thrilled to be back in the water today.

Need better data on inactive ingredients

People who know me know that I am trying to lose weight and get faster this year. Well - I can definitely tell you one way NOT to do that. I had a stomach bug that basically took me out for a week (I managed maybe 16 hours of on and off working over the entire week...)

I worked some of those hours on Tuesday. By Wednesday it was clear I was headed for worse trouble, so I made an appointment for Thursday morning. Having been without solid food for days at this point, I literally dragged myself to the doctor's office, which wore me out. (My wife was running our children around to their various functions.) The doctor looked me over and said I looked 'very bad' -gastritis. She ordered up a slew of tests to be on the safe side. I drove to the lab and revived in their waiting room somewhat.

I decided to go over to the local pharmacy and try to fill my Carafate prescription. I told the pharmacist I was a Celiac and asked her if the Carafate had any gluten. She was holding a bottle in her hand, but she didn't know and said she would need to call the manufacturer - could I wait or come back? At that point, I was wondering if I could drive home. I called my wife, and she offered to check and pick it up. So I drove straight home and went to the futon, where I lay for about four hours in misery, too tired to move. Meanwhile, my wife came home, we found out it was gluten free, and finally got the prescription -- about five hours later and honestly the best we could do, given our circumstances. I finally had my first dose around 6.

The point is - for Celiacs - the "inactive ingredients" may or may not be. If there was better information, I wouldn't have had to suffer for those five hours. Has anyone else out there suffered a similar lag between prescription and acquisition? What coping approaches to you use?

Been sick - workouts on hold

If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times. "Know your body and cut back when you are tired." Well, I've been sick for four days, two bad and two blah. As is my usual custom, I usually can my workouts on days like that, but now I'm thinking about some extended time off with limited workouts. I'll keep you posted (or not).

From an awareness standpoint, one thing that concerns me is people who are trying to find celiac but misspell it - you know, words like:

• seeliac
• seeliack
• seleac
• sealiac
• sealiack
• ceeleac
• ceeliac

I think search engines might pick up and correct come of these, but not all. Any thoughts?

Another rest day

It's still in my chest, but at least I've got some anti-biotics now. Thanksgiving dinner was an awesome gluten-free extravaganza. My wife's family rocks!

Gluten-Free Medicine?

That cough turned into sinusitis and bronchitis, and now I find myself looking for some gluten free medicine. In my 2003 guide to medications, it says that Zithromax (the pill) is not gluten free, but the suspension (usually given to kids...) is. I always get funny looks at Walgreens. The Waltussin DM seems okay, too.

As an aside, I think the FDA should rename those "inactive ingredients" to something like "mostly benign ingredients" Has anyone out there run into trouble going off the "approved" list for their medical plan because of gluten ingredients?

Bending rules

So if you have a cold, do you go out and run/train? I've heard that if it's in your chest, don't do it, but if it's still up in your head, it's up to you. I've followed that rule with success and broken it at my peril.

Well, this cough is in my chest, which is a workout no-no. The catch is my wife said that I better do something because I get surly if I don't exercise (she knows I haven't done much for a week - so maybe I was already a little irritable ;-). So I bent the rule and walked a half-hour on the treadmill. I have to admit I feel a little better.

I guess this is my offseason...

I haven't worked out in a week. I hate being sick. Stupid cough. I went to bed at 8:30 last night and slept for 10 hours.

2 days flat on my back

Nasty bug. No long run this weekend and then I missed 2 days of work for this stomach thing. Unbelievable (and no - I didn't catch some gluten, but thanks for asking).

Triple digit temps

No - it's not actually 100 degrees here in Houston. The weather is actually quite nice 88 degrees and low humidity. I'm referring to the cold bug that snared my kids and wife and finally, me. I had been busy catching up at work and then went out for a Saturday morning ride and I just never really felt up for anything after that. Sunday night and Monday morning were the worst - that twilight sleep that doesn't refresh, combined with alternating hot and cold spells. Ick. Add a deadline at work and the week was double-ick. My resting heart rate the other night was 64, so you know I was fighting it hard.

In retrospect, now that I'm on the mend, I figure it was a good time to be sick, though. My body could use the time off. If I don't want to totally spin out, I need to set a new goal. Oh sure, I'm signed up for the marathon, but I wonder about the wisdom of doing a tri, beat up and coming off an illness. Maybe I'll just play it by ear.

A month of undertraining...

I have two children and so usually any little bug that runs around visits the house. We had a squirelly little bug. You'd get sick (and very tired) for a week, then for the next two weeks it would just make you very tired at random times. So basically, just when you think you are over it, you'd go down hard and sleep for ten hours. This made it hard to work, because you never really know when you're over it.

And you certainly didn't feel like working out. And you didn't feel like training in the heat. Two and a half weeks went by and I was wondering if I could even be ready for an iron-distance tri in September in OKC. But my wife (thank you) remininded me I had been training a lot and that it would be okay. After I reviewed my training schedule I decided she was right, so it's great to have her perspective. I did have to alter my training schedule and my expectations a bit, but I'm still good to go.

I'm also trying to figure out the balance of calories, liquid, electrolytes and temperature for my nutrition plan. If anyone has a good approach to that, I'm all ears -- please leave me a link.

Finally! a good workout

You can probably gather from the lack of recent postings that I've been a little under the weather. I either took a bug with me to New York, or I picked it up at there. In any case, it just made me tired and unable to concentrate, so I've been sleeping a lot. In fact, I skipped Friday's workout and slept most of the weekend and most of yesterday too. Although I wouldn't wish it on anyone, one silver lining is that I did lose 7 pounds this week, mostly because I just didn't feel like eating. I aim to keep that off and lose some more.

Another indication that I have been sick is that it's been really easy for me to hit my target heart rate range for my workouts. It was the same story today. I made sure I got in a full day's work and did my running workout. It didn't help my energy level, but it didn't hurt either. At nine o'clock, I almost didn't go to my swim workout, but now I'm glad I did. My swim is the weakest leg of my triathlon, and tonight I did 800 yards with good form in good time. Plus, I came out of the water with more energy than I started with. It just goes to show you that it makes sense to give the workout a try and see how it goes.

There was some interesting Celiac news. The people who brought you the Pillcam for upper GI endoscopies announced that a major insurer (United Healthcare) will be covering the Pillcam under one of their insurance policies. My hope is that more and more insurers (payors) will realize the importance of Celiac as a chronic condition and insure it and treat it as such, especially right after a diagnosis.

Thunder rumbling outside...

As you can probably guess from my lack of posting, I have been down with taking care of my family. They all had the flu. Since I had my flu shot, which is recommended for celiacs in Canada, I have just had a mild case.

Marathon Sunday is just two days away, and today I went to pick up my packet. The Marathon expo was pretty good, but the folks from TP massage weren't there, so I couldn't get my massage ball. I guess I'll have to order off their website.

Because the weather forecast is "sketchy" I'm considering doing something I don't normally do, which is to change something the day of the Marathon. I figure between my recent illness and the rain, I don't have much to lose by trying a new supplement, but I have a lot to gain, potentially. We'll see.

On an unrelated topic, I saw a scientist recently on Nova Now who was wearing her bicycle helmet incorrectly. I need to send her an e-mail...

Good News, Bad news...

The last two weeks have been marked by a hectic week at work, followed by a hectic vacation to my parents (slowband connection = no posts), followed by a hectic week at work. I didn't train as much or as well as I would have liked, and I always felt "off my feed" as I was taking an oral vaccination for typhoid for a now-no-longer-upcoming trip.

All that aside, it was dark and early when I tromped to the local park office January 2nd to be one of the supplicants to reserve a spot for my first (annual) Celiac Awareness Race and race directing gig. Even though I was 19th in line, I was amazed at how fast the dates and locations disappeared. (A veteran reserver for the boy scouts took some 15 dates). Even so, I managed to secure the 19th of May (third choice), so there you have it. Even better, one of the local race directors said he would send me his checklists, which will obviously be like manna from heaven for a newbie race director like myself. Yippee! Now I just need to focus on logistics.

It's a good thing my marathon training is in the bag for the Houston Marathon on the 14th. Training this week has been awful. I went to do my interval workout yesterday on the treadmill and stepped off before the first repeat. Some days you just don't have it, and yesterday was such a day. I went to bed and promptly slept for 11 hours straight, so you know something was up. I probably have what my kids have.

I had good news from the doctor. I can take my wrist brace off. This is the first "two handed" typing I've done in over a month. I'm cleared for all my "tri" sports and just have to wear my brace while riding a bike. I'm pretty happy I don't have to have a cast or brace for the marathon.