Hi all,
There is a multitude of things that I don’t understand about our disease. The one that puzzles me the most is the following:
Before I was diagnosed, I had muscles.. Not "work-out muscles, but "normal, everyday muscles".
I must have been both glutenized and lactose-ized for many, many years, but I did have muscles!
After I got ill, went GF, DF, Soy Free and Egg free, I lost 12 kilos, and I lost not only the kilos, but also all my muscles.
Now, that I eat even more healthy than I did before my diagnose, and much more proteins, the muscles are still gone. I eat a lot of proteins; meat, bacon, fish, venison, bone broth, etc.
I have a lot of loose skin on my inner arms and on my thighs, but its' just skin, and no muscles.
I have finally been able to walk properly and can walk for long miles (that’s another story about injuries to my back and legs), and I would have thought that this would have built muscles in my legs and thighs. But no.
Yes, I'm in my 60's... But does that mean that muscles don't build back again?
Lilia
PS: Don't misunderstand... I'm grateful that D is gone, and that I'm doing so well. And my concern about missing muscles is not a "beauty concern".
In remission, without muscles
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In remission, without muscles
Collagenous Colitis diagnosis in 2010
Psoriasis in 1973, symptom free in 2014
GF, CF and SF free since April, 2013
Psoriasis in 1973, symptom free in 2014
GF, CF and SF free since April, 2013
Hi Lilia,
I have the same problem, because I have downshifted a gear or 2 since the advent of my symptoms, and because of increasing age. And a major contributor to the problem is the fact that these days I spend more and more time sitting in front of a computer reading, or writing, instead of doing physical work or at least moving around. IOW, the problem is basically due to the change in our activity levels. We may not be completely aware of it, but as we age, we tend to slow down and become less active. The change can be so gradual that we do not even notice. And of course, MC forces us to slow down if/when it is active.
Last year (when my magnesium deficiency began to become more severe), and up until a few months ago, when the problem finally became so bad after the antibiotic reaction that I finally figured out the cause of the problem, my ability to do any significant amount of physical work was severely limited. Whenever I tried to do anything, I would become overheated and exhausted, so that I had to sop to rest every few minutes or so. My muscles slowly faded away, and I lost a lot of weight (close to 10 kilos). And just as you described, my skin was wrinkled and sagging where muscles used to be. But after correcting the magnesium deficiency problem, now I can work again, and the more I do, the more my muscles rebuild. I have never exercised in my life (except for the requirements imposed by the school systems. For most of my adult life, my work involved physical labor that kept me in good condition. And even though I'm mostly retired, I still don't exercise, but after just a couple of months of being able to work harder, and longer, doing some of the things that have to be done on a farm, I no longer have any sagging skin.
If you have ever had major surgery, where you were pretty much immobilized for a few days or so, you probably noticed how quickly our muscles disappear when they are not used. To get them back, we have to do more than we are doing now. Muscles are built up by tearing them down (by overdoing it) and then resting for a day to allow them to rebuild. When they rebuild, they will be bigger and stronger than they were before.
But if we never exceed their normal routine use, they cannot increase in size. They may diminish, if we do less, but the only way they can improve is if we overload them, so that the body rebuilds the damaged tissue with new, more robust tissue. Doing the same thing routinely will increase our endurance, but it won't significantly increase our muscle development. In general, load-bearing exercise is necessary to build muscles. If we want to build up our leg muscles by walking, for example, we have to walk farther, or faster, or longer than we routinely walk, or carry additional weight, to force our muscles to work harder. If we only walk the same pattern every time we walk, our muscles will remain basically the same.
IOW, muscles will not automatically return, just because we are healthy. We have to force them to develop by being more active and doing things that overwork them. At least that's the way I see it.
Tex
I have the same problem, because I have downshifted a gear or 2 since the advent of my symptoms, and because of increasing age. And a major contributor to the problem is the fact that these days I spend more and more time sitting in front of a computer reading, or writing, instead of doing physical work or at least moving around. IOW, the problem is basically due to the change in our activity levels. We may not be completely aware of it, but as we age, we tend to slow down and become less active. The change can be so gradual that we do not even notice. And of course, MC forces us to slow down if/when it is active.
Last year (when my magnesium deficiency began to become more severe), and up until a few months ago, when the problem finally became so bad after the antibiotic reaction that I finally figured out the cause of the problem, my ability to do any significant amount of physical work was severely limited. Whenever I tried to do anything, I would become overheated and exhausted, so that I had to sop to rest every few minutes or so. My muscles slowly faded away, and I lost a lot of weight (close to 10 kilos). And just as you described, my skin was wrinkled and sagging where muscles used to be. But after correcting the magnesium deficiency problem, now I can work again, and the more I do, the more my muscles rebuild. I have never exercised in my life (except for the requirements imposed by the school systems. For most of my adult life, my work involved physical labor that kept me in good condition. And even though I'm mostly retired, I still don't exercise, but after just a couple of months of being able to work harder, and longer, doing some of the things that have to be done on a farm, I no longer have any sagging skin.
If you have ever had major surgery, where you were pretty much immobilized for a few days or so, you probably noticed how quickly our muscles disappear when they are not used. To get them back, we have to do more than we are doing now. Muscles are built up by tearing them down (by overdoing it) and then resting for a day to allow them to rebuild. When they rebuild, they will be bigger and stronger than they were before.
But if we never exceed their normal routine use, they cannot increase in size. They may diminish, if we do less, but the only way they can improve is if we overload them, so that the body rebuilds the damaged tissue with new, more robust tissue. Doing the same thing routinely will increase our endurance, but it won't significantly increase our muscle development. In general, load-bearing exercise is necessary to build muscles. If we want to build up our leg muscles by walking, for example, we have to walk farther, or faster, or longer than we routinely walk, or carry additional weight, to force our muscles to work harder. If we only walk the same pattern every time we walk, our muscles will remain basically the same.
IOW, muscles will not automatically return, just because we are healthy. We have to force them to develop by being more active and doing things that overwork them. At least that's the way I see it.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Thank you, Tex.
I'm afraid you are right. I'm retired and my level of activity has slowed down during the last years.
Long hours in front of the computer. I will have to start exercising...
Lilia
I'm afraid you are right. I'm retired and my level of activity has slowed down during the last years.
Long hours in front of the computer. I will have to start exercising...
Lilia
Collagenous Colitis diagnosis in 2010
Psoriasis in 1973, symptom free in 2014
GF, CF and SF free since April, 2013
Psoriasis in 1973, symptom free in 2014
GF, CF and SF free since April, 2013
I think they will come back if you up your activity, but it will probably be slow going.
At least that's what happened with me. I started resistance training again last spring and everything is slowly coming back. It's frustrating because it seems to be taking way longer than it used to, but oh well.
At least that's what happened with me. I started resistance training again last spring and everything is slowly coming back. It's frustrating because it seems to be taking way longer than it used to, but oh well.