Using Ibuprofen to Reduce Recovery Time

While I am not stranger to regulary popping pills thanks to a lifetime of allergy and sinus problems, I try to limit my intake of pharmaceuticals to below Hollywood starlet levels. I kept on reading about the benefits of taking Ibuprofen to help reduce recovery time after a hard workout, long hike, or other strenous activity, so I figured I’d give the little orange pills a shot to see how well they actually did.

I haven’t hit the electric wheelchair at WalMart levels quite yet at 5’11″ and 185 lbs, but I could definitely stand to lose a few pounds, or at least convert some fat into muscle. I recently started exercising several times a week again, after a few months of being slack about my fitness level. After doing a circuit type workout of squats, lunges, pushups, bicycle crunches, etc., I would be left sore for a few days, making further workouts in the days ahead less enjoyable and less productive when my body should have recovered by that point. I did warm ups, cool downs, and did not push myself to extreme levels of pain, so I knew I was just out of shape and my body was telling me as much.

I started taking two Ibuprofen immediately after a workout. The same went for a strenous hike, spending a day chopping wood, or any other heavy sustained physical activity that could possibly leave me sore. I was amazed at how little sorness I felt in the days after each activity. Just to make sure the lack of pain wasn’t because I was suddenly channeling Lance Armstrong’s fitness level, I tried stopping the Ibuprofen regimen. Sure enough, I was back to being gimpy after a workout. Starting back on the Ibuprofen meant going right back to short recovery times.

Give Ibuprofen a shot. The pills are dirt cheap, with a bottle of 500 being under $10 at Costco. If you can actually sustain a long workout (I can’t quite yet), I have read that taking a pill or two before the workout as well will also help reduce inflammation and recovery time. As with any medical advice you read on the Internet, you should probably also consult your doctor before following the advice of some weirdo (me).

What do you do when you are sick and there is no help?

I wasn’t feeling all that fantastic earlier today, with a nice little fever from an infected sinus or two and vertigo as a result. Walking around or even just standing up resulted in masticated Costco hot dog (damn I love those things when they are still inside my belly) being sprayed all over the place, so I just stayed in bed all day. I have had sinus and allergy problems for most of my life and spent several years in a row with chronic sinus infections, and as a result, episodes like the one today are not an unknown occurrence.  I have had three sinus surgeries and quite a few procedures over the years that have surely helped, but I still take medication twice a day, get shots once a week, and do all the other fun stuff that comes with being allergic to dust, pollen, pets, air, water, food, etc.

Lying awake in bed for several hours gives one time to think, so I started thinking about what I would do if I felt like this on the trail. I’ve had the occasional headache on a hike, maybe a rumbly tummy or two, but nothing that stopped me from being mobile. Even a sprained ankle will just make me favor my other foot while I hop along in a gimpy fashion, cursing every pebble and twig on the trail. What happens when you are so completely sick that simple acts like standing up and walking are not possible, unless your desired result is falling down after a couple steps? My wife will be astounded if she reads this next part, since I always at least have a smart ass answer, but I really do not know what I would do. Today, I just popped a bunch of pills and stayed in bed until a little while ago, when the pressure subsided to only feeling like someone pressing their thumbs on the inside of my skull.

What happens when that lasts for days and you are not within a quick walk of your car or help? What if what happened to me today happens to someone that has never gone through it, does not have medication, and does not know how to deal with it? What if I had heart problems instead? What if I were with my wife and something struck the both of us? I would love to be able to carry every product a modern pharmacy stocks, just in case, but we all know that is not feasible. I am not a worrier, but I do like to be prepared for foreseeable outcomes, especially since that is the whole point of this site and all.  Do I carry a PLB and set it off when sitting in a tent for a day or two has not helped? Do I set the PLB off immediately? Do I ditch my gear and crawl the 20 miles back to the car, 1/10th mile per hour? Do I wait for SAR to show up when my family has not heard back from me by the appointed time?

I hate relying on others to get me out of my own messes, but I realize that there is a point where that thought process becomes stupidity. I would like to think that I would know what to do in any situation, but anyone who does not live in a bubble knows that life always finds a way to surprise you. What would you do? Let me know in the comments.

Hygiene in the boonies

I have had a few customers at work ask me how I deal with hygiene when in the woods. I know some people will just go bathless for days or weeks at a time, but I prefer not to make woodland critters pass out with my foul stench (although that would be a great survival technique). Plus, I do not want other hikers to be able to smell me coming, since that makes it harder for me to sneak up and steal their fresh s’mores.

On overnights, I will admit to usually not doing a whole lot about cleanliness. I will still brush my teeth and maybe wipe down at night and in the morning with a wet cloth, but not much more is needed unless you have some serious skin chemical imbalances. On longer trips, skin and hair cleanliness becomes more of an issue. I like to take the large unscented anti-bacterial wipes that you can find at Walmart and other department stores for my body, and Camp Suds or a similar soap for my hair (every 2-3 days). You can heat up the wipes over a fire for a few seconds for a more pleasant bathing experience, and can use warm water with the soap to avoid freezing showers with river water. A pack of the wipes will last at least a week, and the Camp Suds will last for several trips. Both weigh very little and personally add quite a bit to the overall pleasantness of my trips.

So, what do you do? Do you just reek for a week or do you put antiperspirant and cologne on thrice daily?

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Small Alcohol and Bug Sprays

WalMart has a few new small spray products that have intrigued me since I first saw them a while back. While waiting in line for the inevitable five hour checkout, I picked up and looked at every POP (point of purchase) product that they had, and the little spray alcohol containers stood out as maybe actually useful. I picked up a pack to see how they did.

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Dealing with allergies in the wild

I imagine that I am not the only person that hikes or backpacks with allergies, so I wrote up a little wiki article about dealing with allergies. I am definitely no doctor, so talk to a medical professional if you have any questions. The article is based on what I have gathered from my many sinus doctors thanks to 15 years of serious sinus problems (a few surgeries, several procedures, allergy shots, blah blah blah).

Maybe this will help someone avoid the sniffles.

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