My biggest fight right now seems to be anemia, a low red blood cell count. For males the normal range for hemoglobin is 14 to 18g/dL. For the last couple of weeks mine has been coming in at 10.0 and I have noticed the effects on my running and other physical activities. During running I become winded very easily and need to keep my running speed relatively slow to make long distances. However, I am still able to run. I’ve been running 6 miles almost every day this week and plan to make a 16 mile run on Saturday. Even though the running is harder with the anemia, I believe my running is greatly helping me not feel the adverse effects of anemia during normal activity, such as fatigue, weakness, dizziness and headaches.
The science is well understood on how aerobic activity, such as running, makes the cardiovascular system much more efficient getting oxygen through out the body. The amount of hemoglobin (a protein complex in red blood cells) is of course very important. However, there are many other factors that can help counter the effects of anemia. Endurance training spawns the growth of new capillaries that improve blood flow to tissues. Blood vessels are made more elastic which improves blood flow with each heartbeat. Even the heart is strengthened with endurance training. A stronger heart can pump more volume of blood per heartbeat. Endurance training also triggers the body to make more mitochondria, tiny structures that act as power plants within all cells. Mitochondria combine oxygen with fuels from food to allow cells to perform work, such as muscle contraction. It seems logical that if all these factors are improved though endurance training, then one can counter the effects of anemia.
I truly believe endurance training has greatly countered the ravaging effects of chemo therapy. I have not suffered the extreme fatigue and weakness reported by so many chemo patients. Just think how exercise can help you.
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Very inspiring and motivating. Thanks for sharing what for many is a private and personal pain. Your sense of humor and honesty is refreshing. It's crazy the way our bodies can let us down; looks like you've convinced yours to fight back!
ReplyDeleteI'll dedicate a few miles to you this weekend.
Joe
i guess you're aware of the research that i can't find right now that not eating for 48hrs prior to any chemo will greatly reduce the ravaging effects. in general this is supposed to rapidly put the body into the same state as 'starvation lifestyle dieters' do to extend their lives. ie. the only well known way to drastically extend life expectancy. if you didn't hear about this, i'd suggest you research it! the starvation reaction of the body is to close up the cell barriers reducing the toxin into good cells, while the cancer cells don't have such a response.
ReplyDeleteI did read about research on fasting before chemotherapy. I don't remember where, but here is one web article on it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20080331/fasting_may_improve_cancer_chemotherapy
So far they have only tested this with yeast, cells in a test tube and mice. The results so far look pretty promising. This method is not only intended to reduce the side effects of chemo, but actually afford a way to increase the strength of the chemo treatment to give a better knock out punch to the cancer without killing the patient. I wouldn’t try it until they have done clinical trials on humans. As a scientist I’ve learned that many times a solution induces another problem. But it is interesting, here is an approach that doesn't require any drugs.
There is also another treatment that is being developed that involves using nanotubes with chemo. This approach also allows much higher levels of chemo with lesser side effects. Here’s an approach where you can get the benefit of fasting, but eat your cheeseburger too.
http://news-service.stanford.edu/pr/2008/pr-nanomice-082008.html