TXBatman, You have MS I assume? recent DX? you ride eh? cool I am a MT biker at heart and now picking up roadie style. I plan to get a new Specialized Sectuer soon.

How far into the MS are you? Is riding hard for yet?

Eric,

I had my first MS episode in 2004 (hearing loss) and got DXed in 2006. I have been lucky to have had a very benign course so far with my MS. My lesion count has increased from 2 to 17 since my first MRI, but I have never had another distinct "flare" since my first episode. I have had various fluctuations in my hearing and find that in places like restaurants with alot of background noise, I just can't pick out what people in front of me are saying from the general noise. Other than that, I have rare episodes where I run out of energy due to fatigue, but they are few and far between.

I actually started riding in 2004 and have ridden in an MS150 ride every year since 2005. In a little over two weeks, I will ride my 9th from Houston to Austin. The only way MS affects my riding is that I have found that I can't handle warm temperatures very well when I ride anymore. When the temp goes above about 80-85 F, I can feel my body getting much weaker and I get a bad case of dead legs. On those days I just have to drink alot more, douse myself with water while I ride, and just keep my heart rate lower to avoid cooking myself from the inside too much.

To account for that issue, I started riding the Houston to Austin MS150 instead of the San Antonio to Corpus Christi ride, because the Houston ride is in the spring so I can train while it is cool, and the San Antonio ride is in the fall and would require training through a Texas summer. I generally spin indoors mostly during the summer about 3 times per week, and when it cools off, I add a weekend ride outdoors. Right now, I am in a training series organized by several of the MS150 ride teams and have been riding anywhere from 35-60 miles each weekend for the last 10 weeks. I have a 74 mile ride this weekend and a 50-something next weekend left to do for my training. Then it is on to Austin!

I really encourage you to get out there and ride if you can. We have a group of cyclists with MS here in Houston called "Because We Can". My understanding is that the MS Society may try to take the group into more of a national thing over the next few years, but I like the idea of a support group focused around an activity rather than one focused around a disease.

Wow, thanks and this makes me feel a lot better . As soon as I starting reading about MS I thought "there goes my bike riding" but not true... I rode today a small bit(5 miles) and while I felt a bit dragged out and I wasn't as "power in" as usual I haven't exactly been riding in the last three months due to getting the flu and other BS problems I had that are now taken care of. The weather is finally going to warm up here tomorrow so I am going to try and get 10 miles in the morning and start my riding regime back up full force.

I would so join a team like you wrote about.... I'm doing a walk for MS come May 5th here in Watertown, but I may just ride my bike instead.

I appreciate your answer....thanks so much.

Sally, I too push myself to exercise. For me it's hard because of foot pain, but some of my exercises are done on the bed, both the strengthening and stretching. I find the stretching is more important than the strengthening because, like Debbie, I get bad muscle spasms if I don't do my stretching every single night. I am working on the upper body by doing what the PT calls "girl pushups" against a wall, which has strengthened my arms better than any of the vinyl pull routines. I put my feet about a foot and a half from the wall, and hands against the wall, and just do pushups that way. I started with 12 and have doubled that now. My arms have been my weakest muscles all my life, so I am amazed that I could gain this much strength from doing this simple exercises. As I say, the vinyl pulling exercises didn't have as much effect, although they helped some.

The stretching has to be done for quite a bit of time each day to make sure the muscles are really fully relaxed. I am also now able to self-massage my leg knots since my hands and arms are stronger from the pushups. Also I was desperate with the leg knots,
and desperation does prompt one to try harder.

Isn't that amazing, tkrik?

My D level was low and in the process of increasing my D level I noticed improvement in my legs, with strength, endurance and allowing me to exercise more. When playing with the D3 dosage I have found I can tell a difference if I am not taking enough.

What is enough for you Snoopy?

I take 5000iu daily.

Have you had your D level checked, Sally?

My D level was initially 16, if I am remembering correctly My last blood work showed it at 57, my neuro wants my D level between 50-60.

I feel really good with my D level where it is. I had been taking 5000iu for over a year to get the D level up. I am now taking 3000iu and will have my level rechecked in a month or so.

I asked my PCP to check it and he said, it's expensive,
so I passed at the time. He didn't seem to think it
was important, but I may insist next time.

Thanks

Sally, my neuro is the one who initially ordered the blood work to check my D level, recommended I use a D3 supplement and have it retested in a few months. My PCP does the retesting without a problem, he is closer and easier to get into see than my neuro.

My D3 level will be checked again soon. I take 3000 a day with a spray method.