Kicking LEs butt!! Exercise & Self Care Log
Comments
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Becky, bravo for you! I've been doing increments, too, and it does help with the boredom that comes with indoor exercise. And you were my inspiration for that, so thank you!
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Hey, we must all be out exercising, with no time to post!
Yesterday I managed 8.5 miles, about half of that on snowshoes, the rest indoors. Today I decided to give my poor legs and butt a break, so no snowshoeing, as I'll be back in the gym tomorrow working on legs with weight training. At some point, I think I need to let those body parts rest and recover. So today I did a moderate-paced walk, on nice flat terrain, to get my 10,000 steps in. No real cardio, so today is my day off from that.
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I did some hip openers for yoga. Yesterday was back and chest day. Benching 35 pounds now, and feeling my lats growing!
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I've been doing aerobics (and my rebounder ) daily. Also long sessions of MLD.In other words, I am in compliance.
I just posted this on the gloves and sleeves thread, and as awful as it sounds, I wanted to post it here to see if I am being ridiculous. Pls give me your honest opinions. I so value exercise, but ..........I often think that my mild LE is 'fine' / very manageable right now and then I will exercise , for example, and I will see a very subtle puffiness in between 2 fingers on the hand. DONT LIKE THAT! Is the answer perhaps to STOP exercising ? I am beginning to wonder! Perhaps If I never exercised at all it would not ' flare'. I know mine is minimal, but I am sure many ppl began with minimal. We all have ONE thing in common-- we don't want this to get any worse/ no matter what stage you are at.
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Nibbana, that's great! Press on...!
Purple, that's a toughie. I have no advice, because I've never been in that position. I sometimes get achies after weight lifting, but no swelling and the ache happens for lots of other reasons, too. It goes away with some LE TLC, such as MLD, Lebeds, and especially wearing my Tribute at night, and so far, I have felt that the aches are temporary and so long as I can resolve it, I continue my exercise program. But that's me, and it's not swelling in the hand, which I know can be difficult to treat. I HOPE you are discussing this with your wonderful LE therapist!
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Purple, I hear what you mean. I get a little swelling when I get carried away on the downward dogs. But, it's not that bad, it's still pretty mild swelling. Thing is, I'm afraid to stop exercising! I worked and built my way up to bench pressing 35 pounds and I'm afraid if I stop, I"ll turn into a pile of lymph goo! Yuck!
I just have to believe that by exercising, and moving lymph fluid by contracting muscles, things stay on the move. Guess I'll just turn into muscle woman.
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Nibbana, well said. I don't want to be a pile of lymph goo, either! Downward dog is asking a lot for an LE body, so let's just take a second to remind newbies who may be reading this, that you are able to do DD precisely because you have been cultivating upperbody, and particularly arm, strength through your slowly progressive weight training.
I sure do agree with you about muscle contractions moving the lymph.
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Purple, Does it take more exercise cause the same amount of swelling? First time I bounced on the rebounder I felt puffy after just a couple of minutes. Gradually, I added time and it took longer and longer to get to the point of feeling puffy. I feel like the less I do the less I can do... but I often feel like I'm right on the edge of over doing. I make a real effort to keep track of what I do and only add in small increments, but it's hard.
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Purple- That is a toughie. For me, at first, my fingers swelled up if I drank anything hot ... Absolutely anything I did made me swell.
What I've discovered over the last year and a half is that right after working out I swell. The test is ... Am I still swollen the next day? If so, I've done too much and I will back off. Most of the time, however, the next day ... things look better swelling wise than if I hadn't worked out. It is a very delicate balancing act.
Last week was my birthday and I had bought a new mat and I did DD in my yoga/thai chi class just because it was my birthday and I totally paid for it. I'm not sure I will ever be able to do that position again0 -
Dawne-Hope, happy belated birthday! So sorry to hear that you got the gift of LE flare after celebrating with a yoga pose you probably used to do without giving it a thought!
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carol - Thank you!
Fortunately it was better after three days... and today everything looks great..but yeah...totally took it for granted.0 -
Exercise is a two-edged sword. It both moves lymph fluid and attracts more lymph fluid. So depending on how your own body handles that balance, certain exercises can be either helpful or troublesome. Some women here have reported recently that being sick in bed, they were surprised to find they didn't swell even though they weren't wearing compression. So their lack of exercise made their LE easy to control.
So is lack of exercise good for you? Of course not. Finding the kind of exercise your own body can handle is, though. Some media releases about the PAL weight-lifting trials made it sound like all of us should be out there lifting weights. In fact, Katie Schmitz discovered that there are some women who flared from weight lifting no matter how gradually they started and how well they were supervised, and she wisely dropped them from her study. Which sure doesn't mean those women should go home and become rooted. It means they need to look further to find what works for them.
Bottom line, we all need exercise. And the good news is, there's something for everyone, even if you have to do a bit of searching to find it.Hmmm, you could always try cork tossing....
Be well!
Binney0 -
Binney, isn't it true that as Nibbana said, muscle contractions help move lymph? I think that means that any exercise that recruits muscles must be helping to nudge the lymph along-from simple walking to blow-out cardio, to weight lifting. But as you were so kind to remind us, overdoing it with too much effort or a type of exercise that we cannot handle invites an overload of lymph. So blow-out cardio may not work for me, but both Nibbana and I have been very fortunate to be able to use resistance training to advantage. It has been great in this forum to hear about all the different ways that everyone is exercising, be!cause it's a reminder that there really are lots of choices
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Yep--that's why it's double-edged. It gets lymph fluid moving. But it also recruits lymph fluid (especially if you overdo it). For some, it recruits more than it moves out, and in that case you have to re-figure what you're doing. So exercise is never out of the picture for anyone, but how much and what kind (and maybe even when) will differ from person to person. Most of the women who started the PAL study were able to finish it. But those whose LE was hard to keep stable never even started it, and some of those who started dropped out because they couldn't handle it without flaring. All of those can benefit from exercise, but it might be walking, jogging, tai chi, modified yoga, bike riding, swimming--or several of the sections of Lebed. Starting slow, monitoring, and working up slowly are key to any kind of exercise for us lymphers.
And then, as Dawne-Hope points out, maybe once in a while we choose to break out of our usual precautions and just plan to regroup later. We all have lives to live, and we need to do what makes that worthwhile.
JMHO
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Binney0 -
So is lack of exercise good for you? Of course not.
I know. The voice of reason , Binney.Trust me when I say, I dont think I am overdoing it. I have copd and can't go jogging etc .. it's mostly fast-walking style stuff.
Started at the rebounder just a few mins a day and gradually went to 5-10 mins. I really do think I'm 'doing it the right way'.
Sure I can stick with Tai Chi or even Lebeds, but I am looking for something to get my heart pumping a bit, with this poor circulation. I just feel like I'm in that awful Catch 22 again.I want to thank so many of you replied- very kind of you to take the time
Trial and error, I guess.
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I have to be careful, but like someone mentioned above, mine usually goes down shortly after I quite the offending exercise, movement, whatever.... My LE-T told me a story of a lady whose hand swelled everytime she typed, so she raised her keyboard up so she basically types above her head, and that helps her
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Let me clarify on the yoga thing. I do downward dog, but don't stay in the pose, only to transition to another pose, same with plank. If the instructor says, "Now stay in this pose for 5 breaths," I take myself out of it and do a child's pose instead. Not going to blow my arm up for some yoga teacher.
Anyone with LE or LE risk should pick and choose their yoga poses very carefully.
As Binney said, there's an exercise for everyone. Keep looking for it, the key is to keep moving, but gently.
About a month ago, I thought about taking up boxing. Great aerobic exercise I thought. Then I thought about hitting something hard with a LE hand and thought that wasn't the best idea. But, I can shadow box! Still getting the aerobic benefit and all I'm doing is hitting air.
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Nibbana, your idea of the shadow boxing sounds great! Such a good idea to alter your stuff for your situation
good luck, may have to give the shadow boxing a try! I know a woman without LE who really likes the boxing so maybe I will take a gander at her to see what she is doing.
currently working on my balance which is the pits and has not been getting better. Got an appt with a doc tomorrow so will see his suggestions
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did lebeds. tai chi breather and now walkies
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"Out with my snout" Gonna be just like a beagle today and sniff the salt air and keep trotting along. Its sunny
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Hugz, salt air sounds divine! Yesterday I walked 10.2 miles, half of that while doing treadmill cardio work at the gym, and the other half while watching TV last night. I was sitting at the dining room table poking around on my laptop as I watched some TV, and it occurred to me that while the TV show was interesting, I was just dawdling on the Internet. So why not watch the TV on my feet, walking? I made lots of small loops (can see TV from three rooms) but surprisingly, it was neither boring nor tiresome. I was not moving very fast, but any movement helps. (I'm sure my dog thinks I'm weird to be walking in circles.)
This morning I did 4.5 miles of alternating miles of elliptical and jogging. It is raining a cold, dank rain here today, so no temptation to exercise outside, that's for sure!
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Today was arm and shoulder day. Upright and lateral raises for the deltoids, bicep curls, tricep extentions, external rotator cuff. Need an alternate tricep exercise. Oh, and I'm falling in love with MLD again
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Nibbana, with dumbbells, triceps kickbacks? Or if you're in a gym, a pull-down using a bar or rope grip.
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I found an overhead tricep extention with an ez curl bar. That'll work. Added some bent over lateral raises, got to catch my posterior deltoids for good muscle balance.
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If you can hang a split rope instead of the bar, it challenges each arm separately. I find the bar is just a bit easier because my stronger arm (my LE arm, bizarrely!) does a little more than half of the work.
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Split rope? Don't have the kind of equipment for that. I think I'm getting over my dislike for gyms, and I will have to join one someday.
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Random but more than a coincidence:
Edited to add: I have worn my gloves and sleeves when working out ... Just not all day like I have to do some days.
Lonnnggggg story but three years ago my periodontist (Gum doctor) told me I had small lesions on my gums that were not gum disease but were likely caused by some food allergy. I had bigger fish to fry at the time so I let it slide ...
...Until January and I finally took the plunge and cut all dairy, all grains and all processed sugar out of my diet ... Within four days the lesions disappeared.
MY POINT:
I've been eating a lot more nuts than ever ... And I've noticed that when I eat pistachios ... My swelling is considerably better. I haven't worn gloves or sleeves for two days ... And my swelling is almost non-existent ... It's happened about a dozen times now so I'm pretty sure it is more than a coincidence. I've read on here that Brazil nuts are supposed to be good, but I've had trouble finding them ... But the pistachios really do help me.
I know we're all different and what works for one may not work for another ... But for me, this is more than just coincidence and wanted to share it with you all.0 -
Well that's worth a try, I love pistachios!
How much do you eat?
I've been trying to eat more walnuts as I hear they are good for BC.
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Victoria - I eat walnuts too, as well as almonds.
The last couple of days, I'm sure I've eaten more than I should...
seriously cannot stop eating them ... But I'd think 1/2 cup is more than enough. Be sure to get unsalted if you can..(if salt is one of the things that make you flare).0 -
Thank you! Yes I buy large bags of unsalted and keep them in the freezer. They keep really well that way and never really freeze, so they are easy to eat. Mostly I use them in baking, which I haven't done much of due to my chemo.
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