Kicking LEs butt!! Exercise & Self Care Log
Comments
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Grandma day with William. He was a perfect gentleman and didn't make me run after him once
. No real exercise needed for this but as you see, I have my garb on.0 -
Wow, I just found this link- amazed at what I didn't know about LE. I had dbl mx about 6 weeks ago, but the LE in right arm and hand started before surgery. After surgery I was sent to a therapist who massaged area for about 10 minutes then wrapped me from fingers to shoulder. She sent me to be measured for compression sleeve, gauntlet and night sleeve. Nobody said anything about either diet or exercise affecting the LE. I have no idea what MLD or the Lebed method are, but I am going to look them both up right now. I have a little problem with the sleeve- it seems a little too long, but when I told the people that measured me for it, they re-measured and said it is the correct size, so I don't know if I am doing something wrong. I don't see the therapist anymore- she said to call if I need anything, but didn't think I needed weekly appts at this time.
I know I am pretty new at all this, because I remember the old days when getting dressed meant brushing my teeth and putting on an outfit, then combing my hair and I was ready to go. Now I have to brush my teeth, put on compression sleeve, put on post mx bra with inserts, then clothes, gauntlet, and finally wig. By then I've forgotten why I got dressed in the first place.
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welcolme Annie, course meeting on the fitness thread would be nicer but...lots of folks here who know way more than me so if you have questions...I am sure someone will come alone
suggestion, mark this as a Fav!
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anneb1149, a recent study (that had lots of women enrolled) observed that taking taxane-based chemo can cause swelling that's likely to resolve within a year. So it's great that you're taking action to manage your swelling, and with some luck you may find that it reduces significantly with time. The same study found that women who exercised were more likely than the non-exercisers to see reduction in their swelling, so there's a strategy that may work for you--keep moving! That said, over-use of your arm or too much weight or resistance can make things worse, so it's important to follow some precautions. Here's a document to read about that:
http://stepup-speakout.org/Handout%20doc%20for%20S...
The stepup-speakout site also has wonderful resources on all manner of other LE topics. Here's the page on knowing if the sleeve fits:
http://stepup-speakout.org/proper_fitting_of_lymph...
Here's their page about MLD: http://stepup-speakout.org/manual_lymphatic_drain...
Here's a link to the official site of the Lebed method of exercise for LE: https://www.gohealthysteps.com/
You'll find info about the method, and a store if you'd like to purchase a DVD.
If you go to YouTube and search, you can find the exercise demonstration in many pieces and parts, presented by Sherry Lebed Davis, the creator. Here's the first one in the series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2luK4JRAbo
The Lebed method is a gentle series of movements and stretches, plus deep breathing, that are designed to move lymph. Lots of us use the 'lymphatic opening' sequence (the first 15 minutes of the DVD) as a warmup before doing cardio. Some find it works almost as well as doing MLD.
Lots to learn and think about!
I'm glad you found us!
Carol
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Hello everybody!
Gma, lovely picture :-)
Binney, tomorrow I have another session with my therapist and will try to get more information. I'm curious too! :-) I thought of starting another thread to compare notes about different LE protocols and results, but then it felt it'd be too much maybe.
Anne, welcome :-)
Carol57, glad to hear you have a plan for that knee. Plans are good. The patience part.....not so much! :-)
Today is my second day of Lebed and I followed it with yoga. A bit tired afterwards, but happy :-) It is indeed better with the Lebed as a warmup.
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Feel like such a loser to have to report 15 minute walk but I am on slow recovery from deadly flu and cold. Will try to increase my walk to 30 minutes next time. The rest of you get out and burn some cement with your runners.
Lia, Binney and rest. Yes, I need hear more about the wet bandage treatment. I told my LEist and she was interested very much so. She is having really good success putting jovi pit paks on fibrotic area, wrapping arm and leaving it on during treatment until she needs to access the arm. Says it works wonders within the treatment session. I very little hardening but she said we could try it.
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Hugz take care of yourself. Just so you know you did more than I have..
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hi everybody, hope you're feeling well :-)
no exercise yet today, feeling lazy... your 15 minutes hugz are better than nothing! :-)
I really don't want to burden this exercise thread with different issues, so I'll just put everything on a different thread, "wet bandage as part of LE care".
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Just checking in to say that the Livestrong class at the Y is NOT affecting my LE in a bad way. No swelling! I have done light free weights (carefully), Zumba Gold, weight machines (didn't like---nothing smaller than ten pounds, maybe I can work up to it), elliptical, treadmill. Next week is spin class and pool. I am enjoying it and the instant bond with the other members of the class is so sweet. We've exchanged contact info, encourage one another, ask about each other. I realize I am lucky to be handling the exercise so well, but I recommend the class if your LE allows.
I am reading along here and my heart hurts for those of you who are struggling.
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Thanks girls, was going to try another short walk today but I dare say I think I am relapsing. Hope not? Sniffles today.
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hugz: so sorry the cold is persisting! chicken soup? lots of garlic? you're really putting up with this for too long!
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Back in the saddle... I sure hope. LEBEDS and tai chi breathers and I am going to put my foot out the door today.
Ate a ton of garlic, all could smell me a mile away but it got rid of the fross green guck in my lungs. I miss walking.... Did I say that?
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Just finished my Lebed/yoga session and trying to keep on that sleeve for as long as possible...
hugz4u, good news u r feeling better :-)
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I enjoyed my walk so much although it was only a half hour fast stroll. Tai chi breathers and lebeds. 5 minutes hoola hoop, loosens back up just right. Yes, I am on track once more!
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Yeah hugz4u! Glad to hear you are able to get back on track again. What a frustrating "derailment" you have had these past few weeks. I am hitting the road today to do the Show Choir/Jazz Combo to Winter Indoor Percussion and back chauffeur service for the 6 kids that are in both events. Looks like about 3 to 4 hours of driving, depending on how the Show Choir does. Does pushing chimes and gongs count as exercise?? Kind of bittersweet though as this is the last Show Choir performance for the year and my daughter is a senior.
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Okay ladies. I don't know how you're doing all these exercises without things getting worse. I emailed my PT today to ask about what might work to get the fluid moving again. All the exercises I've done and what she's given me have made the leg more swollen to the point I can't bend my leg to reach my foot to put a wrap or sock on. Eeeeek! Also waiting for the blood thinning shots to start working on the blood clot. Anyone know how long that might take before some of the swelling goes down? I'm nervous about the leg being so swollen. Also done the diuretics today and lots of water along side the exercise and walking. Getting discouraged.
Any and all ideas are welcome. Keep up the good work! Sue
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milehighgirl, I wonder if your swelling is something we're not well acquainted with, because (if I understand correctly) there's a blood clot at work, not just lymphedema. It's been a few days since you posted. Any luck getting some reduction in the swelling?
I've been buried in a sea of life 'stuff' lately, making exercise (or time for it) a challenge. My elderly parents are having issues that are keeping me quite busy, another beloved elder --actually my mother-in-law from a prior marriage, but I always thought the world of her, and she was close to my kids--passed away a couple of days ago. A very close friend was diagnosed with kidney cancer last Saturday, and promptly told it hadn't spread at all...but then this morning was told it had indeed appeared in three other places. Such an unfair roller coaster to put him and his family through! And I'm still struggling to get my knee swelling under control, diligently doing at least my PT exercises and icing the darn thing as I do correspondence and make calls related to all of the above. Arrrrggghhhhh......life can be a real stinker, sometimes. There...I feel a tiny bit better.
I did do a good old Leslie Sansone exercise session today, just 30 minutes and really focusing on minimal impact to what is already a low-impact routine. I also was able to do a pretty good upper body workout. I've put on some pounds since the knee business appeared, and that is so frustrating!
I hope at least some people around here are managing to do some real exercise. Please report in, to share the morale boost that comes from exercise!
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Carol57, sorry for your heartaches and troubles. Life can be so stinkin' hard sometimes.
I did water exercise for the first time today at the Y. It was with my Livestrong group and it was very fun. I will get in that pool more often, I think.
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Carol, re: your friend with kidney cancer--just, BUMMER!
Brava to you for the Sansone interval today--bet it was restorative.
Jeannie, how great to discover a new was to keep moving, especially one that's so great for the LE.
I did massive amounts of gardening today, and I sure hope that counts. Very satisfying. Tasty too, as we're gathering the last of our winter veggies--greens, tomatoes, carrots, beets. Have a huge pot of very fresh beets cooking right now. Love them cooled to snack on, so that's also a healthy boost.
Onward!
Binney0 -
Jeannie and Binney, thank you for the words of support. Exercise is restorative, that's for certain. Water exercise is especially healing; something about being enveloped in the gentle pressure of the water. Not just healing for LE, but for all kinds of ills, physical and in the heart. Binney, gardening surely does count, and I am so envious that at this time of year you're able to eat veggies plucked just minutes before from the garden. Yummmm...there's no comparison with grocery store veggies!
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Hi all, well I had to alter some of my routine for a bit. Dang if I did not burn my arm reaching into the oven for a potatoe! good it was not the LE arm but there is a blister. So my beloved pool is off limits for a few days. Still doing my treadmill/bike and strength exercises so that counts. Binney....gardening sure does count and if you want to stop over....my gardens need attention and I have no gardening genes!
cold here but warming up this weekend
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I have been a couch potato and just so frustrated.. The new pain meds keep the nerve pain at bay if I am a couch potato. Just a slow quiet walk will flare up the pain. I have tried to just ignore it and move on... that doesn't work. But Carol I know the gaining weight issue and I hate it. I don't know what to do anymore. Wish I could afford a good trainer of some sort, to help me figure this out.
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Well I just lost everything I've written the last 5-minutes. Will try again.
Carol, so sorry to hear about all you're going through. Tell your friend it's not over 'till it's over. Doctor's are simply the messengers. God has the real answers. I'll be praying for you, your parents and your friend for the duration.
I finally got in to see the PT yesterday. We did the massage and wrapping. She taught me how to do the massage and it does make a difference. Carol, I still swell more after I exercise. I'm wondering if I'm just doing too much. Now I exercise, elevate the leg afterward and massage the fluid up and out. It is making a difference.
Binney, I agree that gardening is huge when it comes to exercise. I want to know how you're cooking your beets and cooling them for a snack. Aren't they mushy after you cook them? Share, share, share what you're doing with the beets! I want to try it.
I also have a friend who swears by the Epsom salt soaks for the hands and feet. He has cured his neuropathy by soaking daily. I'm going to give it a try today and then see if I can get the swelling down far enough so as to give myself a pedicure. Doesn't that count as exercise? ha ha.
Sue
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Sue, makes all the dif in the world to have a pro show you the right way to do stuff! I was cheating on my after exercise stretching that I knew I should be doing....commented to my trainer that I had funny night time achies in my leg...he looked at me and right away asked if I was stretching after my time on the treadmill.....how did he know that? guess he knows what he is doing~!~
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Sue, I scrub the beets without peeling, simmer for 45 minutes or so (depends on the size of the beets--stab the biggest one with a knife to be sure it's done all the way through). Then I cool them quickly with a couple of changes of cold water. Peeling them is easy--actually it's fun--because when they're cooked the skins slip off in your fingers. (Don't forget to toss those skins into the compost pile). The beet itself is still deliciously firm, but not hard. I cut them into thick slices and put them in a refrigerator dish so they're easy to get at. ;-) Just keep in mind when you go to the bathroom that beets can tint "things" pinkish--alarming until you remember that you feasted on beets.
The beet greens are for dinner today. A bit of turkey bacon for flavor in a dab of olive oil, with some onions, garlic and just a touch of crushed red chili. When the onion's just getting soft, add the greens, cover the pot and turn down the heat; water clinging to the leaves is usually enough to steam them. Sometimes I add a dash of cider vinegar. Good eats!
Enjoy!
Binney0 -
hmmm, beets sound good, too bad my salad will be missing them tonight
I do remember the first time I made beets and thinking that I had had some exotic disease that colored my pp!
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Sorry Carol, It sounds like you not getting in 3's but 4's dumped on you. You have alot on your plate with parents/ friend's death, friend with Cancer and silly, silly, silly knee but you are still plugging away and chipping at it so good for you. I know you sure want to literally shake a leg though.
The leslie dvd sounds like a good idea and it is low impact. You will be ok, just got to work out the kinks and you will be on your way!I had a set back with my cold and have not done much. I have zero energy although I pushed my self to garden. DH dug up my bulbs so we could move them and I didn't want them to dry out, so that was my exercise and now my hammy's and back muscles are screaming at me. Any Ideas to relieve the pain?
milehigh, Are they giving you diuretics for LE because I heard that is not for LE but other types of swelling. Anyone know.
Binney. Olive oil, feta cheese, garlic on the beets is great! No need to salt as the feta is salty. I rinse salt off.
The rest of you, Push forward, look ahead!
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Sue, thank you for the prayers. I'll pass along your very wise thought on that.
You could be exercising too much. I guess 'gradual' really does mean building up in tiny increments. Maybe do some experimenting...which body parts (if any) can you exercise without triggering swelling? Could you try something like chair aerobics (you'd probably find that with a google search) to see if that limits swelling? Or just exercise with arms, for ten minutes moving up and down, out and in, etc. to raise your heart rate slightly, and see if you still swell? I'd be tempted to do some process-of-elimination, using time, intensity and limiting exercise to legs only, arms only, etc. to see if you can sneak up on LE without letting it know you're exercising.
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Carol, Binney,.... question for those with LE experience. Are you worried about getting scratches, cuts, scrapes...? You all sound so active and am wondering how you go about doing all that you do? Do you just say "I'm not going to let it rule my life? How do you get your head around doing stuff and not constantly be thinking about getting hurt?
I have an antibiotic prescription (not that it will necessarily be the one that works) and bandaids and Neosporin in my purse at all times but I find that I baby my arm and hand.
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weird but even though I am a klutz and accident prone, I seem to hurt the non LE side...as in this weeks burn is on my non LE arm so not sure why...maybe I protect that side without thinking?
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