Kicking LEs butt!! Exercise & Self Care Log
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Cool that you got to meet her. I thought I saw her wearing a sleeve in the YouTube videos,, maybe not all of them, but some.And how interesting that there have been actual studies on LEBED, but every LE therapist I've ever asked about it, has NEVER heard of it!! Maybe I need to find these studies and give out copies.
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She does wear a sleeve in her lymph opening DVD. She says she has them in every color to match her outfits. And we were "exercising." Whatever. If it's working for them, that's great.
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out of all the women in my physical support group i have gone to, many have admitted to LE, but they don't wear sleeves! They admire mine, i have a black one, and a gray one. i pretty much have to, although i do take days off. i was so bad and lazy today, i didn't feel like doing a thing..
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Flying cross country tomorrow so I have to wear my heavy duty ones for hours and hours.....
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Have extra fun when you get there!!!
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Thanks, kathec! I did have fun! Detroit's TSA frisked my compression sleeves because they looked scary, I guess! But it was worth it to spend a great weekend with my daughter walking miles through the beautiful fall leaves.
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My Sunday walk...the last colors of fall here.
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what a lovely walk! outdoors is always nicer than an indoor treadmill!
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Good Morning ! I'm curious to know if anyone has had experience with a mini-trampoline? My sister sent me a bunch of articles about women who felt they're successfully controlling their lymphedema through gentle bouncing. Something about the pull of gravity encouraging circulation in the lymphatic system.
So I ordered one, and it's just arrrived - and I'm going to put it together and start bouncing.
Also, I hope you don't mind me just dropping in like this - but I'd love to find someone with first hand knowledge
Thanks,
Janet
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Janet, I have one, and when I use it my heart rate really goes up, so for me, it's quite effective for exercise. However, conventional wisdom on using it to help LE is that we do a gentle bounce, almost a rocking movement, not letting the feet leave the trampoline surface. Having said that, I just saw an extensive article claiming that the more aggressive jumping makes lymph flow some crazy multiple speed or volume (article doesn't say which) over being still. I'm not sure I'm buying into that assertion, and after seeing your question on another thread, I sent a link to that article to several LE experts for comments. I'll post here if I learn anything from that inquiry.
Now, we know for sure that moving muscles helps to move lymph, because the muscle action against the lymphatic capillaries plays a big role in pumping the lymph through our system. Adding compression garments helps the process by giving a firm surface against which the capillaries are being pressed. So exercise is a help to LE, although I don't think anyone has proven that it prevents or cures this stoooopid condition. Aggressive exercise that raises core body temperature can make things worse, and with strength training and all other forms of exercise, including I suppose jumping on a rebounder, one key to minimizing the potential for swelling (from raised temp, or example) is to start easy and work up, so the body becomes accustomed to a higher level of exertion.
I seriously doubt that you can do yourself any harm, with LE or otherwise, if you start with the gentle bouncing and see what happens. Keep us posted on what you notice when you do!
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Carol - Thanks so much for responding so quickly - and so throughly. Apart from walking, I've cut down on my cardio since BC - so I'm quite excited about trying something new. If I can ever assemble the darn thing I will start bouncing, and keep you posted.
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Today I did 20 minutes on a stationery bike, followed by 20 on the rebounder, jumping hard to get my heart rate up. I'll be doing strength training in the gym later today. (Janet...my arm at the moment feels a little achy, probably because I was exercising quite hard...sigh...high exertion signals stress to the lymphatic system, which in turn sends more lymph to the rescue. But I put up with that--my LE generally is quite stable, and mild enough that I ache more than I swell--because I need to exercise hard to have any prayer of keeping my weight in check.)
I'm traveling constantly for work lately and for the next few months, so my exercise during the week has mostly been limited to lots of walking. Good thing I have weekends to do whatever kind of exercise I want!
Final thought, not related to LE: I read an interesting article in the current Wine Spectator about a study of the effect of drinking wine on heart health. The Czech researchers found that it works well, but: 'We found that moderate wind drinking was only protective in people who exercised." They define exercise as two or more 'instances' of exercise per week, and the article I read did not elaborate on what that meant in terms of type or intensity or duration. The study included 146 men and women and followed them for 12 months. It hasn't been published yet in a peer-reviewed journal. They were measuring HDL and LDL to assess the heart protection benefits of wine, and it's interesting that they found those benefits only in people who reported exercising. Of course, consider where I read about the study--in a wine magazine! Hope there's a peer-reviewed article soon! I do drink red wine with meals, usually about 3 evenings a week, pinning my cancer hopes on research suggesting that small amounts of red wine do little harm. If this current research is true, it's another motivator for exercise!
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Janet, I'm fortunate to have a husband who is an engineer and incredibly handy. Never needs to even glance at how-to-assembly instructions. So I was able to delegate the task, thank goodness! Does your rebounder have springs or bungee cords? Mine is bungees, which I invested in because they're adjustable as to firmness and will absorb more impact, a concern for me because of knee troubles.
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Hi Janet,, keep us posted about your new rebounder. I don't have one, but have been considering it.Hi Carol!! **waves** going back to the gym today for the first time since HX. Planning on very light cardio!! Let's see if I can do 5 mins on Arc Trainer! Ha,,, low, I know,, but have to start back somewhere.
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Carol - Mine has springs. Never thought about springs vs bungee - that makes so much sense.
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Back from gym. 5 mins on recum. bike and 7 mins on Arc Trainer. Felt like I could do more, but thought it better to stop and do more tomorrow. Don't want to over do and be sore.0 -
good gleenie, anything is a step! I try not to compare myself to the major league or younger folks and do what I can!
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Glennie, woo hoo! Getting started again is the hardest part, so the worst is behind you!
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I"m bacccccccccccck!
Went to gym today, did just a little more. 7 mins on bike and 8 mins on Arc trainer.
I follow a blogger, NerdFitness. He is a big proponent of the Paleo/Primal livestyle, and I really enjoy his blog posts. He is quite humorous, although I don't get all his references since I'm not a gamer. But one post in particular stuck with me,,, How to walk to Mordor. http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/07/23/walking/
Sometimes it is hard to stay motivated to exercise, especially for me, when I need to repeatedly start over and take baby steps to get going again. *can't aggravate the LE!* I've always wanted to do a long distance hike,, walking across England has been in the back of my mind for years,, so this post appealed to me. By keeping track of my miles as I walk/bike/Arc trainer, I am "walking" somewhere, and making progress towards my goal. Now I'm not walking to Mordor. What I decided to do was walk the length of U.S. 1 up the east coast, from Key West to the Maine/Canada border! That is 2446 miles! Will be breaking this down in parts. Key West to Miami = 161 miles. So that's the first goal. I actually started this a long time ago, and stopped keeping track of it. Well, I found my little notebook and I'll be taking it to the gym everytime and recording my distance as I go. This will give me a little extra boost to help me keep going.
I don't have a pedometer or a Fitbit thingie,, if I did, I would be recording much more mileage every day I suppose,,, but for now, I'll stick with what I do at the gym, or walks around home. Will let you know when I get to Miami!!
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glennie, good for you on the increase in time at gym! dang but just a little more each day is good to me!
I had started having a reaction to the chlorine in the gym pool so have cut back on my laps. Spoke to ENT and PCD and they think it is OK to swim and it is up to me. I was getting itchie~~so PCD said to take a Claritin before swimming as she knows how important the pool is to me and it is a big part of my cardio. So after staying out of the pool a lot, had a really nice swim this AM so quite tired now! took the Claritin and it sure worked, no itchies!
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YAY for no itchies!!!!0 -
Hey butt kickers, I see you are all doing great. I had a bit of lag time with my walkies but have started up last week and yes I did walk today. I also have done lebed openers a few times to in the past couple weeks.
That claritin dose before swimming sounds interesting. I would have never thought. I am not so crazy for drugs but I might try to remember this one as I do get itchy in the pool if I go more than once a week.
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hug--I was reluctant on adding another pill but dang if it did not work!
now if I had a solution for the dust caused by my bath renovation, that would be great!
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My exercise this weekend consisted of a hunt for the perfect wedding dress to fit our budget with my daughter and her mother-in-law to be and one of her bridesmaids (the hunt was successful and a huge amount of fun) and then doing battle with my purple cone flower beds before the winter settles in. I had PET scans last week but won't get results until Nov. 5th appointment with doctor so trying to keep busy. Hip pain continues to put a damper on walking especially on any inclines or hills.
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Laural, I cannot think of a better way to distract yourself from test worry, than a wedding dress safari with your daughter. Congratulations on the wonderful coming event! Hope you can do more fun wedding work to help keep nerves at bay for another week!
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I went to early voting and came home. Then I didn't feel like driving to gym. Should have done both in same trip. Silly me. But I took a walk, 1.37 miles. Got some sunshine too!0 -
mmmm, sunshine on a walk! Sounds great! I'm working long hours every day this week with no access to my usual exercise options, so limited walking is as good as it's going to get. Hopefully with some early evening sunlight, even if it's not technically sunshine.
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I am chasing around this week, home depot and mastercard are my life this week. So my exercise is around that stuff. Doing less but doing something every day, so believe it is better that way, course today was my swim day so life is always better on swim days~~
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All you are doing so good. Laural's picture of the autumn leaves was so pretty and inspiring. Thanks to working next to a Chatty Cathy I was motivated enough to put on rain gear and get out off the office for a rest to my ears and some great walking.
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I'm up to 10 mins on the bike and 10 mins on the Arc Trainer as of today.0
