FLF #8 - Free exercise video for bad knees and more

We are always told by medical professionals that we need to exercise, and they are right. The problems begin when you have an illness or injury that prevents you from doing it. It's difficult to find the drive to do something when you know it is going to cause pain - not the "feel the burn" kind of pain, but the shooting, stabbing, debilitating kind of pain.  But we have to work to overcome this. 

Then, if you are like me, you face another issue of being embarrassed to exercise in public. I feel humiliated by my size and I don't want to be seen in a bathing suit when I go swimming or to be the fat woman who cant keep up, or god forbid, I have to stop exercising due to my pain while everyone else is still going. Whether it's true or not, in my mind these people are looking at me and thinking negatively about me. This is a life long issue I'm still trying to overcome, though I'm not very successfully right now.

So then we have to look at ways around this. I have an recumbent exercise bike at home that I can use even though it bores me witless. I have a lot of room outside at home so I can go about my business in private when it's daylight savings, if I have any energy left after work. I have a treadmill but it's not home at the moment. I can play games with my partner to get some exercise and have fun, i.e. we played cricket out the front the other day and we go to the pool when it's quiet (Steve can't go swimming at the moment due to an eye injury). Or I can do exercise inside the house following exercise videos.

The last one suits me the best right now because there are a lot of free options online via Youtube to choose from. After much testing and pain I have found the following routine that is only 10 minutes long and is suitable for people with bad knees. I try to do it three times a day. This works because it's low impact, takes up hardly any room so I can do it in my office (with the door shut), it requires no equipment and best of all I can at least get some exercise in via intervals. I'm embarrassed to admit that even 10 minutes is painful for me but if it gets to much I march in place. So far it's the best option I've found.

I think this would be a good start for a lot of people. Even if you work up to completing the 10 minutes over time, at least we can do something.

Check out the video and if you know of more please let me know. This video is from a woman named Jessica Smith & her little dog Peanut, and she has a good range online. I also have a list of other recommendations posted bythe  myfitnesspal blog that I will share below. But check out this first one and let me know what you think.

http://youtu.be/f0yVP_eixEI

My Fitness Pal Recommendations go to the following article which has all the links:  http://greatist.com/move/best-free-workout-videos-youtube

FLF #4 - The Bed Monster

I love to sleep.  In the past, when the alarm went off I'd press snooze a heap of times cause I was always tired. Then Steve would try and wake me and I'd pretend I couldn't get out of bed. I'd thrash around like I was being held down against my will by some invisible force and tell him the "Bed Monster" had me! For ages this was a running joke at home. But now I have a new Bed Monster. I don't have to try and pretend I cant get out of bed because this Bed Monster is in my body and it makes everything so sore and stiff that I literally cant get out of bed sometime. On the good days when I can get out of bed its very slowly and painfully. I call myself Tin Man; it's like I've rusted up overnight and need a good oiling. It's the worst way to start the day but it's a pretty good indication of what body parts aren't going to cooperate that day. It's all a matter of degrees really.

I've stopped the MS - Contin and felt no difference so that was ok. I went off the Lyrica as well but discovered that it is actually helping me, I'd just been on it so long that I forgot how much pain I can be in, so I'm back on the Lyrica. I'm also taking the mercyndol and the Chinese herbs for the pain.

I've been doing strengthening exercises for my legs where if I'm lying down or sitting I raise my leg (alternatively) and hold it for the count of ten then raise it higher and hold it for ten, and if I've got it in me I raise it higher. It can hurt but I fight through the pain. And the pain is not the "I just exercised pain" its a stabbing or aching pain. Then I bring my leg back down in the same degrees that I raised it for the count of ten each time over. Some days I'm great at this and others I'm not but I'm persevering and I'm happy to report that I'm not limping as soon as I get up.

YAY!!!!  In Your Face Bed Monster!!!!!

I'm doing so well that I had a day where I didn't limp until about 4pm! This is a major achievement so I'm very happy. After the Bed Monster lets me go each morning I no longer have an automatic limp. It didn't happen overnight of course but I've finally seen some significant improvement. This might not sound like much to some people but to me this a huge leap forward. I can hear Bill Bragg singing in my head right now!

On Saturday Steve and I went to the local pool and got a 3 month membership which give up a free forth month. We had an hour of swimming and playing ball games and generally mucking around in the water. It was great fun and I was pleased to see that I could still do a non-stop lap. The buoyancy certainly made a difference to my ability to do activity and I just had to suck up my embarrassment about the way I look. I felt like the both of us had achieved something. Then we went to my brothers place for the rest of the day. I felt pretty good all day; just like I had the flu (this in my everyday state). But the next morning I was in terrible pain and I slept and slept and slept. I got up around 11am and went back to bed at about 3pm. I didn't wake up until the following morning at 8am.   Now I'm back to the usual flu like state.

There is a lesson in this and I think it is one activity a day. It's like being at work. That's all I can really achieve then I'm pushing myself through the usual shite. I'm hoping that this is the start of changing all that. Now I've typed this I think it is a pretty good start!

FLF #3: Fibromyalgia - the medical profession's F word

While the majority of Australians were watching the terrible Sydney siege unfold I was at my rheumatologists. I'd gone to work in the morning and then traveled to St Vincent's to see my doctor. Since my last visit in June I'd had major surgery, my fibromyalgia and lupus had gotten worse, I'd gained over 30kg and I commenced the pain management clinic at St Vincent's, as well as Chinese herbal medicine. I explained this all to her and questioned why I was still experiencing major pain while I was taking morphine. I didn't think it was possible. She examined me and asked a myriad of questions and then told me there were two types of fibromyalgia sufferers: The ones that responded to medication and the ones like me who do not. She then proceeded to tell me that I was an extreme case, that medication could not work on me so it was time to start weaning myself off of all the drugs. When I asked her what was I to do next, she told me that she could no longer help me, that I should stick with the pain management clinic, that it was my only hope and that she felt there was no point in me seeing her anymore. This coming from what I was told was one of the main specialists of  autoimmune diseases in the city.

I told her that I'd been researching the condition extensively and that I felt that the drugs I'd been on for so long where known to be ineffective if taken for more than three months so why wasn't I taken off them earlier? Her response was that at least now they know that I 'definitely' have fibromyalgia.

I was a bit lost when I left the clinic. It took me ages just to find a cab to get back to my car; the wind was blowing so hard my eyes were stinging for the dirt blown in them, but it was a blur in more ways than one and I finally got back to my car, albeit limping as usual. 

I drove from Melbourne to Kyneton to go to the dentist. When this doctor gave me an examination she asked me if I knew about the spots on my tongue. I asked if she meant the faint blotches? When she said yes I told her that I thought everybody had that kind of blotchiness on their tongue. It was hardly noticeable. She said not if you know what you're looking for and then asked me what kind of autoimmune disease I had. I told her lupus and fibromyalgia and she told me 'that's not a good thing for you, I'm sorry to say, you need two of your wisdom teeth taken out and with those illnesses is not going to be easy.' She then showed me pictures of people who have had their teeth taken out with these illnesses and they were swollen beyond belief. She explained it was very painful, that she just had a case of it three weeks prior and that the autoimmune disease starts attacking the gums from where the teeth were removed. She also told me it can get quite dangerous if the swelling is blocking the airway.

All I could think was - typical.

So on top of my normal everyday pain and exhaustion I now have to deal with the fact that I have no specialist doctor, I'll have no meds, I have no treatments other than Chinese medicine,  I'm not seeing the pain management clinic until 'sometime in 2015' because the clinic couldn't get the doctors to do the assessment all at once, and I can't even get my fucking teeth fixed.

It was a bad day. So was the next, but it'll be better soon.

FLF #2: implementing the plan

What a day! I could talk about the siege but I'll stick to my fightback.

I had to work from home as my horse injured itself. This was bad for Teddy but good for me as it allowed me to work at my own pace and I could break things up with rest periods. I took my meds and drank the liquid from the boiled Chinese herbs (aka Jungle Juice) as well as my other meds include lyrica, ms-contin and mercyndol. I can confirm without a doubt that the jungle juice has definitely increased my energy levels. I also think that I'm releasing fluid better now. I still have fluid today on waking up. I've only been on the jungle juice for 6 weeks so I'm giving it time too work. The results I have achieved are really great for such a short period of time.

I did office work and got up and did chores throughout the day. I've had to shovel horse manure and got about a wheelbarrow full when the pain in my lower back became quite bad. I fought through it, finished that load, took the contents to the tree area and unloaded what is now new fertilizer. My right arm fared pretty well but I could feel the back pain traveling to the other parts of my body. North and South. I worked at the computer to relax it.  I did some mopping and cleaned the kitchen. I finished but the pain traveled up my back on the right side just below the shoulder blade and down my right side leg so I'm limping again.

After working at the computer more I took the animals with me to get another wheelbarrow of manure. I had to stop three times to do that due to the pain. Finished then took the dogs and duck to the dam to play and swim. I noticed that the pain hasn't left me since and I'm exhausted. I'm cooked up more herbs for the jungle juice and even lifting the pottery kettle hurt my wrists and right elbow. I was that tired by 3.30pm I had to sleep. This happens a lot and I have to sleep in my car when coming home from work. It's gotten better lately though.

I'm meant to document very short term goals like how long I sit, stand, lift and walk in a day and increase it by one minute each day. Doing jobs that just need to be done can only be looked at if I combine all these things. I'll guesstimate that I can do 15 minutes and then need to rest. For maybe 15 minutes but as the day goes on this increases. I'll say 15 minutes and average it out over the next three days.

I started to watch a medical lecture on fibromyalgia online but didn't have time to finish it. Now every muscle in my body hurts, even the tops of my feet, so it sweet dreams from me to you whoever you are. Introduce yourself.