Keeping fit with chronic pain

[canary52]

It's understandable you're doing comfort eating. You'll get back on track I'm sure.

Just take everything slowly a step at a time, including the morning driving. I had to do an unfamiliar drive on a dark road last night. My GPS died, my phone wasn't working because I was in the mountains and I had a full blown panic attack. But it turned out OK. I got where I was going and back. You'll ge there, Lizzy.

I live inthe northeast and we have been getting slammed. I don't think I can't take another winter like this one. I wanna go where the sun shines and it's warm. Sounds good, doesn't it?

[Lizzycritter]

I used to live in California, and while I hate the snow, I did miss the seasons. The doc's got me on Pristiq now, too soon to say whether or not it's helping but at least it's not hurting and I'm not afraid to eat or drive. I think my mood's been a little more positive lately. The birds were chirping again this morning, and that always makes me feel better.

[Meggietye]

I don't have what you have, but I too am sick and have had to figure something out to move even when I couldn't move much. Over the past 15 years I have been doing Oxycise by Jill Johnson (google) and I have a chi machine (google that too).

They both work when I can't put one foot in front of the other, rain or shine, July or January. Best of luck and happy reading!

[canary52]

Originally Posted by Lizzycritter

I used to live in California, and while I hate the snow, I did miss the seasons. The doc's got me on Pristiq now, too soon to say whether or not it's helping but at least it's not hurting and I'm not afraid to eat or drive. I think my mood's been a little more positive lately. The birds were chirping again this morning, and that always makes me feel better.

I have never heard of Pristiq. Please let me know how it goes, if you can. I wish you the best, Lizzie.

[Lizzycritter]

So far, it's going good. I'm off the Celebrex, my back's a little more sore than usual but my arms and legs are better, and I've got more energy. Had a helluva day at work yesterday that ended with an emergency surgery and an hour of OT, and I don't feel like death on toast, so that is an improvement. I swear I may kiss my doctor next time I see him.

[canary52]

I am so sorry for not responding. I have not been on Fitday for a while.

Do you mean you had surgery for yourself (as I first thought) in which case I am so sorry or did you perfrom surgery on one of the animals?

How have you been? Are you OK?

[Lizzycritter]

No, assisted/anesthesia for a critter patient. I've been on and off fitday too, the insurance company does not want to pay for the Pristiq so I've been off it about 10 days, and the whole family is down with the flu, on day 4 of that, so needless to say diet and exercise haven't been high on my list of priorities. I have a good doctor, his office is working on the insurance, hopefully I'll get an answer soon. I will be back!

[xo_liana]

I, too, have Fibromyalgia in addition to a chronic pain condition known as either Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) depending on who you talk to. I've had both since I was nine, so almost thirteen years now. I broke my right ankle and it didn't show up on an x-ray at the time, so I went six weeks with a broken ankle and no cast. By the time they finally realized it had been broken, the break was healed, but the pain lingered and was in fact, getting worse and spreading. Needless to say, I've been on crutches, in a wheelchair, had more pain treatments than I can count, but I made a huge turnaround a few years ago.

When I was 19, I knew I was overweight and had to do something about it. The truth is I was scared to exercise, because doing so in the past had aggravated the pain. But I was also scared of the looming possibility of diabetes, as well as the fact that my cholesterol and blood pressure were getting higher and higher. I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without getting out of breath. I was just shy of 200 pounds at that point.

I started exercising, and lo and behold, not only did I lose weight, but the pain started decreasing!

I've done a lot of different kinds of exercise since then and the lowest my weight has been was 115, back in October (I'm 5'4", for reference). Since starting some new medication in November, I'm back up to between 125 and 130, and my pain is worse, though that's mainly due to the neverending Canadian winter we're having.

I'm able to exercise at really intense levels for high amounts of time, though, and I find that for a few hours after I exercise, my pain is greatly reduced or, in some instances, I'm completely pain-free.

Right now, I've just started the TurboFire program in conjunction with extra daily workouts to see if I can't drop the added weight I've put on. I did the 5-Day Inferno Plan last week and had great results, so I'm very excited for the full program, which I started this morning.

[rosehebrew]

I was diagnosed with fibro years ago but never was really comfortable with that for some reason. Then, last year I had a heart attack, not the clogged artery kind but the "Takatsubo Event" kind. When I went to the hospital knowing I was having a heart attack after being told to wait in the lobby, I was given nitro. I noticed immediately that the pain in my legs decreased dramatically. The ER doc at the time said I did not know what I was talking about but the cardiologist that took over my case said he believed me. He said I had micro vascular disease, in which the micro vessels clamp down for a reason they do not understand yet. He agreed that the micro vessels in my body could be doing the same thing but that has not been studied. My pain is very close to what people feel when they are climbing up a hill and there muscles run out of oxygen. I think that is why repetitive motion bothers me so much. I just feel though that there is hope for me even if it is not through the medical community. I noticed that stress is my big, big enemy and that is what I am working at. I have been under a tremendous amount of extreme stress for decades and have just decided that this is where my healing is going to have to begin, along with weight loss and as much exercise as I can manage. Stressed bodies do not heal well and I really believe that my body is made to be self-repairing if given the proper tools.
(note; this is a condition common to women, not men)