I'm keeping a positive attitude, I AM getting better, but I do feel worse this Monday than last Monday. Only a little worse, but I was hoping that resting over the Thanksgiving weekend would have me feeling perkier.
Because of Thanksgiving I missed my usual Thursday Pilates class, so no pilates "boost" on Thursday. We did go for a nice long walk on Friday, which made me feel better, although when we got home I had to pee so bad I took the 4 flights of stairs to our apartment instead of waiting for the elevator. My heart rate monitor was beeping at me for the last two (but I had to pee!), I maxed out at 136. I didn't feel any ill effects at the time, but I think that was more cardio-vascular stress than I could handle because that's when the backsliding started. I was waiting for water to boil the next day and decided while I was just standing there I'd do some pilates/ballet leg moves, some rond de jambe's (making the letter D on the floor, up, out and around, back to starting position) and some simple leg lifts, to the front, side and back. Doesn't sound so strenuous, huh? But the last couple of reps just felt...well, they just felt like I shouldn't have done them. Not any kind of pain in my chest or breathlessness, just a sense of overexertion.
I noticed later Saturday and Sunday that my "spot" was back. When I inhale I have this sense of cool air going over a sensitive spot about an inch to the right of center, about even with my armpit. I didn't have that "spot" in the very beginning, but started to notice it when I had my big setback back in August. I think when that happened I ruptured something in there. Nice.
Part of me is interested in knowing what, exactly, I did to myself. But it's not worth the time, aggravation, and money to find out. Whatever it was, it is healing, it's just taking it's sweet ass time. The Buteyko exercises help I think in part because it's training me to use my lungs less. Whatever the injury, reducing the load on my lungs has to help.
I just need to get back to the program. Rest. Ginger tea. Buteyko 3 times a day. Not overdoing it (hold it and take the fucking elevator next time!). Recovering from an injury takes time. I simply must be patient.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Saturday, November 18, 2006
What a Beautiful Day for a Walk
It was a PERFECT Vegas fall day today. High low-mid 70's, a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky.
We were up a little late last night chatting with the calorie-count.com crowd (hi guys!), so we didn't get a very early start on our walk. By the time we got out to our favorite park it was about noon. My lungs weren't recovered from all the talking last night, but I had a feeling that a little walk would do me good, and I was right. Mike was a little hesitant to take me walking, worried I needed to rest from last night, but I'm glad we decided to give it a try. I felt much better after our walk.
I like walking outside SO much better than cranking it out on a treadmill. The sun, the fresh air, looking at the cool red rocks in the mountains nearby, soaking in life happening around you...the exhuberance that children have when playing, watching people play with their dogs (I love other people's kids and dogs!). And Mike and I get to hold hands when we walk outside, can't do THAT in the gym!
We kept the pace nice and slow, keeping my heart rate in the mid-80's (except for one little incline which pushed it to 100) but we managed 5 laps around the park, which took about an hour and 15 minutes. Add on some stretching at the end, and it was a nice hour and a half. Even walking slow there's still a lot to think about. Especially for me since I have to pay such close attention to my breathing. Abs engaged and pulling up, breathing into the side of my lungs (pilates abs & breathing), but breathing shallowly and always through my nose (buteyko). Remembering to walk "tall", light on my feet, pushing off with my toes, lifting my foot forward with my quads (not swinging my leg into the next step) and pushing forward with the top of the hams. Lots to think about. But proper form keeps me from re-aggravating my old quad injury, helps me focus on my shallow breathing, and passes the time (since I'm no good at conversation these days!).
We were up a little late last night chatting with the calorie-count.com crowd (hi guys!), so we didn't get a very early start on our walk. By the time we got out to our favorite park it was about noon. My lungs weren't recovered from all the talking last night, but I had a feeling that a little walk would do me good, and I was right. Mike was a little hesitant to take me walking, worried I needed to rest from last night, but I'm glad we decided to give it a try. I felt much better after our walk.
I like walking outside SO much better than cranking it out on a treadmill. The sun, the fresh air, looking at the cool red rocks in the mountains nearby, soaking in life happening around you...the exhuberance that children have when playing, watching people play with their dogs (I love other people's kids and dogs!). And Mike and I get to hold hands when we walk outside, can't do THAT in the gym!
We kept the pace nice and slow, keeping my heart rate in the mid-80's (except for one little incline which pushed it to 100) but we managed 5 laps around the park, which took about an hour and 15 minutes. Add on some stretching at the end, and it was a nice hour and a half. Even walking slow there's still a lot to think about. Especially for me since I have to pay such close attention to my breathing. Abs engaged and pulling up, breathing into the side of my lungs (pilates abs & breathing), but breathing shallowly and always through my nose (buteyko). Remembering to walk "tall", light on my feet, pushing off with my toes, lifting my foot forward with my quads (not swinging my leg into the next step) and pushing forward with the top of the hams. Lots to think about. But proper form keeps me from re-aggravating my old quad injury, helps me focus on my shallow breathing, and passes the time (since I'm no good at conversation these days!).
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Food Sensitivies
Well sometimes you just can't win...
Almost two years ago my doc did a wacky food allergy test on me, muscle testing (arm goes down, it's bad, VERY scientific {cough, not}). He said no wheat or coffee, but dairy was ok (which surprised him, since most people fail the dairy arm test apparently). So I tried to give up wheat (switched to spelt for baking and things like rice pasta but giving up wheat entirely is tough!), and I gave up coffee completely (I was a 2 Starbucks Grande's a day kind of girl). I decided his arm strength test was bullshit but I was interested in the concept and decided to do a more scientific test. So I did a blood test that measures the level of anti-bodies in your blood to certain foods. http://www.optimumhealthresource.com/
Came back very different from my docs arm test (what a surprise). High on most dairy. So I got off dairy (except for butter every once in a while and mozzerella on my weekly homemade pizza). I gave up my beloved skim milk with meals, having water instead, and I switched to soymilk for those times when milk was a "necessity" like with cereal or when cooking. All the grains were in the no-reaction category. Thank god, I thought to myself, just trying to stay away from wheat on my doc's recommendation had been really, really tough. You know what's coming next, don't you?
I did another test this year. With this nasty lung condition I wanted to make sure my body wasn't spending energy dealing with food sensitivities that it should be spending on healing my lungs. This year's results? Soy (almost a max reading which is a little scary because I just don't have that much of it), Honey (again, a little scary since I hardly have any of that either), and...drumroll...Wheat (whole wheat, wheat gliadin and gluten), Spelt and Rye. Well, CRAP. No more Ezekiel bread english muffins. No substituting spelt for wheat. That means no grains. That means no pizza. Well, CRAP. No Mike's Kick Ass Multi-Grain Toast and eggs for Sunday breakfast. Well, CRAP.
Good news? If you stay away from trigger foods your body "forgets" it doesn't like them and you can re-introduce them later. They recommend complete avoidance for a few months, then once reintroduced they recommend having it only once every 4 days to avoid developing a sensitivity to it again. I know avoidance works because this year's test showed no reaction to dairy, although now I'm of the mind that cow milk should be for baby cows, not people. Not doing complete withdrawal until after Thanksgiving weekend. Should be interesting!
Almost two years ago my doc did a wacky food allergy test on me, muscle testing (arm goes down, it's bad, VERY scientific {cough, not}). He said no wheat or coffee, but dairy was ok (which surprised him, since most people fail the dairy arm test apparently). So I tried to give up wheat (switched to spelt for baking and things like rice pasta but giving up wheat entirely is tough!), and I gave up coffee completely (I was a 2 Starbucks Grande's a day kind of girl). I decided his arm strength test was bullshit but I was interested in the concept and decided to do a more scientific test. So I did a blood test that measures the level of anti-bodies in your blood to certain foods. http://www.optimumhealthresource.com/
Came back very different from my docs arm test (what a surprise). High on most dairy. So I got off dairy (except for butter every once in a while and mozzerella on my weekly homemade pizza). I gave up my beloved skim milk with meals, having water instead, and I switched to soymilk for those times when milk was a "necessity" like with cereal or when cooking. All the grains were in the no-reaction category. Thank god, I thought to myself, just trying to stay away from wheat on my doc's recommendation had been really, really tough. You know what's coming next, don't you?
I did another test this year. With this nasty lung condition I wanted to make sure my body wasn't spending energy dealing with food sensitivities that it should be spending on healing my lungs. This year's results? Soy (almost a max reading which is a little scary because I just don't have that much of it), Honey (again, a little scary since I hardly have any of that either), and...drumroll...Wheat (whole wheat, wheat gliadin and gluten), Spelt and Rye. Well, CRAP. No more Ezekiel bread english muffins. No substituting spelt for wheat. That means no grains. That means no pizza. Well, CRAP. No Mike's Kick Ass Multi-Grain Toast and eggs for Sunday breakfast. Well, CRAP.
Good news? If you stay away from trigger foods your body "forgets" it doesn't like them and you can re-introduce them later. They recommend complete avoidance for a few months, then once reintroduced they recommend having it only once every 4 days to avoid developing a sensitivity to it again. I know avoidance works because this year's test showed no reaction to dairy, although now I'm of the mind that cow milk should be for baby cows, not people. Not doing complete withdrawal until after Thanksgiving weekend. Should be interesting!
Monday, November 13, 2006
Good News and Not So Good News
So the good news is that I'm continuing to feel SOOOO much better thanks to the Buteyko breathing exercises.
A weight has been lifted off my chest in the last few weeks, literally and figuratively. Man, being sick is exhausting! And a definite blow to my super-woman-ego. I really thought I was invincible with all these years of healthy living under my belt.
The Not So Good News is that Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome isn't an illness, it's an injury, and it's healing like one. I continue to get sucked into the "illness recovery" mentality. Oh, I'm feeling better, let's go. But life continues to remind me that no, no, no, this is an injury.
Tried to go for a walk on Saturday. Last Saturday's walk was great, but between then and now fall fell. It was only in the mid 50's and cloudy. Previously that would have been my favorite kind of day, perfect for walking. But once I stepped outside my lungs started to shut down. I thought they would relax and get into the groove once we got moving. Wrong-o! For the first time I got to experience what they talk about in my Buteyko method book, forcing yourself to breathe shallower when you want to breathe deeper, in order to stop an "attack". Try doing THAT sometime. Feeling not you're not getting enough air, and breathe less. Our walk lasted about 10 minutes. Clearly I'm not ready for cold air yet! Drat!
Good news is that by Sunday I was recovered. So my recovery time is much improved, which is great news. Since I didn't get in a walk on Saturday I walked a bit with Mike in the gym this morning. Haven't done that in forever. g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y upped the speed until I was walking at 3 mph, which had my heart rate at about 90. I used to not consider myself warmed up unless I was in the 120's...now I'm working out in the 90's...and feeling like I accomplished something! Wow, perspective is an interesting thing...
A weight has been lifted off my chest in the last few weeks, literally and figuratively. Man, being sick is exhausting! And a definite blow to my super-woman-ego. I really thought I was invincible with all these years of healthy living under my belt.
The Not So Good News is that Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome isn't an illness, it's an injury, and it's healing like one. I continue to get sucked into the "illness recovery" mentality. Oh, I'm feeling better, let's go. But life continues to remind me that no, no, no, this is an injury.
Tried to go for a walk on Saturday. Last Saturday's walk was great, but between then and now fall fell. It was only in the mid 50's and cloudy. Previously that would have been my favorite kind of day, perfect for walking. But once I stepped outside my lungs started to shut down. I thought they would relax and get into the groove once we got moving. Wrong-o! For the first time I got to experience what they talk about in my Buteyko method book, forcing yourself to breathe shallower when you want to breathe deeper, in order to stop an "attack". Try doing THAT sometime. Feeling not you're not getting enough air, and breathe less. Our walk lasted about 10 minutes. Clearly I'm not ready for cold air yet! Drat!
Good news is that by Sunday I was recovered. So my recovery time is much improved, which is great news. Since I didn't get in a walk on Saturday I walked a bit with Mike in the gym this morning. Haven't done that in forever. g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y upped the speed until I was walking at 3 mph, which had my heart rate at about 90. I used to not consider myself warmed up unless I was in the 120's...now I'm working out in the 90's...and feeling like I accomplished something! Wow, perspective is an interesting thing...
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Buteyko Primer
So I've been dealing with this lung thing since July. I know what aggravates it...bad air quality, elevated heart rate, stress. But haven't found much that helps it (except rest...not to be undervalued, rest, it's been very useful). Until now.
I've discovered the Buteyko Breathing Method.
While searching for nutrition advice for asthmatics on Patrick Holford's site, I came across the book Asthma-Free Naturally by Patrick McKeown. I ordered the book through Amazon and they offered a discount if I ordered it along with Close Your Mouth: Buteyko Clinic Handbook for Perfect Health, also by Patrick McKeown, so I got both.
These two books are very similar, "Close Your Mouth" is just a more concise version of Asthma-Free, with a better quality cover. If you want to just learn the exercises, get "Close Your Mouth". If you want more information on the method, how it was developed, a fuller explanation of the exercises, get "Asthma-Free Naturally". Either book will take a while to get to you because it's not very popular (yet) here in the US (big in the UK however). Worth the wait (at least for me!).
Here's a quick synopsis...theory: asthmatics (and other people with lung issues like me) have too little carbon dioxide in their lungs. The tightness is their lungs makes them feel the need to try to breathe deeply, "overbreathing", which ironically only further depletes their CO2. The aim of the Buteyko method is to teach you to breathe less. Always, always through your nose (filters out impurities, humidifies air going in, keeps humidity from going out, limits the volume of air going in or going out). I'm not on any medication, (I don't have asthma and my condition isn't responsive to asthma meds, so I never got started down that path) but apparently if you're asthmatic and on meds, you can reduce or eliminate your medication by following the Buteyko techniques and diligently doing the exercises.
Info on the underlying theory of why the exercises work can be found here (you won't find much on the actual exercises online, practioners charge about $400 for a series of lessons, videos go for ~$100, they don't want to be giving that info away!). But here's a little more on the exercises and here too. Beware! If you have serious health problems, it clearly states in the 'Asthma-Free' NOT go just start doing these exercises!
After more than 4 months of dealing with my RADS I was able to go for a long walk yesterday, with no setback today, and have had moments the last few days where I felt NORMAL. Normal! No tightness in my chest! I've been diligent about doing the exercises at least twice a day, usually 3 times, and I will continue to be until my control pause is routinely at least 40 seconds (which seems like an eternity to me now!). I'll keep you posted.
I've discovered the Buteyko Breathing Method.
While searching for nutrition advice for asthmatics on Patrick Holford's site, I came across the book Asthma-Free Naturally by Patrick McKeown. I ordered the book through Amazon and they offered a discount if I ordered it along with Close Your Mouth: Buteyko Clinic Handbook for Perfect Health, also by Patrick McKeown, so I got both.
These two books are very similar, "Close Your Mouth" is just a more concise version of Asthma-Free, with a better quality cover. If you want to just learn the exercises, get "Close Your Mouth". If you want more information on the method, how it was developed, a fuller explanation of the exercises, get "Asthma-Free Naturally". Either book will take a while to get to you because it's not very popular (yet) here in the US (big in the UK however). Worth the wait (at least for me!).
Here's a quick synopsis...theory: asthmatics (and other people with lung issues like me) have too little carbon dioxide in their lungs. The tightness is their lungs makes them feel the need to try to breathe deeply, "overbreathing", which ironically only further depletes their CO2. The aim of the Buteyko method is to teach you to breathe less. Always, always through your nose (filters out impurities, humidifies air going in, keeps humidity from going out, limits the volume of air going in or going out). I'm not on any medication, (I don't have asthma and my condition isn't responsive to asthma meds, so I never got started down that path) but apparently if you're asthmatic and on meds, you can reduce or eliminate your medication by following the Buteyko techniques and diligently doing the exercises.
Info on the underlying theory of why the exercises work can be found here (you won't find much on the actual exercises online, practioners charge about $400 for a series of lessons, videos go for ~$100, they don't want to be giving that info away!). But here's a little more on the exercises and here too. Beware! If you have serious health problems, it clearly states in the 'Asthma-Free' NOT go just start doing these exercises!
After more than 4 months of dealing with my RADS I was able to go for a long walk yesterday, with no setback today, and have had moments the last few days where I felt NORMAL. Normal! No tightness in my chest! I've been diligent about doing the exercises at least twice a day, usually 3 times, and I will continue to be until my control pause is routinely at least 40 seconds (which seems like an eternity to me now!). I'll keep you posted.