Post workout naps?! Why am I so tired??

Hello all-

Hymil-I broke up my workouts and it seemed to help plus my doc put me on a few things that are both reducing anxiety and helping me sleep better.  Sadly, however, recently I was working out and hurt my gastroc, an old injury, which hurt my knee in tandem and periodically this week it keeps acting up so I am quasi-limping on occassion!  I am a mess!  I don't want to go to the ortho to start with that because I am still securing a surgical team to deal with this bc...I don't know where to begin and I am falling apart!

Idha- I am so sorry about the radiation and herceptin causing you not to be able to workout.   Perhaps pilates for a while?  Also, and even though it may hurt, I would fight right through it.  LIke I have a Weider pro in my basement replete with a leg press etc.. and even though my gastroc and knee are acting up (largely b/c I did step on the CONCRETE basement floor = imbecil!) I forced myself through 6 sets of leg press, 6 sets of curls and 6 of extensions just to force my legs to get stronger and for my gastroc to get back in place.  I set a gastroc injury years ago b/c it was a long holiday weekend when I over-extended during stretching and the very inadequate Norwalk Hospital in CT send me home with an ice pack and told me to take Advil until I could see an ortho the following week!   It was a 4 day weekend and the injury pretty much set over that time but I was able to walk and do all my stuff again after having left it up and did the heat/ice (20/20 min intervals...surely we are all familiar with this?!) so I just traveled on.  Not good.  I would fight through it.  Don't let this herceptin hold you down.   How long will you be on it?

Claire-it is mental energy and it is also that unfortunately I have been in a long"ish" term depression since, about 3.5 years ago, when Iboth lost my business and had to break up with an Ahole who I was really in love with but who was also no good, so I just fell apart and let myself go.  I still worked out but my heart was not in it.  Finally, my GP who I have been with for 30 years, and who I adore, was able to get me to admit this and I have agreed, with the help of another professional, to start to address this depression before it gets potentially significantly worse during the rigors of dealing with bc.  I was trying to get someone to agree that they, too, were exhausted when their body was fighting bc so I could reassure myself that I was not depressed but rather the bc-fighting was the cause of my tiredness = wrong!   I guess something good comes out of something bad after all as I have been forced to look at issues that have been plaguing me.

It is not often that life is easy but it is always an experience!!!!!!!!!!!   Thanks for you all taking the time to respond....this bc dx has been cathartic!

Claire- I did not even start getting treatment or surgery for bc yet.   I was just dx'd....what did depress me over this past decade started with losing my boyfriend and several other friends in 9/11, my father dying of lung cancer, and a host of other dreadful things which was rounded out by this bc dx just a month ago.  I am  hopeful that decade is going to be followed by good times to come.  

That was very clever inference on my self-censored description of my ex!   Funny.

That is great about you improving your performance on that 200 mile trek, over the past year, post bc dx.   It is wonderful to challenge yourself and feel a sense of accomplishment and the endorphins help tremendously in all facets of life!   Good for you.  I don't know if you ever saw "Dodge Ball" but there was a scene with Vince Vaughn where he is having a pity party and Lance Armstrong meets up with him in an airport bar, mid party(!), and he declares how he almost gave up when he was dx'd with testicular, brain and (some other) type of cancer.  It is a wake-up call for Vaughn and an embarrassing one at that!

I wish you the best and keep biking, sister! 

Liz

Suzy...you need YOUR energy...don't spend it sending me energetic thoughts!!!   This is just me shooting from the hip about your tiredness and lymphedema.   Muscles run on water and if water is being unnecessarily retained in your arm, muscles also provide energy.   The muscles get cleaned and "wrung out" during a workout which is necessary for energy....this is why working out gives us energy.   Obviously your body has enough water beyond the lymphedema but in some way or another, that water in your arm had a date with the other parts of your body therefore they could very well be missing that water and causing your energy to go down as a result.   Your muscles won't starve or dehydrate but they are left wondering where that water delivery is!  Plus, the bc, bmx and lymphedema, not to mention recovery, takes so much out of you to get over, it is a confluence of events designed to force you to rest so the body can rebuild.  Bottom line, if you are sleeping, you need it, albeit for now.   Friday night I went to bad at 12:30AM and woke at 12:30PM....wth?!   I woke and watched some middle of the night tv but, aside from that, 11 hours of sleep.   That is outrageous...I have not slept like this since my teenage years! 

I blog every day of my experience since my dx.   It is helpful and you can do it through many of the blog sites online.   It is cathartic so you can go back and view your journey.   This will help you remember in 3, or 6 or 12 months how tired you are today and how much better you will be at some point in the future.

I wish you well-

Liz

Hymil-

Just so you know, when we "lift" our body thinks something is wrong so it send the equivalent of a first aid kit to the area in question.   Much of that first aid kit is water and some of it is blood.  Now, as we know, blood has it's own interstate system in our bodies called veins (!) but water is transported, at least in part, through our lymph nodes...sad for us bc girls!   In any case, what you now have is water backed up in your arm.  I don't know what the story is yet w/bc and our ability to take over the counter diuretics but I would totally avoid sodium, drink green tea (sug free) and try protein shakes and salads for a few days.    Help your body through diet move the water.   I am totally not in the medical profession nor was I a bio major but I just know a bit more b/c of my years weight lifting.   Don't forget to give your arms 3 days off before lifting again.  Man, you need a PhD in exercise physiology just to try to save yourself after bc and this lymph node crap!

Liz

Hymil-

I saw the most wonderful, talented, wicked knowledgeable bs today and I quickly discussed weight lifting and lymphedema.   She told me weight lifiting will HELP manage lymphedema so even though initially your muscles are calling for more water, perhaps you will notice these swelling fits get shorter and eventually subside through continued, moderate resistance training.  Don't forget, higher reps will also tire muscles.   For me, higher reps don't feel as good as heavier resistance training but at the very least we can get a workout in.

I don't love the heat either.  I live in Connecticut and really like the seasons.  In many ways I prefer winter but I do like the season change nonetheless.  It is funny, though, for someone who does not covet heat, my brother lived in FL for years and I found that as much as the day heat in FL in the summer is stifling, I do love those hot nights!  I especially love cruising the highways at night on those steamy FL nights!  I found that to be so weird!

In any case, keep in touch and let me know how your arm is doing.   It is a shame they took so many nodes unnecessarily.  Any reason why?  They test them in this country before arbitrarily removing them.   I am sure there is more to your story relative to why so many were removed.  Also ICE your arm after a workout, especially in that bedraggled heat.  I will be joining you tomorrow as it is supposed to be 92 here

Liz

L

Member-

Just a reminder: hymil and I are just 2 non-professionals having a conversation.  Neither of us is claiming to be a doctor and as bc patients, I am only pretty sure I speak for both of us when I say we don't have a shortage of doctors.  Our conversation was all together innocuous and germane.   I am sure hymil knows where to get *professional* advice.  I am not quite sure your response was warranted.   I don't think either one of us is mentally inept thereby not knowing when we need medical advice.  Just 2 people shooting the *s* here...sort of like at any other public gathering place like a saloon or a coffee shop!

Consequently, when you lift, muscles tear and water is one of the ingredients called to the scene of the accident.   The water then gets trapped in the arm.  I don't know what you read or what you inferred but I sure don't require direction on how to get to my doctor's office.  As a matter of fact, I think bc patients at large probably get way more *professional* opinions and see way more doctors than we ever wanted to.

Liz

Hymil-

You did not hijack anything...we were just talking about issues.   I am glad you got an expert and hopefully they will help you but don't forget, and before there were experts, there was common sense!  Don't forget to listen to your body.  There is nothing wrong with presenting your case and assessing what people are telling you without feeling every time you are having a symptom you must race to the doctor for assistance.   If you try something and it does not work, try something else.  Exercising, however, is one of the best things you can do.  Exercise gets your juices flowing and this will help to enhance circulation.  

Suzy-YOU ARE BACK!   I am glad you found a tape that is working.   After my father had surgery for lung cancer his arms were very weak.   He took one of my plates, tied a rope to it and hung the rope over a pipe in our basement.   He then made a wrist wrap and would simply lower and raise his arm against the resistance.  It was certainly unconventional but it worked.   I don't ever remember being told exercise was NOT good!

Have a nice weekend-

Liz