Complementary and Integrative Approach to Healing

pip -- great minds think alike!  I was about to ask the same question.  Would really, really appreciate more info on acupuncture.  As I've said before, if it's been used for eons, then it must work!

Thank you for starting this thread. I also have done a lumpectomy, radiation, chemo, and now Femara.

I am trying to incorporate a healthy diet that includes 7-8 servings of and vegetables,fish,chicken, and the occasional red meat.

I am also trying to eat glutin free. I find it really does make a difference. My Onc. has upped my vitamin D3, I take a muti vitamin, fish oil, L-Glutimin for my neuropothy,

I've just started really trying to get some exercise. I have a rebounder will see how it goes.

I'm sure there is more I'm doing, but this is what I can remember at this moment.

I have been doing yoga and accupuncture. I have found that the yoga has increased my flexability and strengthen my core. My body has actually changed since doing yoga. I have had 15 nodes removed from left arm and 5 on rt so I am aware of lymphadema. Yoga seems to get all the lymph juice flowing. I was getting accupuncture every 2 weeks for hot flashes. My hot flashes are now tolerable.

Hi Sunflowers.....

On exercise.  There are several things I do.  The first is to set goals, and then tell my friends, so I look really shabby if I don't meet them.  You can start small.  Almost anyone can walk a 5k.  But you do have to train even to do that one.

The other thing is to do things you like.  I love to cycle.  It gets me out; I meet people; I see the sights; and it keeps me in touch with the changing seasons and associated sights and smells.  I get sensory deprivation if I don't do this.

The weights/crunches I do are to maintain muscle mass and to keep me toned.  They are boring, but effective.  They take up minimal time during my day and get my brain revved.

If I can move at all, I get in a minimum of a one mile walk.  Even when I was limping like you wouldn't believe three weeks ago.

I have been to Western MA, so you have NO EXCUSES in terms of wonderful places to explore on foot.  You can go out in the morning before it gets hot.  (Although if that hot, I go swimming in Lake Washington or Green Lake.)

Some women grab a friend and walk around the local track and chat, but I find that sort of thing boring.

I do errands on foot.  So I walk up a considerable hill and look at gardens, see the sights, and then go to Trader Joe's.  Then I drag the groceries one mile home.  Stuff like that.

Forgot to mention that my mood is great when I get out too.

Hope these help.  I would summarize exercise as three different things:

1. Goals to work to
2. Easy/fast things everyday to maintain fitness
3. As many errands as possible on foot, or other activities that build exercise into your life

Thanks again for starting this thread. - Claire

I'm trying to lose weight.  It's not easy .. slowly but surely.

My only exercise is in my yard .. I'm sure an exercise routine would help, but I just can't get myself to do it.

Bren

1Athena 1 good question what has been the hardest part for me. I guess I would say having my glass of wine with dinner. Having ILC I felt it was important to cut down to only weekends now, but I must admit I miss that glass with dinner. 

Athena, me too, quitting smoking was the hardest thing I did. And it has been one year, one month, 12 days and 11 hours and 56 minutes.

otter, I sure understand the problem with exercise in the south. When it's in the upper 70's at 6 in the mornning with 90% humidity it makes it hard to do anything outside. To add to that every day this week it has rained by about 9 in the morning. UGH!

Great question, for me eating the right foods (my DH complains about the cost of organic fruit/veggies), not using that as an excuse, but it is an added element in trying to eat the right foods.  So I struggle to find the balance.

What a great thread, and lots of great inspiration!  Definitely my hardest thing has been exercise, and it's just honestly so foreign to me!  I'm in the process now of enrolling in the ENERGY trial (Exercise and Nutrition to Enhance Recovery and Good Health for You) through UC San Diego.  I'm hoping that by committing myself to the study and being accountable, I'll somehow develop better habits. 

If any of you happen to live near the four study sites, I'd highly recommend looking into it! 

University of Colorado Denver

University of California San Diego and Los Angeles

Siteman Cancer Center - Washington University in St. Louis, MO

University of Alabama  Birmingham

Edited to add links:

NIH Clinical Trial info:  NCT01112839 

USCD ENERGY Trial

Moderators, Thanks for the link. There really is alot of good info there.

Caerus, Bosweilla, which I just recently started taking, is helping with my joint pain.  I'm not on an A/I, but I use I3C, a natural estrogen modulator which causes the same joint pain as the A/Is -- at least for me.  Bosweilla (or Indian Frankencense) is an aruvyedic supplement.  I have also been working on going gluten-free, and that's made a big difference, too.  I'm not 100% there yet, and I really notice a difference when I occasionally eat something that contains wheat.  I also walk an hour or more a day -- something like 4 to 6 miles, depending on the weather.  Deanna

On organic.....I buy local even more than organic.  I have found a place that is about half of what the other places charge.  But fortunate to live in a city where a wide variety of wonderful fresh foods.

The point I am making is that it's often worth shopping around.

I haven't had any SEs from anastrazole worth mentioning, but I will say that a good sports injury takes my mind off minor aches and pains.  Right now, it's my ankle which is still swollen and sore (the STP didn't help here) and earlier this year, I pulled my lower pec really well x-country skiing.

Think the hardest has been maintaining the discipline to exercise.  Weights/crunches are boring, but they make such a difference.  In all sorts of ways:

• Enough muscle mass to burn off what I eat.  Remember I can eat more that a lot of women and maintain my weight.
• The strength to do the things I want to do.  (Or get invited to moving parties!)
• Support of my joints.  This is important in terms of my back and knees.
• Looking fab.

One other comment I would make about exercise is that I think the norm is to come through chemo/radiation with a major loss in strength and muscle mass.  Which is why I worked so hard to maintain mine, and exercised throughout.  It did come a bit, but I kept my core strength.

I knew if I didn't do this, I was in for major weight gain, and other things I did not want to happen.

I still need to take off about 10 pounds, but have decided that not urgent.  I am fit and healthy, and that is the important thing. - Claire