Exercise and well being during chemo and radiation

Jen, the depth and breadth of your workouts is impressive.

Susan, you are an inspiration - I want to get to the point that I am working out every day.

My goal for now is just to do a little more each week. I started a spreadsheet to track my weekly stats from Fitbit (it sends me a report every Tuesday). I did increase steps, mileage, and calories burned from week 1 to week 2. However, I happened to look back on some of my reports from December and was surprised to see that I had weeks where my steps, mileage, and calories burned were more than last week. I know I was busy, but I can't believe that with my added Treadclimbing that I'm under what I did without it. I also realized that 16 miles a week is way too low - unless I can somehow segregate regular miles with exercise miles. I averaged 17 miles a week last year, and that was with no regular exercise, so I think I'll shoot for 33 miles a week, but of course now I'm behind already :-)

My other challenge/goal is to be able to get up in the morning several mornings in a row and work out. So far, I've only been able to do it every other day. I did work out this morning, so I'll try again to get myself out of bed tomorrow. I almost didn't get up this morning, but I finally pictured my rotund hips and thighs, and that's what got me up.

Lynne

Oh, pb, I am an insomniac as well. I have no problem falling asleep, and can drop off almost on command. It's staying asleep that's the problem. I usually give up around 4:30. Sometimes I can get another hour in between 5:30 and 6:30, but I don't think that a series of short naps is equal to a good solid long sleep. I have been stuck in a "sleep about 2 hours, awake for an hour" cycle for a while now. I've slept more this week, but I'm pretty sure it's because I have been down with some kind of bug. I've been super fatigued, with a cough and heavy chest. No nausea to speak of, but intermittent diarrhea. It is hard to exercise when so tired but I'm trying to do something every day. Some days, it isn't much.

Avmom...sorry you're dealing with insomnia too, and for me nice to know I'm not the only one. Melatonin had been helping a bit but not so much anymore. Really hate to have to go to a prescription sleep aid, but I may have no choice I need to sleep! My MO says we need to find a solution to this because getting enough sleep is important.

Octogirl...sorry to hear about your skin, hope it heals quickly

PB

Sorry this is happening to you too ksusan. On melatonin I was able to get in 4-5 hours of sleep, but once I woke up I generally couldn't fall back asleep, and I need more sleep! Do you get in a big chunk of sleep or are you awake on/off all night? Any tips for getting back to sleep that work for you?

I'm so tired today...seems like melatonin no longer working...4th day in a row of bad sleep. But I did drag myself onto the treadmill for 2 miles today. Still trying to increase exercise I hopes it will help.

PB

i too am in the insomniac ranks:( Always a light sleeper, but used to be steady. Since menopause it's been lots of waking between 1-4 and hard to get back to sleep until after 5, so in a lovely deep sleep when alarm goes:(. I tried Melatonin but my body does the opposite and I feel like I am lying under hydroelectric wires vibrating away. So I've been using 1/2 a zopiclone most nights since my diagnosis as sleep is important. Not happy about that, but better than exhaustion. Focusing on breath slowly in and out, as in meditation, sometimes helps to get back to sleep esp if my mind is squirrelling. At least my bladder seems the size of a basketball:)

Sorry about your skin octogirl and tight arm little blue:(

I didn't know so many of you have sleep issues, and here I thought it was just me. Jen if you don't mind my asking what works for you for sleep?

I've found that if I wake in the middle of the night around 3-4a and can't get back to sleep I take a sublingual melatonin 1mg and sometimes it helps me fall back to sleep. The dose is low so dissipates fast so I'm not feeling the effects when I need to get up in the morning.

In desperation though I have been hesitant to try this sleep aid, I tried trazadone last night, a very low dose. It worked ok, got more sleep than usual. Hope it keeps working. So my "being" is well this morning...thankful! Hoping to translate that to more energy to exercise today.

PB

Ah, good to know. I'm not lucky enought to have tamoxifen available to me...

Here are my tips for sleep:

I am not sure but I think magnesium helps. Still testing. Second: BLACK sleep mask. I swear to god, it works. And last, you will laugh but I just got a Mypillow and OMG! Best pillow ever. It took me about a week to get used to it but I love it now. It gives you fantastic support. Every time I woke up, I turned my old pillow over to get it up again. Don't have to do that with this one. There are all kinds of coupons all over the internet so don't pay full price.

I am very excited because I was concerned about my resting heart rate. During chemo, it was as high as 97 and I was working out daily. It has gradually been coming down and now it is 74. I want to see if I can get it even lower.

my dear. You didn't come off snappy.. Haha. Let's put the Tskittles right next to the Ativan sprinkles for the Starbux!

eyeballs pretty good. Easier to see distance. NowI I need new readers! Always something eh?

that must have been the same rollicking storm that passed through here. We lost power from About 10 am till early this morning! I had a very understocked pantry for such an occasion. Thankfully, I'd gotten my coffee in just before power went out.