coping with a new identity

[vmd]

All of us suffer from this disease, both those that have it and those that have lost loved ones. I empathize with both of you and pray for both of you.

Speaking of coping with a new identity, I know the one that I fear the most is accepting my dependency on others for meeting of my needs. I know this is difficult for all of us. One of the activities that I will miss the most is going to the gym and lifting weights. While I still do this, although I know that heavy exercise is not good for my compromised muscles, the act of going to the gym is such a psychological booster, that it more than compensates for the physical damage it may cause. Of course, soon I may not be able to do this or rationalize my gym activities.

I know that annmarie and Leslie were fitness instructors. Do you ladies still exercise? If not, how did you cope with this limitation?

 

[ltr]

When I make it through a full day of accomplishing activities of daily living, running the kids where they need to be and actually still being able to fix some kind of dinner, I consider that to be a great day.....and a workout. I was going for walks, but stopped after my biopsy. Now I have aqua therapy 2 times a week. I feel good afterword, but the next day is hell.

 

[vmd]

Leslie:

I understand as I feel the same way most of the time. When you say the next day you pay, do you feel excessively fatigued or do your muscles hurt, or both?

 

[patricia1]

When I go swimming I am wiped out as well the next day, but my neuro said to go in the pool.All I do is stretch and kick in the water I am worring I am doing more harm then good.I am going to my florida home and I dont know if I should continue exercising,Pat

 

[brooksea]

Pat,

I think you probably enjoy the water! The exercise in the water should be great just for range of motion and you don't want to get frozen shoulder! Just moving around in the water should be beneficial. I think the more strenuous exercise is what people should worry about.

Maybe you can do smaller increments and pace yourself so you aren't so exhausted the next day. But hey I tell my husband the same thing about exerting himself and he doesn't listen! LOL

 

[patricia1]

I was told on Wedss. I have frozen shoulders and boy does that hurt. My Ot Give me range of motion exercise and I do alot of cursing that hurts lOL.Pat

 

[brooksea]

Pat,

Sorry about your shoulder! that was one of the first things one of the nice gals at the ALSA told my husband was to try to keep range of motion especially int he shoulders in case of frozen shoulder. Hope you can resolve the problem.

 

[ltr]

VMD - both. The next day I am extremely fatigued and hurt and the twitching seems to pick up too. Like Pat says, it's hard to tell if we are helping or making things worse. I know I have not been diagnosed with als, but I still wonder the same things as the pals because the symptoms mimic it. The thing about the aqua therapy is that it makes it easier for us to exercise, but because we are working against resistance we are doing a lot more than what we think. I think that's why we hurt the next day. I sometimes wonder if range of motion with someone helping would be easier on the body. I did read an article, though, and I will find the link if anyone is interested, where studies have shown that resistance exercise has been found (questionable) to be beneficial to pals. Pat, I think we like the water because we feel as if we have accomplished some type of workout!

 

[vmd]

Leslie:

There is that theory that hard exercise over the course of a person's life can lead to the death of motor neurons, which could explain the correlatin between athleticism and ALS. If this is true, then we could be accelerating the death of more such neurons?

 

[CindyM]

Pat- I just noticed your post about frozen shoulder. Ouch! that sounds painful. Is it getting any better yet? Thanks also for the heads up. Range of motion exercises are easy to do for many of us and maybe we should be more consistent while we can! Cindy