A bit sick and need some advice....

[t_jania]

Hey all! First let me say thanks for reading and responding. You all are always the best!!

Last week when I found I couldn't breathe, I went to the doctor. She said there was something wrong with my stomach. It could be acid-reflux, or a hiatal hernia causing acid-reflux. They gave me some drugs and told me to come back in a week.

I've been taking the drugs and it's not helping too much. Gives me gas and that makes me cranky. I go back Monday and they'll probably want to schedule me for an upper GI to figure out what's really causing the problem and blah blah blah.

Of course, cardio is not working for me right now. It really upsets my stomach, I can hardly breathe with the pressure on my chest, and generally speaking, I'm bummed out. x( But I can do weight lifting! So I've decided that until I have my doctors appointment next week, that I'll do heavy weight lifting every other day. I may even throw some splits in there so I can do two days in a row. But I can't do abdominals or anything that has me on my back. I'm modifying.

My beef is this: (finally, I get to the point!) :+
It could be 6-8 weeks to heal from this! If I'm just strength training and doing very little cardio (I'm planning on walking the dogs on nice days), will I be able to maintain my hard work?

I know FirmNurse has had a time in her fitness where she couldn't do cardio at all... I'm hoping she can send some advice, but if anyone has had a period where all that could be done is strength, I'd love your advice and suggestions.

Thanks guys!

 

[Timber99]

First of all, if that is all that you are able to do, pls. stick to it and make sure you take good care of you! Secondly, I have an acid reflux issue and boy, make sure you take good care b/c it only gets worse if you don't. My issues was not diagnosed correctly at first and it got a lot worse before it was diagnosed correctly and was treated properly. But with Acid reflux and those issues, the dmage continues to make it worse and worse if you don't take care of yourself. I dont know if your doctor told you but there are also some diet modifications that help with that sort of issue (ie less coffee, tomato, spicy foods, etc.) that might help you a bit and always, water water water!

Now, as for strength training only, if you are sticking to only that, I think that you can successfully hold your results. I would watch your diet as well. You may need to modify a bit since you are getting less cardio. Are you able to do some walking/fast walking/etc.? That might be a possibiltiy for you to get "some" cardio in. I don't think that your changing it up a bit is going to be fatal. Just keep a close eye on yourself and if you see an issue, make a modification.

Good luck!

 

[Pellmel]

In the great scheme of life, 6 weeks isn't that much. Altough it takes a long time to get fit, maintaining and bouncing back are much quicker. Your body "knows" what to do. I think that the cardio part is the easiest to get back - muscles that have gone to hell are much harder to get back, at least for me.

Your overall health and getting this GI thing are much more important! Hopefully you will get it figured out quickly. Good luck!

Melissa

 

[t_jania]

Thanks ladies. I will indeed take care of myself and listen to my body. I will be able to take easy walks, I think. Right now, bending over is not nice. But the good news is that my weights are on racks and not the floor.

I don't do caffeine now. I will have tea, but it's herbal and has no caffeine. I kind of figured acidic foods like tomatos, garlic, oranges would be out. The lack of spicy foods is going to kill me, but I think it'll be worse if I keep eating those things. I can manage for a while, I think. But even leaving those things out, I still feel yucky. I'm trying to maintain my normal amount of water, but sometimes it makes me feel worse. But I keep chugging. I figure water will at least dilute any acid that's down there.

And you're right. A couple months is not the end of the world. Mostly I'm feeling frustrated because the cardio is my favorite part of my fitness routine. Like when I start the second set of dynamic windmills in KPC and just start flying! I'm going to miss that until I get better.

Thanks for the support!