I posted this on a thread called "Why do you workout?" This was my reason..... DebbieH encouraged me to post it here...
This is hard for me to write because of my quest for normalacy. My wanting to be just like you. I talk about weight loss and lifting weights etc. but the mian reason I work out is...I HAVE to.
the aesthetic benefits is purely a bonus.
It has taken me a long time to come to grips with the fact that I'm not normal. I had been in denial for many years. I remember that awful day at the clinic and my doctor came back with the lab tests. He held my hand and said quite happily, "if we can keep the flares under control, the life expectancey for lupus patients is not UP to 10 years." I was floored to say the least!! This can't be happening to ME!!
At that time, lupus was only found in my knees. It had since gone through my right eye and recently the nerve sheeves (sp. coating around the nerve)in my head, making them exposed and touching one another. By exposing the sheeves (I forget the medical term at present) it made my brain think I was in constant pain.
My neurologist said I had a pain on switch that wouldn't go off. Medical therapy supposedely re-rounted the pain to another jpart of the brain. But my head is extremely sensitive to cold, or just wind in general. I have to stay indoors most of the time. Except in the summer. Oh how I love the summer! Even then I have to watch the wind and when it rains.
Early on, my team of specialists, said it would help to exercise my legs and not to be afraid to work them hard. Since I wanted to do all I could to eliminate this lupus pain, the advice was not a problem. I found though, that if I slacked off, my knees would swell, they would buckle when I would stand up and in a short space of time, I would not be able to walk. Being carried to the car is very humiliating.
During my worst flare up, my knees had to be tapped every two weeks. Ty having this done without numbing the knee first. Been there done that. DH was in the room with me and he had tears in his eyes.
Anyway...
Working out, keeps my legs pain free. While working out doesn't totally elminate my migraines, as weather fronts effect that as well. My brain thinks of every pain as a migraine, so OTC medicines will not work.
So even though my workouts are a necessity for my sanity and survival, they also give me the sense of being normal. When I'm working out to a video, I become part of the class. It becomes 'hey I can do this, just like them.'
The added benefits of looking good, increased stamina, muscle defintion are just a happy bonus and stimulus to keep up my routine. Recently my DH said he always wants me to be with him because I could be his bodyguard. LOL (thanks to Cathe)
I workout around 2 hours a day. Some may have a problem with this high of a schedule. But I figure, I can't go outside and play tennis, golf or ski, or even do shopping that just about everyone else can do. I don't have kids to drive to places and pick them up. I can't drive as it triggers a migraine. So even though my workout may be more compact or concetrated in a particular time frame, I'm probably still doing less that what everyone else does by just doing 'life'.
My doctors are elated at what I've been able to do. They have been a great encouragement to keep up my routines. Outside of my migraines, I have been medicince free for several years now. My lupus screens have come back negative. That is a wonderful feeling to be told 'you are normal'.
Again, this has been hard for me to accept, but this is why I workout.
I might add that this new Intense Series has pushed me up to a new level of endurance. My gratitude and appreciation goes to Cathe for making such great workouts.
This is hard for me to write because of my quest for normalacy. My wanting to be just like you. I talk about weight loss and lifting weights etc. but the mian reason I work out is...I HAVE to.
the aesthetic benefits is purely a bonus.
It has taken me a long time to come to grips with the fact that I'm not normal. I had been in denial for many years. I remember that awful day at the clinic and my doctor came back with the lab tests. He held my hand and said quite happily, "if we can keep the flares under control, the life expectancey for lupus patients is not UP to 10 years." I was floored to say the least!! This can't be happening to ME!!
At that time, lupus was only found in my knees. It had since gone through my right eye and recently the nerve sheeves (sp. coating around the nerve)in my head, making them exposed and touching one another. By exposing the sheeves (I forget the medical term at present) it made my brain think I was in constant pain.
My neurologist said I had a pain on switch that wouldn't go off. Medical therapy supposedely re-rounted the pain to another jpart of the brain. But my head is extremely sensitive to cold, or just wind in general. I have to stay indoors most of the time. Except in the summer. Oh how I love the summer! Even then I have to watch the wind and when it rains.
Early on, my team of specialists, said it would help to exercise my legs and not to be afraid to work them hard. Since I wanted to do all I could to eliminate this lupus pain, the advice was not a problem. I found though, that if I slacked off, my knees would swell, they would buckle when I would stand up and in a short space of time, I would not be able to walk. Being carried to the car is very humiliating.
During my worst flare up, my knees had to be tapped every two weeks. Ty having this done without numbing the knee first. Been there done that. DH was in the room with me and he had tears in his eyes.
Anyway...
Working out, keeps my legs pain free. While working out doesn't totally elminate my migraines, as weather fronts effect that as well. My brain thinks of every pain as a migraine, so OTC medicines will not work.
So even though my workouts are a necessity for my sanity and survival, they also give me the sense of being normal. When I'm working out to a video, I become part of the class. It becomes 'hey I can do this, just like them.'
The added benefits of looking good, increased stamina, muscle defintion are just a happy bonus and stimulus to keep up my routine. Recently my DH said he always wants me to be with him because I could be his bodyguard. LOL (thanks to Cathe)
I workout around 2 hours a day. Some may have a problem with this high of a schedule. But I figure, I can't go outside and play tennis, golf or ski, or even do shopping that just about everyone else can do. I don't have kids to drive to places and pick them up. I can't drive as it triggers a migraine. So even though my workout may be more compact or concetrated in a particular time frame, I'm probably still doing less that what everyone else does by just doing 'life'.
My doctors are elated at what I've been able to do. They have been a great encouragement to keep up my routines. Outside of my migraines, I have been medicince free for several years now. My lupus screens have come back negative. That is a wonderful feeling to be told 'you are normal'.
Again, this has been hard for me to accept, but this is why I workout.
I might add that this new Intense Series has pushed me up to a new level of endurance. My gratitude and appreciation goes to Cathe for making such great workouts.
