Trying to keep fit

A haiku to exercise:

workout 

red face

this sucks

Post-workout today

And yes... my tongue is doing much better!
Saltwater rinses are magical. I just had to keep up with it. 

I'm proud that I've been keeping to my goal of doing some kind of workout daily. Yesterday was physical therapy (where the PT said I gained 4% mobility in my neck! YAY!) Today was a ZUMBA class at my gym. Even doing it at a very low impact I could just manage 45minutes instead of the full hour. It's ok. It happens. I was awesome. Pitbull would be proud. 

Tomorrow is "my choice day." That means I can either go for a swim or do my Tai Chi for arthritis video. I think it will depend on my energy. If it's low I'll do the video and stay home. Feeling good = gearing up for a swim. If I'm feeling completely saucy there's an aqua aerobics class at my gym at 8AM, but that's a shot in the dark.

I'm worried that if I don't do as much as I can while I can that I'll lose what muscle I have. I can feel my stamina and strength just draining every day and it's a freaky feeling. So, I'm working hard to do what I can to keep myself going. Keep smiling, keep dancing, keep swimming and modify when I can.

Exercise that doesn't hurt

I've been wanting to learn Tai Chi for years. Unfortunately I've been unable to find a class that works with my body. I'd attend a "for beginners" class and just leave frustrated and hurting. The videos I tried from my library were the same. But then I tried this "Tai Chi for Arthritis" video that I found on YouTube.

Ok. I still can't do the whole thing. Just the warm up. But I noticed that my muscles do feel better today. It could be a coincidence, but I'll take anything that might help. 

They always have a very long introduction.
This was where the movement actually started (in case you're curious.)
The intro is good to watch if you know absolutely nothing about Tai Chi.

I love that they have someone seated in the video.
That's my idea of "for everyone!"

Dr. Paul Lam has a nice soothing voice and he really does move slow and easy. He's very comforting. Very Mr. Rogers in how he talks to me (I like that.) Some other Tai Chi I've tried was crazy fast and actually hurt. Not this one.

My only complaint is that I wish the people in the video were more age diverse. Once again we get into "because it's for people with arthritis or movement issues we must only show seniors." How about a cute punk girl with blue hair seated in a wheelchair? Now we're talking!

I'm going to try sticking with this little video for a while and seeing how things go. I'm hoping for a little less muscle weakness and some increased energy and stamina.

Yesterday I read this article on Muscle Weakness and RA (it's a bit academic, but super informative.) At the end it stressed the importance of exercise with RA and how most people just don't/can't stick with it. Speaking for myself I know that it is supposed to help, but it also takes a lot of spoons and can make me feel sore (worse) for days. Here's a little excerpt and why I'm trying to find something I can do regularly.

Exercise as Therapy

Regular physical exercise, both aerobic and strength exercise, are recognized as an important component of the management of RA. In patients with RA, exercise-induced beneficial effects include increased force production and muscle mass, increased aerobic capacity, lower amount of fat mass, decreased inflammation and pain, and an overall sense of well-being (Häkkinen, 2004, Häkkinen et al., 2001, Lemmey et al., 2009, Sharif et al., 2011, Sokka et al., 2008, Stenström and Minor, 2003). Thus, exercise per se appears as an effective overall therapy for patients with RA. However, this requires that the patients are active several days per week, which is not the case for many patients with RA. In fact, Sokka et al., reported that out of 5235 patients from 58 sites in 21 countries, only ~ 14% were physically active ≥ 3 times per week (Sokka et al., 2008). Furthermore, Lemmey et al., 2012 reported that in their 3-year follow-up study of patients with RA that had performed a 24 week high-intensity strength training program, no one in the exercise group was still exercising. Thus, a challenge with physical exercise as therapy is to achieve sustainability and to engage the patients in regular physical activity for the rest of their life.

Take Care

I really love those two words. As long back as I can remember I sign off all my correspondence with "Take Care." It's also a motto that I'm trying to remember and heed. 

"How?" I'm glad you asked!

I'm trying to ease back into exercise and moving. I've been very sedentary this month. For good reason, but still. It's something I want to address. I feel better about my body and my mental health when I get some exercise on a regular basis. I used to do a dance type class called "Zumba" at my gym once a week. I went yesterday (the first time in a month) and did my best. The end result was that I was literally crippled the rest of the day. I WAY over did it. Something easy for me to do in that class.

Might be a better fit?

I thought that what might be a better fit right now are these two exercise videos that I found at our local Library. I read quite a bit about how Qigong and Tai Chi are both an excellent choice for RA. The other one is a hula video, which might prove to be a bit aggressive, but I'm willing to at least try. I can also swim at my gym instead.

Mmmm! Gnocchi!

Food is another key factor. I shared before that I've found a lot of relief from going gluten free. But I'm also Italian and seriously have been missing my pasta. GF pasta does a "nice try" and is better than nothing, but it's also far from the same. Fortunately I found this expensive gnocchi at my local food co-op and gave it a go. It was delicious! Maybe a bit lacking in vegetables, but hey. The sauce counts?

I'm trying to reduce my portions while still eating what I want. Food is very comforting and I don't want to deny myself comfort right now. I ate about a quarter of what you see here and put the rest away. For a while I was also making fresh fruit and vegetable juice for myself. That's something I want to get back to.

Cutting out gluten personally helped some GI issues and calmed my neuropathy down a bit. It has served me well enough to keep with it. I also live in a place where substitutes are plentiful and easy to find. 

My sleep usually stinks.

I wear my Fitibit to bed most nights. I've noticed that it's very accurate in monitoring my sleep quality. I can tell when I wake up exhausted it's usually that I didn't get enough deep sleep. And if I'm ok in the morning but want to go back to bed by 3 it's usually I didn't get enough REM sleep. These are 2 nights of sleep. One right after the other. One was short in deep sleep and the other was short in REM sleep. I seem to cycle like that.

Some things I'm going to try are:

• Not being on my phone right before bed. Read a book instead.
• Drinking Sleepy Time Extra Tea before bed.
• Make my bed regularly (I sleep better when it's clean and made.)

 The last thing I'm doing to "take care" is trying to document my health more. I started taking pictures of my feet and making my husband take pictures of my hands. I plan on doing this once a month to monitor any changes.

May 2018 hands.

Even just in this picture you can see how my right hand is a bit different from my left. It's a bit swollen in general. Even on my right foot I feel like I'm having some "toe drift" already happening. It's not something I would have noticed without taking pictures and I'll bring it up to my rheumatologist when I see her again next month.

Here's some other ways that I'm "taking care" this week:

• I'm going to watch the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle
  (*a guilty pleasure to be sure!)
• I'm going to wear my new special hat to a belated Mother's Day lunch with my son.
• I'm coloring my hair this weekend.
• I'm enjoying watching Face Off with my husband at night (the special effects makeup reality TV show.)
• I'm seeing my Aunt on Friday and we're having Mexican food together.
• I'm using my Nordic Poles when I'm too sore or stiff to walk un-aided.
• I'm using my "disabled" parking plaque when I need it. 
• I'm not stressing every little thing I'm not getting done right now.
• I'm playing a lot of my life "by ear" and "by spoons."
• I'm spending a lot of time being cozy with my dogs.