An easy way to feel a little better

[julie wishes]

Food for thought

http://www.m.webmd.com/depression/guide/exercise-depression

Many people don't realize that exercise is like medication. It gives you chemicals that make you feel better. Besides heart, lung, joint, and overall physical health, it helps us feel better mentally, and sleep better as well.

So here are the warnings take it easy and drink water. You don't have to be extreme in the gym to get these benefits. Lite walking for 15 to 30 minutes can bring about amazing changes in your life. I have a bulging disc in my neck and one in my low back. I stretch before and after I walk. I usually even have to ice my neck and back afterwards because of the pain. But the pain overall is far less than just sitting around not moving my joints. I can't go when its hot because that is a trigger for me. I'm happy if I get out 2-4 times a week. Remember good posture. Head up. Shoulders back. Tummy a little tight. But mostly free your mind and enjoy the outdoors. Find a partner to help keep you motivated on those tough days. One last tip, look for a soft place to walk. Cement and asphalt can hurt you more than grass or a rubber track.

Happy trails. :banana::banana::banana:

 

[julie wishes]

If only I had a Sandy Beach to walk on..... ah one can only dream

 

[Cint]

I try to walk or take a bike ride every day. I do feel much better afterwards. I need to get those endorphins going in my brain.

 

[RunningGirl85]

I will fully agree with you on this! Granted, I run (sometimes more than I should) more than walk, but even when I can't run, getting outside is an instant mood booster!

 

[CQ:)]

I love walking & I used to try to go for a walk every day.
I'm working now & am not walking as much as I used. I work different hours so sometimes I have a friend take me to work but if I don't have to start until later in the morning & it's a nice day I will walk to work. Where I work is in the next town, only a 5 min drive but it takes me approx 50 min walk. I love the walks to work because I'm still getting some exercise plus I seem to do alot of my thinking when I'm out walking lol.

 

[RunningGirl85]

Yay for walking to work (or other places)! Sometimes even when I can get a ride I'll walk to places that are a couple miles away if the weather is nice . People think I'm weird (just like they laughed when I bought a bike and said it was my new main form of transportation -when I'm not dizzy! ), but unlike most people who end up here who end up smoking all the time while they gain a bunch of weight, I have lost weight (I'm in a medical hold type unit until they figure out whether to keep me or kick me out of the military.)

Sent from my Vortex using Tapatalk 2

 

[CQ:)]

I have people think I'm crazy because I walk so far to get to work. I say to them while I'm still fit & able to walk I'll continue to walk because it's good for me plus as I said it's when I do all my thinking.

I usually only try to get a lift to work when I have to start early - some mornings I start at 8:15 which means to get to work in time I'd have to leave by 7:15am which is too early. Most nights when I work I finish at 6pm but don't usually get out of work until 6:15pm (all depending on how busy we are & when the last patient leaves). There aren't any buses that run at that time of the night & there's no way am I walk home from work any later then 5pm so my friend takes me home when I work nights.

I used to go to the gym once a week as well but after I started working where I am now I decided to stop going to the gym. I miss the gym but I don't have the time to get there during the day (I work Mon - Fri) & I never know what I'm doing each weekend. I beleive for it to be worthwhile going to the gym I'd have to go at less once a week for about an hour, not once every 3 -4 weeks.

 

[AngelwithDentedHalo]

I don't walk 15 to 30 minutes a day but I do walk everday, started the 17th of July & haven't missed a day. It does make you feel so much better. For a long time I didn't walk after my seizure cause I was afraid of being somewhere and having another. Now I don't worry as much and been walking everyday & I do it briskly

 

[julie wishes]

You guys are awesome!!! Absolutely walk brisk, run, ride a bike. I only posted my slow limited routine so others with injuries would see that it is possible for us too. I used to work out prior to the car accident. I really took my health for granted. It took me 7 months to get back to the track and walking slow A long heartbreaking 7 months.

 

[Cint]

For a long time I didn't walk after my seizure cause I was afraid of being somewhere and having another. Now I don't worry as much and been walking everyday & I do it briskly

I've had TC's while out walking, too, and 911 has been called several times. But I do get up a walk again. Fortunately, that hasn't happened in quite a while now. I'm not going to let epilepsy define me.

I only posted my slow limited routine so others with injuries would see that it is possible for us too. I used to work out prior to the car accident. I really took my health for granted. It took me 7 months to get back to the track and walking slow A long heartbreaking 7 months.

Years ago, before my accident, I took health for granted, too. I was in the hospital for 2 months with burns and it took another 6 months for re-hab. Then brain surgery really set me back and it took me years to recover from that nightmare.

 

[AngelwithDentedHalo]

What did you have brain surgery for? Mine was to drain the blood off my brain, spent two days in the hospital but surgery only took 30 minutes.

 

[CQ:)]

For a long time I didn't walk after my seizure cause I was afraid of being somewhere and having another.

I have never let my epilepsy stop me from going out walking. When my seizures weren't under control I still walked everywhere & sometimes I had auras or complex partial seizures while out walking. Most of the time when I came out of the seizure I would be in a different street & forget how I got there.

There was only once that an ambulance was called when I had a seizure while walking down the street. I lost 3 hours of that day (remember nothing from the time I left home until I woke up in hospital) so all I know is what the nurses told me at the hospital.

 

[Cint]

What did you have brain surgery for? Mine was to drain the blood off my brain, spent two days in the hospital but surgery only took 30 minutes.

I had a left temporal lobectomy for epilepsy. I spent 7 days in the hospital. The surgery took several hours. I was in ICU the first 3 days.

 

[AngelwithDentedHalo]

Wow, was it helpful, is your seizures better controlled?

 

[Cint]

Wow, was it helpful, is your seizures better controlled?

No, like I said, the brain surgery really set me back. I was seizure free for 14 months and then they came back with vengeance. They went from 3-4 CP's a day before surgery to CP's AND TC's- several a month, after surgery. I also went through an awful depression and to this day struggle with it. I finally had the VNS to help control seizures after trying 10 different meds. They are better now, but I have the VNS at the highest setting I can go and am still taking the maximum amount of Keppra along with a low dose of Topomax.

 

[AngelwithDentedHalo]

That sucks, they should have tried more drugs first before trying surgery. My step moms great granddaughter is I think 6 and has had seizures since she was born and they've tried everything and nothing controls her seizures and they are wanting to do surgery but the Mom is hesitant. I'm sure surgery might help some people but doesn't work for everyone like not all meds work for everyone.

 

[CQ:)]

That sucks, they should have tried more drugs first before trying surgery.

The neurologists or epitiologists usually don't consider brain surgery until they have tried the patient on at less 2 or 3 meds. Usually if after 3 meds if the seizures aren't under control then there is a chance that meds won't help.
My Neurologist tried me on 5 meds (none of which controlled my seizures) before he decided he had done all he could. That was when he suggested brain surgery & referred me to an epitiologist.

I'm sure surgery might help some people but doesn't work for everyone like not all meds work for everyone.

:agree:.
I always say each person is different, whether it be what type of seizures we have, what meds work for us or whether the surgery helps with our seizures.
I had my surgery (left temporal lobe laboctomy) last March & haven't had any seizures or even an aura since surgery. But I have 2 other friends who had the surgery (one friend was left temporal lobe, the other was right temporal lobe) after me & both friends still take auras but just not as often as they did before surgery.

 

[CQ:)]

I used to work out prior to the car accident. I really took my health for granted. It took me 7 months to get back to the track and walking slow A long heartbreaking 7 months.

Before my surgery I used to go for an 1 hour walk most days. After I had my surgery I had to take it pretty slowly for the 1st few months & gradually get back into walking. I think 3 weeks after the surgery I started going for walks with my Dad & his dog but it was only 10 min walks every 2nd or 3rd day.
Eventually as I felt better I would take the family dog for a walk on my own & we would go further distance & more regularly (eventually every day).
During my recovery from the surgery I missed the long walks & I think it was bout 4 months after the surgery before I started doing 1 hour walks again.

 

[Hand of Blood]

i never feel good walking! i struggle lots and near fall asleep doing it!

 

[Cint]

The neurologists or epitiologists usually don't consider brain surgery until they have tried the patient on at less 2 or 3 meds. Usually if after 3 meds if the seizures aren't under control then there is a chance that meds won't help.

:agree: It was after we tried 3 meds that I had the brain surgery. But, this was back in 1990, before a lot of the new drugs started coming to market, so not a lot were available to me at that time.