Getting back on the erg.............

[yakrat]

Good morning all,

I am a newbie to this forum but not to the rower. We have been together off and on since '85. I bought my own in 05.

Three years ago I had a heart attack, then two years of going back for additional stents. My left anterior desending artery has 6 stents (full metal jacket).

Before my heart attack, I rowed for about an hour at the local gym on weekdays. But for the last few of years, I would get better enough to get started, only to return to the hospital.

It sure is inspiring to read what everyone is doing.

I have started rowing again. I am up to 5 minutes warm up, 5 minutes to get my heart up and 5 minutes cool down. Ending with my stretches. Hoping I can keep it up with no problems.

[woolsmith]

Welcome, Paula!

Gee, I'm working diligently to avoid just the things that happened to you. But like you well know, you can do everything right, and bad things can still happen.

My sister had 4 vessel coronary artery bypass graft surgery at age 49, and my brother had the same thing at age 50. I'm 48.

I seem to have some different genetics from them, however, and I'm hoping that will be in my favor. They've both had very high cholesterol (240-280 ranges, with bad ratios), and they both were heavy smokers for most of their lives. My sister started at age 13, and was a 2ppd smoker until her surgery. She quit for 6 months, then started again. Anyway, I've never smoked, and my cholesterol has been good, but I need to get the HDL levels up higher. And of course, folks with normal cholesterol levels also have heart attacks, so there's more to the picture.

I've lost 35-40 pounds in the last year (still stuck there!), but I have another 50 pounds to go. I'm on thyroid meds and hydrochlorothiazide for mild hypertension. I'm hoping to eventually get off the BP meds.

So, hang in there! Feel free to "become a Duck" if you want to join a virtual team. It's a non-competitive thing--any meters you row get added to the team total. Ducks have done some group challenges together, like last January when we had a weight loss challenge. Folks posted their goals and lifestyle changes they would try for the month.

The act of publically making a committment can be a great motivator when you have the rest of the group pulling for ya's! Lots of nice, knowledgeable folks are on these forums, and they'll be a source of great info if you need any. And feel free to hop in with any contribution yourself!

I can't remember which of the forums had postings by folks who have had heart surgeries, histories of heart attacks, etc. The whole board ended up getting "rebooted" because we'd been getting hacked, so we lost a lot of previous postings. I'm sure some of those other folks will hop in here and share some of their experiences with you, so keep checking back!

Are you in any kind of rehab program or working with a trainer/PT person?

--Jen in WI

[MomofJBN]

Welcome, Paula! I hope you'll stay healthy so you can keep up the good work.

Schenley

[TheSunsetGirl]

Hi Paula.

I see this was posted a while back. Are you still rowing at this point?

I am recovering from Lyme disease and other tick borne coinfections. It has been a tough road. Back in 2003 I completed the 200,000 meter holiday challenge only to start down this road of health challenges.

I developed 'costochondritis' right after the challenge...I started rowing only intermitently (sp?)...flash forward to May 2004 - we moved from MA to NC - I got so sick. I lost 50 lbs. in my 6 month journey trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with me. I saw over 15 physicians in 6 months...had two negative lyme tests...finally go to a LLMD (lyme literate M.D.) who sent my labs off to a tick borne testing lab in CA and it all came back extremely positive...started treatment and have been improving but unfortunately it looks like many of my symptoms I will be living with for awhile. Because it took so long to get diagnosed I am now in the chronic stages. Never remember a bite - never had a rash...

Anyway, one of my symptoms is intermitant heart palpitations which occur occassionally. It is more an issue of nerve conduction. I have had three EKGs and halter monitor - everything looks fine. It doesn't always feel fine though.

I have to start exercising. I have been biking and walking. I have been on the ERG three times now with my heart monitor. I am where you were in March in regards to fifteen minute sessions.

If you are still out there I sure would like to be a rowing buddy to you and I sure could use one as well. It is so hard when you are faced with these health challenges to get back into the routine.

I hope your heart has stabilized and you are gaining ground everyday. What I have learned in my journey is 'health' is as much a state of mind as it is a physical attribute. While I have the challenges I have I am much healthier in my attitudes towards life then I ever have been.

Please take care and I hope you are still on the ERG.

Gretchen

P.S. My old login name was GretchenW. but I had to create a new name

[grams]

Gretchen, I had Lyme disease too. I knew I had been bitten and even had the tick, but my (then) md said it wat he wrong kind of tick. Going by my symptoms he said it was either uterine cancer, multiple sclerosis or cancer.

Luckily I looked it up on the web and went down the symptoms list. I had half of them. The gyn I went to for the cancer test agreed with me and recommended an infectious specialist. I went to him on my own dime, as I figured the reason my md didn't want to diagnose it was for insurance reasons.

The cure is so simple-antibiotics. The symptoms are so strange- the mental stuff alone is enough to make one think it is ADHD. Then there is the body system breakdown too. I was over it in 2 months, and still it accelerated my arthritis by about 5 years.

I'm with you all the way in your recovery, I've been there but not as badly as you. One positive thing I got from the experience was a true understanding of what it is like to have a mental disease, and how the victim has no control over what is going on. I'm a lot more patient with people that have challenges than I was before.

Keep at the rowing-15 minutes is great!! The nice thing about the erg is that you can do it easy or hard, whatever is best for you.

grams

[TheSunsetGirl]

Hi Grams -

Thanks so much for the reply! I am glad you are feeling better.

I had two forms of ehrlichia and babesia. Babesia is like malaria and after living with it for six months definitely without treatment, possibly longer I was extremely ill. Babesia goes after the red blood cells, ehrlichia the white blood cells and lyme goes after the soft tissue in your body - brain, heart, liver, kidneys, cartiledge...

It has been amazing to me to after educating myself how horrible this disease is once it is chronic and how misinformed public health officials and doctors are about it.

I have residual heart issues because of it. So it has created a lot of fear around exercise. I am working to overcome it because I love to row. I literally was out on a lake finally learning how to scull in a double for the first time. I was so weak I nearly collapsed on the dock when I returned from the row but I am hooked.

I had signed up to go up to VT in 2004 to Craftsbury for beginner's sculling camp but ended up stranded in MD on my way up visiting doctors and trying to figure out what the heck was wrong.

Thank God for the internet because like you that is where I found my ID doctor and got the best information. I had been tested three times - all negative results until I went through IgeneX labs. Then it was all extremely positive. I didn't know what to think when I started treatment - I still questioned the diagnosis since the tests were all over the place. But once I started the anti malarial for the Babesia and had severe reactions and improved tremendously I knew we were on the right track.

Take care and thanks for the encouragment. I will get back on the horse - or erg in this case ;0) Will keep you posted.

Gretchen

[grams]

My tests were all negative too. The ID md said 'we'll do the anitbioitics anyway' and 3 weeks later I could think again.

I was lucky that the people at my job were flexible enough to let me be sick every other day and to let me simply leave (whether in a meeting or not) if my brain went out the window. It was so weird-when I was 'out' I couldn't communicate verbally but I could in written form. I was afraid to drive because my logic circuits might suddenly shut down. I'm thankful that even though I have residual physical damage my brain works fine now.

I can't get into a real boat until after I have knee surgery (set for September) and then 9 months recovery. Lifting/carrying the shell is not good right now. So I put on the tunes and erg slowly off into the imaginary sunset. Its good.

grams

[MomofJBN]

ARG! It is just so frustrating that doctors still can't or won't diagnose Lyme disease when they should. I'm guessing that it's been about 15 years or so that I've been very aware of Lyme. Why has it not gotten through to the doctors????!

Sorry - end of mini-rant. I don't have Lyme, but I have been bitten by a tick. Two of my 3 sons have had short (caught quickly) courses of Lyme and both my parents have had multiple rounds of tick bites, symptoms, and anti-biotics. (They live in CT.)

As for erging, I've fallen off the wagon, but need to get back on.

Schenley

[TheSunsetGirl]

Hi MomofJBN,

I need to get back on too. Tonight I think will be the night for me. I have gained all that weight I lost back and I am the most out of shape I have ever been since I literally have not exercised in two years due to rehabilitation.

I will keep you posted on my progress and let me know when you jump back on the erg. Mine is sadly sitting upstairs just waiting to be used.

I here you with the frustration on the Lyme front. The other issue is that most doctors only give two weeks of treatment which is not nearly enough even for someone just infected. If you do the math with Lyme's slow replication period of twenty four hours and the fact for antibiotics to really work they must cover so many cycles of a bacteria's replication then it really should be six weeks of antibiotic therapy to kill the stuff. As well, some antibiotics actually kill the bacteria by destroying cell walls and others simply inhibit a protein bacteria depends on for replication and thus the antibiotic stops replication so the immune system, if strong enough, can kill the left over.

There is a lot of education to be done regarding tick borne illness and it takes up a lot of my time these days.

Take care!

Take care,
Gretchen

[yakima]

Sunset Girl,

Thanks for the encouragement. It sounds like you have had quite a time lately. I would like to be your rowing buddy and update my profile to be a duck. It sounds like fun being part of a group.

On my post, I didn't say that I had bypass surgery 13 weeks ago. The stents were closing and that was the next step. It isn't anything I would recomend.........it hurt! I have a scar from my upper chest to just below my ribs. My new beauty mark. The great thing is that I can do things again like breathe, walk the dog and row.

Did any of you row today? Today I am taking a break......my chest is bothering me today.

Paula

[grams]

It sounds like you have the opposite problem to mine. I had knee surgery a week ago, so my rowing for the next while will be mostly upper body.

I expect you are better at the leg drive, and favor your upper body during the pull.

The nice thing about the erg is that you can usually use it one way or another...

And every little bit helps overall. My recovery is going much quicker than most folks and I owe it all to my previous erging, even though I haven't really been able to erg for several months.

I haven't got my erg set up for one-leg rowing yet, but it will happen very soon. I just need a piece of plywood under the erg and a skateboard.

I'll post my workouts when i get set up. I'm asking others with health restrictions to do the same. we can all be buddies no matter what our performace level is.

take care, grams