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[HistoryGeek]

Hi,

I have a (hopefully!) unique problem. During my first marriage I was frequently abused, when I filed for divorce my ex physically attacked me for several hours, shot me and left me. Needless to say I survived

However the attack and the shooting has left me with a series of health problems, I have sciatica, peripheral neuropathy, interstitial cystitis, arthritis (my hip was broken by the bullet), and involuntary muscle spasms. I'm sure the nerves problems will only increase with age as the bullet is lodged inside a nerve bundle and the Docs say they'd do more damage going after it than leaving it in place does. I have to take Lortab daily due to pain.

I desperately need to lose weight and have been changing my diet (eating more fruit and veggies and less meat etc). I have a treadmill but walking is *extremely* painful after a few minutes and I don't think its the way for me to go. I need some sort of low cost (still waiting on the disability!!) low impact exercise that I can do to at least help with building up some muscle.

Thank you.

[Boss Man]

Post diet, and lets see what your meals and times look like.

I'd say for now focus on Bodyweight stuff, to get your body used to the mechanics of training, and assess range of motion impact on your body.

Basic things could include.

Bodyweighted Hamstring Curls.

Bodyweight Squats, if they don't hurt too much.

Torso Twists, (Broom on your Shoulders)

Reverse Curls with a Broom.

Broom Cleans. Moving Broom from the Waist are above the head approximately 180 degrees.

Military Press with a Broom.

Press ups, if the on the Knee technique hurts, try doing them with a wall. Harder, but allows you to stand.

I'm sorry this happened to you, but I certainly wouldn't dream of pitying you or htinking anything but the best for you.

If there is anything we can do, you of course can ask, as that's what were here for.

For now take care, best wishes, and WELL DONE, on being strong and courageous enough to post this. You should be proud of how you've come through. You sound like a pretty amazing person.

.

[HistoryGeek]

I usually eat a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast with coffee, I love oatmeal so this isn't a hardship for me but it is a departure from my previous bacon and eggs breakfast. For mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks I'll eat some low fat yogurt or a piece of fruit. For lunch and dinner I've switched over to using weight watchers or lean cuisine frozen diet meals with a green salad, I've had to stop eating tomatoes (SOB!!) as it causes problems with the interstitial cystitis (hereafter called IC). Any fruit/veggie that is acidic needs to be avoided. If my hubby is running late for dinner I go ahead and eat without him so I'm not eating dinner too late.

I need to learn some new cooking methods, I'm southern and learned how to cook from my grandmother so that means LOTS of frying pans. Tasty, but not good for me. Let me just add here that even with my previous high fat diet I never have had a cholesterol problem. My primary Doctor is often amazed at my counts. Honestly I think I'd be happy with a purely vegetarian diet as I've never met a veggie I didn't love (even brussel sprouts!) but since I need to build up muscle I don't think eliminating protein to that extent would be a good idea.

I've also stopped all soft drinks and tea and am solely drinking water, not only for the change in diet but also because it helps with the IC. I shouldn't really even have my one cup of coffee in the mornings but drinking my first glass of water shortly afterwards helps with any pain the coffee causes.

I'm not quite sure what some of your exercise suggestions mean... is there someplace with diagrams of the techniques? Some web version of an exercise for dummies? EDITED: I found this site http://xercisefactor.com ... it has short vids of the exercises...

Thank you for the no pity post it doesn't help and I don't want it. I'm upfront about the abuse because spousal abuse has been hidden in the closet for far too long and I think its important for people to realize how common it is. Women feeling like THEY have a reason to be ashamed is a large part of why abusers get away with it.

[Boss Man]

[swanso5]

i'm not sure what to say about that....

- this doesn't really seem like the kind situation that can be handled over the internet and without seeing you in person
- for sciatica you need to foam roll hip flexors, glutes, quads, calves, itb/tfl...stretch hip flexors, quads, calves, glutes...activate glutes, core...increase mobility of ankles and hips...increase knee and lumbar spine stability...strengthen glutes, hams and core
- what is peripheral neuropathy and interstitial cystitis?
- keep meat levels up, decrease bad carbs which is baically anything not a veggie or a fruit
- how about walking on an incline, is that easier?
- add fruit to oatmeal
- fruit and solid protein (chicken, red meat, turkey, fish, sardines, salmon, tuna, eggs, pork)...i've gone off yoghurt lately, it's full of carbs
- why can't you eat tomatoes??? there's nothing wrong with them, eat them
- agh just read further
- don't have any ,eals with rice, bread or pasta in them...again full of carbs so avoid if you can
- yeah don't for him
- all i cook on is my grill and microwave (lots of meat and veg for me)
- exercise i need more of an idea about what movements are restricted for you (lunging, squatting, bending etc)
- i admire you already

[HistoryGeek]

Interstitial cystitis is a bladder disease, basically the lining of the bladder is destroyed so the nerves in the wall are then exposed to the urine. This is why tomatoes and other acidic foods aren't good and why drinking lots of water helps. The urine needs to be diluted as much as possible. The pain is extremely bad, a lab rat who was given the disease tried to eat its bladder out, in extreme cases the bladder is removed. There are medications for it, usually low doses of anti-depressants help (its an odd side effect of the medicine, the disease is a real physical condition) but I can't take them as they give me wild mood swings and nausea. Imagine having a hot bowling ball in place of a bladder, any pressure on the stomach area is painful. The Doc who diagnosed me with IC said that in my case it was cased by the peripheral neuropathy. With the bullet where it is my nerves are constantly flaring and sending bad signals. This is a scan I did of my most recent x-ray when I had it so I could take it when I went to see a pelvic pain specialist. http://www.paradoxdesigns.com/bullet_xray.jpg the area is full of nerves

Peripheral neuropathy, simply put, is like having sciatica throughout your body and not just in the affected leg/hip/lower back region.

I hate to sound like a real hardcase for y'all but pretty much any hip movements cause me pain, however I am used to pain and I have a pretty high pain tolerance. Dentists soooooooooooooooooo love me And I know in the end getting some of this weight off me that has built up from inactivity can only help. I just don't want to do anything that will worsen my conditions and I need to build up slowly. I have to use a cane most days for walking longer distances that just inside my house (and some days for inside the house too) and I don't want to get to a point where I have even more restricted movement if I can help it.

I've wondered about soft core exercises like learning belly dancing... I can also do almost anything above the waist so maybe just concentrating on upper body strength would help build up some muscle that would increase my metabolism? Knee movements are also fine, its mainly the hip and in particular the right hip.

I really appreciate y'all's help. My husband (who is a fantastic gentle man) does the best he can but we live very much paycheck to paycheck and until the SSA gets off their butt and gets me a hearing before a Judge I don't have much money at all for seeing PT specialists or gym memberships so that I could with experts.

[swanso5]

- it dounds like any crunch is out of question which is a good thing as they are useless
- well it's not good to move through painful movements as it genrally will only make things worse
- the best lower body exercises i can think of for you would be maybe a supine bringe which we can modify to make harder as we go along, stiff legged deadlifts, maybe a modified squat
- upper body will be easy going with pudh ups, inverted rows and if you have any wts some shoulder presses, curls and tricep extensions
- for core we can do prone ab braces, side ab braces and basic pelvic tilts and ab isolations

maybe search these through google, see what you can and can't do and get back to me with what you couldnt find, do etc...

[HistoryGeek]

Thank y'all ... I'll try these out and report back any problems.

[Boss Man]

Lower body stuff woudl be bettr too if possible, not just focusing on upper body, as with any potential muscle increases, unless they are replacing the same or less lost Fat weight, will cause an overall weight increase, potentially stressing your joints further.

So any strength gains in lower body will allow that area hopefully to tolerate any upper body weight increases, should muscle gain potentially occur at a faster rate than fat loss. This largely probably dependant on Dietry intake.

It's true Yoghurts have a fairly good Carb intake, but in the case of Bacterial one,s the Intestinal benefits can't be overlooked, and the other things like Calcium, Fat Soluable Vitamins etc etc, are useful too, so I don't think cuttign them out need be a thing ot do.

Things like Activia, Actimel, Yakult fine, but there can be a switch to those from things like Ski or Shape yoghurts for example, that have no active cultures in them.