in the hand

Lately I have been having pain in my right hand. The first finger and thumb, almost like it had been broken. The digits are a little bit swollen, inflamed I guess. Another outbreak of arthritis, different location. I have been learning that when these first big assertions arrive they eventually die down and I can live with it. So I wait it out. In the meantime it is hard for me to lift things or turn knobs, that sort of thing. I had a time peeling potatoes last night.

I haven't been doing regular exercise lately, dang it all. I do get out to walk a bit, just not as much as would make much of a difference. Sometimes I just give in to the pain. And I think about steroids.

The last time I saw a doctor about this, with the pain in my left arm, he suggested taking tylenol four times a day, one capsule at a time. I have been doing that and sometimes I've taken two at a time twice a day. I do think it helps a bit, sometimes more than others. I consider this routine temporary. I am not interested in being on painkillers all my life.

Long time no write

I don't know why I have been neglecting this blog. I get caught up in other activities but I still need to stay on track here, keep a record.

Several weeks ago I woke with pain in my left arm. The kind of pain that comes when I have overdone something, like gone kayaking and used that paddle too enthusiastically. Yet I had done nothing, and it was just my left arm.

After a few days, when the pain was not going away or diminishing I figured it was probably arthritis. I lived with it for a while but finally, after a few weeks I went to see a doctor. He too figured it was arthritis but said only an x-ray would confirm. I did not want to pay for the x-ray at the time. He also said one help might be an injection of corticosteroid in the arm. I had heard about this from my friend, who has had it done elsewhere, and she said it worked beautifully to take away the pain. We talked of it and I decided to take plan B instead, for now: four acetaminophen tablets a day, spread through the day. See how it goes. I do not take NSAIDs because of the effect on my stomach.

I have been doing the acetaminophen for a couple of weeks now, some days forgetting of course, and in the past few days I have felt less pain. I do not know if this is from the pain relievers or if it happened just naturally, as is the way with arthritis. But it is a hopeful sign.

In other news, I still eat a healthy diet but too much of it and too often I add in fats which are no benefit to me. I have not exercised regularly lately because of recurring pain in my right leg but am trying to get back with a hike now and then.

Real progress

A couple of months ago I started again on the McDougall Plan. This post tells a bit about that start. I have been following it relatively painlessly, although from time to time I lapse and have too much fat or bread.

I have lost 20 pounds. Initially, in the first few days, the overall pain I was having in my joints lessened, and I hoped to find a culprit in the food I eat. I did not, but the pain did not grow again whatever I did, which is good enough. I discovered that coffee was causing me sleep problems and energy problems and stomach problems, all of which I could have guessed but I resisted. So I have cut out drinking coffee except now and then a cup or a half-cup. I have tea sometimes, herb tea.

After several weeks I decided to try hiking again. The pain in my right hip was not coming as often and I thought perhaps I could get through some small hikes. I did start small, and I did have episodes of startling, searing pain, but never anything that crippled me, made it impossibly painful to finish the hike. I have still not done many hikes, about seven or so, but they have gotten a little harder and longer and I am managing better. On my last hike I didn't have any of those bad episodes. I get stiff and I get tired but in a few days I am fine, or not worse anyway. I don't get worse by doing this.

Therefore I do feel hope. More than I've felt in a long time. I continue to do the ageless yoga sometimes, and want to make that more regular.

Right now I feel like I am on a plateau. Not a lot of energy and staying at the same weight. I will move past it.

McDougall conversion take 2

A while back I followed, generally, a low-fat, high-carb diet. Ornish and McDougall are doctors who have promoted this type diet for their patients and have achieved dramatic results conquering heart disease and other diseases. So I got into the habit of using water instead of oil for sauteeing, reducing fat in many ways. I was a nice weight and I had energy and most importantly my arthritis did not bother me much. But over time I let the fat back in. Not to mention other items, like white bread.

I remember several years ago when my then-tenant brought in a big bottle of olive oil and gave it to me. I wondered how long it would take me to use it up, because I simply did not use that much. Over time, though, I started using it rather lavishly, taking to heart the messages that this or that oil is "good" fat, and olive oil certainly was in that category.

Spurred on by my daughter's and son-in-law's recent attendance at a McDougall seminar, I decided to go back. Since then I have waxed and waned, given what I had to deal with (travel, for example), but now I am settling in with a fairly standard McDougall diet. I have two of his books (which include recipes) and have also looked up additional recipes online, and of course it is not difficult to convert a lot of dishes.

The good news is that I am in fact losing weight. I need to lose it to take pressure off my joints and thus stand a chance at relieving my arthritis. The bad news is that the pain persists. Right now I am suffering from hip pain that extends down my leg and often into my right foot as well. Walking has become painful much of the time, and the pain is sometimes not relieved all day long. In spite of eating quite healthily I still hurt.

So now I am considering doing an elimination diet for one week. This diet removes all likely allergens - for that may be what is going on - and if a food is a culprit in the inflammation this diet should show it up. After a week I should notice significant pain reduction.

It will be a challenge but the good part - the second good part - is that with McDougall plans there is no calorie counting, no portion control. I can eat when I want as much as I want. The food as a rule is filling but low-fat and generally low-calorie as well.

There are some things I have on hand that need to be eaten up so I may not achieve the full elimination diet the first day.

Have a look at the McDougall newsletter that explains this diet and lists the foods in it.

What now?

If I were in a controlled study for the improvement of arthritic joints I would be doing just one thing differently from before. But I am impatient and am doing two. I suspect most of us jump in with both feet when we get obsessed with making a real change, and I am no different.

So in addition to the yoga routines, I have changed my diet somewhat. I have been vegan for about two years, vegetarian for about 26. Vegan diets, like any other diets, can be healthy or not. I could try to live on french fries, for example. Vegan, but not healthy. Over the past several years I have slid into the use of more oil and more bread. Neither of these is necessarily unhealthy. Too much of either, though, can have a bit of an impact. So while I eat a lot of good, fresh foods - fruits and vegetables and grains - I have been shoveling in calories that aren't doing so much for me, and because my body is what it is, those calories have turned into extra pounds.

I do not apologize for my weight or feel guilty about it. I do not believe that I am "bad" or lacking in "will". I'll put my will against a host of thinner folks and likely come out ahead. But my body easily puts on pounds. This isn't the place to get into why my body more than that of somebody who has never been fat, so I'll leave it at that. The issue is simply that the extra weight puts more strain on my joints and causes increased pain and difficulty in moving and I'm sick of it.

So I have also moved to more of a McDougall-style diet. When I say "diet" I don't mean calorie-controlled, portion-controlled, any of that. I mean a way of eating. This way of eating means cutting out the oils that don't come naturally in the food. It means eliminating the white breads. Otherwise, it's a vegan diet based on the use of whole plant foods. I eat as much as I want.

I therefore expect that when I see improvements (note that I say "when", not "if"), they will come from both ends: from the yoga-style exercises and the change in diet.

Ageless Yoga - continuing

I have chosen to take the Ageless Yoga, Chair and Standing DVD one routine at a time. The DVD promises two hours of routines, which actually translates to five separate smaller workouts. Additional routines are created by combining elements from these five routines. So one can choose a routine from about five minutes long to about 80-90 minutes long.

My second Ageless Yoga routine, the second one I chose, was "Loosen Up", a 17-minute routine that gently loosens the body. Some of the moves are the same as for the joint routine, and the entire routine is run the same way, very gently and simply. No absolutes. Simple moves to loosen up. If you can imagine some things you might do to loosen your body those things are likely in this routine.

Third: Balance and Breath. 18 minutes. Same format as the others: the instructor sits in the middle, the two students behind and to the sides. No music. Another gentle routine, featuring movements related to balance and breathing. Nice simple balance exercises that I can see using when standing in line, for example, and breathing, of course, you can use anywhere. The series, so far, is like "pre-yoga" - using movements that may be precursors to standard poses, ways to get benefits without having to strain.

Fourth: I chose Strength. 19 minutes. The two "models" were different this time. All four I have seen so far look like ordinary people, not yoga experts, which I find encouraging. The strength moves include some we've done before - it's good to repeat, I'll remember them better - plus some new stuff. We worked feet, legs, inner and outer thighs, shoulders, arms, possibly more. But we didn't do anything for long, just little bits. I enjoyed it. There is one exercise I had a bit of trouble with, and I will want to see if I can improve. It involves lifting both legs from the floor (while sitting on a chair) and holding them in front of me. I couldn't life them fully in front of me. As usual, the instructor is very giving and forgiving, and emphasizes that we "make it yours". Find the comfort place.

At this point I am wondering if I should do more per day? Follow some kind of increasing routine? Or just keep on going through one at a time as I have been. I therefore went back to the website (agelessyoga.org) to look it over. There are so specific recommendations but there are a lot of testimonials and some of those gave me an idea that I'm doing just fine as I am. I'll keep up with it every day (when I have a DVD player - I do go on trips) and see how much I improve.

Fifth: Stretch Out. 18 minutes. As advertised, we do gentle stretching moves, most in a chair. I recognize some of the moves as some I might be able to substitute for more challenging moves in other videos. For example, when I can't do a cat stretch on the floor I can do an equivalent stretch in a chair. Some of the chair moves actually appear to do a better job on the focused area because I am not having to strain a part of my body that is in pain.

One woman who reviewed this DVD said her pain had reduced by half in two days. I would love to make such a claim. I can't, but it made me think. Concentrating on breathing and relaxation is going to help with pain, and the simple, almost comic way these are demonstrated always makes me smile.

The DVD is divided into two parts. There is a regular menu with six routines on it. And second menu labeled "Other options". These other options include "Gentle", "Chair only", "Challenges", and a few more. I am not sure if these are separate routines from the first set. I will soon be finding out, because there is just one more routine in the first group for me to try.

My sixth day I went for "Sitting only", a 30-minute routine. This routine combines the sitting portions of the other routines, primarily the stretching and loosening up routines. Even the relaxation portions from both are included, which gives us about seven minutes of relaxation. I don't know if I have ever relaxed quite as much, and it felt very good.

Ageless Yoga - part 1

I got my new Ageless Yoga DVDs in the mail yesterday. Today I tried out Volume 1: Chair & Standing Routines. I tried only one routine: joint freedom.

Almost the entire set is done in a chair. The exercises are almost not exercises in the normal sense. They are gentle movements of all of the joints, one type at a time. For example, stretching out the fingers, then making fists. No music and no mandatory type breathing. Just remember to breathe comfortably. The joint freedom routine takes 18 minutes and doesn't strain anything.

It felt like I had not done much, but I can see how using this routine regularly would be of great benefit, especially if you remember the different moves and just use them wherever you are, when you think of them. A good way to keep moving.

I'll be trying the other routines and reporting on them here as well. I am feeling hopeful.