what are you doing to improve yourself after, or even during, ADT?

In this thread, WeDavis talked about his struggle with the SE’s of ADT.https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=4149085.

It brings up the question, that might be of interest to many, now and in the future, “what are you doing to improve yourself after, or even during, ADT?

For me, I’d start with a warning... just know, that if you are not proactive when you start, you will pay a price. I didn’t change diet , get more active, or do anything else special, and I’ve lost muscle mass and gained weight, developed a beer belly, without drinking beer. I’ve also got side handles to accompany the beer belly.
And as was mentioned by many in the thread linked above, I’ve got trigger finger in3 fingers on my left hand, and 2 fingers on my right, one finger on each hand was resolved with cortisone shots. The other fingers are really bothering me a lot, especially in the morning.

So what am I doing about it? I finally came to my senses, and am getting proactive.

On Friday, I’m having surgery to correct the trigger finger in my left hand, then 3vweeks later, surgery on the right hand
I started yoga, which is helping with my flexibility
I’m walking again, 2 miles a day
I started lifting weights again. Light weight due to a torn rotator cuff, but lots of reps, so I really feel it.
Unfortunately the surgery will force me to stop lifting and stop yoga classes for 6 weeks. But I can still do lots of the stretches I learned in yoga class.
I also am seeing a Nutitionist, that I’ve seen in the past, and am following her instructions almost to the letter, modifying my eating habits

I’m hoping I can at least control what I can and get back to myself.
What is everyone else doing to improve their post ADT self?

As far as diet goes I have not done anything to change my habits and I think that is a mistake I need to rectify. Sugar, fats and alcohol all probably need to get paired back vis my normal consumption. Exercise has been my historical excuse to not worry much about diet. Before ADT my exercise routine consisted of running about 25-30 miles per week...since ADT I have not been able to keep that up...average week about half that at best and I really feel like I am dragging and pushing things throughout...I also feel super tempted to do nothing but realize that's a temptation I should probably resist. In spite of exercise I am gaining weight, fall asleep whenever I relax with a book (keep re-reading the same chapter after dosing off :}...or try to watch TV in the evening...also have noticed the need to write all of my "to do's" in a notebook as I am a bitter scatter brained...surprisingly however, at work, I feel more productive than before when I concentrate on one thing at a time...

Pratoman said...

I started lifting weights again. Light weight due to a torn rotator cuff, but lots of reps, so I really feel it.
Unfortunately the surgery will force me to stop lifting and stop yoga classes for 6 weeks. But I can still do lots of the stretches I learned in yoga class.

Not on ADT yet but may be in future. Not to hijack your thread, but I have a question and you seem the perfect person to ask.

Was doing weights until about late June but was setting heavy paver stones most the spring and a shoulder issue snuck up on me gradually so have stopped weights for last two months. One symptom is significant popping in shoulder -- when raising left arm from horizontal to up to vertical near left ear, then the popping occurs when lowering. Also, don't know if your yoga instructor has you do the combo of: down dog to plank, lower to crocodile with elbows close in, raise (pushup) to upward dog, then shift back to downward dog. My left shoulder is really weak on the pushup and hurts if I haven't kept elbows really close to body. It generally feels weak with stuff like putting boxes upon shelves, etc. Right shoulder seems fine for now. Can tell I have generally lost muscle since June and am down 8 lbs since going off T shots last Dec. So that doesn't help either. Could be due to aging to 70 last month (ha).

Was wondering what is going on. Don't see PCP again until late Oct. Was wondering if this sounds like your shoulder issue? Was planning to start again w. modified Stronglift program tomorrow (M/W/F), but the steady weight increases might not be best idea. I like your idea of increasing reps and lowering weight. Guess I will try that. Just hope I haven't jacked myself up for good. Any comments welcome if you get time and thanks in advance.

Robert

Bobbysan, yeah the popping in the shoulder and what I think you are describing as weakness when easing your arm, pretty much describes what I experience. I think you’ll need an orthopedist to diagnose it, possibly an MRI, rather than your PCP. But you might just have a bad strain, or a small/partial tear. My tear was described in the MRI report as full thickness tear. I’ve already had surgery on that rotator cuff twice in the last w5 years, so I am not planning on doing it again. Physical therapy might help you, it helped me in terms of function.

Re yoga, the studio I go to has different instructors, I do recall one 9f them taking us through a series of poses that included downward dog to plank (or vice versa). I have a tough time with the downward dog, less so on the plank. But I feel,like over time it might help my shoulder over time.

I might have to go on ADT after my next blood test in Dec. What scares me I am already overweight and can't walk more then 5 minutes before I have to rest because of bad hip.. I already have trigger finger in my right hand... HELP !!!

In the summer I don't do anything special at all to try to beat the side effects. I live on a farm and have more work to do than I can do to keep up. I am a beekeeper and in fact today I will be extracting honey which means lifting heavy boxes full of honey. We have horses which I have to feed and trails to keep clear of trees and we partially heat with wood which I cut and split and stack to dry (we live in northern Minnesota). There is so much to do that now we have to hire a young guy to help keep up one day a week because I just can't. I daily force myself to get up and go out. I don't feel like it and often don't want to and some days I just don't care enough to do anything but I know that the less you do the less you can do. The hardest part is that I have lost my desire to do much of anything. In fact, when I see my doctor next I will ask if at least some of that loss of desire is depression. I take venlafaxine already for hot flashes and it helps with depression but maybe I need a higher dose.

This winter with less to do outside I may lift weights. No, I will lift weights!

Ken, good luck with your surgeries. I'm saying this now because I will have forgotten it by Friday.

It's been difficult restraining myself from jumping in on certain conversations, especially when it comes to ADT SE's, such as the "Does ADT ever stop destroying me" thread. Most of what I could say has already been said by others. As someone mentioned, preaching to the choir.

Fortunately (?) some of my other medical conditions have spared me from weight gain, while other injuries preclude me from doing much of the physical activity that others have found useful. But I am intimately familiar with the devastating psychological and emotional fallout from living with what have become a chronic conditions.

Mentions of depression, isolation, resentment, forgiveness and an inability to forget (looping) really hit home. Which is why I do not actively participate here much anymore. And of course, there are some who seemingly have never had to deal with such issues who are the first to tell us what we "should" do. It just twists the knife.

Good luck to all you guys who are still fighting the beast... Matt, Trailguy, Argent... I try to remember names, but even that has become difficult. Pratoman, hopefully you will find eventual relief from your ailments.

PS Rob,
I don’t know if you’re aware, but the last major troublemaker is no longer on the site, so it should be a consistently better experience. 😃

Rob, good to "see" you here. Your comments are well considered as always.
Believe me when i say, that i really don't have any major complaints. (In fact for some odd reason, my trigger finger is causing about 80% less pain today, than it has been, which is putting me in a bit of a quandry as to whether to proceed).
So far, i've had it relatively easy compared to some other guys here. Who knows what the future holds.
But i think, at least for me, a major point to be made, is that i find (maybe others find as well?) that doing something proactive to help myself minimize the side effects that i am experience, is a big step by itself, in making me feel better.

Mattam, i really hope you stick around, you are a valuable member, and as you said, the fellowship here, IMO, is worth its weight in gold. At least to me.I hope others feel the same way.

Rob,
Don't forget that you're famous (infamous?) for your ownership of the "nothing" thread. I have some envy going on. 😉

Glad you're not disappearing. I probably won't either, but I may comment less often unless I'm confident of what I'm talking about - but with Lupron brain who knows for sure? Wasn't that what we were talking about - Lupron? 😉

PS Thanks for the kind words, Prato.

Trailguy, I value the information you've provided regarding the extent of damage that HT does to our hormones beyond lowering testosterone. As I recall, you believe that Lupron killed one of your testicles. That is a big concern to me now because it has been nearly two years since my Lupron injection and my testosterone is still at castrate level. As I only have one testicle anyway... well, you get the picture.

For me the first 6 month shot wasn’t bad, though I had done 3 months of heavy exercise to prepare for a Cardiac ablation, my second one, those knock the crap out of me for about 4 months. Plus had RT and ADT same time. Second shot I lost temperature control, chills at 70 overheating at 78, was able to start working out again from ablation, not even 40% of pre exercise levels, lost a lot of motivation. My last shot was a 4month and it hit me unexpectedly like a sledgehammer at a slaughterhouse. Gained 15 lbs overnight plus all the other ADT gifts. Lost about 10 but still have jello gut and handles. Got back on keto and intermittent fasting, feel much better with miles to go. I was on it only 16 months, assume I’ll be back someday.

mattam said...
I keep getting ads/emails for ADT home security. The internet is really creeping me out .

That is a morning snort the coffee comment. Thanks for that laugh. Everyone can't comment and say that, otherwise the thread would be bogged down. So I clicked the "haha" button for everyone.