Pulmonary Embolism Support Group
By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.
Hi guys,
Sooo I'm 5 months post PE and have finally enrolled at a new gym :) My induction is tomorrow, and I just wanted some Gym based advice off some of you guys.
I've been slowly walking more the last couple of weeks, building up to about 30 mins walking into work.. With some lung pain and knackered-ness at the end of it.
I'm not going to go in all guns blazing and completely tire myself in my first session, but this is going to be the first time I have done intentional cardiovascular work since the damaged heart as a result of the PE. My docs said a while back that I can do whatever I feel ready for.. I'm expecting not to be able to do anywhere near as much as I'm used to, small slow baby steps and all that.. and I've always got to look out for my knee and foot as well, which are still not totally healed from the fall which found me in this situation in the first place.
Any advice or gym experiences post PE you can give to me would be appreciated.
Hope everyone is feeling well.
Jen
Sooo I'm 5 months post PE and have finally enrolled at a new gym :) My induction is tomorrow, and I just wanted some Gym based advice off some of you guys.
I've been slowly walking more the last couple of weeks, building up to about 30 mins walking into work.. With some lung pain and knackered-ness at the end of it.
I'm not going to go in all guns blazing and completely tire myself in my first session, but this is going to be the first time I have done intentional cardiovascular work since the damaged heart as a result of the PE. My docs said a while back that I can do whatever I feel ready for.. I'm expecting not to be able to do anywhere near as much as I'm used to, small slow baby steps and all that.. and I've always got to look out for my knee and foot as well, which are still not totally healed from the fall which found me in this situation in the first place.
Any advice or gym experiences post PE you can give to me would be appreciated.
Hope everyone is feeling well.
Jen
I'll admit in advance that I'm not your normal exerciser as I tend to push the extremes. I was never discouraged by my doctors from being active and getting the blood moving and was just told not to over-do anything (whatever that means).
Being out of the hospital for 5 months, you really shouldn't be too concerned about being in any danger. You seem to have gotten off to a good start by going for 30 minute walks. Thats pretty much what I started doing as soon as I got out of the hospital (on a treadmill). As time went on, I would gradually increase the speed and difficulty. I think a treadmill is a good way to start and it allows you to monitor your progress and level of difficulty. If you are still experiencing lung pain and fatigue, you'll probably want to wait a while before you start running (if that was your plan).
Some other things to consider would be adding some light weight lifting to maintain some upper body strength. Another good alternative to the treadmill is riding a stationary bike, which is a nice transition into something a little harder than walking. I did find it difficult in the beginning due to some pain related to the pleurisy/fluid around the lungs that I had. There were 1 or 2 times where I "over-did" it, but no harm was done.
I found that getting active can help you mentally and believe that it will speed your recovery as well. I was fortunate enough to recover pretty much all of my "pre-PE" fitness level within 5-6 months. Obviously, you have to listen to your body and use good judgement, but there isn't much to be afraid of.
I hope this is of some help.
Best of Luck,
Robert
I'm also not your normal exerciser. My doctor and the coumadin clinic both said that exercise was good for me. My doctor asked me to wait a week after getting out of the hospital before running. That was hard for me so I waited until the 7th day was over and then started in again. At first I was SOB but I had energy. I just ran a little slower. 2 weeks and 6 days after starting my running back up I ran 31 miles in a race. 12 days after that I celebrated my 60th birthday by running 37.5 miles up Mount Hamilton. 9 days after that I ran a very tough 50K race. I had a little trouble in all of those runs but did well enough to win my age group in the two races. As you can guess, I push my limits and recovered very quickly.
My 6th month since leaving the hospital is next Tuesday. I'm running and competing in races. I get occasional chest pains and it seems that my asthma has become more of a problem but it just means I monitor how I feel. I also get a little hypotension occasionally so I try to be a little more careful about that. I'm currently racing in cross country races that are usually about 4 miles in length and doing fairly well.
A friend of mine had PEs about 2 months prior to me. He's also a competitive age group runner. His doctors did not want him to run until he was 6 months out from the hospital. I don't know why even though we've talked about it. Another friend was put on coumadin after surgery. He was told not to run for 6 months while he was on coumadin. They both went to the same physician group. My HMO has totally different written advice.
Like Robert mentioned, you need to monitor yourself and gradually increase the difficulty.
Personally, I found it very hard to go to the gym when I started back. I needed to be outside. It made me feel very alive again to be out in the country. It lifted my spirits just as high as the mountain I ran up on my birthday.
Best of luck,
Todd
The Drs said over and over - Listen to your body! Sure you heard it too. And that's how I handle exercise and just about everything else I get into. That's ok for this elderly lady. lol
Take it slow and listen to your body. If I'm having a good day I will push myself a little harder. If I'm having a bad day I give myself the day off from my workout.
I went back to the gym about 2 1/2 weeks after my PE. I would do 15 minutes on the treadmill, which I usually did 30. I also did the weight machines, but stayed away from the bench because I was still having pains in my lung. If I got winded, I just stopped until I could catch my breath. I was also pretty dizzy after wards but that could have been from the hysterectomy I just had. Don't push your self and make sure to stop to catch your breath when ever you need it. Your body will let you know what you can do. Best of luck!
Carrie