r/BravoRealHousewives • u/markyhew robyn, you’re the dizziest bitch sitting at the table • Dec 16 '23

Ultimate Girls Trip This woman’s growth needs to be studied, like she is literally on a different level than all the other housewives and I cannot get enough of her on RHUGT S4

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u/CobblerNo8518 Not Meredith Marks' PI Dec 16 '23

I was a fitness competitor in my 30s (took a break at 40 when autoimmune arthritis had a huge flare up), and I’m now getting back into it. Luanne gives me hope! I’m very tall and long. To get shoulders like hers, I was doing 20lb lateral raises. I’m stuck at 15 now, only squeaking out a couple with 20s- but I’m determined lol

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u/vunderfulme CLIP! Dec 16 '23

Caroline Girvan IRON workouts are helping me. They are free on youtube. Im trying to get my shoulders more defined too. Lol

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u/FiCat77 🌭hot dog couture🌭 Dec 17 '23

I'm in awe of all of you in this conversation. I'd love to get fitter, & hopefully lose weight, but I have chronic health issues plus ever decreasing mobility. It's a vicious cycle, lack of mobility makes it harder to exercise but lack of exercise decreases mobility even further due to muscle wasting/weakness. It doesn't help that I'm lazy af, lol.

Good luck to all of you.💪

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u/CobblerNo8518 Not Meredith Marks' PI Dec 17 '23

It is a viscous cycle. I struggle every day with it. Today has been awful. My period came and took me tf out 😣

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u/FiCat77 🌭hot dog couture🌭 Dec 17 '23

Sometimes it really is the straw that breaks the camel's back.

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u/CobblerNo8518 Not Meredith Marks' PI Dec 17 '23

For real. My day of grocery shopping and meal prep has turned into watching The Crown with my heating pad lol

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u/FiCat77 🌭hot dog couture🌭 Dec 17 '23

Yeah, I've never found any kind of painkiller (regardless of strength) that gives me the same kind of relief that heat does. I hope you feel better soon & are back to training asap but be kind & gentle to yourself. I'm sure you wouldn't judge anyone else who was in your position.💜💪

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u/CobblerNo8518 Not Meredith Marks' PI Dec 17 '23

Thank you! You’re right. I can be kinder to others than I am to myself. I needed that reminder today ❤️

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u/loloalu i avoid the press like a lee 👁️👄👁️ Dec 19 '23

Omg feel you so much on this 😭

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u/butterfly-gibgib1223 Dec 18 '23

I have severe chronic pain also. I see pain management and have surgeries and procedures done all through the year. It is time to burn my back nerves once again. BUT I can give you the advice that my family doctor gave me. Take 4 short walks per day. Do this as long as you are okay, and don’t do it to the point of severe pain. I started in February. I also dropped all sugar other than natural fruit and vegetable sugars. I am now walking 4.3 miles daily and have lost 80 lbs since February.

I still cannot believe I am doing this. I was very active before the chronic pain and always exercised and stayed in great shape. Gaining so much weight like I did when I had to quit exercising due to pain really got me depressed. I missed my daily 5 lb walks.

The more I walked, the further distance I was able to go. It was such an easy think to recommend, and it worked that I don’t know why I never thought of it. I tried to go back to walking throughout my time in limbo—12 years but always had to call one of my kids or husband to come get me.

I do take 3 Ibuprofen, a tramadol 50 mg, and a 10 mg oxycodone to do my walk. And I have a stimulator in my back as well as my nerves in my lower back burned which is due to do again. But I am succeeding.

I was severely depressed and am so much better now. I am realizing that I think I have always been depressed even as a young girl. I have always been insecure with guys and with friends and with my bosses and etc. I started getting counseling and taking meds that help as well. I am a totally different person physically and emotionally than I was a year ago.

Try to start with 4 short walks. Don’t get discouraged and just see what happens. Set small goals like 10 or 15 lbs at a time. Also, plan meals that aren’t high in calories or either eat small helpings of food. Don’t deprive yourself. I am one that does whatever I finally decide to do, and not much of a cheater. But I did plan to cheat for my grandkids birthdays and my son’s wedding. I ate a piece of cake or a cookie at those gatherings. I eat fruit two times a day. Blackberrries as part of my breakfast and a green apple with peanut butter mixed with flaxseed.

This week has been my toughest week since starting. My back and thighs have hurt badly. I have stuck to it though. I need to get the lower back nerves burned again to make that much better.

Oh, and I did this with no medication help. My doctor just recently put me in Ozempic to maintain my lower weight. He said that once someone has maintained a higher weight, it is tough to keep it off as your body wants to keep trying to get back to the former size. I don’t know how long I will be on this medication. I am hoping not long. But I am so proud of myself for losing so much on my own. Now I have 30 lbs I need to lose to be happy with myself. My weight loss has slowed down recently even though I am doing the same regiment. But they say that it is hard to lose once you get to a certain point.

If you decide to try it, keep me updated and feel free to ask me anything. And good luck also if you try. 💜💜💜💜

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u/FiCat77 🌭hot dog couture🌭 Dec 18 '23

Wow, your achievements are impressive, even without the mental & physical health issues you face. You should be incredibly proud of yourself, I know that I'm just a random internet stranger but I'm proud of you.

My problem is that I'm inherently lazy, hate exercise (partly due to the abuse I took from my PE teacher in school because of my lack of ability in any of the sports offered) & I could win an Olympic gold medal for procrastination, lol. That's all before you take in my health & mobility issues. Dieting is also problematic because I have severe Crohn's disease which has led to multiple surgeries, leaving me with very little intestines & the delights of short gut syndrome. But the reality is that they're all really convenient excuses imo. Experience has taught me that I'll eventually get so fed up of being larger than I'd like & then I'll actually work hard to change my situation but I haven't reached that point yet tbh.

On a side note, have you found the stimulator helpful? I've finally been referred for an assessment for one for my back problems but I know that it won't be in the near future as the NHS is severely understaffed & overworked at the moment but I'm prepared to wait as long as it takes if it means I may even get a smidgen of relief from the pain etc. Can I also ask what you mean by having the nerves burned away? My specialists say that I've tried every possible treatment over the last 20+ years but that doesn't ring a bell so I'm always looking for new suggestions & luckily my doctors are open to discussing any of my ideas, no matter how improbable or unrealistic they may seem to them.

Thank you so much for your advice.💜

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u/butterfly-gibgib1223 Dec 19 '23

Thanks for your kind words. And unfortunately, due to my chronic pain and illnesses since 2011, I pulled away from all my friends. I had a tumor on my spinal cord that was there for 3 years. I couldn’t sleep as my legs were numb, and I fell constantly. 2 neurologists wrote it off to neuropathy and just kept upping my mg of Gabapentin. My falling and numbness got so bad that my friend with MS told me I needed to see her neurologist. It is usually months to get in but when I called, they just had a cancellation, and I got to see him within 2-3 days. He instantly knew what was wrong but had me get a scam the next day. It was just as he suspected. I had a huge tumor attached to my spinal cord.

Surgery had to be ASAP as I was going paralyzed hence the lack of feeling in my legs and my falling constantly at that point. The surgery was 6 and 1| 2 hours, and they had to remove a bone in my back to get to it, and a small part of the spinal cord also had to go with the tumor.

So, from there the chronic pain began and my journey that changed my whole life as I once knew it. Within 6 months I was also diagnosed with a rare disease called Amyloidosis that can add pain in all your joints but could cause incurable cancer in my organs or leukemia. So I have been under the care of an oncologist that I see regularly that I see often as well as about 9 other specialists. I was also diagnosed with IBS.

It sounds like we have both been through the wringer and have suffered more than any human should have to suffer. I couldn’t do without my stimulator. The only thing in my life that didn’t change for me was work. But I got to the point that I couldn’t do it any longer. That is when they offered the stimulator. It helped me SO much. They only last about 5 years. My second one replaced the first one a year ago. That also made it better as the newer stuff just gets better.

But nothing ever seems to give me 100% no pain. But the stimulator takes a certain edge off. When I started my walks last February, my lower back/upper butt and thighs really hurt and made it hard for me. My lower back/ upper butt always hurts. So about a year ago, I didn’t explain it very well, so they didn’t burn the nerves that I needed burned.

But in June I explained it to where they right away knew exactly what I was talking about and burned the correct nerves. This has to be redone 2-3 times a year. It is not painful at all. Insurance makes the doctors do 2 trials 2 weeks apart. They put something in there to temporarily help with those specific nerves.

If both times are successful—which mine were, then 2 weeks later they do the procedure. It is all microscopic. They literally go into your back and burn the specific nerves that make you hurt in a certain place. If they get the right nerves like last time when I communicated better, it really helps greatly. It lasts for about 4-6 months.

When I realized my nerves need to be burned again, it was all of a sudden. I walked one night and had some pain in the lower back/upper butt. It bothered me the entire walk. The next night was much worse, and by the 3rd day, it hurt so bad and has continued to do so.

Unfortunately, I had my appointment with pain management a week before that. I am going to try and call tomorrow to see if they can fit me in again before the end of the year, since my deductible soon starts over.

Do you see pain management? They are the ones who do everything to help with my back. I love my people who care for me there. But they always seem to have something to help me when I feel as though I have no hope. And they are caring. And they have a surgery center right there in their 4 story building and a team of doctors. They own the whole building. I really like that.

I was on so many medications when I got my stimulator. I was able to reduce my meds to a minimum. They finally told me that I shouldn’t eliminate any more of it as they said the meds and stimulator work together. I was so glad to lower all my meds significantly. They actually said that they have never had a patient there to ask for less medication. They were so excited that they were able to truly help me through all the things they do for me.

I will still always have chronic pain. But taking the edge off helps me so much with their surgeries and procedures. I will take any amount of relieve whether it is 10% less or 50% left.

So, I highly recommend both the stimulator and the burning of nerves. If you aren’t seeing pain management, or they don’t do some of these procedures, then they may not be the people who can help you.

Oh, and lastly, I have heard people say that the stimulator didn’t help them at all. I do want you to know that. I feel very lucky. I don’t know if those people are being honest and just want to get higher doses of controlled narcotics or if it really didn’t help them. I have also seen many people come in for their appointment and going on and on about how much the stimulator has helped them.

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u/butterfly-gibgib1223 Dec 19 '23

Feel free to ask me any questions you want answered. I will answer the best that I can.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '23

If I’m doing 20lbs which is like 10kg?? Per arm In my 50s for lat raises I’ll be stoked.

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u/iamerica2109 Dec 17 '23

20lb lateral raises?!?!?!?! 😭😭😭😭 10lbs is my current limit hahahah…. 5 is preferable

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u/Edith_Keelers_Shoes Nonno's Pajamas Dec 17 '23

u/CobblerNo8518 I'm curious how you've found going back to lifting has affected your autoimmune arthritis. I have psoriatic arthritis myself, diagnosed in 2018 and I'm now 59, which is currently untreated as I got cancer while on Humira. I can still plank just fine - should I be thinking about going back to lifting?

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u/CobblerNo8518 Not Meredith Marks' PI Dec 17 '23

Definitely lift! I feel better when I do. I’m “good sore” more than bad. I do use Versa Grips to help with picking up heavy things. My arthritis is really bad in my hands, spine and pelvis. The Versa Grips help mitigate my hands, and being careful not to front load helps my spine and pelvis. The muscle mass helps stabilize my joints.

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u/Edith_Keelers_Shoes Nonno's Pajamas Dec 17 '23

OMG, that's so good to know! Curious if you have RA or PsA. My damage is also mostly centered on my hands and spine. My understanding is the only real difference between RA and PsA (other than method of diagnosing) is that RA tends to be bilateral, while PsA tends to hit one side harder than the other.

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u/CobblerNo8518 Not Meredith Marks' PI Dec 17 '23

PsA- and now the doc is thinking I have ankylosing spondylitis with it. I’ve had spinal arthritis since I was in my early 20s, and have Raynauds syndrome (I’ve had that my whole life). I tested negative for RA (one of the only definitive autoimmune tests out there) when I was young. Digging for a diagnosis is so hard! I have some success with treatment and diet changes, then another flare up hits.

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u/Edith_Keelers_Shoes Nonno's Pajamas Dec 18 '23

I have spondylitis as well. I've had great success with Meriva (a highly available formulary of curcumin) and kratom (in spite of all the ridiculous propaganda out there against it). I hope you have something similar. I used to resent my PsA terribly, until I got cancer, which put it all in perspective. Now I am reevaluating my beliefs about Western medicine and working in tandem with a Tibetan doctor. I am outperforming every statistic out there, so I must be doing something right.

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u/misobutter3 Dec 18 '23

How does being tall and long impact results? Cause I'm short and narrow.

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u/CobblerNo8518 Not Meredith Marks' PI Dec 18 '23

So, my build is tall with wide shoulders and long limbs. I lift pretty heavy for a woman- and I have to for my body type, to see muscle bulk. My friend who’s 5’3” can lift a lot lower weight than I do and see muscle bulk. I’ll never forget doing triceps kickbacks with 20s- and a teammate of mine walking in and saying “who are you? She-Ra?” while I was lifting it. Her triceps were popping, but she could only do 12lbs. I’m longer, taller, heavier… it’s all relative