I can’t figure out a way to ask this without possibly offending anyone/someone. So I apologize in advance. It’s not my intention.
I’m curious of the correlation of being overweight or in poor physical health and recovery. I understand that for some working out and maintaining good physical health and a healthy weight can be hard with our symptoms.
I would imagine that being in better physical condition would lend to a quicker recovery. Obviously it’s not guaranteed that being in shape equates to a quick recovery and there’s a number of things factored into healing.
Thoughts?
Again, it is not my intention to offend anyone and I am so sorry if I do. I know weight can be a sensitive issue.
I am in fairly good health...weight, blood pressure, etc.... and I am almost four weeks post op....I have me good days and bad days still. Find some days walking REALLY helps, but other days like today...SLEEPING really helps. Either way, I thinking eating healthy no matter the weight is a good thing, it will give you the correct energy you need for your body to get the best recovery it can...
I've always been physically fit. When I had CM1 surgery 10yrs ago I ran, lifted weights, and did yoga the night before surgery. I was in excellent physical shape but it took 5 months before I could go back to work at a desk job... I had constant dizzy spells and memory loss. My recent surgery was 7 wks ago and I'm not able to exercise yet due to pseudo.. thus getting weaker physically. But I believe it won't take as long to heal this time (even tho I'm not as fit as I was 10yrs ago).
I can only offer two anecdotal stories, and then my own hunches.
I am two weeks post-op, and doing fairly well with my recovery. I have had some difficulty in recent days with increased pain, but on the advice of my (excellent) nurse practitioner, have added a new muscle relaxant/anti-inflammatory, and find that by aggressively managing my muscle tension (which doesn't usually feel that bad), the pain is easier to control.
I went into surgery in (self-described) very good physical shape. I have been active, exercised regularly, etc. The only reason I had surgery is my syrinx had caused measurable damage to my nerves, which had been accumulating for at least five, and possibly ten years. Until just a few weeks prior to surgery, my symptoms had been very negligible, but I couldn't see the point in waiting for myself to get miserable, and for my nerves to become even more damaged. I figured nothing but surgery would slow down the progress of the symptoms. I wanted surgery so I wouldn't get worse.
My NS thinks my recovery is going very well.
My second anecdote has to do with my son. He is five weeks post-op from similar surgery, though his was to remove a truly nasty looking cyst at the base of his brain. They made the same incision, they removed the same bit of bone to access his cyst, but once they were done removing the cyst, they put back his bone. So, he has the identical incision and neck pain that we all deal with after our decompression surgeries.
Okay, so he's a 15-year-old swimmer. Bouncing back doesn't begin to describe how fast he's recovered. He was the healthiest kid in ICU, released from the hospital the third day after surgery, started taking long (say hour and half) walks in very hilly terrain within about seven to ten days, and was running before two weeks had passed. Now, he says he feels basically normal again.
For him, I would say being in shape was a god-send. We told his NS to only operate on swimmers from now on, because then he would get excellent results.
I think the better the body you give your NS, the easier your recovery will be. Anyone can have complications. But being in the best health possible must help. So many people on this site have suffered so much for so long, that they won't be as fit as someone else. But I know everyone tries their best with what they are given.