Neuropathy & Exercise

This condition seems to be as complicated as allergies and as unexplored as Pluto. It helps me to be in touch with all of you and hear about your symptoms and the remedies you try. Before I joined here I was a little afraid of 'the great unknown Neuropathy' that I had been diagnosed with. Now that I know a bit more about it, I am fairly sure that when any new remedies are invented, we will hear about them soon. Peggy

@darlingtondoll How awful for you. I almost lost my mom that way on a few different occasions. Very scary.

I was always too sick to be scared. Mostly, I was unconscious from inability to breathe. One time, I had multiple clots in both lungs. I remember hearing the ER doctor asking me for my next of kin. I usually got several bags of heparin in an iv and that usually helped. I had a collapsed lung every time.

@darlingtondoll Clearly you are a fighter and a survivor.

@darlingtondoll, An increased risk of a deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism is very scary. Being a paraplegic is very limiting as far as exercises go. Do your doctors recommend an exercise someone can do to help decrease the risk? You may be able to get help with a physical therapist provided by home care. The home care service should be free of charge depending on your health insurance. You can always ask the home care agency or the health insurance company about any charges you would be responsible for. The physical therapist would come to you. Once the restrictions from this coronavirus pandemic are lifted perhaps you can look further into getting more help. You would call your doctor’s office for the home care order and provide the fax number of the home care agency you prefer. If not your doctor’s office will pick one for you to fax the order to. I just recently was admitted to home health care. I selected my home health care agency best for me. Remember it is the patient’s choice, not the doctor’s. A physical therapist came to my home and provided exercises to help me improve my balance. I am thinking of you. It is up to you to find the help that works best for you. I still find new ways. It may take effort to get the information but that does not stop me. Hope this gives you more ideas. Good luck!

I worked with a great physical therapist for five years. I know which exercises to do. My problem is that I used to go pool walking for two hours every day. It was great exercise, but I got three types of infections on my ulcer which is on my tailbone. I should never have gone into the pool with an open sore. Really stupid of me, but it is my only form of serious exercise. My wound care doctor has been trying to heal this thing for one year! Anyway, our pool at the community where I live is closed because of the virus, so I can only exercise at home doing squats and other simple exercises. I have been having serious angina pains for several months, but I just got another stent two weeks ago and I feel better, so now I can get back to home exercise again.

@darlingtondoll I am glad to hear you are planning to start your home exercise program again. Sounds like you may have a sacral decubitus ulcer because of its location. It will be difficult to cure with compromised circulation since you get edema in the lower extremities. Be careful. You are right. I would avoid getting the bandages wet. Do more exercises not involving being under water. A few years ago I could not walk so the physical therapist at home showed me exercises to do while laying on the couch to decrease my risk for DVTs. I did them twice daily. They were not difficult and long at all, maybe 10-15 minutes each time. Improving your circulation through exercise can not only help decrease the healing time with your sacral wound but will also decrease the edema as well.

My legs don’t work on their own but I can still do a few things. My decubitus ulcer is on my coccyx, so it is in a difficult area for healing. That is why I lie on my side in bed every afternoon. I see my wound care doctor every Thursday, but it is very slow to heal.

My spinal cord injury is at T 7 so the legs can’t move on their own. I can’t lift them or move them so I am limited as far as exercise is concerned.

@darlingtondoll

As I read your post I remembered that there are heated mattress covers and wondered if you had tried one. I only have problems with sheets and blankets touching my feet, so a blanket lifter takes care of that, but I don't know about a lifter to keep them from touching my whole body. I guess that would be called a tent.

Jim