Well it was an excellent little programme
I was very pleased with it. The woman was 29 years old and worked as a school teacher. She was diagosed seven years ago. She also has fibromyalgia and grade 3 nephritis. She has been on cyclosporine for about three years.
The programme focuses on one person each week. They take baseline bloods and various tests like cholesterol and Blood Pressure, etc and from this information they do a projected life span. Then through a designed programme of better eating and a healthier lifestyle they re-do all the tests in eight weeks and see if they have managed to 'increase' their projected life span. Sounds naff but its actually very informative.
She said her biggest problem was the fatigue so I was delighted to hear that
They gave a very good overview and explanation of Lupus. I asked my sister and friend to watch it and both rang me later saying they really understood the disease much better. So that was great! Yay for awareness! Actually my friend said she wanted to take me away for a weekend spa treat :rotfl: What a bonus :lol:
They talked about exercise and what might work for her. She bought a bicycle but she lived on the 2nd floor of an apartment block and it meant lugging the bicycle up and down the stairs before she even sat on it. So that didnt last very long
They settled on a fold up bicycle that she could take in the car anywhere and use on the days or times she felt she had enough energy to do so. That worked much better.
Another interesting intervention was from a time management specialist. She had her draw up a chart with a line along the left hand side ranging from one to ten. Ten represented the best day ever when she felt she good do anything and one represented the worst day ever when she felt she good do nothing but lie in bed.
She asked her to consciously decide each day when she got up what number she was that day. So for example her best day ever was a 7. Then she asked her what she could do on those days that might help her on the days when she was a two or one. Food preparation and batch cooking was top of the list. This was to make sure she would have fresh cooked food at all times and there was no need to grab a take-away or snack on junk food, etc.
The chart idea really grabbed my attention. Sometimes it's all too easy to feel like each day is rolling into the next and that because I feel tired most days, they are all the same. In actual fact they're not the same. Forcing oneself to identify how good or bad a day is is something I'm going to start doing. There are days when I can do more and days when I can do less. I just need to start identifying them and getting some more control. It also means that on the very bad days, I can get to acknowledge it, go with it and not beat myself up with guilt because I am lying around doing virtually nothing. Tomorrow is another day and the chart could look very different
Interestingly after just eight weeks of eating fresh cooked food and vegetables (no processed food) she lowered her cholesterol level from 6.9 to 4.2 ! Amazing.
On a more realistic note, despite her healthier lifestyle, five weeks into the regime her lupus flared up badly and her kidney blood results had worsened considerably so her medications were increased. The programme makers pointed out that despite ones best efforts, Lupus is a disease that is unpredictable and healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle wont make flares go away. What they will do is make the 'in-between' bits much better and more energised and help to stave off other nasties like diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. They also helped her feel better about herself and that was very much worth the effort.
All in all a very informative little piece.
Cheers
Joan:rose:
