i need help with my midriff since having a breast removal at first everything was o k but over time i seem to be expanding midway i have tried various bras but they are no help at all does anybody have the same problem please tell me what you did or bought to solve it i find this is getting me down i am sure i am not the only person with this problem
no your not birdwoman i had my breast off last april and i have the same problem i have put on 2 stoneand cant seem to get rid of it i feel very depressed about my body but we are alive thats what you and me have got to tell ourselfs hope that makes you feel better
sillysana x
Me too!
Since my diagnosis in Feb (chemo, surgery & rads + now hormones), I’ve put on about 10lbs, and I hate it.
I’ve signed up to do the Moonwalk, in a hope it’ll motivate me, but to be honest I’m find it a real struggle to eat what I should, rather than what I like!
Hi all, it seems very common to have weight gain after chemo. Firstly the steroids incerase appetite and then I think we all comfort eat! I finished chemo in June and had put a stone and a half on! I’m back at Slimming World again having been a target member previously, and have lost 10 pounds within a couple of months, I’m thrilled. It’s a healthy way of eating too. I do a lot of dog walking too. You will lose the weight in time I’m sure.
Hugs to everyone,
Liz x
I have posted this on behalf of new user Kay.
Regards Sam (BCC Facilitator)
Hi everyone I have also put on weight I have had chemo, radiotherapy and no herceptin although only have one session left. The eight I have put on has become a real issue with me although I am glad to be here but nothng fits me and I can’t afford to replace everything so quite often I feel as if what I am wearing is too small. I go the gym about 3 times a week and hope that when all treatment has finished I will start to lose the weight.
Kayxx
You’re not alone in gaining weight, particularly around the middle! I began to feel really down about not being able to squeeze into my clothes. I’m still off work so have time to haunt the charity shops. I’ve been amazed by what I can buy; recently a new per una skirt and jumper. Also that well known online auction site is a good source of clothes. I’ve started selling newish things that I can no longer wear if too low cut etc so am raising small amounts to buy new clothes. I don’t want to accept weight gain as a permanent thing but at least I have things I can wear that make me feel reasonably OK. I’m aware that I have to be smartly dressed at work so am trying to get hold of a few items that will do for when I get back to work as tracky bottoms and jimjams, while great for slumping on sofa watching telly, are not acceptable at work!
Someone told me about an NHS scheme called “fit for life” in my area its called “active life”. Your GP refers you to a local gym and a trainer devises a programme suited to your health needs, gym sessions are much reduced in cost. Some areas also offer cheap swims too. My GP had to find out about it before he could find the right forms but he was very supportive. I asked to be referred as I have got lymphoedema in my arm and hand and am very very unfit due to months of inactivity during treatment. My job is quite physical and I need to build up my stamina, flexibility before I can cope with returning to work. So far I’ve been for an assessment chat and an induction so now I can go along and use the gym for £2.60 a session and the trainer is there to help. Having married into a family where there are family members with destructive issues around food I’ve decided the key to a healthy weight is exercise (and of course a sensible way of eating). I don’t want my kids to become obsessed with good/bad foods and the binge/starve cycle my in laws have so I’m trying to eat well myself and make sure that this is the sort of food on offer at home. My daughter and I have also signed up for the moon walk with the same idea as Mum2to that as well as raising money it will be a good motivation. My dog also needs regular walks!
Take care, littlemrs
PS My daughter says Spanx are great for holding everything in! My hero Gok Wan seems to put them on all his make overs too.
I have always been big on my hips and bottom, but I now have a roll of flab around my midriff that wasn’t there before. I have cut food portion size down to half of what I was having before, but I’m not losing weight despite doing yoga, walking etc. I’ve pretty much put it down to being post menopausal and hate the fact I cannot seem to shift it.
I have always been on the slim side, but not any more i have put on about 7lbs and yes its all round my middle. Yes i was told about Gok’s magic knickers today so maybe i’ll invest in some,
Jo x
I have also put on a lot of weight around my middle and with the large amount of steroids I take with each chemo my apetite seems to increase for about a week and I feel like constantly munching!!! Trying to think of low cal things to munch! After chemo finishes and hopefully I’ll have more energy, I hope to get back to the gym and battle the bulge! Goks magic knickers are a great recommendation , thanks!
smiler
x
Thanks for your comments Bahons2 you are thoughtful to offer advice; I went to the gym through Active life because it is run by a trainer who should know about medical conditions. Lymphoedema, however, does seem to be a condition that is relatively common but not well understood by many medical people/therapists. I had to explain to my yoga teacher about not weight bearing on my arm etc and she is employed to run sessions at a cancer help centre!! Also at an occupational health appt the advisor asked me about what the condition was and how would it affect my job. I was taken aback by this as she is supposed to be advising my employer. Weirdly my lymphoedema developed during a holiday this summer when the only new activity I had added was swimming! I was very careful as I had recently finished chemo so didn’t/couldn’t do too many lengths etc but… It seems caution is the key as I was advised to limit knitting (which I was taking up to try and exercise hand) to a few rows at a time until my hand was used to it.
Sorry ladies- this should probably be in the lymphoedema forum as this thread is about coping with weight gain … not much to add to that except to say I have reverse body dysmorphia(spelling?) as I am constantly surprised by how BIG I am when I catch sight of myself in a mirror. A happier way to be I suppose as my mental image is much slimmer than I really am. Odd!
littlemrs
Hi all. I have started putting weight since dx basically because I am eating like a horse! Setback with chemo starting has made me worse as I have munched all the goodies I stored away as treats. My main activity and saving grace to keep weight down is swimming but my oncologise has advised me not to go to pool whilst on chemo due to risk of infection. Have already had set back because of infection but will miss my swimming very much. Anyone else been advised the same.
Anne
Hi littlemrs
Yes, I suppose we have now strayed into lymphoedema territory, but that’s the way it goes with conversations - they twist and turn a bit!
You say your lymphoedema developed while you were on holiday - did you go somewhere really warm and/or do a lot of flying?
(Your comment about the yoga teacher and the weight bearing arm will ring a few bells with TORONTO who has just posted a thread on the lymphoedema board about her hand massage! You have to be really on the ball with people trying to teach you physical activities as very rarely have they received any training or information about lymphoedema and the allowances that have to be made for it)
Hope your occupational health advisor has now genned up on lymphoedema - or did you have to provide her with all the info’?
bydand - I think most people are advised not to swim during chemo - it’s all those germs in public places. I was also told to avoid football matches (by which was meant anywhere with crowds) and small children - for much the same reason, I imagine!
Another bonus of losing weight (to return to the original theme!) is that it can very often result in an improvement in your lymphoedema.
X
S
hi Bahons 2 and ladies,
we had a VERY wet and windy holiday in Cornwall not anywhere exotic! As an aside i wouldn’t go anywhere else for a fab holiday. I was about 5 weeks post chemo but hadn’t had radiotherapy at that point. I went swimming in a sea water lido but as I said before was very cautious about how much I did as i knew I was so unfit after months of inactivity. I avoided body boarding, which I love, until i could resist no longer but even then used a kids very light board and only for a few waves as i was concerned about holding the board with my hand. I couldn’t praise the medical services in cornwall enough. I went to see a local GP and he went to a lot of trouble to find out about lymphoedema (again didn’t know much about it) and got me an appointment at a clinic at Truro hospital. the therapist there saw me at the end of her clinic, gave me an hour of her time and a sleeve. All this was complicated by my partner being on a fishing boat and couldn’t get back to land, I can’t drive at the mo and my son had a fishing hook embedded in his elbow!!! So much for a stress free holiday. Thankfully my lovely sister in law came to the rescue and drove me to the hospital after another fantastic nurse had removed the fish hook at A&E at another hospital. Meanwhile 2 teenage boys who were on holiday with us were stranded; 1 at the holiday cottage as he couldn’t get up that morning so was having a long lie in and the other still busily fishing on the quay. I wasn’t concerned aboput my son just the other 2 and what their parents would say about my neglecting them if any harm should come to them while I was on my way to Truro.
Why is lymphoedema so poorly understood by the medical profession/ support advisors? The cornish GP i saw thought it only developed soon after surgery. I had to tell the Occ Health advisor what I had been told I could/couldn’t do and that it was for life. She has written in her report not to lift weight >2kg -weight of a hand bag. I feel tempted to weigh my current bag; how can I cut down on those essentials i need to carry? When I was using a car I kept some things in there e.g. so could slap on make up when I had parked. Now have to do it on bus as I’m always running late! Diary, inhalers, various pills, keys… if I leave anything behind i find i need it. My bag is my life.
I wasn’t told to avoid anything when I was having chemo except work as I work with snotty 3&4year olds. The literature I was given about chemo specifically said that there was no need to avoid crowded places so I carried on as normal although the chemo made me so ill I was severely limited in what I could do anyway.
Take care
littlemrs
Mi there littlemrs and eveyone else
Well, what rotten luck to have developed lymphoedema when you were only doing good things, like swimming with your arm.
A stroke of good luck tho’ that the GP (what a perfomance you had that day!) you saw was honest enough to admit he didn’t know much about lymphoedema and try to find out more. A lot of them don’t listen at all. Many equate ‘incurable’ with ‘untreatable’ and don’t try to help their patients or give them diuretics (a real no-no) and/or tell them to go away and just ‘live with it’.
Why is it so poorly understood? Well, I think first and foremost it’s badly and sketchily taught at medical schools. It’s presented as merely swelling and medical students seem to be told that it isn’t painful and are not made aware of the dangers of puncturing the skin or doing BP on the affected arm. Not to mention the pyscho-social effects of a swollen, disabled limb. Some of these same medical students will be GPs or the surgeons/oncologists removing and/or irradiating lymph nodes a few years later, but they won’t be treating the resulting lymphoedema. Chances are they might not even look at it, they may not even be told if you develop it a few years later, as is common. Treatment and diagnosis is handled by nurses, so the condition ends up being treated as less than the dust beneath their chariot wheels .
There’s not much to tempt pharmaceutical companies, either. A drug based treatment for lymphoedema seems still be a long way off (but see my posts on Nexavar on the lymphoedema board, if you’re interested) and there’s little research. There are now surgeons on the Continent who are carrying out lymph node transplants and this does seem as tho’ it might be a way forward
And lets face it, fat arms just aren’t glamorous in the way that some other conditions are…and PCTs don’t like funding open-ended conditions like lymphoedema - far too expensive to give everyone MLD and compression bandaging at regular intervals which is what they need to have a decent quality of life. They’ve got more and more lymphoedema sufferers on their books as people live longer after cancer treatment and the longer you live after cancer treatment, the more likely you are to develop lymphoedema.
Hey, I’m ranting again! There is lady who posts on the lymphoedema boards who says my rants make her smile, so I hope she finds this one…
What can you do about your bag? I’ve got a lightweight ‘healthy back bag’ (you can google that phrase and get some useful returns) that goes over my good shoulder, which is a big help and altho’ it’s not particularly glamorous, it’s a lot more comfortable than a regular handbag. I’m ruthless about keeping the weight down i it and I try to make good use of any pockets that I’ve got.
Sorry if I’ve rambled on it a bit.
All the best to all on this thread
X
S
I’m going to look up healthy back bags. Any excuse for a new bag! shoes don’t do it for me but i do love a new bag. I’ve decided to ditch the A5 size diary I use. I’ll just have to write smaller and find somewhere to keep the useful bits of paper that at the mo I keep at the back of my diary. My mother in law has offered me a shopping trolley that she says isn’t like an old lady one. Not sure how well this will work for me as I have to get 2 buses to work but I’ll give it a go.
On the glamorous tack I was going to dye my sleeve and hand piece, then my therapist told me the light weight version I was originally using is available in black. I’ve moved up to a higher compression; sadly its only available in a nasty peach. I could give the little kids I work with nightmares… that lady with the scarey glove sob sob!
At my sickness review meeting I agreed to start a phased return to work. So celebrated with BIG bar of chocolate. Time now for some serious re-education of my palate and step up of dog walking so I can squeeze back into my work clothes.
Take care
littlemrs
Hi littlemrs
Hope you find a healthy back bag that you like!
I’ve tried dyeing one those diaper brown sleeeves in the past and mine ended up the colour of a McVitie’s ginger biscuit - did you ever get round to trying it?
Bad luck about not being to have a black sleeve again - I’m sure some of these compression garment manufacturers think we don’t care what we look like any more. If you want to have coloured sleeves, I know that two American companies, one called Lymphdivas and the other Gottfried do them. You’ll have to pay for them yourself, of course.
Was your old black sleeve a Haddenham’s one? Because they will do made to measure, so you might be able to get a black in your new compression class. Again, I imagine you’ll have to pay, as I don’t think the NHS go in for custom made garments much (no surprise there).
I’ve seen your post about lymphoedema and risk assessment - can’t think of anything to add at the moment, you’ve been very thorough. Will have a think…
Good luck!
X
S