I started cardiac rehab today. I did 14 minutes on a treadmill at 3.2 mph and a small incline followed by 14 minutes on ane elliptical machine. Both seem harder than walking outside, so I felt like it was a pretty good work out.
My surgeon has been telling me things like..."go until you are short of breath, and then go a little bit farther." and "I want you out of breath and sweaty when you are exercising" (the latter said at my 5week check up where I was released from his care
.)
The rehab nurses were shocked and said they usually want people to stop or slow down when they feel short of breath. They are more used to people recovering from by-pass surgery, heart attacks, etc. than valve issues. I made sure to push the issue because I want to get the most benefit out of this experience. The nurse is now researching the idea of "remodeling" rather than strengthening (which is the goal of the standard rehab patient).
I did learn a couple other things that I will share in the hopes that someone can benefit:
1) if you don't feel like you are getting short of breath, try talking. I was never feeling short of breath during my walks, but I was always alone. When there was a nurse talking to me through my workout, I realized that I was more short of breath than I thought.
2) my beta blocker is supposed to keep my heart rate down, but also lowers my already low blood pressure. When exercising, the blood vessels dialate, and when you stop, your blood pressure can drop until those vessels shrink back down. Since my blood pressure is already low, this can easily lead to becoming light headed or dizzy. A small glass or two of cold water can help speed up the shrinking back down of the vessels and getting you feeling better quickly.
3) treadmills and elliptical machines give me the same type of feeling I get in my legs after being on a boat or an airplane. When I got off those machines and felt "shaky", I had to really pay attention to my body to realize that it was all my legs and not the same as the shaky, weak feeling that comes from low blood pressure. This is important for me because "weird" feelings tend to lead to anxiety which causes more weird feelings...and so on.
My surgeon has been telling me things like..."go until you are short of breath, and then go a little bit farther." and "I want you out of breath and sweaty when you are exercising" (the latter said at my 5week check up where I was released from his care
.)The rehab nurses were shocked and said they usually want people to stop or slow down when they feel short of breath. They are more used to people recovering from by-pass surgery, heart attacks, etc. than valve issues. I made sure to push the issue because I want to get the most benefit out of this experience. The nurse is now researching the idea of "remodeling" rather than strengthening (which is the goal of the standard rehab patient).
I did learn a couple other things that I will share in the hopes that someone can benefit:
1) if you don't feel like you are getting short of breath, try talking. I was never feeling short of breath during my walks, but I was always alone. When there was a nurse talking to me through my workout, I realized that I was more short of breath than I thought.
2) my beta blocker is supposed to keep my heart rate down, but also lowers my already low blood pressure. When exercising, the blood vessels dialate, and when you stop, your blood pressure can drop until those vessels shrink back down. Since my blood pressure is already low, this can easily lead to becoming light headed or dizzy. A small glass or two of cold water can help speed up the shrinking back down of the vessels and getting you feeling better quickly.
3) treadmills and elliptical machines give me the same type of feeling I get in my legs after being on a boat or an airplane. When I got off those machines and felt "shaky", I had to really pay attention to my body to realize that it was all my legs and not the same as the shaky, weak feeling that comes from low blood pressure. This is important for me because "weird" feelings tend to lead to anxiety which causes more weird feelings...and so on.
