Recovery Archives - Words To Run By

Starting 2015 Off on the Right Foot – Tiux Compression Giveaway!

January 1, 2015 by Sara- Words to Run By Blog

I always knew compression was an important part of recovery for runners and athletes, but before suffer from a blood clot in 2012, I didn’t realize how important compression wear would actually become for me. Not only do I wear it anytime I exercise – even going for a walk since my clotting incident, but compression socks have become a permanent part of my wardrobe. I was recently fitted for medical compression stockings (which, are very expensive) and the specialist told me more and more people are wearing compression sans exercise, for example, if they sit at a desk or stand all day. Blood clots are an increasingly scary and deadly risk. And according to the National Blood Clot Alliance, blood clots are killing around 274 Americans each day if they travel to the heart, lungs (as in my case) or brain. That could have been me. After surviving my ordeal, I am happy to wear compression as a preventative measure.

When I was contacted by Tiux Compression socks, I was immediately interested – Premium socks, cool colors, free shipping, comfort design – all for just $35. That’s right $35. It sounds too good to be true, right? Here’s how they do it:

I wanted to give Tiux a try (I’ll admit, I’m a fan of CEP for sports compression and wear my boring skin-colored medical stockings daily) when my doctor decreased my compression requirement to graduated compression 20-25 mmHg to increase blood circulation in my legs. Tiux fits that requirement for me, and I was ecstatic when these showed up in the mail:

I was not disappointed! First and foremost, they fit on my already swollen legs without constricting them to the point of being uncomfortable. I wore these socks all day for multiple days without being uncomfortable. The padded footbed provides cushion and shock absorption, a seamless toe for maximum comfort and breathable mesh instep to keep your feet cool and dry. Plus they are constructed out of technical fabrics for superior moisture management and breathability. You can tell Tiux means quality immediately by the plush and comfortable feel of the socks. Plus, I can wear them with leggings and not look ridiculous:

That is not all Tiux offers. Compression is important to athletes to help recover faster and improve muscle repair with increased blood circulation and prevent blood pooling in the feet, among other things. I wore these after a two-mile walk around the Zoo to see Christmas lights and didn’t notice any discomfort, especially in the bottom of my feet, which has become common since my blood clot. And at $35 a pair, I can make Tiux a wardrobe – and fitness – staple. Be sure to read all the benefits of Tiux here.

Would you like to try Tiux Compression for yourself? Well you can! Tiux is gracious enough to have a pair of compression socks for one of my readers – so you can kick of 2015 on the right foot! Enter the Tiux Compression Giveaway here:

Tiux Performance Compression Socks Giveaway – Words to Run By

The Giveaway ends on January 07, 2015. Can’t wait? Order here now! Be sure to connect with Tiux on Twitter and Facebook and share this giveaway too.

I am committed to Tiux Compression and doing something that is beneficial to my health is not something I take lightly so give Tiux a try.

Happy New Year and may you have nothing but a healthy 2015!

Tell me about you. Do you wear compression as part of your athletic recovery? Will you give Tiux a try or have you? What are your big plans for the upcoming year?

Until the next mile marker,

It’s been Two Years.

July 18, 2014 by Sara- Words to Run By Blog

I am two years into my recovery from a DVT and subsequent massive PE that occurred in early June 2012. The incident left me reeling – not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well.

It is difficult to explain what this recovery was like. It was not like taking six, eight or even 12 weeks off for a stress fracture or shoulder surgery. It’s not like having the flu or bronchitis or pneumonia that just won’t go away. It’s not like fighting an infection or a nagging running injury. No matter how much you think it might be, it’s just not. What it is like (so I’ve been told via comparison) is going through chemotherapy, recovering from a heart attack or learning to live again after a stroke. Cancer. Heart Attack. Stroke. Blood Clots. Except recognition of the last one comes far less often than the predecessors.

Public awareness of the signs, symptoms, risk factors and effects of blood clots are are not widely known, both is the public and medical sectors. Yet, blood clots kill an estimated 300,000 Americans each year (source), which is more lives than those claimed by AIDS, car accidents and breast cancer combined. Blood clots are also the leading cause of preventable hospital deaths. Every six minutes someone in this country will die of a PE, or blood clot in the lung. The lifelong effects of a DVT, or blood clot in the leg, can be devastating and far-reaching ranging from constant pain and swelling to skin ulcers physically and PTSD emotionally. Often, a diagnosis of a DVT or PE is a result of an underlying condition, sometimes previously unknown, such as hereditary or autoimmune clotting factors, lupus or cancer. Sometimes, the diagnoses of a DVT or PE comes as a result of pregnancy, sitting for long periods, smoking or weight gain. Sometimes, the diagnosis of DVT or PE comes out of the blue. Blood clots can happen to anyone, of any size and physical ability, at any age.

At my two-year follow-up, my hematologist stopped what he was doing and said to me, “You look like I imagine you did before this happened to you. I didn’t know you then, but I imagine this is more of the real you.” He was silent for a moment and then continued, “I just don’t see many people come back from as ill as you were. You’re really lucky to be here.”

Two years post-PE, I would agree that I am physically recovered from what happened to me. I can breathe without oxygen, walk without assistance and get out of bed every day. While I am not back to running yet, I feel like I could start exercising to the best of my ability again. Before this time, the desire to even try was gone. To say I am “healed” is another story. I will constantly need to have my blood monitored via intravenous draw (weekly to monthly) to monitor my blood clotting levels due to the disease that caused them to go awry in the first place; manage medication; deal with continuous pain and swelling in my affected leg, chronic fatigue and constantly be under the watchful eye of specialists for diseases like Lupus, mixed connective tissue disorder and rheumatoid arthritis, not to mention another clotting incident. I know running saved me physically. I believe training for long distances and being healthy before this happened is what helped my body physically overcome what is the worst thing to have ever happened to it.

Two years post-PE I would agree that I am very much in the middle of recovering from the emotional and psychological trauma of DVT and PE. I am nowhere near recovered from that – and I don’t yet anticipate when I will be.

Talking about what happened to me and advocating for increased blood clot awareness has become a primary focus in my life. I find that most people do not know what a DVT and/or PE is and if they do, they do not think it is something that could ever happen to them. I find that the athletic and health communities in particular – communities that I am still very much engaged in – are particularly unaware of the dangers associated with blood clots. Perhaps most frightening is that people just do not know what the symptoms of these conditions are, more proof that we need more awareness. I am grateful to have recently had the opportunity to share my story and awareness efforts in an interview with Everyday Health as part of my ongoing efforts. Please read and share!

While I have come so far in my recovery, I have some distance to go, but I know there is hope for the future. Hope that I will continue to recover and hope that the world will get out about blood clots, their symptoms and their devastating, often deadly effects. And, while I will always face the burden of health and an uncertain future in terms of it, I know I also have much to be grateful for. I am one of the lucky ones who survived.

Tell me about you. What has been the toughest recovery period of your life? How have you overcome physical struggles? Mental struggles? Did you previously know about DVT and PE?

Until the next mile marker,

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Blood Clots (DVT and PE)

Post-Thrombotic Syndrome: ‘Good Things in Life are Hard to Find’

April 3, 2013 by Sara- Words to Run By Blog

I try to see the good in life, but good things in life are hard to find. Especially when facing the unknown of post-thrombotic syndrome.

I was blown away. It’s been almost ten months since I was admitted to the emergency room in the middle of the night with a DVT (blood clot in the leg) and PE (blood clot in the lung). That’s almost one year. That’s almost halfway through the projected recovery time.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about, wonder about, feel or cope with what happened to me. Even when I try not to think about it (or happen not to), something reminds me about it. I get a pain in my calf or out of breath walking up the stairs. I sneeze and my lung cramps or I laugh too hard and start coughing. Usually, I’m reminded of what happened as soon as I wake up in the morning and stand on my feet before I can hobble down the stairs. One aching step at the time. The pain starts in my toes and spreads up my calf from there, a dull throbbing before the blood gets circulating as best it can.

My groin area is clear of blood clots now and should continue to be as long as I am on blood thinners, which is good – the farther away from my heart, lungs and brain the better. But, you see, I still have a chronic clot in the femoral vein of my left leg, right behind the knee cap. It may never go away. It is completely up to the body to either a) dissolve the clot, b) turn it to scar tissue so it can bore a new path through it or c) neither of these. Blood thinners don’t “heal” a blood clot. They just prevent more from forming, hopefully. I’m still waiting to see what my body decides to do. Neither I nor the field of medicine gets a say.

A constant reminder.

You’ve taken away everything, and I can’t deal with that. Just when things start to get better, another layer of worse gets thrown in the mix. I am dealing with the early effects of Post-thrombotic Syndrome or Venous Stress Disorder or PTS.

While some people who have had a DVT recover completely, others may be left with some symptoms in leg like swelling, pain, aching, heaviness, and cramping due to disrupted blood flow. The pain and swelling can be disabling. Symptoms in the legs are typically worse after standing for a long time. A compression stocking, although very unfashionable, helps the pain and swelling. In severe cases, breakdown of the skin and fat may occur and ulcers may form.

For me, the emotional effects are most overwhelming right now. I’ve had to adjust my level of expectations, at least for the time being, and allow for my leg and lung slowly recover. I was already bad at adjusting expectations, in particular lowering them. I hold myself to a high standard – in life and in running. I can’t expect to run like I did, yet, I do. As I get closer to the anniversary of my PE, I can’t sleep; I toss and turn or wake up gasping for air, afraid I am suffocating again. My mind is hard to quiet; my pulse races and I have to remind myself of where and when it is.

Being strong, holding on. Can’t let it bring us down. As I move through recovery – sometimes things are foggy, and other times, things are clear as day. I spend a lot of time thinking and wondering and hoping things get better. And I have no choice but to look at this as a new phase of healing, something I have to go through to get to the end result. I can’t let my mind wonder “what if” for very long. The what if’s are unimaginable and the things that tend to keep me up at night.

It’s not over.

Until the next mile marker,

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Blood Clots (DVT and PE), Running

A Matter of Perspective

February 19, 2013 by Sara- Words to Run By Blog

Running is hard.

Starting over is hard.

Starting over running is very hard.

What’s that quote about if it were easy, everyone would be out there doing it? There are a lot of people out there running; maybe I am making it too hard.

I don’t know how I ever ran a half marathon, a marathon or any other thing I ever ran.

I’ve thought about giving up many times since I started over with running. More times than I’ve thought, “I can’t wait to run today!” It would be easy to give up, actually; blaming it on getting sick and reduced lung capacity and constant pain in my calf and well, near death, but I can’t give up.

Something inside won’t let me.

It’s been hard before. I’ve struggled through runs and learning to breathe and moving on aching legs. Then why does this feel different somehow? Harder. I’ve thought, “I’m not good at this,” “I’ll never get back to where I was,” and “This is way too hard to be worth it.”

Then, just like that, someone puts it back into perspective for me. It’s like adjusting the view on binoculars. Everything’s a blur until you find the right focus.

Only eight months ago I was in the cardiac ICU for a blood clot in my lung.

Only eight months ago I couldn’t walk, use the bathroom or bathe on my own.

Only eight months ago I left the hospital in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank.

It took me an hour to run-walk three miles on Sunday. But I finished.

Maybe running is supposed to be hard right now. Maybe I am right where I need to be.

Until the next mile marker,

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Blood Clots (DVT and PE), Running

FruitFast: What’s It All About Anyway?

August 22, 2012 by Sara- Words to Run By Blog

It’s easy to get caught up in – if not completely confused by – all of the food and beverage trends of today. Instead of making simple, wholesome choices when it comes to what we put in our mouths, we are sometimes quick to jump on the bandwagon of what science claims is the most recently beneficial product. It can become complicated and overwhelming enough to stay on top of health and nutritional research that we may lose sight of what is really important – eating and drinking for health. Sometimes, the answer is right before our very eyes, plain and simple.

Take for example, tart cherries. After years of being in the shadow of other fruits, tart cherries are quickly emerging as a super fruit of today and yet, they are homegrown and a rich part of America’s history (Source: Washington State University Tart Cherry Research). Cherries were first brought to America by ship with early settlers in the 1600’s. French colonists began planting down into the Great Lakes area as they established such cities as Detroit, Vincennes, and other Midwestern settlements. Cherry gardens were also cultivated in the Northwestern part of the United States.

And, the orchards are still producing today. Located in Northwest Michigan, Brownwood Acres and FruitFast are as much a part of the rolling orchards of today as the very fruit they use in their line of healthy fruit snacks, drinks and supplements. What began as a roadside fruit stand in 1945, has now developed an internationally recognized product line that is based in this regional area of harvest of Montmorency Tart Cherries.

I was recently given the opportunity to review Brownwood Acres’ CherryFlex Products, which is how I began learning more about cherries.

I had previously heard they were good for you because of their rich color as with many other fruits, but soon discovered tart cherries actually provide a multitude of health benefits:

Supports Cardiovascular Function*
Speeds Relief From Muscle Fatigue Post Exercise*
Supports Healthy Joint Function*
Helps Maintain a Healthy Sleep Cycle* (contains natural melatonin)
Supports a Healthy Immune System*

( * The FDA requires that CherryFlex put an asterisk next to those facts with the statement: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.)

So, what makes tart cherries so healthy? They contain a unique package of antioxidants and beneficial phytonutrients, including anthocyanins – the pigments that give cherries their bright red color.

You can definitely see the rich color in the CherryFlex FruitFast Fruit Supplement Bars:

These bars have 103 calories, 20 carbs, 6 grams of sugar and 18 grams of fiber.One bar provides two of your five recommended daily fruits. The ingredients are 100 percent fruit and no additives or extra sugars.

It took me a few times to get used to the bars. They are very tart and if you are expecting a sweet cherry (which apparently I was) the tartness will make you pucker. I especially like the texture – it reminds me of a condensed fruit rollup, but with a lot more flavor and slightly moist. I’ve been carrying them in my bag as a quick go-to snack that is healthy and provides great nutritional benefits.

And even though I am not training right now, I also tried the CherryFlex ProSport Shot, which is a Tart Cherry Gel. This product is my favorite as far as taste goes, and I only wish I could also test out how it makes me feel on a run. What I love about this gel (compared to others that I usually take, such as GU) is that it does not have a bunch of things I can’t pronounce added to it to preserve it. It contains Tart Cherries and glycerin. That’s it. It is 30 calories with only 3 grams of sugar and 7 carbs for one shot. I love the taste too. It is still tart, but I think I would find it completely refreshing on a run and not so overladen with sugar that I also feel like I have to guzzle a gallon of water to stomach it.

So, what exactly is CherryFlex and what makes it different than other cherry products that are currently available?

Per FruitFast, when they make their products they use a proprietary process that captures the goodness of the entire fruit. CherryFlex is a super-concentrated paste made the skin and pulp of tart cherries – which are both very good things for your body because it is where most of the nutrients are. It allows you to get your daily dose of cherries in a super convenient form, and is a much more cost-effective than having to drink Tart Cherry Concentrate every day.

CherryFlex Paste is the main ingredient in the Fruit Bars and ProSport Shots that I tried as well as the Softgels, Liquid Supplement, and CherryFlex Whole Fruit Gel, which are other products they offer as well. And, they carry Pomegranate and Blueberry supplements that they use the same process to make as CherryFlex to create a concentrated, all-natural, whole-fruit paste.

CherryFlex is different because:

CherryFlex use the whole fruit of the cherry – skin and the pulp included.
Whole-fruit paste is easier for your body to digest than a powder pill
It’s not a freeze-dried powder. Powder-filled capsules contain freeze dried bits of Cherries which are difficult for the body to digest before passing. They also contain additives such as silicon dioxide or magnesium stearate, both of which are known to be toxic.
100% pure and all-natural
No artificial colors or flavorings
The fruit is not exposed to high temperatures that can deplete nutritional value
Only CherryFlex’s specialized process gets more nutritional value from the cherry
Made in (the U.S.A.!) Traverse City from Michigan Montmorency Tart Cherries

In addition, FruitFast provides a Certificate of Nutritional Analysis for their CherryFlex products, which some other companies don’t (or simply won’t) provide. I personally look for this kind of thing when I a shopping for new products because I want to know exactly what I am putting in my mouth. I am more inclined to pay a little more for good nutrition to know exactly what I am fueling my body with. The cost of the shots is comparable to GU and the bars run at about $14 for a box of eight. Don’t forget shipping too.

Emerging research is showing that tart Cherries are good for us for other reasons besides the rich antioxidants and fruit-based nutrition they provide. There have been specific studies done about CherryFlex benefits for runners. CherryFlex supplementation used prior to and during eccentric exercise may have a protective effect on oxidative stress, inflammation, range of motion, contractile force loss, and perceived pain. This is especially interesting to me since not only do I have ongoing problems with my knee, but right now my body is battling inflammation in a major way. Part of diagnosing what is actually wrong with me is figuring out what I am experiencing all of this inflammation in my lungs. Sure, steroids are great for the short term because I can breath and get some sleep, but it is not a permanent solution. I would like to try the CherryFlex juices or soft gels as a regular supplement and see if I notice any changes in my body.

While FruitFast and Brownwood Acres may be internationally known, they still remain a family business today, which is more than evident in their customer service. I first got involved with FruitFast when they were hosting their Run Into Summer Giveaway of a Garmin 305. I was interested in their products then because I had heard about the health benefits of fruit, specifically dark fruits like cherries, and was thinking about trying it specifically for my knees. Now, I think it would be a good supplement to take for overall health joint and tissue health. I was more than impressed with the customer service I received when inquiring about the products including prompt response times to my emails and detailed product information, some of which I have included in this review. I was also advised that I could call FruitFast anytime to ask more questions or request additional information for my review, which is something that has previously been unheard of to me when I given a product to review. Typically, I am given a specific set of information, which is helpful of course, but not much beyond that. I find the information provided to me by FruitFast is exactly what I needed to provide all of you with this review.

Please check out FruitFast on Facebook and Twitter too. I have had great interactions with them on these social medial platforms as well and find helpful running and nutritional information as well as customer comments through the FruitFast Twitter feed. The website is literally packed with information, easy to navigate and aesthetically pleasing (like now I want to eat cherries) and I would highly recommend doing some of your own reading about these products. I have found myself going back to the website numerous times to find out more.

I hope you will consider FruitFast CherryFlex as an wholesome and alternative supplement to help your joints (and your body) get the nutritional and health benefits that each deserve.

Until the next mile marker,

*Please note, I was not compensated in any manner for this review. FruitFast Fruit Bars and ProSport Shots were given to me in exchange for my honest opinion. The views expressed in this review are solely my own.