Hello,

I would like to hear from anybody who does yoga.  Have you found it to be helpful for coping with your masto?  Has it helped your symptoms?

I have found that it seems to help.  Following my most recent flare up, I have decided to try to do some yoga in the morning and at night to see if helps to alleviate stress, as well as some of the nervous system and low blood pressure symptoms I experience from the masto.  For me, early mornings are the WORST, right after I wake up!!!  I feel like I got hit by a truck most days, with low blood pressure, achy, dragging to the max!

For those of you who would like to try it, I just got a beginning yoga tape by Rodney Yee that seemed to fit the bill.  He's a good teacher, and really brings out the subtle points.  He is also very good at instructing relaxation.  I am hoping that learning active relaxation will be useful for calming me down when I start to get shock symptoms.  Here's the link to it on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Rodney-Yees-Yoga-Beginners-Yee/dp/B001F76OKC/ref=sr_1_2?ie...

It has a 40 minute section on how to do the basic poses (which was informative for me, even though I have done it quite a bit before), It also has a 20 minute practice for the morning and a 15 minute portion for the evening:  short and sweet to get you going in the morning and for after work, when you need a "stress-detox".  

I am going to give it a try for a few weeks and see if doing yoga helps me over the rough spot that I am experiencing right now.  If anyone has any other good DVD's or information that they would like to share, or perhaps your own personal experience doing yoga, please let me know.

I think I will MOST DEFINITELY avoid the type of yoga that you do in a hot room... not such a good idea for masto folks... can't get that core temp too high or we could shock out.

Thanks!

YAY Ramona!  I am so proud of you!!!   Go for it girl!!!You can start very slowly, move at your own pace, even it is only to go back and review deep breathing.  Then do things that you can do while you sit down, then  the poses you do on the floor, etc... That is what I do.  I work my way up to what I can do, and pass on those things I can't and save them for a later day when I get stronger.

I try to do some of the relaxation techniques I learned through yoga and mindfullness meditation whenever I feel the symptoms coming on. I take a Benedryl, and put my epipen and cell phone close by and say a good prayer for the Lord to take care of me.  Then I will  lay down, then prop my feet up over my heart with pillows so that I don't pass out.  I then start to do the deep breathing and focus on relaxing my body, each muscle, just like in yoga class when we did guided relaxation.  This helps me not be so afraid when symptoms are  happening, and keeps the heart rate down. I am hoping that if I do yoga, some prayer, and meditation each day, I will get better and better at relaxing myself so that when I get more serious symptoms, I won't panic and add to the elevated heart rate.  I will just drop automatically into my natural relaxation, and that will make me better able to take more medicine or epipen, and call 911 if needed.

I'm glad to see you talking about yoga. I did yoga for many years, but in the last few that I have been much more sick, I haven't been going to classes. I know I need to start again, as it always makes a difference for me.

I especially like the restorative yoga, where you hold the poses for a long time, supported by props. This is so good for supporting the adrenals and the immune system.

One of the good things about yoga, is that there are a variety of styles. I used to do Iyengar, which is very active and aggressive. That is too hard for me now, but there are much gentler styles to build strength back up. Now I just need to do it!

Jilli, how hard are the poses in the Rodney Yee DVD? I find it helps a lot to have some company. I like classes, but can't always keep up now, so DVDs might be a good choice to get motivated. What kind of poses is he using in the two practices he has on this one?

Hello!!

Keeping up with my yoga and it seems to be helping!  I found this great DVD  by Rodney Yee on meditation and breathing (calms me down).  I really like it a lot! This is very well filmed, great scenary, calming music,and the everthing is well explained.

http://www.amazon.com/Relaxation-Breathing-Meditation-Rodney-Yee/dp/B000094J6K/r...

I got stressed out this past week and started to feel the masto symptoms kicking in BIGTIME.  I did this DVD and then I started to feel better.  I think it nipped the stress "in the bud" so to speak, and got me more relaxed again.  I am hoping this will cut down on the triggering.  I am hoping some of these breathing techniques will help if I start to go into an attack.  Trying not to panic when it gets really bad.

You might want to give this a try if the stress is a trigger for you.  

I can't say enough about how much yoga helps my mind and body.  It was a mainstay for feeling better during my many undiagnosed years.  I sometimes have to wait until later in the morning, but earlier in the day seems to help me feel better ALL day.  Gentle stretching helps me sleep, because it reduces pain.

Be careful to begin slowly.  I use some routines that I DVR from my satellite TV.  I think it's FIT-TV station.  Most exercise channels have some yoga programming.  Some routines start with some poses for beginners and get progressively harder towards the end.  If I'm having a bad day, I just stop when it gets too difficult and do the first part of a different show.

If you've never done yoga before, it's a good idea to go to a weekly class for a few months so you learn correct ways to position yourself.  Otherwise, you can cause injury.  Once you learn how to get the most from the poses, safely, you can do it at home.  If you have exercise induced problems, take your meds an hour before you begin.

Also be aware that backbends can trigger an adrenalin release, so be gentle on yourself with those until you get used to it.