Author: lulusocratous

Winter Wellbeing

~ lulusocratous ~ Leave a comment

It’s lurgy time folks!

Unless planing on locking ourselves away over the next four months,  it’s time to up the ante on our wellbeing regime, giving our lovely bodies everything they need to help fight the winter germs, bugs and viruses lingering around every corner.

It’s far wiser to prepare ahead for the ‘lurgy months’, so when coming into contact with these nasties, we are better able to fight back.  Prevention is, as they, say better then cure.  Especially since cure and recovery from bugs is a lot harder for us then our healthier friends.

If you’ve just finished treatment, your immune system is shot to pieces and you will need to be extra extra careful.  The first winter after my treatment finished, I kept public transport and crowded places to an absolute minimum.  Long term however, this isn’t necessary, and as we get stronger, there are other ways to protect ourselves whilst being out in the big wide world.

This kind of yearly winter maintenance is especially important if any of your major organs have been operated on or removed.  For example, I no longer have a spleen, which automatically means a compromised immune system.  Plus, most of my pancreas has been removed and liver affected, both compromising my body’s digestion of food and nutrients, which of course has implications on how I cope with the lurgy.

In a series of ‘Winter Wellbeing’ posts, I will share with you the things I’m focusing on for optimum protection.  Starting with a cracking tip I’m pushing onto anyone and everyone that will listen.  That is to drink a large mug of hot water with lemon, turmeric, ginger and honey at least once a day.  Why? Well, here’s the science bit:

overall

Turmeric contains a compound called curcumin.  Curcumin increases levels of a protein called CAMP that helps the immune system to fight off bacteria, viruses and fungi the first time they try to attack. How cool is that!?

Lemons have immune-boosting ingredients called pectin & limonene and the main ingredient in Ginger is Zingiber.  Combine these together and you get a powerful combo which helps prevent bacterial infections.

Honey is much needed in this drink to add natural sweetness and balance the other ingredients, but it also adds its own goodness by aiding in the production of white blood cells – and we need those to fight infections.

How can you not love the sound of all that natural help!

You will find all sorts of recipes on-line with different ratios of these four ingredients, some even suggest pots and strainers.  I’m far too lazy for all that.  I mix everything in a mug and pour over boiling water from the kettle, meaning it takes no more time then making a normal cuppa.  As for a recipe, it really is all down to taste, I encourage you to come up with your own ratio catered to your own palette.  Here’s what I do…

1. Squeeze half a lemon into the biggest mug you can find

Turmeric

2. Add half a teaspoon of turmeric to the lemon and mix with teaspoon

Lemon and turmeric mix

3. Throw in chopped ginger

ginger

4. Poor boiling water

5. Finally add a teaspoon of honey, or to taste

Honey

Once you’ve got used to the taste of the turmeric you can add a bit more each time, you know when you’ve put too much when the tonic becomes bitter.

Cuppa

Drink when hot, as the turmeric isn’t so nice once cooled.

On days I’m home for a long period of time, I keep a board with all the ingredients chopped and ready next to the kettle, and keep topping up throughout the day.

Happy health.

Lulu x

Bathing Beauty

~ lulusocratous ~ 2 Comments

I lost patience with leisurely bathing in my 20’s, preferring instead, the shower experience.  Whether that be routine morning washes, or more epic spa sessions in the evening and weekends, including music, tea, loofahs and various nourishing masks.

At my dad’s encouragement, I half-heartedly entertained taking baths during the early chemo days to relax achy muscles, and I have to admit they did work a treat.  However, these soon came to an end after surgery.  It took me about a year to accept the scar across my abdomen, and during that time I avoided being confronted by it.  Showers were easier to cope with emotionally, as I could look ahead and not down at the body I hated.  Then came further body image issues, again, preventing me wanting to spend more time then necessary looking at myself.  Grooming became a hygiene and functional routine; all romance around pampering had gone.

Fast forward, and a lot of therapy later, I’m back to enjoying and indulging my new body.  Part of that is getting back into the ritual and benefits of bathing.  As we approach winter, this seems like the perfect time for this.

Baths are obviously mentally and physically relaxing, but there are more great health benefits important to cancer recovery.

Bathing benefits

  • Mentally, it forces you to take some ‘me time’ and relax.
  • Warm temperatures, opens pores and encourages sweating out 0f toxins.
  • Relieves muscular aches and pains.
  • Lowers blood pressure.
  • Helps bowel movement.
  • After a lot of bed rest, bathing is an easy way to increases blood circulation which helps nourish damaged cells.
  • On days when your skin is highly sensitive post treatment, the added sensation of the shower pressure might me too much. Having a quick dip is a gentler way to cleanse – it doesn’t always have to be a 10-20 mins soak.
  • Salts and oils will help soften and moisturise chemically dehydrated skin deeper then just moisturising with creams. This helps with the premature signs of aging bought on by a lot of the drugs and chemicals.

Added Extras

It’s all about the accessories!  The thing I enjoy most, and makes me look forward to my new bath time routine is playing with all the added extras.  There are endless salts and oils to try, each offering different health and nourishing benefits from the outside in.  You can invigorate, detoxify, moisturise or relax – take your pick.

Epsom salt is a brilliant place to start, it’s widely available and doesn’t break the bank.

Epsom Salt

Epsom salt is a pure mineral compound – magnesium sulphate.

Magnesium is amazing for our liver, which takes a battering during treatment and often full of dead cells  + it helps your bones absorb calcium.

Sulphate plays a vital role in cell formation + helps your body detoxify from chemicals and drugs.

We can consume magnesium through seeds, greens and of course supplements.  Sulphate on the other-hand is not easily available through diet, but is easily absorbed through the skin.

We’ve already said the bath experience helps with aches and pains, adding Epsom Salt gives further relief when things flare up.  It’s also great for cramps and any swelling.

Bath-time tips for recovery

Find a warm but easy temperature – be careful not to have a hot hot bath during recovery, which is especially tempting as the cold sets in.  Really hot temperatures make our bodies work harder, which we’re trying to avoid. If the water is too hot, your circulatory system needs to work harder at controlling your inner temperature and you could end up suffering from heat exhaustion as a result.

During recovery stay away from the hot bath / cold shower combo, as this could be dangerous when your vital organs aren’t working to full capacity, and unable to step up to the added pressure.

Resist the urge to submerge – a good trick to not over-heat is to keep your neck and head above water.  Keep bath time for nourishing and therapy, as opposed to washing from head to toe.

Your nervous system will need a few hours to calm down post bath, and if the water is too hot you might not be able to sleep straight after.  Try bathing at different times of the day to find which works best for your body and routine, ideally giving yourself plenty of time afterwards for your nervous system to calm down.

Hydration! Up your water intake before and after bathing.  I prefer hydrating with herbal teas afterwards, adding to the overall pampering experience.

If you’ve just finished treatment and on the wobbly side, please take extra care getting in and out of the bath.  It’s advisable to wait until someone else is at home with you, in case you need an extra helping hand, or wait until your stronger days.

Happy bathing and watch this space for more tips on bathing accessories.

Lulu x

A beauty tip from my Little Black Book

~ lulusocratous ~ 4 Comments

I had a cocktail of different chemo drugs, each with their own list of side-affects but I was very lucky that none of them caused complete hair loss. There was a lot of hair thinning, and I did start loosing it along the hair line on the second round of treatment (post surgery), by which stage my hair became quite damaged and brittle.  My rich curls gave way to a wiry mess, neither straight or curly and would break at touch.

After treatment, I chopped it short and kept cutting to stimulate growth and cut out the affected hair.  It’s taken a while to bring those bouncy locks back to life, it’s taken a change of hairdressers and all sorts of attempts at miracle ‘hair fixers’.  And now I’m finally at the stage at growing it again. Happy days!

I’ve had a lot of interest in post treatment hair management, which I will be covering.  Today I’m starting with the less obvious choice – the hair on my face. My eyebrows!  ‘cos these thinned out a fair bit too.

During treatment, I shaped them when I could with the odd threading appointment but on the whole left them to do their own thing, catching stray hairs in DIY jobs at times of bed ridden rest.  With the whole Cara Delevingne look in Vogue, I got away with it looking more like a fashion statement then laziness.

Tweezerman

Coming out of treatment and wanting to start grooming properly again, I knew eyebrows were a good place to start.  A simple eyebrow shaping session can lift the whole face and make a big difference.  Eyebrows frame the eyes, and work with your cheek-bones to structure the face. Even without much make-up, you will look groomed and polished. However, no one seemed to get it right.  I went to all the threading bars I visited pre-treatment, but always came away with rounded weak eyebrows – and although they weren’t awful, they never gave the subtle lift to the face that a good job does.

benefit-browzings-kit
Benefit Brow Zings Shaping Kit

I spent most of last year making up for this with Benefit Brow Zings Shaping Kit, which is a wax and powder combo.  It ‘s a great cheat product, which I highly recommend.  However, I wear substantially less make-up these days and there are times I want the groomed look without having to reach for the make-up bag, so I even started to look into eyebrow implants. Yep, who knew such a thing existed?! Honestly, there’s a procedure for everything these days!

Not convinced I wanted to go down the needle route (it seemed quite drastic), I parked the idea for a while.  It was during this time I stumbled across a post on instagram by George Northwood (a salon I lust after) on a new eyebrow service.  On impulse, I booked myself in and am so glad I did.  With simple tweezing and tint, a wonderful lady called Magda gave me back the brows I use to have.  Moving away from the rounded shape that threaders tend to navigate to (unless you tell them otherwise), Magda worked with my natural arch.  Plus, the addition of a tint gave the illusion of fullness without any product.  Overall, it was natural and lifting.  People commented on how well I looked, unable to pin-point what had changed – now that’s what a good eyebrow job is suppose to do!

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Magda also used an Eyeko pen to give that added fuller affect.  I never thought of using a pen before, it lightly colours the skin on any patchy areas and gives a lighter affect then the pencil I was use to.  Using product is particularly good on make-up days, to complete the overall look.  However, once home, I personally didn’t have a great experience with this Eyeko product.

After one use, the pen dried out. I returned it, got a replacement and it happened again.  This time it was explained to me that I shouldn’t use the pen on a brow covered in face powder or foundation – that I need to clean the brow with a cotton bud before applying.  That made sense, so off I went – with the same replacement pen, which I haven’t used since as it’s still dried out.  I always ‘click’ the cap back on and keep it in it’s original box out of sunlight, so I’m quitting with this particular brand and back on the hunt for another pen.  Any recommendations welcome.  In the meantime the shape and tint alone is strong enough without an additional product, so I’m in no mad rush.

If you’re starting to think about personal grooming again, or want a little pick me up for the festive season, my advice is to start with an eyebrow session.  Seek out a local beauty therapist who will take the time to sit and talk with you, tell them your story and what you’re after. It’s their job to know the best brow shape for your face, so let them advise you here. If you’re not happy with what you come back with, move on to the next salon until you find the right one.

A good indicator of the beauty therapist’s work is her own eyebrows.  If they are over-plucked / over made-up / too dark, make your excuses and get outta there.

If you are in the London area, I highly recommend Magda at George Northwood.

Address: 24 Wells Street, London, W1T 3PH

Tel: 020 7580 8195

Talking of which, I’ve got to love you and leave you to scoot over there now for my very own appointment.

Lulu xx

Dry Brushing: Helping your body detoxify after treatment

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I’ve been an avid dry brusher for 18 years.  In fact I’m a little evangelical about it, to the point where I nearly bought everyone a dry brush for Christmas a few years ago.

It’s as embedded into my morning routine as brushing my teeth, and only takes a couple of minutes.

You may find the feeling a little weird at first, stick with it, start with a couple of mornings a week and build up from there.  I do it every morning, but during the first year of recovery and even now when I’m not well, I try to up it to twice a day – morning and evening, to help my body as much as I can.

If you’ve just finished chemo, your skin may be highly sensitive and this will be too painful for you right now.  It’s a brilliant technique for recovery, so I urge you to give it a go – if it is too painful, put your brush aside and pick it up again in a months time.  Try it each month until the sensitivity has gone.

So what is the benefit of adding another 5-10 mins to your morning routine?

Dry brushing helps our largest organ – our skin, in its detoxiying process.  And since you are carrying all those treatment toxins for a year after you finish, it would be great to give your lovely body an extra helping hand – it has a lot of work to do.

Since we can’t look at our insides on a daily, weekly basis, our skin is the perfect indicator to what’s going on in there.  It shows us which organs need help and what they need.  After chemo and / or radio therapy, your blood, lymph and cells have all been zapped of goodness, and your organs are under lot of pressure to clean up the show and rejuvenate.  Part of this showing on the outside is your skin looking sad & dull and spots all over the place – we’ll talk about what spots mean next week.

  • Dry brushing helps shed dead skin cells, which not only encourages new cell renewal but it helps smooth and brighten the skin.
  • As with all types of exfoliation, when you rid the dead skin cells, your skin is better able to absorb moisturisor.  You’re probably moisturising all day every day post treatment as your skin is thirsty and dehydrated as hell – dry skin is another sign of the body detoxifying itself.
  • The brushing motion helps improve vascular blood circulation, lymphatic drainage and release toxins. Yeahi ! We want those poisons out of our body as quickly as possible.
  • Another thing to get excited about is that it helps strengthen the immune system.  It does this by stimulating the lymph vessels to drain toxic mucoid matter into organs of detoxification so we can purify our entire system.
  • The rough bristles stimulate the nerve endings in our skin, in turn stimulating our nervous system. It’s the sensitivity in our nerve endings post chemo that may make this a little painful at first.
  • After all those toxins and poisons, I bet your cellulite has hit a depressing new level.  Alongside other means, dry brushing also aids reduce the visibility of those toxin dimples.  The technique increases the blood flow, which moves the toxins to other detoxifying organs and lessens the appearance of cellulite on the top layer of the skin.

How you do it:

  • Get naked!
  • Start on dry skin before bathing – no water, hence ‘dry’ brushing.
  • Starting at your feet, take your brush and gently work it in gentle circular motions upwards.
  • After you’ve finished with the ankles, move up to the lower legs, thighs, stomach, back and arms.
  • On your limbs move the brush in long, smooth, gentle strokes.  Starting from the bottom of your feet upwards, and from the hands towards the shoulders, and on the torso in an upward direction help drain the lymph back to your heart.
  • Please be careful of any post surgery scars, it’s best to avoid this area for about a year until the skin is less raw.
  • Also, be super light on more sensitive areas where skin is thinner, such as your breasts.
  • That’s it! Super quick, super easy.
  • You’re now ready to step into the shower and wash away all those dead skin cells.
  • Finish this lovely routine with a layer of moisturisor.

Tips:

  • When I have time, I focus a few more additional minutes to my cellulite and up the pressure on the thighs and buttocks.
  • There were days during and immediately after treatment where my skin was so sensitive that even water from the shower hurt.  This does eventually go and when it does, you can add another little routine to your shower, which alongside the dry brushing invigorates the skin and stimulates blood circulation.  Dry brush, wash as normal, then finish your shower by ending it with three hot and cold cycles.  By this I mean turning on the water as hot as you can take it for several seconds, then as cold as you can handle it, then hot, then cold for three cycles.
  • Rinse your brush with warm water at the end of each week and dry it in the sun or on a radiator to avoid it getting mouldy.

Types of brushes:

  • Always go for a natural bristle bath brush – stay away from anything synthetic.
  • There tends to be two types:
No Handle
Long handle

I always go for the long handle version as it helps me reach my back.  It’s also a good idea in early days of recovery where you can’t bend down too much.

My personal favourite is a long handled cactus bath brush from The Body Shop at £10.

Be careful:

  • If you are recovering from skin cancer, please seek medical advice before trying this.
  • Do not use the brush on broken skin, rashes, or anything infectious.

Happy brushing!

Lulu x

Fatigue: An intro

Aside ~ ~ lulusocratous ~ 2 Comments

Happy Sunday!

2014-10-26 11.48.54

How did you enjoy your extra hour today?

For me, Sunday mornings are usually a forced rush out of bed to enjoy as much of Andrew Marr as possible, but this morning I was full of glee to be in front of the TV way ahead of Mr.Marr.  Having said that, it wasn’t a hop, skip and a jump getting there.  I woke up with moderate fatigue, which meant some mental work to get out of bed, and on to the sofa.  Once there, I sat and enjoyed the quiet and stillness of the morning with a mug of hot water and lemon (coffee is a no-no), breathed and had some gentle banter with myself.  That gave me a little more energy to make some porridge and watch a few hours of political programming until my body caught up with my brain.  At which point, it definitely was a hop skip and a jump into the shower (there was a little jig in there somewhere too).  And so my day has turned around with a little patience and kindness.

Five hours later, I am now very much enjoying that Sunday coffee and fulfilling the ambition of the day which was to write.  All it meant was I had to rethink how I spent the morning, give my body the time it needed, some boosting food and most importantly gentle words of encouragement.

This may sound like an easy healthy perspective, but it wasn’t easy to get here. Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) really tripped me up after treatment, it’s no exaggeration to go as far as to say it was a disabling.  It took over a year and a half to fully get control back and be able to enjoy a new normality.  It’s chronic, it’s still there, it’s something I have to manage meticulously every day, and by doing so I’m moving myself further away from it.

Fatigue is one of the biggest and long term side affects across all cancers, one that isn’t fully understood by medical professionals and often under-reported by patients to their specialists.  That was definitely true for me, I accepted it was part and package and never really gave it much time in my conversations with the hospital doctors, I felt there were bigger things which needed their attention.  As a result, I didn’t have any guidance on it apart from some general advice I found on the web.  Without fully understanding how it worked or management techniques, I spiraled to a very dark place, the lowest point in the whole journey.

I was prescribed access to my local Marie Curie centre for physiotherapy, and through that I gained a wonderful team of professionals to start combating this minefield.

Everyone experiences CRF differently, and to different degrees.  It’s caused by different factors; some of the cancers increase your body’s need for energy, which weaken your muscles /  chemo / radiotherapy / medication / anemia / operations / poor nutrition / lack of exercise / hormone therapy / emotional and mental wellbeing.

I have a hormone-based cancer which grew quietly and meant for three years prior to being diagnosed it was robbing me of a lot of energy, and my organs weren’t able to operate to their full capacity, meaning my body went into treatment already quite fatigued.  There were two rounds of chemo, major op and hormone therapy in the space of a year as well as dozens of weird and wonderful drugs, all of which bring fatigue with them.

I learnt enough from the Marie Curie team to start making pivotal changes to combat the fatigue, plus I had amazing daily support from a very special person who ‘got it’.  Even so, I was hostage to this condition mentally and physically until March this year – 1 year and 4 months after all medications stopped.  In March I started taking probiotics which assisted my gastric system and pancreas to start behaving.  Up until this point, I couldn’t keep food in for more then a few days at a time (at best), keeping my body and mind stuck in a state of fatigue and pain. Unable to absorb nutrition properly I was running on reserves constantly, preventing me from putting the building blokes of strength together from the inside out.  I finally find myself in the joyous and very blessed position to be able to that.  I know how very lucky I am to get here and I don’t take any of it for granted.

So that’s my background with CRF, I’d like to start the conversation about how I manage it.  It’s a big subject and will be a common thread throughout my posts, today is just setting the scene really for future conversations.

For those of you who are not recovering from cancer, it’s worth briefly explaining that fatigue and tiredness are two very different things.  In this day and age, we can all relate to tiredness from doing too much and / or not sleeping enough.  With tiredness you still have a fair bit of energy, your muscles feel weak (especially after work), you might feel forgetful and impatient but all in all these symptoms will pass with a good amount of rest (more rest the older you get). 

Apart from a longer list of symptoms, fatigue in contrast, can’t be eased by rest or a cup of coffee, in fact both of these make it far worse. For more information on CRF symptoms, see Macmillan  http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Livingwithandaftercancer/Symptomssideeffects/Fatigue/Aboutfatigue/Fatiguecancer.aspx

As well as the mental symptoms, for me it feels like I have been completely zapped of all energy, from my very core.  My limbs feel heavy and hollow and my body doesn’t engage with my brain.  An example of it at it’s worst is waking up from a a healthy sleep, brain fully engaged yet unable to raise my arm to answer the mobile phone on my bedside table.

In my mind’s eye, I see my energy bar like the one computer characters have at the bottom of the screen (or had, I haven’t played a computer game in over ten years).  Like those little characters, if I collect a piece of fruit, my energy goes further into the green and if I get hit by an arrow, it moves it towards the red.  When I dip into the red, the fatigue monster raises it’s ugly head.

Through many crashes, I’ve learned my apples from my arrows, the boosters from the zappers, and how to preserve a healthy green bar.  It’s not about only collecting the apples and avoiding the arrows, on the contrary it’s about balancing them out, making considered choices, keeping you in control.

Apples – energy boosters:

  • Wholesome natural food: fruit, veg, seeds, nuts, herbs and spices. Anything eaten in its natural form unmodified.
  • Additional supplements.
  • A healthy night sleep: between 6 – 8 hours uninterrupted.
  • Water, water, water. Because I can’t stress this enough and something I’m still not great at myself.
  • Rest  – you need to find your balance, as too much will become an energy zapper.
  • Exercise – again, if you do too much of the wrong type at your stage of recovery, it becomes an energy zapper.
  • Being generally active.
  • Relaxation and meditation.
  • Positive people who make you feel lifted after being in the company.

Arrows – energy zappers:

  • Processed food.
  • Caffeine.
  • Sugar.
  • Bad sleep or lack of.
  • Work.
  • Alcohol.
  • Cigarettes.
  • Medication.
  • Healing – inside and out.
  • General illness, like a cold or tummy bug.
  • Stress and anxiety.
  • Too much physical activity.
  • Negative people.
  • General socialising.
  • Too much rest.

I will write a post in November about how I manage the apples and arrows.  From now until then, if you’re suffering with CRF, try keeping a little log each day of:

  • What you eat and drink.
  • How much water you’ve consumed.
  • How much sleep you had and quality (something as simple as one – two – three stars), noting anything particularly disruptive.
  • What you did that day generally, top line, note form.
  • Fatigue levels / notes.

This may sound tedious but it’s a short term exercise that will pay off in the long run, I promise.

I enjoyed doing it at the end of each day, giving me something to do in bed to unwind instead of watching netflix.

This little log will help you see patterns you may have fallen into unknowingly – so you need to be honest with yourself.  It will identify your personal set of apples and arrows, so you can start making changes.

A month may sound like a long time, but it’s not really after everything you’ve been through.  I feel a month truly reflects your lifestyle and habits.  Ideally, and if you enjoy it, I’d highly recommend keeping the log going after you start making the changes enabling you to monitor the positive impact too.  Once you’re in full swing of your energy bar, this log becomes a boring pointless exercise and you’ll be able to put it in the bin.

Most of these energy boosters and zappers need a post of their own, and I will be covering them individually over time.

Wishing you a great evening.

Lulu x

First post – Pulling off the band aid

~ lulusocratous ~ 2 Comments

So,  I’ve been sitting on this ‘first post’ for a while, and it turns out I can add procrastination to the list of things I’m really rather good at.

“I’m not a writer” was a particular concern, until my friend Anna gave me some great advice and recommended I write each post as if talking to her.

“What do I start with?” has been the latest hold up, to which another friend Carly advised ‘start with just that’.

And now I’m all out of excuses.

Carly and Anna, thank you, I’ve done it, I’m here and posting. Yeahi me!

I have so many things to share with you all, it’s a bit overwhelming knowing where to start, so instead I thought I’d use this opportunity to tell you about the themes I’ll be covering and some teaser posts.

Fashion:– A series of posts will focus on rebuilding a comfy stylish wardrobe for the person you are now.  As well as flash posts with great finds whilst out and about, looking at current trends to keep you up to date in stylish clobber.

Up-coming posts: How to walk in heals again / Stylish lounge-wear / The emotional journey of getting dressed

Beauty:- Looking at beauty products and techniques to help bring your body back to its original glory.

Upcoming posts: The benefits of dry brushing / Restoring your pearly whites / Managing chemo curls

Food and nutrition:- Falling in love with food again after treatment, and learning to build energy from the inside out.  Sharing the nutritional and healing properties of food and drink to encourage a more ‘considered’ way of eating.

Upcoming posts: Healing tea / Emotional links to sugar / Moving away from old eating habits

Home & Leisure:- Helping you create and maintain your personal environment, to promote comfort, calm and well-being.

Upcoming posts: Aromatherapy candles / Cleaning without harsh chemicals / In with the new – making changes to refresh your home

Overall well-being:- And everything else from; Learning to exercise again / Sleep hygiene / Fatigue management / Meditation techniques / Getting your mojo back (wink wink)

I can’t wait to get going now and hope to inspire many of you on the cancer recovery road.

It’s a two-way conversation, so always feel free to comment or get in touch.

Lulu xx