Damn, I'm stuffed then, having had contralateral BC, and thus surgery on
both sides. Does it say this officially somewhere?

It's supposed to be a possible trigger for lympheodema.

I really think nobody knows ... give them time though, give them time.

Mary

. . .

. . .

Golly, Tim, I can't imagine what will've led you to believe I might have
an opinion on this subject . . . other than my previous 3,724 rants on
ASCB about it, I mean! <G>  Here comes #3,725:

Virtually every "lymphedema precautions" list in the known universe will
include something like "don't lift over 10 pounds" (sometimes 5 or 15),
or "no repetitive-resistance upper body exercise".  Doctors often give
such lists to their patients.  Prudent people should believe their
doctors, right?

But these sounded like severe handicaps to me, since I live alone and
need to lift things, I love to canoe, etc.  I asked my surgeon about
weight-lifting.  Basically, he said "these lists are made by people in
lymphedema clinics who see people with lymphedema, and try to figure out
why they got it.  They never see all the people who do those same things
and don't get lymphedema.  Just start slowly, build up slowly, and don't
abruptly do anything extreme."

Then, I started reading any research I could find on the subject.  There
isn't much -- the precautions seem (as he suggested) largely anecdotal
in basis.  What research I found was of marginal quality (e.g.,
retrospective rather than prospective, small sample sizes, obviously
can't do blind studies, etc.).

However, I was able to find *no* research supporting the contention that
physical exertion causes/triggers lymphedema.  One of the better-quality
studies looked at lymphedema correlation with physically-strenuous jobs
or hobbies.  No correlation found.

Overall, there seemed to be -some- evidence correlating lymphedema with
two things:  Trauma to the affected arm, and weight gain after surgery.

Anecdotally, there are now hundreds of women participating in breast
cancer survivor dragon boating teams (i.e., paddling giant 22-woman
canoe-like boats in races).  There are at least dozens, including me,
participating in a growing number of breast cancer survivor rowing
(crew) teams.  Sounds like repetitive-resistance upper body exercise to
me!  No increased incidence of lymphedema has been observed in these women.

My rowing team now has 40 women on the roster.  No new cases of
lymphedema have developed in the group.

Personally, while I'm slacking off badly right now, in the past I've
done regular weight training, lifting to failure (i.e., until I can't
lift any more), both at high reps/low weights, and low reps/high
weights, and a few max tests (lift increasing weight for one rep until
you can't lift a higher weight).  I'm simply careful to progress in
weight or reps gradually, and get adequate rest between workouts, to
avoid injury to my affected arm.

I also know other BC survivors who weight train.  No sign of lymphedema.

A bunch of women on my rowing team are enrolled in a study at Dana
Farber Cancer Center that should produce better-quality research
results.  They're comparing rowers (including those who, like me,
started rowing post-BC) with non-rowers to look at relative incidence of
lymphedema in the two groups.   There's a general-audience article about
this at:

http://www.dana-farber.org/res/research/diet-exercise-4.asp

Since doctors have mixed opinions about exercise & lymphedema (from
"don't do it" to "exercise helps avoid lymphedema") this is an area
where I think each woman should do her own reading & research & decide
how she feels comfortable proceeding.

You can probably tell what I decided <grin>.

Ann T.
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