Recovery Timeline and the Future

The time has come to make a short description of my recovery timeline as a whole. What to focus on in the beginning and so on. I think one can divide the recovery timeline into three parts from a moderate case perspective:

1.      Posture correction for a few months (it will lift the sternum quite rapidly according to my experience). I recommend to read “Short quick Start Guide”.

2.      Continue with the above (point 1) and do some exercises until the lowest part of the sternum is loosening up and a new way to breathe occurs (this may take several months or around a year).

3.      The beginning of the end of the recovery which includes a continuation of natural ergonomics, my latest sleeping strategy and sporadic exercises if necessary.

After all, the ultimate goal is to come to an end with the struggle against pectus excavatum. I have been thinking a lot lately, when I should not care about it anymore. I have started to be willing to accept a mild case. I must admit that my motivation have decreased dramatically mainly because of two reasons:

1.      I am sure about what causes PE and hope that it over time will lead to clinical studies based on my hard work so that people becomes aware about its causes and future development of PE among humanity will come to a minimum and of course a zero-vision is the ultimate thought.

2.      I have been fighting against difficulties with the breathing process as long as I can remember and when it finally come to an end it such a relief so a small dent don’t bother me in the same way it did before. The physical aspects with PE is what have bothered me most and a struggle against myths related to the condition. And not to mention the complete unwillingness to care about it from a Swedish-health-care-system-perspective. My struggle and my blog is the ultimate revenge and a proof that an impossible mission can be completed (from some aspects). That is how I view it.

Will I give up?

No. I will never give up. But the time has come to withdraw the declaration of war against PE. For me MY battle is over. If my PE will continue to improve, be so. But I am not willing to fight it the same way I did in the past.

Will I continue with my blog?

Yes. I have a lot more to tell especially about my experience in going to the gym. But also a lot of other things. After all, I will continue to develop new strategies and the site is under constant development.

Important to NOT Gain Weight

Or to be more precise: it is important to not put on weight on the stomach.

There are two reasons for that.

1.      My latest strategy “How to Lift Your Sternum During Sleep 4.0” will not work under such circumstances simply because the pressure from the brace will be focused on the belly instead of the ribs, with discomfort in the abdominal area as a result.

2.      The fat on the belly will cause a weight imbalance and make the thorax to lean backwards to compensate for the increased weight on the front of the body and will cause the muscles in the upper back to work in an unnatural way.

Overweight is usually not a problem for people with PE but as I earlier mentioned; I have made such great improvements to my condition so that the over activity in the breathing process is gone. I can barely feel that I breathe anymore, like it should be. The breathing process does not steal most of the calories anymore and as a result I have gained weight even though I don’t eat more calories. And the difference is dramatic. My recovery process have therefore been interrupted for a few weeks and I have made the decision to lose weight to see if the recovery process can continue. My condition is now classified as mild and the only thing I do at the moment (exept incline push-ups) is to focus on the latest sleeping strategy with the brace. Exercises works very well to a certain point but when the PE has become very mild it is better to almost completely focus on ergonomics and the latest sleeping strategy I think. That’s the only thing I do right now. With other words; exercises have a very limited effect on mild cases from my experience. What is mild PE? My definition of mild PE is that the flared ribs are almost gone and that it is possible to feel that the lowest part of the sternum is loosening up. At that point the sternum will probably be just a few millimeters indenting and the spine in the upper back has "disappeared" (the kyphosis is gone). The reason to continue with incline push-ups is that the pectoralis muscles in the upper chest is quite underdeveloped in people with PE and I will try to fix the muscular asymetry. It is also good for the posture and kyphosis.  

Overgrowth of Costal Cartilage the Cause of PE?

One of the biggest myths related to pectus excavatum is that overgrowth of costal cartilage is the cause of the condition. On some medical sites on the internet this is presented as a fact. But as usual when it comes to PE; no statistics and no clinical studies that can prove the claims. But there are actually some studies made. I first heard about “the rumor” about the cartilage around ten years ago, but as usual I never think that there is any reason to believe in “facts” which have not been proven. However the “fact” that PE is caused by overgrowth of cartilage, have been verified by a few people from the medical world and a study can now prove once and for all that:

Overgrowth of costal cartilage is not the etiology of pectus excavatum.

Link to the outcome of the study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20920721 

The purpose with this post is to contribute to that false information about pectus excavatum must be put to an end for the sake of those who suffer from this condition.

(The study was made a few years ago so some people whom read this probably know already).