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Posted on Aug 6, 2014, 8:54 pm
#201

LL doesn't affect your brain at all.  You can do LL if you've taken antidepressants in the past, and even if you are currently on antidepressants.  I was on antidepressants the whole time I was doing LL.  Three other LL patients I've met in person but won't name out of respect for their privacy also had a history of taking antidepressants, and nothing bad happened to them either.

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Posted on Aug 6, 2014, 9:24 pm
#202

This has probably been asked before, but what's the best way you can reduce the physical pain of LL?

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Posted on Aug 6, 2014, 11:26 pm
#203

People with thick legs seem to have more pain in general from LL, so I'd advise people to let their legs get skinny in the months before the surgery if they want to spare themselves some misery.

If pain pills aren't enough of a relief, in China they had a medicine called wood lock.  It caused a burning sensation that would distract you from the pain caused by the lengthening.

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Posted on Aug 7, 2014, 12:10 am
#204

oh dear, i have pretty thick legs Have questions you'd like to ask someone who had LL six years ago? Ask them here ok thanks for the answer!

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Posted on Aug 7, 2014, 12:16 am
#205

I can attest to the thing leg thing.

MDOW: Do you still have some minor stretch aches in your calfs or tendon in the mornings?

Could you easily stretch your calfs when you wake up(you know, pushing against a wall with one leg straight back. Entire foot on floor) without and discomfort?

Have you ever tried squats with heavy weights?(60-100kg or 200pound)

Did you ever had x-legs? How was it handled?

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Posted on Aug 7, 2014, 1:07 am
#206

Quote from: Sweden on August 07, 2014, 12:16:54 AMI can attest to the thing leg thing.

MDOW: Do you still have some minor stretch aches in your calfs or tendon in the mornings?

Could you easily stretch your calfs when you wake up(you know, pushing against a wall with one leg straight back. Entire foot on floor) without and discomfort?

Have you ever tried squats with heavy weights?(60-100kg or 200pound)

Did you ever had x-legs? How was it handled?

At this point everything has settled down, and my legs feel the same in the mornings as they do in the evenings.  I can do the stretch you described without discomfort, and I often do yoga first thing in the morning.

I haven't tried doing squats, but I have a home weight machine that goes up to 200lbs. I can do a lot of reps on the leg press at the maximum weight.  I even did that back when I had my nails in without any problems.  I think I could go quite a bit higher if I went to a gym, since bearing weight with the legs has never been a problem.

I never had x-legs or bowed legs.  In Beijing the doctors regularly checked us for misalignment and corrected it by having us turn the knobs unevenly until the legs straightened out.  I'm skeptical of non-surgical treatments for bowing or x-ing.  Maybe building up the muscles can create an illusion of the leg being straighter, but if the bone is crooked then it's crooked.  I don't see how doing PT is going to change that when you've got an orthopedic nail holding it in place.

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Posted on Aug 8, 2014, 8:43 pm
#207

You often hear the advice "don't go over 10-15% of the original bone length" because you will get alot of trouble otherwise. Was this true for you? Did you lengthen under or over 15%, and if over, did your doctor warn you against it?

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Posted on Aug 8, 2014, 9:56 pm
#208

I lengthened about 20% (15 inches to 18 inches).  Professor Xia measured my legs and told me 8cm was the most I should lengthen, and I did 7.5cm.

I didn't get any additional problems once I passed the 5cm mark like patients such as Sweden have reported, at least not while I was lengthening.  I got exertional compartment syndrome as a result of the new anatomy of my legs, which needed another surgery (fasciotomy) to fix.  I'm not sure I could've avoided that if I'd lengthened 15% or not though, since I don't have a twin who only did 15%. Have questions you'd like to ask someone who had LL six years ago? Ask them here

The more I learn about LL, the more patients I talk to, the more I think of it as an individual thing that needs to be customized to fit the needs of each patient.  Some people can lengthen a lot without problems, some can't.  The best advice I can give to people is not to have a goal in the beginning - just stop lengthening when you start having problems since that's your body telling you it's had enough.

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Posted on Aug 8, 2014, 10:57 pm
#209

Thanks!

One more question...can you touch your toes while keeping your legs straight?

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Posted on Aug 8, 2014, 11:34 pm
#210

Yes.  My flexibility came back surprisingly well.  It's better than it's ever been actually.  The fact that I started doing yoga helps a lot.

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