OK, I've read about exercise being important and helpful in treating Lyme, but only in small amounts, repetitions with low weight, no aerobics...
I can not afford a trainer. Does anyone here have any routines they would like to share? Anything that has helped them?
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I"ve never done it, but Tai Chi should be great for lymies, as well as yoga!
I used to do NIA, until my sciatic nerve pain changed my mind!! It's generally very gentle exercise and you can adapt it to be more strenuous if you want.
I think their website is www.nia-nia.com ...You can order a CD to use at home. Our local YMCA has a NIA instructor.
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
ok, I'm thinking of giving yoga a try.
I may start with very very very light repetetive weight traing at my Y.
Posted by break the chains (Member # 5668) on :
exercise is extremely important. im quite sick, and it helps me A LOT when i get into it. your lymphatic system, which is a big part of the immune system, depends on exercise to work. there are also all sorts of other benefits. we were designed for, and evolved getting exercise. we deteriorate and atrophy without it. its like when people come back from space and they cant even walk from not using their muscles a short time. walking is great exercise. also tibetan rites are very good, as well as chi gong, tai chi, yoga, dancing, rebouding, ect.
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
I find yoga incredibly helpful. But it was very painful and difficult at first.
You need to find the right balance. I discovered certain pain I needed to work through and other pain meant I needed to stop.
What is helpful about yoga is that it works the entire body and helps circulation and digestion.
Posted by johnnyb (Member # 7645) on :
even regular good 'ol walks will help. I think they say about 20 mins per day of brisk walking yields great benefits. They key is to stick with it. A little exercise often is much better than a lot of infrequent exercise. I need to practice what I preach!
Posted by painted turtle (Member # 7801) on :
breakthechains, what are tibetan rites?
I did tai chi last week one day, it was very helpful.
Yoga helps too.
Both of these also work with conscious breathing so if having breathing trouble or forgetting to breathe, this would help that too.
I also think pillates is good. And swimming.
Just a little at a time if you are really ill.
Posted by davidx (Member # 8326) on :
Elley0531-
Where did you read that you should not do aerobic exercise? I would think that if you can work up to doing it that it's probably beneficial at least from an overall health standpoint. I am curious though if aerobic exercise can somehow make lyme worse?
~David
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
in the newbie links, the doctor's lyme 2005 treatment is very specific about not doing aerobics...it drains too much energy
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Yes, I think DR B says not to do aerobic. Mild aerobic might be OK. I always felt pretty good after the NIA, and it's aerobic to some extent.
Posted by break the chains (Member # 5668) on :
I try to walk every other day at least 1/2 to 1 hour. I sometimes have those periods if I do a bit longer, etc, I feel the power drain from my muscles, and I can barely walk. I then feel that way for a few days to a week afterwards. Weak.
Since hiking was my #1 love, I do push the envelope from time to time, with a 2-3 hour hilly up and down hike. I am euphoric that whole day, and suffer in the days to week afterwards. If it's harder and I get more sweaty, breath-y or aerobic, it's worse. Makes me mad.
I also do yoga. It really helps with the aches/pains. It's like being stretched.
I think if I did none of these things, I'd suspect I'd be in bigger trouble, mobility-wise.
I miss the incredible high from regular sweaty aerobic work outs. It is truly the #1 thing I miss - long hard hikes, bike riding, aerobics.
Posted by AlisonP (Member # 7771) on :
Yoga has been a lifesaver to me, even though I fall over a lot and can't do all the moves and end up cursing at the extremely flixible skinny blonde yoga lady on tv lol.
What I do is I use my DVR to record the half hour programs of Yoga Zone and then I do my yoga at night, when my pain is the least. it is really really helping, and really,m the nice thing about yoga is that you don't have to be really god at it to have it work.
A.
Posted by AlisonP (Member # 7771) on :
Um..."really GOOD" at it. Yoga does not help with my proofreading skills apparently.
A.
Posted by DolphinLady (Member # 6275) on :
There are different types of yoga, chi gong etc.
Find one that works for you at this time.
I like yin yoga, and accu-yoga.
I was trained to be a NIA instructor pre-lyme. I'm working up to it again because it is so much fun!
Posted by SayYesh (Member # 8343) on :
I have a video tape that I've had for near ever, that is my mainstay - Lilias Folan - Yoga Basics. 1/2 hour. Very basic, very easy, but effective. I even plug myself in w/ my headphones so I can really go within and not be distracted by anything else.
I am intrigued by NIA - nothing close to home though.
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
On cardio:
Dr. B strongly, strongly opposes cardio in the beginning stages of treatment. He mentions this in his guidelines and spoke about it at the first Hope to Heal conference.
I didn't listen and did cardio in my first year, and then discovered that I got extremely lightheaded when I did cardio. I stopped after getting a very bad fit of motor tics in the middle of a step aerobics class.
On yoga:
I do vinyasa yoga, also known as flow yoga. I like it because it does get the heartrate up, but I don't get the same bad side effects I do from straight cardio work. Vinyasa also strengthens incredibly, as well as flexibility.
But depending how you feel and react to exercise, it might be better to start with a form that is less intense. Of course, there are low intensity classes and videos for all types of yoga.
Final thought, when Dr. B spoke at the Hope to Heal conference he spoke against yoga at the start of treatment. I actually approached him afterwards about it, since yoga has helped me so much. Just thought I'd share.
Posted by davidx (Member # 8326) on :
Aniek-
Did Dr. B say why he strongly opposes cardio exercise? I don't mean to keep belaboring the topic but I have been doing quite a bit of cycling and I just hope by doing so that I am not somehow making the lyme worse? I think I am going to talk to my llmd when I go back and see him in 2 weeks (I am seeing Dr. P in ct) about this topic because I do not want to make things worse for myself.
I definitely find that with all the meds and not so good sleep that aerobic activity is sometimes more difficult and that I have to push myself a little harder sometimes. The thing is that I enjoy cycling so I just get out there and do it when I can (which is mostly on weekends!).
Thanks!
~David
Posted by psano (Member # 7785) on :
ellie,
Just do as much as you are able, and don't push yourself. I like to use the elliptical machine. When I first tried exercising after my first big crash, I could only do 10-15 minutes at such a slow pace that the machine kept wanting to turn off. But that's all I could do. Afterwards I crashed and couldn't do any kind of exercise for at least 4-5 days. That was last fall.
As I felt I could tolerate it, I'd increase the length of time and pace. Now I'm up to a full hour at level 2, and actually average about 3.5miles per hour for that time. I'm still not doing a "running" type of pace.
I like the Lifefitness type of machines that let you keep track of your heartrate. That first time I tried exercising, my heart rate started racing, and even though I slowed down my pace to next to nothing, my heart rate kept going up to 159! This illness weakens us terribly.
Now, at the end of my hour, I'm up to about 5-5.5 miles/hour, and my heart rate isn't going over 140, almost ever. I try to slow down my pace when it hits 130.
I'm also able to do this routine about 3 times a week at this time.
This has been my experience. HOpe it helps.
Patti
Posted by shazdancer (Member # 1436) on :
This was a pretty good thread on exercise, a lot of good advice and suggestions...
And lastly, this one that describes a couple of easy exercises that are good for when you haven't exercised for ages, due to illness... warmup, and a slow startup
Hope that helps. I think one of the tests for how much is too much is that if you feel worse the next day (or even the day after that, was my experience), and only feel better with increased rest, then it was too much. You wouldn't start a rigorous exercise program if you had the flu, would you? Think of Lyme as the same.
-- Shaz
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
David,
This is cut and pasted from Dr. B'a 2000 Guidelines (available through the on-line library link). He reiterated when I heard him speak that he does not recommend aerobic/cardio exercise.
I don't know his full reasoning behind this. The yoga I do has some cardio to it, but it's not straight aerobics. I did months of physical therapy before returning to yoga.
From Dr. B's 2000 Guidelines: "As a result, Lyme patients are stiff, weak, tired, have poor stamina, and are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Antibiotic treatment alone cannot correct these effects. Therefore, it is necessary to prescribe physical therapy, the extent of which depends on an individual patients' condition, followed by a graded exercise program.
The earliest phase involves multiple modalities (massage, heat, TENS, MENS, ultrasound, etc.) and aggressive range of motion exercises supervised by a physical therapist, to relieve discomfort and to promote better sleep and flexibility. The goal of physical therapy is to prepare the patient for the required, gym-based exercise program. This starts with stretching and mild muscular toning. Then, the program must expand to include muscular conditioning and strengthening, ideally under the supervision of a credentialed exercise physiologist. "Body sculpture" classes are ideal. Aerobics are not recommended until the patient has fully recovered."
Posted by lucy96734 (Member # 8372) on :
I have found Pilates really helpful in maintaining my strength and with pain management. The breathing and stretching are great parts of Pilates, too.
I am amazed at how different my body can be day to day. Listen to your body but I do believe exercise is an important aspect of the healing process.
Posted by shazdancer (Member # 1436) on :
Woohoo, Dr. B! I especially like the suggestion of learning range-of-motion exercises with a physical therapist. If that person is not Lyme-literate, just explain you have been ill and still suffer from chronic fatigue.
Judy, I shoulda learned Pilates back in college, way before it was popular. A lot of dancers swore by it for rehabbing injuries. I think any of the sitting-based exercise regimens -- Pilates, yoga, and modern dance floor work -- can be enormously helpful to recovering Lyme patients, who may have strength and balance issues.
And I agree, if you are past the acute phase of the illness, exercise can help regain health. If your symptoms are flaring, and mild exercise exhausts you, then rest may be needed more.
Regards, Shaz
Posted by Mr. Tom (Member # 9581) on :
Hello, Im all new to this disease, ive had it only about 2 months now, but this talk about excersise raises a question fro me:
I make my living mostly mowing lawns, and after reading the discussions about over doing it with excersise im wondering if im overdoing it with my work. I already had to eliminate a sustantial amount of my customers because i just cant do it. Should i be considering going out of business and finding another job that wont be so physically demanding? I dont want to make things worse for myself, i really want to get better.
Thanks in advance for any replies
Tom
Posted by davidx (Member # 8326) on :
Aniek-
Thanks very much for posting what Dr. B wrote. He clearly wrote in there that he does not recommend aerobics until the patient is fully recovered.
For me I really enjoy biking and although I cannot do as much as I did before I don't think the moderate amount I am doing is having a negative effect on me...but then again, I am not fully recovered so I can't be sure.
Like everyone else, I just want to get better already!!
Thanks again for posting that Aniek. I think I need to re-read his Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease as a refresher!
-David
Posted by Sammi (Member # 110) on :
I agree that exercise is extremely beneficial. I think it is important to do as much as you can as often as you can. It is also important to listen to your body and not over-do.
Yoga and pilates are great. If you cannot take classes, there are some excellent DVD's you can do at home.
I think it is good to try different things to see what benefits you the most. If you are not sure how much you can handle, do a little at a time and build up gradually. Then you can see what works best for you.
I have exercised throughout the recovery process, and I know that I am better for it.
Posted by DolphinLady (Member # 6275) on :
Mr. Tom,
Any kind of stress, (physical, emotional, chemical etc.) will hurt your recovery process.
Whatever you can do to best support your system, do it. Maybe that means workng fewer hours, or doing something else entirely. Your body will be your guide.
Ofcourse, rest is most important, both passive (i.e. sleeping) and active (meditating, chi gong etc). Getting the best quality of both on a regular basis makes a big difference for me.
Best wishes.
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
Mr. Tom,
All our bodies are different. Only you know if your work is too much for you. It's not physical activity, but I started law school while still working just a few months after treatment. For me, I do better when I push myself.
I do hope that you are protecting yourself with a good insect repellant when you are mowing lawns though. You don't want to get reinfected.
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
OK! I got 2 yoga dvds, one that is specifically de-stress yoga. I also got a yoga mat
I am excited to try it out. I was really into the gym before all this stuff came down 2 months ago, and I lost alot weight from insufficient calories (which I am fixing)...so now I'm just flabby and weak.
I'm excited because I feel the yoga will help me physically but also, and maybe more importantly, mentally.
I know aerobics are a no no for me right now, tried to do an elliptical a couple weeks ago...in 3 minutes my spine started bruning, muscles spasming, energy dead.
Posted by LYMESCIENCE (Member # 9259) on :
Yeah, exercise is a must. When we are doing very little, we are prone to getting things like dangerous blood clots and all kinds of other problems with the blood.
Also, by exercising, those of us who have Babesia can help keep relapses from this organism in check. The babs like to stick to blood vessels and clump up the blood supply, therfore enabling survival.
By exercising (even if its just a daily walk down the street) we keep our circulatory systems balanced so that these Babs clumps are less likely to form.
Exercise is vital to recovery from Lyme and other TBD, but we must always remember to listen to our bodies when we are doing too much, and at the same time we need to be able to tell the difference between too much and just a little exercise mental struggle that needs to be fought through.
Posted by jwenny (Member # 8831) on :
Lymescience, That is an interesting point you make about exercising and babs. I've always wonder this myself. I have read Dr. B's guidelines about exercising but never knew if it applied to coinfections. I have severe case of babs.
I would be interested on how others feel about exercise and coinfections...especially babs.
I don't know how some of you are able to do cycling and mowing. Walking 15-20 minutes is already an accomplishment of for me.
Posted by LYMESCIENCE (Member # 9259) on :
I'm glad you enjoyed that thought! It was something that I experiemented with and didn't understand. I noticed that whenever I had exercised, my hands and knees were no longer cold and blotchy all the time, and strangly, I felt the blood going into my feet, which kinda hurt.
At that time, I only thought I had Lyme and was treating with oral Doxycycline. Strangly, it really seemed to help with my symptoms when I exercised except when I took it too far one day and had a major TBD relapse, prolly because of babesia.
Later on, after I knew I had babs, I realized that my knees started to feel warmer, as did many of my extremities after a 3 or 4 day treatment for Babs. One day, I used 5000IU of Heparin, and it brought back, rather robustly that similar tingling feeling I had felt 6 months earlier in my feet when I exercised. The blood was rushing again.
Babs had formed all kinds of little clots everywhere, and it seemed I could use blood thinners everyday, or walk 15 mins. I'm gonna walk 15 mins a day, I think this is a point that needs to be driven hard to those with Babesia, as this may be a very key point in Babesia relapse. At least in my case, I know this to be true because I performed several cause and effect experiments to determine the exact variable, and it was Babs and blood flow.
Hope this helps Posted by riversinger (Member # 4851) on :
The reasoning behind the no aerobics rule is based on science. Aerobic exercise lowers killer cell function, and it also makes the blood brain barrier more permeable.
In healthy people, this is not a problem, because the body quickly goes back to normal. For those with serious infections, especially brain infections, it can be enough to give the bacteria the edge.
So, keep up with what you can do, but try to put off aerobic activity till you are well on your way to health. Stretching, flexibility, strength training, even breathing exercises as in chi gung and yoga are all still good ways to keep your body in shape.
Just be aware that any of these can be made aerobic if you do them too fast!
Posted by luvdogs (Member # 9507) on :
When I first got sick, I was doing about 6 minutes of stairmaster per day. That was all I could tolerate, and barely could tolerate, but I found that it made me feel much better.
Now, I find that I am best with about 12 minutes of cardio (still stairmaster) per day, with light weights that I use while on the stairmaster. I do my arms and shoulders that way. When done with the cardio, I do situps and leg lifts. I do this almost every day, taking a day off every now and then.
I know you are supposed to let your muscles recuperate and do only every other day. But what I do is so lightweight, that I only take a day off when my body wants to.
Overall, if I don't do my daily exercise, I feel crappy. If I do, I feel generally well.
My feeliing is that the small amount that I do is just enough to keep my muscles tone, my blood flowing, and my metabolism up. I know that the spirochetes don't like oxygen either, so I feel like the cardio helps that.
I don't know what the rules are, but I am just sharing what I find helps me. And if you do start, you should start very slowly. But I think that many Lymies cannot exercise at all, and they would not do well with even my lightweight routine.
So I guess you have to weight everything out, and see what seems best for you. If you can do the exercise though, I think it would help you to feel much better.
I don't like the idea of swimming too much for Lymies only bc of the body temp thing. I feel like part of our exercising is to raise our body temps to make the 'chetes uncomfortable. Also the chlorine when so many of us are chemically sensitive. But I can definitely see all the benefits of swimming for us too.
Posted by missextreme (Member # 3610) on :
This thread surprises me. I have found that daily aerobic exercise makes my mental health so much better. I do about 35 minutes on the elliptical or 40 minutes swimming 5 days a week.
I had no idea that it was supposed to give Lyme the edge. I enjoy my exercise. When I don't, I feel even more fatigued during the day.
Is this aerobic exercise bad for me? I am chronically tired, but I almost always get a lift from our gym - unless I am herxing, of course.
Posted by HEATHERKISS (Member # 6789) on :
If I could do aerobics I would!!!!!!!!!!
But for now I do very light strenthening and stretching.
Beleive it or not it takes away alot of aches and pains. Posted by missextreme (Member # 3610) on :
The fact that exercise helps you sounds like me. If I don't lift weights and stretch, I get horrible aches and pains in my joints and muscles. If I don't do my cardio, I get fatigued.
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I especially like the suggestion of learning range-of-motion exercises with a physical therapist. If that person is not Lyme-literate, just explain you have been ill and still suffer from chronic fatigue.![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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