posted
Just wondering how many others exercise regurarly. The beginning of November me and my husband purchased a gym membership. I love it! Really makes me feel good. Occasionally my heart will flip flop when I'm in the middle of exercising, but it doesn't bother me too badly.
Posts: 248 | From Tejas | Registered: Jun 2007
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sixgoofykids
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11141
posted
I do! In the beginning I would herx from it, but now I don't.
I go even when I feel bad, even if it's just for a short time.
I had worked out for years before I got sick .... I've finally been able to add cardio back into my workout.
I think exercise has been a critical part of my getting better.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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djf2005
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11449
posted
exercise is crucial in healing lyme and associated diseases.
if you have been confined to a bed, and have atrophy, you must, at some point, force yourself to being exercising again.
i crawled to the tv, and would do 2 min at a time. then 5, 10, and so on.
now i can 20-30 min a day of pilates or yoga w light weights, which aids in the recovery of any disease.
the latest findings in neuro science show that the average person who does 30 min of cardio a day compared to a non exerciser does not have the same level of brain function. (ie exercise=better thinking)
sorry, dont have 76000 pages of info to back these claims up, if you do some searching, you can find the information. (or you could find something that contradicts it and post that as well)
humbly
derek
-------------------- "Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."
posted
I've had Lyme for nine years and been in treatment for five months. No fun. But I force myself to exercise on most days, even if it's marching in place, climbing stairs, jogging around the dining room table, or riding my stationary bike on the easiest setting. And I lift light weights. Anything to keep from losing my muscles. This last month I've been taking ribose, a supplement new to me, and I think I have more enrgy. Anyone tired it?
Kate
Posts: 22 | From seattle | Registered: Aug 2007
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sixgoofykids
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11141
posted
I thought this might be the right thread to mention this on .... my uncle-in-law has leukemia and has had colon cancer. He should be dead ... I call him a cat because he seems to have nine lives.
He has a motorcycle and loves to go on long bike rides across the country. He'll be feeling bad and go on a ride, then when he gets back, all his cancer levels test lower and he feels better.
I'm guessing that it's not only the exercise and fresh air, but also the "bouncing" that helps clean out the lymph system.
I guess the moral of the story is, if you can't work out, at least get a motorcycle! No, really, it is making me think about buying a rebounder .... I use the elliptical at the gym and it's no impact, but my shin splints don't allow me to use the treadmill.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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AZURE WISH
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 804
posted
I just can NOT right now. when I am able to I have a dvd where all of the exercises are done sitting or standing while holding onto a chair...
so when I can I will start doing that. I think exercising in general is good but overexerting is not. And I am one that over exertion takes a fairly sizable toll on.
Exercising is on my list of things I will do when I become able to.
posted
I swim once a week, with snorkle and goggles on so as not to turn my head. I do a lot of stretching for the pelvic area, which was not able to move before I started pool stretching.
Posts: 13171 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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djf2005
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11449
posted
azure-
they have dvds avail for people who cant do anything but sit.
look on ebay, youll find some good deals. exercising from the chair, its how to start.
hope you feel better soon.
ribose? never heard of it! BUT, it looks VERY promising. thanks!
humbly,
derek
-------------------- "Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."
posted
Hi Lauren, after 35 years of near-daily exercise, I was unable to do it between August 2006 - August 2007 due to LD. I tried to pick it back up in April 2007, but was unable.
When I was able to exercise again in August 2007, I started with an aerobic workout. It had an amazing effect on me (I mean, much more than the usual, feels-good exercise effect). As I've said here before, whether it was the sweating (detox), heating up & hyper-oxygenating the body, the up-and-down movement(using elliptical, knees too bad for treadmill) or whatever, I could feel it helping THE LYME. It has quite a symptom-supressing effect for me.
At the beginning, the back of my neck would be extremely painful for a few hours after ex - but everything else felt so great, I tolerated that, and now I have it only very minimally.
If you are able, I cannot recommend exercise highly enough. Of course, I have days where I just don't feel that I can, or I start and it is very difficult - I just listen to my body & stop, & try again the next day. I've also started weight training again, and while more difficult for me, I think it too is very helpful to my recovery.
Dr. B. includes exercise guidelines in his treatment guidelines, with all appropriate cautions. Take a look.
Sorry to be such a booster, but I can't help myself. The effect the exercise had on my Lyme symptoms was quite remarkable to me.
onthemend
Posts: 314 | From east coast | Registered: Oct 2007
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Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5374
posted
Below is from Dr. B's guidelines on exercise and rehabilitation. Dr. B says exercise is vital to healing, but be careful not to overdo it.
I have noticed a significant backtracking in symptoms in the last few months since I've really cut back on exercise due to my schedule.
LYME DISEASE REHABILITATION
Despite antibiotic treatments, patients will NOT return to normal unless they exercise! This is because in most cases the chronic Lyme patient is deconditioned.
More importantly, a properly executed exercise program becomes part of the treatment, as it can actually go beyond the antibiotics in helping to clear the symptoms and to maintain a remission.
Therefore, a vital part of any plan for recovery must include serious efforts at physical reconditioning.
This may begin with physical therapy: the physical therapy should involve massage, heat, ultrasound and simple range of motion exercises to relieve discomfort and promote better sleep and flexibility. Ice and electrical stimulation should not be used!
The program ultimately must evolve into a graded, strenuous exercise program that consists of a specific regimen of non-aerobic conditioning- see below.
Although the scientific basis for the benefits of exercises is not known, there are several reasonable theories.
It is known that Bb will die if exposed to all but the tiniest oxygen concentrations. If an aggressive exercise program can increase tissue perfusion and oxygen levels, then this may play a role in what is being seen.
Also, during aggressive exercise, the core body temperature can rise above 102 degrees; it is known that B. burgdorferi is very heat sensitive.
Perhaps it is the added tissue oxygenation, or higher body temperature, or the combination that weakens the Lyme Borrelia, and allows the antibiotics and our defenses to be more effective.
In addition, there is now evidence that a carefully structured exercise program may benefit T-cell function in the immune system, an obvious potential benefit in an illness like Lyme that is known to weaken immune responses.
To reap this benefit, the exercise sessions should last at least one hour, but never be repeated more often than every other day. The following pages is an exercise prescription that outlines these recommendations in detail.
NOTE: a cardiac stress test may be necessary prior to exercising to ensure safety.
EXERCISE Begin with a private trainer for careful direction and education.
PATIENT EDUCATION AND MANAGEMENT (to be done during the initial one-on-one sessions and reinforced at all visits thereafter):
1. Instruct patients on correct exercise technique, including proper warm-up, breathing, joint protection, proper body positioning during the exercise, and how to cool-down and stretch afterwards.
2. Please work one muscle group at a time and perform extensive and extended stretching to each muscle group immediately after each one is exercised, before moving on to the next muscle group.
3. A careful interview should be performed at the start of each session to make apparent the effects, both good and bad, from the prior visit's therapy, and adjust therapy accordingly.
PROGRAM:
1. Aerobic exercises are NOT allowed, not even low impact variety, until stamina improves.
2. Conditioning: work to improve strength and reverse the poor conditioning that results from Lyme, through a whole-body exercise program, consisting of light calisthenics and weight lifting, using small weights and many repetitions. This can be accomplished in exercise classes called "stretch and tone", or "body sculpture", or can be achieved with exercise machines, or carefully with free weights.
3. Each session should last one hour. If the patient is unable to continue for the whole hour, then modify the program to decrease the intensity to allow him/her to do so.
4. Exercise no more often than every other day. The patient may need to start by exercising every 4th or 5th day initially, and as abilities improve, work out more often, but NEVER two days in a row. The nonexercise days should be spent resting.
5. This whole-body conditioning program is what is required to achieve wellness. Simply placing the patient on a treadmill or an exercise bike is not acceptable (except briefly, as part of a warm-up), nor is a simple walking program
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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lou4656
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10300
posted
For those that are thinking about walking as exercise . . . there is a thread in General Support for those people that are using walking/hiking as a way to get back into exercise.
Feel free to join those of us who are trying to get back into exercising. It is easier for some than for others. Some weeks are better than others.
But the support keeps us motivated.
-------------------- LouLou Posts: 1276 | From maryland | Registered: Oct 2006
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djf2005
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11449
posted
i agree w dr b except for the every other day part. it depends how sick you are, etc, but i find if i do 20 min a day, i have good results.
i guess i could try the hour, every other day, and see if i heal faster that way, although, im not sure im willing to trade two semi ok days for 2 potentially bed ridden days from 1 hr of exercise...
something to consider, for sure.
thanks
humbly
derek
-------------------- "Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."
sixgoofykids
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11141
posted
With weight training, you are supposed to let the muscle rest for 48 hours. It becomes counter-productive to work it out every day. The weights actually "damage" the muscle, then the body repairs the muscle making it stronger. It needs time for this repair.
So, if you work out every day, I would do the weight training one day, then cardio the next. Or at the very least, split the workout, upper body one day, lower the next.
I agree that some kind of exercise is good daily, but not the weight training Dr. B was mentioning.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
I have been swimming in a salt water pool. Even when I feel terrible sometimes I still go and I find that I feel better afterwards almost always.
I highly recommend it. I swim in a salt water pool...
I can't use my arms or I wouldnt be able to do 2 laps so I lean on a board and kick my legs two different strokes to try to work all the leg muscle groups.
I swim for over an hour which really surprises me considering how ill I am and have been. It's been over a week since I've been, but I should get my 3 days in this week.. Hopefully.
Posts: 59 | From U.S. | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
(Here's a little info on why aerobic exercise can be harmful for those with viral infections and those infected with lyme can have viral co-infections such as coxsackie.) ******
We know that muscle cells in M.E. (CFIDS) have faulty "battery" mechanisms and that energy cannot be readily regenerated. The aerobic/anaerobic cycles are disrupted, so that if we overwork muscles affected by M.E., the fibers that can work without oxygen, and that are there for use in emergencies, get over-used, potentially causing damage.
It is well-known amongst people who are trying to get over M.E. that exercise, often undertaken early on in the disease in attempt to get fit again, can make them a great deal worse. This is partly because the muscles are not able to function like healthy muscles. But knowledge of the behavior of enteroviruses goes even further towards explaining why this should be.
Right back in 1970, it was shown by Gatmaltan, Chason and Lerner that when mice infected with Coxsackie B3 were forced to swim in a warm pool, the virulence of the virus was drastically augmented. In fact, viral replication was augmented 530 times. This did horrendous things to the animals' hearts. We all know that to play squash with the flu can lead to heart attacks. Much the same danger can be courted by undertaking hard exercise with M.E.
In 1988, Reyes and his colleagues exercised mice suffering from Coxsackie B3 myocarditis -- inflammation of the heart muscle caused by the virus. They showed that the effect of exercise on the production of the neurohormones which regulate immune response and inflammation led to an increase in susceptibility to Coxsackie virus infections -- the host response was altered in favor of the virus.
Roger Loria, discussing not only these very grave findings, but also those of Jamal and Hansen in 1985, who reported that abnormal single-fiber electromyographs (muscle graphs) were evident in 40 patients with postviral fatigue syndrome (PVFS, analogous to M.E.), 35 of whom had a Coxsackie infection, said: "These observations, as well as the recent interest in postviral fatigue syndrome (M.E.) may have considerable application."
excerpt from the book M.E. The New Plague by Jane Colby ******
Posts: 590 | From Canada | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
just from personal experience exercise has made a huge difference in my life. I used to run 3-5 miles 4 times weekly, and work out with weights 3 times weekly. I stopped working out for about 6 months thinking that the rest would do my body good, but I find that I feel better when working out and better after working out. It also helps me sleep.
I can barely walk/jog a couple of miles, but I fully intend to get back to running my 5 miles by the end of 2008.
Posts: 158 | From Santa Monica | Registered: May 2007
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No, really, it is making me think about buying a rebounder .... I use the elliptical at the gym and it's no impact, but my shin splints don't allow me to use the treadmill.![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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