Feeling Better Vs Feeling Worse
When you have fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome , it’s common for well-meaning people to say things like, “If you’d just exercise more, you’d feel better.”
Research points to benefits of exercise for managing symptoms, especially in FMS, so your healthcare provider may push you to be more active, as well. But when you do exercise, you may end up with a symptom flare that lasts for days. So which is it: does exercise benefit us or harm us?
What May Cause Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Why chronic fatigue syndrome occurs is unclear and complex. Researchers conclude that infections, like pneumonia and bronchitis, and other immune deficiencies can be related to chronic fatigue syndrome. Depression, pain, and sleep disturbances frequently occur with chronic fatigue syndrome.
If you suspect chronic fatigue syndrome, you should find a healthcare practitioner who can take a holistic approach to your health and uncover underlying health issues and lifestyle factors that may contribute to your fatigue.
Unfortunately, patients sometimes feel frustrated that they havent been able to get answers from their doctors or by asking . They might see symptoms like chronic fatigue as in their head or they lack motivation or willpower.
Fibromyalgia Vs Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
The exercise experience is different depending on which of these conditions you have. They both involve exercise intolerance, but a defining symptom of ME/CFS is post-exertional malaise . That means there’s a sharp up-turn of symptoms, especially flu-like symptoms, following exercise. And, importantly, there’s an inability to physically repeat the performance the following day.
In one study, people with ME/CFS and a healthy control group rode an exercise bike one day, then came back the next day to see if they could repeat their performance. The healthy people could, while those with ME/CFS couldn’t even come close before they were exhausted.
While too much exercise can exacerbate symptoms of FMS, we have a growing body of research suggesting that regular exercise helps to ease symptoms.
While it’s important to be careful with either condition, those with ME/CFS may need to be even more cautious when it comes to starting or increasing exertion.
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Natural Remedies For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
In functional medicine, the goal is to find out the root cause of problems like chronic fatigue. The reality is there isnt just one cause of chronic fatigue syndromeit has many underlying pieces.
Still, there are a few steps you can take to start rehabbing your energy levels. Here are eight tips I recommend:
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Diagnostic Criteria For Me/cfs Using The National Academy Of Medicine Clinical Criteria
For a diagnosis of ME/CFS, the person must have the following three symptoms:
Diagnosis also requires at least one of the following two symptoms:
It is important to note that these are not the only symptoms of ME/CFS, just the minimum needed to meet the diagnostic criteria.
While diagnosis requires that a person has had symptoms continually for six months, early intervention with pacing and rest can help reduce symptoms, improve quality of life and reduce the risk of exacerbating the disease. Research suggests that patients who are able to pace their activity and not push themselves tend to do better in the long term. Pacing and rest can start even prior to an official diagnosis.
While there is currently no cure and no evidence-based treatments, it is important to find a doctor who is not only sympathetic to ME/CFS, but can work with you to help manage your symptoms.
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Tips For Exercising Safely With Me/cfs
If you feel you can tolerate some exercise, be guided by your doctor or specialist, but general suggestions include:
- Experiment to find the type of exercise that works best for you. Choose from a range of gentle activities such as stretching, yoga, tai chi, walking and light weight training. Often, people find exercises lying down use less energy.
- Keep an activity diary so you have a long-term picture of your performance levels and factors that might impact on your symptoms. Some people with ME/CFS find they feel good straight after exercise, but then crash later on, so make sure you monitor how you feel, hours to days after exercise.
- Stop the physical activity well before you feel any symptom flare. Pacing yourself is very important.
- Remember that the amount of exercise you can do will change from one day to the next.
- Listen to your body if you dont feel up to exercising on a particular day, dont.
- Find out as much as you can about your ME/CFS. Make sure you consult with health professionals who fully understand ME/CFS as a biomedical disease
Treatment Plans For Me/cfs
There’s no single way of managing ME/CFS that works for everyone, but there are a number of treatment options.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence says you should be offered a treatment plan tailored to your symptoms.
Your doctor should discuss all of the options with you, and explain the benefits and risks of any treatment.
They should work with you to develop a treatment plan that suits you and takes into account your circumstances and preferences.
You may need advice about making lifestyle changes, specialist treatments, or a combination of both.
If your symptoms are severe, your doctor should ask a specialist for advice.
Your treatment plan should be reviewed regularly.
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Causes Of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
We still know very little about chronic fatigue, and sadly, the cause is still unknown. While researchers continue to search for the root cause of CFS, there are preliminary findings that hormonal imbalances, poor immune system response, viral infections, chronic low blood pressure and nutritional deficiency are contributing factors.
In addition, research indicates that chronic fatigue syndrome may be linked to oxidative stress, Celiac disease, and food sensitivities or food allergies.
Most researchers believe that its a combination of factors that can vary from individual to individual. Viruses that can cause CFS include HHV-6, HTLV, Epstein-Barr, measles, coxsackie B, parovirus and cytomegalovirus.
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Keep Track Of Your Symptoms And Their Onset
Tracking the frequency, timing, and severity of your symptoms might help your doctor better understand what youre experiencing. Tracking your activity level and symptoms can also help you draw connections and learn your limits so that you can reduce flare-ups.
When tracking your symptoms, remember to write down everything ailing you, not just fatigue. People with CFS/ME often also have issues with pain, cognition, such as memory and concentration, and sleep. You might also consider keeping a sleep diary, so your doctor can see how well youre sleeping and determine if sleep might play a role in your symptoms.
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Get Started With Exercise In Four Simple Steps
Claire, who is starting out bed-bound, tolerating very little exercise, might begin her exercise experiment with the simple routine of stretching her arms out and forming and releasing her hands into a fist three times. This should take no longer than twenty seconds, and she can likely do it for at least three times a day. From this safe starting point, Claire can now gradually increase her exercise for as long as it doesnt worsen her symptoms.
In better health,
Exercise: Helpful Or Harmful
In general, we know that the human body benefits from exercise. It makes our hearts healthier, helps control blood sugar, burns excess fat, etc. However, we also know that for people with FMS and ME/CFS, it poses real problems.
There’s no easy answer to whether exercise will help or hurt you. The answer may, in fact, be both, depending on how you approach exercise. You have several things to consider before jumping into it.
Try not to buy into the typical idea of exercise. It’s the rare person with FMS or ME/CFS who can go to the gym and put in a strenuous workout. Most are better off thinking of exercise in terms of intentional movement aimed at increasing their level of fitness.
One thing that’s pretty consistent for those with these conditions is that exercise must be moderate and stay within your limits. Determining what those things mean for you may not be easy, but it’s the first step toward increasing your exercise/activity level. It’s also important to increase the length and intensity of your exercise extremely slowly.
First, look at your fitness level. What constitutes moderate exercise is different for all of us. Someone who’s in good shape and hasn’t been sick for long may be able to tolerate 30 minutes on a treadmill. The sickest among us may not be able to tolerate more than a couple of gentle stretches while lying in bed.
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Exercise Can Help Heart Disease Symptoms And Stop It From Getting Worse
Prigge says exercise plays a big role in fighting heart disease. If the gym sounds like punishment, try going for a walk, riding a bike, or doing simple aerobic exercises in your living room, adds Parker. Any of these activities can help.
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Causes And Risks
Chronic fatigue syndrome is often associated with viral illnesses, such as Epstein Barr virus, coxsackie virus, cytomegalovirus or human herpes virus 6 . But Dr. Klimas said, it can also happen after any neurological illness, like Lymeor you were really exposed to pesticides, like farmers or pesticide workers.
There also appear to be genetic reasons for chronic fatigue. Dr. Klimas noted, the detoxification pathways are part of the issue of whos more vulnerable. It partly has to do with how well you can clear and deal with toxins and then women have a much more vigorous inflammatory cascade that is triggered more quickly, and theyre more prone to chronic inflammatory illnesses.
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How To Make Exercise Fun And Easy
Making exercise fun and easy is essential because it ensures that youll stick with it once your initial surge of motivation fades. Let me share with you a few simple techniques that have helped me overcome my resistance to exercise:
Think in Mini Steps
Thinking in mini steps is one of the most powerful mindsets Ive discovered so far. It can help you to infuse any activity, including exercise, with ease.
Here is why thinking in mini steps works: Since we as humans tend to avoid discomfort, our mind tries to steer us away from it, especially if this discomfort is expected to last an extended period of time. In real life youll notice this human tendency when you feel resistance to big tasks , such as going outside and taking a walk.
The way for us to work around this deeply rooted human behavior pattern is to split big, seemingly onerous tasks into tiny, easy, and effortless mini-step tasks.
I cringe at the idea of having to go for a walk or bike ride for thirty minutes. Thoughts that pop into my mind are, This will be uncomfortable! I dont have time for this! It will be the worst thirty minutes of my life!
Next, I take one more mini step, another one, and soon Ive gotten fifty yards into my walk. A few minutes later Ive overcome my initial resistance to walking altogether and have begun to enjoy it as something that is not even a chore, but as something thats fun.
Set out to reach a motivating destination
Listen to music or an audio book
How Does Me/cfs Affect People
ME/CFS affects different people in different ways, some more severely than others. There are four levels of severity of ME/CFS, which give an indication of the level of disability ME/CFS can create:
- mild: 50% reduction in pre-illness activity
- moderate: mostly housebound
- severe: mostly bedridden
- very severe: totally bedridden and need help with basic activities including nutrition and hydration.
The severity of ME/CFS can vary over time. A person living with ME/CFS could be at one level of severity now, then their disease could either improve or deteriorate over time. For some patients, their disease can worsen significantly with no known cause. Other patients have a fluctuating illness where they have better and worse periods, which last for months or years. It is unclear why this happens.
For most people, ME/CFS is a lifelong disease. Full recovery is rare and estimated at less than 10%. For some people with ME/CFS, as time passes and their disease improves, they will find they can do more, but it is a slow and gradual process. However, this is not the case for everyone. Some people find their disease worsens over time, others may remain somewhat stable. With support and pacing, people can often improve their quality of life.
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Why Exercise Is Essential For Reaching Your Optimum Health
According to the great pioneer of ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia self-help techniques, Bruce Campbell, PH.D., exercise can counteract many of the negative factors that come from having Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia.
While being ill reduces activity levels and can produce deconditioning, fatigue, pain, stiffness, anxiety, and depression, exercising can help you reverse that downward spiral by increasing your levels of fitness reducing fatigue, pain, and stiffness and improving mood.
Think about it: Your body is made up of many muscles. You have muscles in your legs, core-muscles, and even your most-central organ, your heart, is a muscle. These muscles need to be exercised in order to prevent them from deconditioning.
Campbell shares in this article how exercise played an important role in his own recovery from ME/CFS. I, too, have benefited greatly from exercise after some initial struggles. I will discuss my initial mistakes later in this article, and you can read about my successes in this blog.
Build Peace And Relax
CFS can be debilitating both physically and mentally. Suffering from persistent exhaustion, reduced brain cognition, chronic muscle and joint pain, stress, and even guilt takes a toll on the body, and psyche.
Long-term stress control and relaxation must be a vital portion of any protocol used to overcome chronic fatigue syndrome. While seemingly impossible, its imperative that sufferers of CFS do their best to effectively manage stress, and rest.
The Power of Rest
Rest means more than just sleep. Dedicate one day per week when you dont have any responsibilities or commitments. Truly commit to a full day of rest. This gives your body and mind a much-needed respite helping to fight stress, anxiety and exhaustion. Its also important during the week, if you are having a particularly difficult day, to not overtax yourself.
While regular exercise supports wellness and helps to diminish stress, individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome need to exercise at a controlled intensity. High-intensity workouts can leave you drained for several days.
Exercise Therapy
Exercise therapy has been shown to help with fatigue, mental clarity and depression in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. According to a study released in the European Journal of Clinical Investigation, individuals with CFS were recommended to perform aerobic activities, at the clinic twice per month, in combination with at-home exercises for roughly 5-15 minutes in duration, five days per week.
Sleep
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Treating The Most Disruptive Symptoms First And Preventing Worsening Of Symptoms
Healthcare providers and patients need to establish which symptoms are most disruptive or disabling and tailor management plans accordingly. Treatment should be directed toward the most problematic symptoms as prioritized by the patient. It is also important to incorporate strategies to prevent worsening of symptoms into initial and subsequent treatment plans.
How To Exercise With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
If you’re able to be active and you get the green light from your doctor, following a routine can help you reap some of the benefits of exercise, such as improved mood and better sleep.
Follow these expert-recommended tips to help you manage ME/CFS and stay active while reducing the risk of overexerting yourself.
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Perform Exercises Sitting Down Or Leaning Back
People with ME/CFS tend to do better when they exercise while in a seated or recumbent position. “By sitting or reclining, they are reducing the strain from reduced blood flow so that their bodies can better tolerate limited exercise,” Dr. Holladay explains.
For some people with ME/CFS, he recommends starting an exercise routine with stationary pedals or a recumbent bike, depending on what the person can tolerate.
Pedaling for five minutes with no or low resistance on a recumbent bike could be a good starting point. If you want to incorporate your upper body, he suggests lifting some light weights, such as 1- or 2-pound dumbbells, and doing only one set of just a few reps.
If you purchase a set of stationary pedals, you could sit on a chair or even lie on the floor while pedaling. “I generally prefer the stationary pedals or recumbent bike to a regular upright stationary bicycle because the regular bicycle puts them in a more upright position,” Dr. Holladay says, and staying upright for long periods can lead to crashing.
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