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Crashing with light exercise

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Posted 4/24/2018 6:55 PM (GMT -5)
Hey everybody,

Wanted to get your opinion on this. I've never really heard of this happening with others:

I was diagnose with fibro about 20 years ago and of course still struggle, as many of us do.

I am not really able to exercise consistently, but if I do take a leisurely walk for 5-10 minutes, I usually feel fine (except for a little extra muscle pain the next day). BUT....if I go for a longer walk (say 15-20 min), I will literally CRASH: My muscle pain will almost double in intensity, feels like a severe anxiety attack, HEART POUNDING! All this happens within a couple of seconds, and can last for many hours. What the heck causes this!!
It just feels like my body literally gives out.

This same thing happens (to a lesser extent) with normal everyday things. I took my niece fishing for 2 hours today (we were mostly sitting) and I could feel it coming on (whatever 'it' is!) I'm still trying to calm my heart down a few hours later. It's like I have no stamina at all to do anything.

When I first got fibro symptoms, a faster heartbeat and what feels like almost constant anxiety (regardless if there was anything actually causing anxiety) are def included in my symptoms. I'm on a medication, atenolol, which does help with this.

I've thought that my fight or flight system is permanently turned on, or maybe my cortisol is messed up.

Does anyone relate to this at all? Thanks for your opinions!

Jen




Posted 4/25/2018 8:25 AM (GMT -5)
I definitely have to pace what i do in a day,

And exercise, can kick my butt if i do not work it up gradually.

I do not get the heart pounding thing, it does sound like anxiety..have been going in an oit of flares a lot with our weather patterns..i can get anxious when i know a flare is coming on, but do not get the heart racing..

What does your dr think on that?
Posted 4/25/2018 8:35 AM (GMT -5)
Hi Jen,

I get the heart pounding thing from some prescription meds like PPI's so I don't take them. I also can get the heart palpitations from certains foods that I shouldn't eat.

I have to pace myself and not walk more than 15 minutes or so or I become very sore. What has helped me somewhat in that department are my twice a day stretches and exercises along with my theraputic massage therapist. She says I have a lot of knots.
Posted 4/25/2018 10:41 AM (GMT -5)
Hi, Jen, and welcome. We can get heart palpitations with fibro. When I had it happen the first time, I did head to my doctor and he ran heart tests on me...and electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram, an ultrasound of my heart, checked my carotid arteries, and had me wear a Holter monitor for 24 hours so he could rule out heart issues. I was fine. I think that’s the smart thing to do. Get your heart checked out. You probably will be like me but now, when I get palpitations, I don’t get anxiety. I know there is nothing wrong with my heart and it will pass soon. If anxiety kicks in, you will get other symptoms too...perhaps that’s part of the more intense pain you feel. Stress can tighten the muscles.

With gentle exercise, you need to do this daily. If you are exercising sporadically then your muscles can’t get accustomed to the workout. I walk daily as my gentle form of exercise and I swim in the summer. When I started walking, I could only walk four houses down and had to turn around if I wanted to make it back home. Yep, my muscles hurt that night. The next day I walked again, even though I didn’t want to. I was able to go a little further! I kept this up and now I walk at least a mile every day plus the added two miles in my house. I have an Apple Watch that tells you how many steps you take and how many miles you have gone. Anyway, I can walk in malls, amusement parks, etc. because I kept walking daily.

I hope this helps you. Do be sure to read Fibro 101...the first thread on the forum. There are links to good info and you may find things to help yourself with this illness.

I’m looking forward to getting to know you better. Don’t hesitate to ask questions because we are here to help you. Hope to hear more from you soon.

Sherrine
Posted 4/26/2018 10:41 PM (GMT -5)
Thanks for your replies and thanks Sherrine for the warm welcome!

I have had a dr check out my heart 20 years ago and it was fine then, but was long time ago!

EVERYTIME I go to the dr they find absolutely nothing wrong, so I go very seldom. I get tired of being told I'm perfectly healthy. Yeah, right!

I think it's great Sherrine that you have worked yourself up to walking a mile a day. That's amazing to me, I've been trying to do that for a long time, and failing. Do you have less muscle pain once you got to this point? I know I need to start out really slow, but still can't seem to do it consistently (and I used to play all kinds of sports before fibro so it frustrates me so much!) After work, my legs feel like they have already ran a marathon, so how do I even do more??
Sigh!

I've always been a thin person, but feel I lack muscle tone and strength, which probably affects my stamina. I'll see if I can start some type of walking, or maybe swimming would be even better.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Posted 4/27/2018 8:20 AM (GMT -5)
Jen, we all are the picture of Health. Didn’t you know that? devil I have other health issues so my doctor sees me every three months. I’m always totally healthy. I do think it’s important to take good care of ourselves and we should see our doctors once or twice a year, at least. This is how things are caught early.

I do think it would be good to let your doctor know about the palpitations and ask to have tests to make sure there is nothing wrong with your heart. A lot can change in 20 years. Your heart probably is very healthy but, at least when you do get palpitations, anxiety won’t kick in because you will know for sure that your heart is fine. Anxiety causes stress which tightens muscles and can cause more pain. Stress can also cause other symptoms and then you start worrying about those symptoms! It’s never ending so protect yourself from that.

Sitting or laying too much will cause less energy and more pain with fibro. I know right now it hurts to move so we naturally think we should rest. Nah, that doesn’t work. The more you move and use your muscles, the more flexible you will become. Your muscles get used to the movement, become stronger, so you will have less pain. The old saying. “ If you don’t use it, you lose it.” is very true and that might be what is happening to you! So get moving...but pace yourself.

Whenever I set a goal, I will start and work maybe a half an hour and then stop and rest. I will get on my iPad or something sedentary like that. Then, after 20 minutes or so I go back to what I was trying to accomplish. Everything does get done this way but in a different time frame and we aren’t in a world of pain either!

Walking. Even now I don’t feel like walking, and I’ve been doing this for years. Trust me, I can find many excuses not to walk but I am consistent. But I make myself head out the door and I start enjoying the beauty all around me. I check out landscaping, flowers, critters getting their breakfast and bugs trying to avoid me. It’s really beautiful and it’s realize how blessed to am and that is a good depression lifter! I’m not depressed because I think positively nearly all of the time. And, by the end of my walk, I have more energy and less pain! In the beginning, as I told you in another post, I had more pain when I started walking but I refused to give up and continued my daily walks. The pain diminished. Just think about someone deciding to lift weights. They start out light and work into the really heavy weights. Because we have fibro, we shouldn’t expect to run marathons, but walking daily is definitely doable and very healthy for us also.

I remember a neighbor asking me to play racquetball. I lettered in tennis when in school so I thought, why not! I had no idea you moved, ran, and hit balls that much with racquetball but I’m very competitive and did what I had to do to beat her. Yep, I won! But the next day I could barely move. The only things that didn’t hurt were my ear lobes! 😂. I found out I had muscles I didn’t even know existed. So I learned early on not to be a weekend exerciser. I need to do gentle exercise daily.

So, don’t give up. I think walking daily will really start to help you. Do let us know how things are going and...pace yourself when doing anything!

Sherrine
Posted 5/3/2018 8:02 AM (GMT -5)
Hi GiGi,

Just curious......what dosage of atenolol are you on? How fast is your heartrate at rest and how fast does it get when you feel it's going fast? I'm on a little beta blocker myself, and sometimes I wonder if it controls my heartrate to the point where my heart can't deliver what it needs when I work harder.

I'm going through a horribly long flare. I also have bad osteoarthritis, so that adds to the problems and I can't walk much, so I can't get the exercise I wish I could. The body deconditions so fast!

I seem to have episodes throughout the year when I seem to poop out so much quicker than usual, and I can't really say why.

So many unanswered questions with Fibro.
Posted 5/3/2018 1:29 PM (GMT -5)
I have been trying to work back into some exercise routines, its been tough because i was going in and out of flares so fast with our crazy weather.l

Some days i can get the day to day stuff done, others.. i will start working and realise its gonna be a slow day..

I stretch routinely, but am still sporadic with my bike.. and the treadmill felt awful, not sure why.

I will work outside, weeding etc.. in the next couple months.. but i do it like in 20 min cycles..

My stamina has not been as good since a bad fall , last year..but with our better weather really want to build it again..

Its really hard to find the sweet spot, between what we
Can do and not set ourselves back..

We are in the 90 s today , quite a swing from 56 on sunday.so i will ride the indoor bike today
Posted 5/3/2018 2:05 PM (GMT -5)
My muscles weaken and I can hardly get anywhere if I get to warm. Like even a tiny bit sweaty or with a fever. I had to crawl up my porch steps on a 60* day from planting flowers. It might be something to watch for.
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