Post- exercise recovery

lorrpb

I don't seem to be as limited in my ability to exercise as many with FM do, although i'm limited by own stamina & strength, both of which have greatly improved as I've been working out over the past year. But it seems that I can do more in my workouts than I can recover from. Meaning I'm totally exhausted and can hardly function the rest of the day and am often very fatigued the following day. I haven't found anything yet that consistently helps. Sometimes taking a walk later in the day helps a little to a lot. I've looked at my sleep, pre and post exercise nutrition, hydration, etc as suggested by my trainer, so I'm thinking maybe this recovery problem is due to the FM? It has improved as my overall fitness has improved, but is still a problem with more vigorous or longer classes.

Can anyone relate to this or do you have any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks.

canadjineh

Hi @lorrpb: Yep, it is proven that FMers take much longer for muscle recovery than 'normal'. I'll check in my MedScape info on this and cut & paste since I can't do a public link to a private medical professionals site. Try a read through the thread I regularly post in here from Medscape. I may have already pasted a study on this... I can't remember off hand.
You just have to factor the longer recovery in and scale back what you do on those recovery days. Awareness helps, since there isn't a lot we can do about this.

canadjineh

Study quote verbatim

"The key point to note is that ischemia associated
with a modest decline in tissue oxygen causes muscle
fatigue and decreased muscle force production. Interestingly, we also found an inverse correlation
between the oxygen recovery half time and peak
exercise capacity. The difference between oxygen
supply and oxygen demand in the tissue level leads to
prolong of oxygen supply in the FM. At maximal
work load, many other factors will affect recovery time,
ranging from the adverse effect of tissue acidosis upon the mitochondrial synthesis of phosphocreatine, lead-
ing to prolonged recovery times. Muscle fatigue,
a decoupling of the excitation–contraction process,
induced by ischemia may be explained by factors such
as reduced clearance of phosphates from the muscle
due to impaired circulation, limited oxygen. It
should be noted that delay in recovery of oxygen was
due to the time required for re-synthesis of phospho-
creatine and phosphate. Moreover, our theory is that there is a vicious cycle
between impairment of microcirculation and exercise
intolerance in FM. First, the cycle initiated decrease of
production of nitric oxide in the endothelial level by
some trigger factors. Changed level of nitric oxide
may cause microcirculation abnormalities in the tissue
levels and muscular region. At the end of these phases,
muscular fatigue and exercise intolerance may pro-
gressively develop in the FM.
In conclusion, current evidences suggest that the
patho-physiological dynamic changes of microcircula-
tion in skeletal muscle may lead to significant changes
in function-dependent tissue oxygen delivery, con-
sumption and low exercise capacity in FM. Although
this argument has some merit and a number of quali-
fication need to be made, detecting abnormalities of
oxygen kinetics may help and quantify diagnosis and
provide a valuable knowledge about processing of
therapy in patients with FM.

Sorry about the heavy scientific language, but it is a published study printed in Rheumatology International in 2007. I know I read something else a bit more recent but can't seem to find it right now.
Here's a link to read the full study on Researchgate.net.
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/6827108_Exercise_capacity_and_oxygen_recovery_half_times_of_skeletal_muscle_in_patients_with_fibromyalgia

BrandiOSmith

I have the same issues. After a workout, I'm completely drained and for the next couple of days, I'm in such excrutiating pain, I can barely walk. The ONLY thing that has helped me has been water aerobics. I did an hour workout in the water with water dumbells today and I felt and still feel amazing. I haven't been on my weight loss and exercise journey for very long so maybe as I drop more weight and get my body used to moving more, I will be able to do more on he gym floor but until then, water aerobics is going to be my thing. Good luck to you!

canadjineh

@BrandiOSmith water exercise is perfect for people with FM. That has been my mainstay along with walking when I had to give up my physio and personal trainer jobs. I can no longer do a gym program even for myself but resistance of the water is infinitesimally variable which is just what we need. Work as hard as necessary but do not overdo. It doesn't really have much to do with your weight either. I am at maintenance and even before I gained (then lost) I had to give up my weight training program.

elsie6hickman

I know what you mean. And I stiffen up as soon as I'm done with the exercise. Sometimes I wonder how I'll make it upstairs.

canadjineh

@elsie6hickman try some heat and self massage post exercise if you can manage it. Either hot tub or infrared sauna work well for many. My doc also suggested using a pain killer just before exercise (like acetominophen/paracetamol) so that you can get a bit of relief BUT that's only once you can figure out your threshold for exercise. You don;t want to have the pain message dulled so much that you overdo and pay for it later. Nothing wrong with doing strictly stretches or mild beginner yoga on tougher days. I've done stretches in bed before, lol. Gives you a sense of accomplishment, and keeps your range of motion.

melmerritt33

I’m slowly finding out what exercise I can safely do. Weights are completely out it seems although I haven’t given up hope on that yet as I loved using weights when I was healthy. Walking is very painful and leaves me stiff and exhausted. The stationery bike seems to be manageable, although it still leaves me stiff afterwards I don’t seem to have the lingering pain and tiredness I get from walking. I still try to do a bit of walking each week but am focusing on the bike for now. I keep meaning to try yoga or pilates which I also used to do but am nervous about trying it.

elsie6hickman

melmerritt33 wrote: »

I’m slowly finding out what exercise I can safely do. Weights are completely out it seems although I haven’t given up hope on that yet as I loved using weights when I was healthy. Walking is very painful and leaves me stiff and exhausted. The stationery bike seems to be manageable, although it still leaves me stiff afterwards I don’t seem to have the lingering pain and tiredness I get from walking. I still try to do a bit of walking each week but am focusing on the bike for now. I keep meaning to try yoga or pilates which I also used to do but am nervous about trying it.

I'm having a problem with my back when I walk very much. I can feel it tightening up and then it becomes very painful. One good thing about yoga is that there are so many modifications when you have trouble with a pose. I wish I had a good yoga class here, but unfortunately that isn't the case. I've been doing some exercise with my 2lb weights, with no problem. I want to get to the point I can tolerate a 5 lb weight.

melmerritt33

That’s good, as long as you have something you can manage it makes it easier to keep doing it.

AlexandraFindsHerself1971

I am working out with weights, but this is what I had to do:

I go every single day, so that the work is more like the work you do if you move into a house with stairs, or have to start walking a block to work. So it's just the new way I do things.

I do all the body every day. I don't do just arms or just legs or just core. BUT...
I lift really light and really low to start. I started with fifteen pounds on my arms. And when I felt that first little burn/cramp....I stopped. Doesn't matter if that's only five reps. But light and low every day, and stopping when I feel anything, has me slowly gaining muscle. That helps with the overall pain and debility.

"They" can tell me anything they want about exercise and how to do it. "They" don't have fibro. I do. This is what works for me.

canadjineh

Sounds like you've got it figured out @theleadmare.
Although I could still lift the same amount of weight back when I had to quit, there was too much pain in the joints of my hands, wrists and elbows for me to get a proper grip and lift safely. There were added immune system issues around food that exacerbated this which I didn't realize at the time, although I am still affected somewhat.

I hope everyone has found their sweet spot for exercise. With my present job in security and policing, I get a fair amount of steps in on patrol, and am enjoying my walks these days. Too busy to get out much for snowshoeing or xc skiing this year so far. Still crossing my fingers for a bit more of that.