Too Much Exercise

Skydemon53

After a few months of having some unusual symptoms (muscle twitches and muscle cramps), I went to my general practioner who ordered a series of blood tests. When nothing unusual came up, he referred me to a neurologist. The neurologist performed a series of test in the office, ordered an EMG and and MRI. In the meantime, my gait (walking motion) changed, and I developed drop foot. Fearing the worse (ALS-Lou Gehrig's Disease), yesterday I went to my follow-up with the neurologist. He said (to my relief) that the results of the EMG didn’t indicate ALS, but the MRI did show cervical stenosis (narrowing of the channel that the spinal cord passes), and that could cause some of the symptoms that I was experiencing, but not so much to the lower extremities. Based on my history of regular nightly cocktails before dinner, and a couple of glasses of wine, and exercise levels (I have been doing about 60 minutes of aerobic exercise on the elliptical machine or biking a day, and my heart rate averages 145 and maxes out in the 160’s), he recommended that I completely curtail my consumption of alcohol, and significantly reduce my level/duration of exercise. He stated that at my age (a few months shy of 60), as a reason to cut back on my exercising. So I’ll give it a shot, and see what happens. Of course I will have to cut back on my calorie intake, since I make up for all those calories I burn (I was averaging around over 4000 calories burned per week), or I will be gaining a pound a week, though eliminating alcohol will make up a good portion of those calories.

Guamybear

I just recently started facial twitches..hoping I just need more magnesium since my diet has changed.

Skydemon53

They ran tests on all the minerals, vitamins, etc, and they were all within/close to normal limits. Checked for heavy metals too. I would get cramps before all this came about if I got dehydrated and my electrolytes were low (I sweat a lot when I workout or do a lot of heavy work outside in the summer) but some gatorade always took care of the problem.

marycmeadows

This makes sense. cutting down on alcohol consumption can't hurt at all. Plus it will eliminate A LOT of empty calories. I rarely drink. I do exercise heavily, but there definitely is such a thing as too much exercise..... Luckily I've learned how to make myself take rest days. they are just as important, if not more so, than working out. Also, you said you do a lot of cardio - and while that's great for your heart, strength training is also amazing for you overall. Build more muscle, burn more calories while at rest.

BrianSharpe

I'm a little curious, other than citing your age as a factor for cutting back on your exercise volume did he give any other reasons? (You're only a few years ahead of me......and I'm hoping to maintain or increase my overall exercise volume until I have no choice in the matter)


BTW - I'm glad the ALS test was negative. My business partner / best friend died from ALS a few years back. It's a horrific disease with no really effective treatments.

Skydemon53

The only "reason" for cutting back on the exercise was my age. One of the blood tests did come back a little high that measures creatine kinase enzyme, but I don't remember if I had exercised the day of that they took the sample.