exercise blues

Hello friends!

I want to know if any of you have this symptom and what do you do about it?
On the days where I'm feeling good I try to get up and exercise because my ultimate goal is to get back to the gym! So at home I go up and down the stairs with 5 pound dumbells, use my resistance band and sometimes some pushups and high knee runs.
But the next day I'll have the "normal" workout muscle aches and then I notice my knee joints begin to hurt like bad, my kneck stiffins up, and my tremors are twice as bad. Feels like the Lyme is on full throttle again, then the muscle aches seem to linger.
Before Lyme my body felt great after a workout. I would have energy and the muscle aches would only last 2 days. Now it just hurts to exercise to the point where I need to stay in bed for days to recuperate.
I'm a big fitness fanatic! I'm trying to enjoy my life and feel a little normal again. Goodness it's difficult!

You probably need to slow down on the exercises and find out how much your body can tolerate by starting out slower. Try some milder exercises like walking, an elliptical machine or a rebounder, etc., so you have less pressure on your joints. Stress in any form can impact your immune system.

I'm sorry you can't continue like you were, but just focus on getting better and knowing you can get back to your former self.

Garden peace,

I was under the impression that exercising can help get rid of toxins which could make you feel better. But I will try the elliptical. I think I probably do push myself to hard. Only in desperation to feel good again

Pirouette,
That makes a lot of sense. I will definitely give that a try. I know it's going to take time to heal. I hope you will be able to get back to running again.

How long after getting infected with Lyme did everything come crashing down on you? Or when did u notice that you couldn't exercise the way you use to?

Definitely check with your doctor about this. My doctors and many of the lyme experts advise against cardio exercises but do say that mild to moderate anaerobic exercises are okay. Anaerobic would be like lifting weights etc but nothing that raises the heart rate too much.

That is fantastic though that you are able to do that. Try to maybe find something in between, even doing things like stretching the muscles everyday can help.

You will get back to normal again, promise!

At my most recent LLMD appointment I mentioned to my Dr that I was out of breath going upstairs at work. This coming from a life long soccer player who has exercised my whole life up until lyme decided to kick me down. She told me to start doing light weights while sitting because I had become deconditioned. Like others have said I try to do yoga or just some type of stretching. I sure do miss running it was an outlet for me. I pray I get back to that one day.

opugirl—

Thank you - I'd forgotten about that. No aerobic exercise for lymees. I think Burrescano has some good points on what kinds of activities are recommended - resistance training is the key. Weights are a great idea. Yoga is awesome because there is stretching involved, which unfortunately I can't do (joint problems) but maybe someday I can get back to it.

After doing a bunch of research over the past year I was convinced that I really needed to find a way to stay active and moving. I do not notice any atrophy (yet) but I just know that I need to sweat for detoxing (desperately) and also, for me a workout is critical to maintaining my sanity (although recent events might prove that wrong.)

...and my LLMD agreed, thankfully. And I also asked if she would write me a script for physical therapy so that I could develop a routine that I could do with my bad joints and muscles that ache and ache that would be a) manageable and not too risky for further damage; b) beneficial so that it was worth the time; and c) things I could do on my own. I've been too overwhelmed by everything else to find a PT place but once I do I'll report back.

marigold—I think you stated it better than I. ;) We will have to keep each other in check!

Healing98—
I hear you. I get so angry. SO angry about how much of my life I missed out on not knowing I had lyme for 15+ yrs. So many times I—and others—felt like I was just being poopy and cranky and anti-sociable and lazy. But I was in a lot of pain—just didn't recognize it. The only thing that helps me (sometimes—not all the time) is working on my "list" of things I'll be doing once I heal. I really just started treatment but about 6 months from completing treatment I am going to start creating a timeline for when I will start these activities. Set goals I can look forward to. Maybe you can target a marathon man competition once you're well? Hang in there… let the anger wash over you and look beyond it.

-p

Post Edited (Pirouette) : 11/25/2014 9:50:40 PM (GMT-7)

Athletes and fitnes gurus with lyme need to back down from their past routines. I was one myself, and highly competitive in solo endurance sports, so this is really hard on me too.

Like Pirouette mentioned, you really have to limit yourself before you burn out, by then its too late and you will feel it for days or weeks after. Its hard to do that when your feeling good in the moment, but we pay the price that non-lymies dont.

The ATP muscle rebuilding chemistry for tissue fiber is all in chaos with lyme. Pushed to far and damage will occur - I've done that too.

If I do anything heavy with my arms, the hand tremors come back worse than normal for me the next day, which makes working difficult. I hate this.

I cant NOT exercise either, I tighten up. We must exercise with in our new limits till its cured I guess. Massage helps a lot, arnica gel, epson salt lotion by Morton, MSM cream.

Astroman—
Good point about the ATP muscle rebuilding chemistry. Unfortunately, massages are way too painful for me but I do like the arnica. Hope you can get back to your competitions.

Marchcat asked:
"How long after getting infected with Lyme did everything come crashing down on you? Or when did u notice that you couldn't exercise the way you use to?"

Well, I am one of those people who didn't know I had lyme for 15-20 yrs… I spent that time on a roller coaster of being very very sick to being kind of well and functioning to being sick again. I had no idea what was wrong with me but I had extreme exhaustion immediately after I was bitten (although I didn't know I had been bitten). THe fatigue affected everything. I no longer had energy to do my hair or my laundry or join friends in social activities, much less work out. Then I had no energy to feed myself or shower. Then I couldn't get out of bed or even answer the phone.

Docs decided it was stress, or fibro, or CFS or a lazy thyroid, or whatever. I gained a lot of weight (although nothing had changed in my routine), which eventually made it more and more difficult to exercise and put additional stress on my joints. And then, of course, when I'd go to a new MD he would blame my problems on my weight.

I would get a little better and a little better and then I started feeling normal again. And then I would completely go crazy with overconfidence and hubris and would start exercising like a madwoman and working too many hours and not getting enough sleep and invariably I would crash. Hard.

This went on for a several years and each time I crashed I would get a little worse. Then finally, I had to take a year and a half off work to recover… then I started doing better. and better. And then I got right back into the same cycle. This is my 3rd episode of getting so ill I had to quit my job. Except that this time, I finally figured out I have lyme and I'm in treatment. Since I've been in treatment I have crashed a couple of times but without the physical and psychological stress of work, I recovered more quickly. I was still overexercising or working too hard in the yard or trying to clean the whole house at one time until about 2 months ago and that's when I realized that I couldn't trust myself and needed to get this under control.

So far the "rules" are working. But the further I get into treatment, the worse my hips/knees feel so even walking around the grocery store is quite painful and really wears me out. And the "conditions" I need to take into consideration are expanding—now I have to consider if I have eaten enough today, did I already do grocery shopping, did I sleep enough the night before, did I detox enough the day before, and where I'm at in the 4-5 wk cycle that I tend to follow. I hope this doesn't get worse as my treatment steps up. I desperately need to be able to ride my bike. Or I will lose my mind.

Hope this helps.

-p

dmw—

My LLMD cautioned me that if I'm tired after working out, I've gone too far. But…for many of us, everything can be fatiguing. So then she told me if I was that bad, I should not be exercise. I stayed inactive for the first 4 months of my treatment—I was battling horrible exhaustion because I was trying to fight off all those viruses.

My inactivity, while it made me crazy, did help recover my adrenals. Then, I would do a very light workout only when I was having trouble sleeping—I'm not sure if this was a good idea but it sure knocked me out and I could finally sleep after some bad insomnia.

And now, I am able to work out. A light sweat is my sweet spot. I live down south (where its still a little warm) so sometimes the sweat is from just being hot—not from high activity so that's good. But like I mentioned, I have to be VERY careful not to overdo it. In fact, I no longer look at it like "exercise" because I have to change my mindset— it is now "getting fresh air". ;)

I do think you might back off a little bit to where you don't need a nap—you're probably overdoing it.

-p

So, to start off, I was an experienced powerlifter in 185lbs weight class. Lyme has caused me to stop lifting heavy, due to neck pain, body aches, and lack of motivation. I now focus on lighter weights in all lifts (Dumbells dumbbells and dumbbells!). I have stopped deadlifting do to back pain and lack of motivation.. May be it could be a blessing in the long run for my body, who knows? IT all started when after my workouts I would feel TERRIBLE. Like a barrel of Cortisol was being released in me. There was simply no feel good endorphins having any effect on me anymore...I have lost 15lbs due to a change in diet (semi gluten free, organic etc) and of course lost A LOT of strength in the process which is understandable. What i've come to find is, some days after working an 8hr Construction shift, my energy isn't there… Some days our bodies are speaking to us. The SEVERE neurological issues and BRAIN FOG cause my lack of motivation and is honestly BULLS*IT. I have my good days in the gym and my bad days. You have to fight through it. This disease is clearly de-habilitating. If we are stuck in this body (for now) we might as well make the best of it. So lets battle through this and get off our butts and start kicking A**!!! May God Bless You.

Its good to hear peoples exercise experiences w/lyme. Now I know for sure that I'm not alone with these symptoms and it is a lyme thing. I have been to lyme support groups where no one there ever exercised in their adult life so they had no input on this.

Ive had this 25 years. (25 years of tendinitis, sore joints and lumpy muscles with knots and adhesion's from the lyme muscle tissue toxicity. ) The worse point was 2004-2008.

When I almost completely stopped exercise due to lyme pain, my body felt good at first and then got worse. Muscle atrophy did set in. I had to do carefull strength traing to regain movement - regular physical therapists dont get this so I had to explain it to them.

There is a fine line in movment just to keep things from getting worse. Sometimes I still go over it.

I went canoeing this spring several times with no muscle issues, then one day I went 2 miles farther (not a big deal), but that wrecked my shoulder for the rest of the summer.

Going for walks on pavement/conc is not good. Its too hard on the joints and is a repetetive motion. Walking in grass or a woodchip trail or a dirt hiking trail means every foot step is different than the last one - way better for you. But then you need to do the tick check.

Sterted going to the gym again, I must go real slow in upping the wieghts and never have whole body days. Neck / shoulder stuff is very touchy.

Ive had several PTs over the years and learned from THEIR mistakes on ME.

There are not many people that care to do what I did, but I had no choice to figure it out on my own since there very limited pain / body works professionals that do all of this on their own in one clinic.

Thru networking I did meet two PTs that understand this because they had lyme too (and healed)! But they just confirmed what had previously I learned on my own.

You can not throw a patient into a standard PT weight / machine strenght program who has a tight (and possibly crooked body from lyme or co infections. They will get worse and possibly contorted causing functional scoliosis. I proved this unfortunately.

We obviously (to us) do not experience proper muscle tissue recovery, that non lymies do. The ATP chemical process is messed up and the ionic transfer (electrical) between cells is hammperd from the lack of magnesium (a conductive salt).

I differentiated pain into four types / issues:

1) Entrapped nerve shieths
2) Bursitis, tendonitis in end of muscle / tendon
3) Lumps, adhesion, knots in "belly" of muscles
4) Joint pain refereed and caused by #2 above

You have no know what healthy muscles feel like to the touch on surface and deep. You can not go on a strenght training program with muscle knots/adhesion's or tight tendons.

These must be found, then treated manually via Nerve shieth glides, Trigger Point Release, Active Release Technique, and possibly John Barnes Myofacial Release in that order. I had all this done on me and I then learned it the best I could - I told my story , so they helped teach me.

I had to fix my carple tunnel first so my hands could work on the rest of my body. I had adhesions from the shoulders to the fingers pushing on the nerves. Nerve shieth glide stretches and trigger point releas with active release fixed 75 % of this in one year with no ABX at that time.

Bottom line is a tight and crooked body will only be a tighter crooked body from normal PT aproaches. The tendons and adhesions MUST be treated first. Most people do not know what that is or that this exists to some extent in chronic body pain. The longer one has this, the worse it is.

I have too much info (years) to put in a post, this can be googled in bits and pieces, I used the library to get instructional books on some of this too.

I would gladly write something longer on this as I have done so befor but it gets lost here. We need a good place to put people important findings here.

Any ques ask.