Regaining strength after being ill

Nicki

Hi there

Am looking for tips and ideas about regaining my strength after being ill. I've been struggling with joint pain and extreme fatigue and dizziness for several months now and been off work for the last 4 weeks not able to do much more than move from bed to sofa and back again. Have also passed out several times, once in public

I don't have any diagnosis (doctor is still working on that one) and am giving up hope of getting one to be honest but really really need to get back on my feet and back to work as soon as I can. I have seen a nutritionist and cleaned my diet up over the last 4 weeks cutting out gluten, caffeine, sugar and cows dairy and taking lots of supplements but what I really need is advice on building up my strength. My iron levels are normal so this isn't anaemia. I did dig out my fit and earlier in the week and on my best day this week I only managed 1500 steps all day and was laid out cold the next day.

So looking for tips on gentle exercises to build up my strength over the next few weeks to get me well enough at least to go back to work. Anybody got any tried and tested tips?

WeAreGhosts

I have similar symptoms (diagnosed with POTS) and I try and walk around the local park, or just a block of streets each day. I had to start off with just walking to the end of the street and back and then I gradually increased how far I was going. On a good day I can walk 40 mins, but on a bad day only about 8 mins.

Start with baby steps and gradually increase the length of the walk

A.Penny.Saved

It could be CFS or Fibro, in which case exercising is a mistake.
You might have low blood pressure which could be causing you to pass out, especially when you get up.
Unfortunately is a long and slow process with diagnosis because your doctor will only reach a diagnosis after excluding all other possible illnesses. There are no reliable tests, just lots of abnormalities.

All that I can suggest ATM is to make your protein meals as easy and quick to digest as possible. Such as liquidizing your protein meals. Finding protein which is quick to break down and digest would be helpful. Milk is slow to digest BTW.
Low protein Fruit and veg are okay and can be eaten normally.

WeAreGhosts

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

It could be CFS or Fibro, in which case exercising is a mistake.

I have CFS and exercising is certainly NOT a mistake!

You should exercise to a level at which you start to become tired ... or even, in some extreme case, before you reach the tiredness.

Check out pacing and graded activity
http://www.mesupport.co.uk/index.php?page=pacing-graded-activity

Mojisola

In the early stages of ME/CFS, your body needs to heal. If you use up energy exercising, you will delay your recovery.

WeAreGhosts

Mojisola wrote: »

In the early stages of ME/CFS, your body needs to heal. If you use up energy exercising, you will delay your recovery.

Which professor/consultant/clinician told you that?

Mojisola

WeAreGhosts wrote: »

Which professor/consultant/clinician told you that?

Many years of personal experience and the experience of our support group members.

See also Dr Myhill's webpage - http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/CFS_-_The_Central_Cause:_Mitochondrial_Failure

If you don't have the energy to get up and do basic day-to-day things, trying to add an exercise regime into your day will be detrimental.

Nicki

I haven't got a ME/CFS diagnosis and am not looking for an exercise programme as such - or not one like x push ups, x minutes jogging, etc because that would be beyond me at the moment. Just any ideas to help my body recover from whatever has struck me down so savagely.

I definitely don't have low blood pressure. Readings last week were about 128/90 I think so just a little higher than normal and I don't have fibro because the pain isn't over the fibro diagnosis points and blood tests have also ruled out RA. Some form of autoimmune condition is most likely but the exact diagnosis perhaps isn't the relevant issue in the post which is about ways of building up health again after an acute period of being unwell, whether the illness is flu or a bad injury, or as in my case something unknown.

Fen1

Please look at the Thyroid UK website.
Many of your symptoms match under active thyroid. You will no doubt have been tested by your GP but the thyroid function tests that GPS perform are rubbish. TSH and T4 only give part of the picture, and is hopeless if you have non-standard thyroid problems.
Please look at the website and the associated chat forum. It has been a lifesaver for me.
They can give you lots of feedback on your health generally ( even if you don't have thyroid problems). Importantly, they can recommend a switched- on consultant who will help you. You have the right to be referred to a consultant of your choice, anywhere in the country. This piece of information is important: my local Endocrinologists were awful and so I had to travel to a different trust to get the care I needed.

Good luck!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Blood tests don't necessarily rule out arthritis. Rheumatoid factor isn't present in everybody with RA, can be present in people without it, and there's more than one autoimmune condition affect ring joints in the first place. I'm guessing that you have elevated CRP and ESR.

You need referring to rheumatology as per official guidelines: tge GP isn't the appropriate professional to make or dismiss the diagnosis.



If it is an inflammatory arthritis, it needs to be treated quickly to avoid joint or other systemic damage. Exercising on inflamed joints or tendons without supervision can damage them very quickly.

Personally, nothing worked like getting a massive steroid inhection. No amount of trying to exercise, forcing myself to work, no elimination diets, nothing. It was getting a medication that combatted the cause of my symptoms that made it possible to function again. Over time, various other medications were tried and I'm now far more active than I was.

I started with swimming. Because it felt good to be in the water.

The key is seeing the appropriate specialist; if you've paid for somebody to tinker around with your diet, you can surely afford to request your GP refers you privately to see a rheumatologist (and you'll get seen within about a week). You could then transfer over to their NHS list.


If you have something autoimmune, it's getting diagnosis and treatment that starts you being able to function. Not exercise programmes.

busybee100

WeAreGhosts wrote: »

Which professor/consultant/clinician told you that?

Professor Pinching told me. He also told me you can save energy ready for when it's needed (pre-emptive resting).

OP Touch wood it isn't ME/CFS but being whacked/ill the day after exercise is one of the symptoms please listen to your body and take it easy, it will help whatever you're suffering from.