Sport And Pots

[tsampa]

Do you are making sport every day with your pots ?

because doctor said if you have pots you must make sport 1 hour every day.

[jump]

Oh my goodness no.

Regular exercise does seem to help with symptoms, but I don't think there are too many people here who could exercise for an hour every day.

I myself feel quite proud if I am able to exercise for 30 minutes three or four times a week. I think a lot of people here can manage much less than that.

Start small and build up. Did your doctor recommend an exercise program for you?

[Ernie]

Hi,

When I was in my teens and early 20s I could swim 2 miles every single day but there is no way I can do that now!

[nunibenuni]

I exercise for 30 minutes 5 days a week and I think that is pretty good. An hour every day might be a goal, but you can start out small.

[hsinthecountry]

Dr Grubb suggessted swimming for 20 minutes 3x a week. I tried 20 minutes and that just wiped me out for 2 days. I'm slowly working up to 20 minutes!!

[Kitsakatsa]

I've seen a POTS article that suggests working up to 20 min per day a few days a week. I think that is reasonable. Whatever you can do that will no invoke THE REACTION. You all know about the sleeping monster that I'm talking about. We don't want to wake him. I used to exercise on purpose 1 hour each Friday night just to invoke that. I would sleep all day Saturday. I thought that pushing my body was a way of healing it. Wrong. Baby steps are the key. Starting at 1 hour would be foolish because it would take you a week to get back in the gym. Better to have 10-20 min per day.

[tsampa]

Do you are making sport every day with your pots ?

because doctor said if you have pots you must make sport 1 hour every day.

I have pots until 10 years. And i see a spcialiste of pots in milan. He said to me to do exercicie 1 hour every day. and specialy exercice for leg. you could do that in a fitness.

at the beggining it is very very hard to do exercice. me I'm doing 5 times sport in one week.

At the begging of my illness the doctor doesn't know if i could walk....and know 10 years after ...after 10 years of hard training I could run and walk 6 km during 50 min.

I think you must continue training you. Me the day I do exercice I'm very tired after my training I must staiy calme at home. but for my life it is very very better then before. now I could go on holiday

but in the tilt test it is the same ten 10 years before.

the exercice had not do that i could stand up in one place more than 6 minutes.

[yogini]

I don't think the numbers matter as much as what you are doing. This is different for each of us, because some people have more severe POTS than others and our bodies are unique. For me the best thing is doing REGULAR exercise that is as much as I can tolerate, without making me too sick to work and do other things....and then building up on that slowly over time.

When I first got sick, my exercise was walking for two minutes and added to that slowly over weeks and months. I've had a couple of big relapses where I have to start all over again.

It also depends upon the type of exercise. Exercises like swimming, yoga and pilates work much better for me. Cardio is a lot harder to tolerate, but works OK building up over time. I've been doing yoga since last summer and can now make it through an intermediate class for 1 1/2 hours, with plenty of rest after, of course. It is great because it is exercise combined with rest, aimed at increasing blood flow and calming the body. It's everything I need and has me feeling better than I have since getting POTS!

[tsampa]

I have a severe pots...and not only pots...at the begging i was in a wall char. but day after day week after week i could do more en more...

more for me but if you compar to a not ill personn ...it is not good to do 6km in 50min. but for me it's a miracle. i work for that every day.

i see more then you stay without doing exercice more then you become ill. with pots you must not stay in a chair on in your bed, after it is more difficult to could stand up.

because of pots my immun system is not going well and now since 6 years i also have a keratocone to my two eyes...and i have also the illness of birmer.

but i continue to do exercice.....it is difficult i know but after in you life you could do more things.

[deucykub]

This is such an interesting post, because for me it was the exact opposite. My symptoms did not start to improve until I stopped exercising and pushing myself. My doctors all prescribed the same thing - exercise. The more I exercised, the worse I felt, the less I could do, and the more work I missed! I tried everything, too, including an expensive gym membership so I could swim (now if that wasn't wasted money...).

When I finally stopped and let my body just HEAL rather than put it through more trauma, my heart rate started going down, my symptoms became less, and my brain fog has reduced to the point that I can be somewhat competent in my job again!

Since I stopped pushing myself and after several months to a year of living moderately and spending lots of time in the reclined position, I can now travel for work about once a month, sit through about three days, upright, and stand and give presentations (sitting once in a while and sweating like mad, though... hate that). I'm sick when I get home of course, and I feel awful during the trip, but if I give myself the whole weekend to recover, I can get back at it pretty quickly.

My point is listening to my body was probably the very best thing I ever did with an illness as unpredictable as POTS.

[Suzanne]

I used to live to exercise, so losing my stamina has been heart breaking for me. My doc has got me to walk for 15mins at a time, 4 times a day. These short walks I can tolerate and I savour each one, always wishing I could just sprint up that hill or jog around the oval. I stick to my routine and have found more stamina and a more peaceful outlook. It is different for everyone, but breaking it down has been helpful for me. I started at 5 minutes and plan to go to 20 minutes.

[lloppyllama]

I do about 30 minutes everyday, or almost everyday, so maybe you could start with something bit less than an hour, and work up to it. I hope it goes well for you, best of luck!

[Tessa]

I wish I could.

I think it is too early for me.

I have to feel better first...

Good luck

Take care,

Love,

Tessa

[mkoven]

I've started cardiac rehab again--about 30 minutes of cardio 5 minutes of strength, 5 minutes stretching, It wears me out amd I get dizzy/short of breath, but if I keep it below the "too much" threshold, I can keep going. I have to stop or slow down briefly throughout. I don't have the normal response, but I have been able to push a little more each session. My body still responds inappropriately. they measure bp before, during, and after, and I always have my lowest bp during. so far nothing too scarey, but a 10-15 point drop. (I wasn't like this several months ago). But I figure if I feel okay, stay below the point where I feel too bad, and they tell me my vitals and ekg are okay, I can continue.

But it's sad when 75 year olds are beating my rearend.

[willows]

This is a very interesting post indeed and something I've just started thinking about myself ......today in fact I've just ordered from an American shopping from TV site a book+DVD+ band so that I may try to do some ' Pilate's' as my walking is becoming very much a problem at this time , I'm also a lot more short breathed going upstairs than a few months ago and over all I feel ...........blah really 'out of sorts' 100% of the time ,always wanting to lay down , always very slightly head achy + joint achy and just yucky ............if that makes sense?

So I thought I'd get myself some very gentle exercising , which if I get pain with at all I'd stop doing for that day then come back and try the next day, as well as starting my wonderful 'fruit & veggie diet ' again which , do you know when I was on 'full time' I felt absolutley wonderful 'inside' my skin was like a peach and my hair grew to silly lengths and shone like someone had been polishing it so tyo me it makes sense to grit my teeth and start to do some exercising + eating my special diet ( that I know works ) and just trying to be a bit more 'positive' which unfortunately I've not been over the past few months or so ............and it shows.

In my youth I to was wheelchair restricted with such walking problems with pain , balance and general inability to stay upright for any lenght of time because of sheer fatigue. But later in my 20's I became super fit .............and I do mean super I'm talking about 2 hours everyday of either dance training , weights or keep fit ....every day and every other day karate training ( up to 1st Dan =black belt) and also at least 5-6 miles of walking

It wasn't until I became pregnant with Mike that everything went very fast down hill , and no I dont ever think of what it would be like if I hadn't had him or blame him for the condition I'm in now as I've had POTS 90% of my adult life, but in different stages and at one point over a period of around 7 years it was almost as if it had gone onto hibernation which was utterly brilliant !!!!!!