Salt And Exercise

[potsgirl]

Hello All~

Just wanted to pass along a little information that I learned from my recent visit to Mayo with my autonomic nervous system specialist, Dr. Goodman. I thought I was eating a lot of salt, but he told me I should have 10 grams a day - nowhere near what I've been ingesting. Also, along with a lot of water (because dehydration obviously makes us worse), lifting the head of your bed 4 inches will help with getting up in the morning. This doesn't work with 2 pillows (what I had been doing), the actual headboard needs to be raised, so your body is at slant.

Dr. Goodman also believes that taking Midodrine first thing in the morning, before you get out of bed, helps, and to limit caffeine to 2 cups in the morning, and then having no more stimulants the rest of the day. Most importantly is to not get deconditioned, and to exercise as much as possible, especially your lower body and abs, so the blood can't pool as much in your lower extremities. Strength workouts if possible. I know this is hard when we're feeling so yucky, but in the long run it should help us function better. I know keeping a workout schedule has helped me, even though I'm exhausted afterwards....If I do one thing during my day, it's to get some physical activity in.

Is anyone else out there able to exercise with any frequency? What are your thoughts on exercise? I used to be able to do much more, but I still work out 4 days a week or so.

Thanks,

potsgirl