Who Was Athletic During A Period Of Their Lives?

[Lemons2lemonade]

If so, how athletic? I used to lift weights in the morning and do two soccer practices along with extra cardio 5 days a week. When I got into college I used to run 5+ miles 2-3 days a week. When I first got sick I was put on a beta blocker and during that time I had to pass a "work out on your own" class. For the first 2 weeks I just went in and stretched. Then I slowly progressed to jogging and got back up to 5 miles. The next quarter, I did not take the class and that was when my pots hit hardest.

[Serbo]

yep from about 16 to 23 running 5 miles at 6am and then doing an hour of gym in the evening 5 days a week

[hilbiligrl]

i wasn't much of a work out person, but i've always stayed thin and in shape. I didn't go to the gym or do cardio, etc. BUT i WAS active! I was so active that i think it pushed me to my final break in oct 2009. I had a full time schedule at college, heading to pharm school, working 25-40 hours a week at cvs..... being the homeroom parents and doing parties, etc for both my children..... helping with the towing business, driving the trucks, working wrecks, pulling cars out of ditches and general tows. So i was always doing something and slept very little for many many many years. I was a go go go, do do do type person.

In HS i was in marching band, (and concert).... i played drums and all percussion..... i played softball for a good 6 years or so but not after HS...... rode horses....

So, as in working out, i was always too tired after everything i had done each day or all week..... i did take a period where i worked out on my bowflex 3 days a week and done the treadmill 3 days a week (it was right after a crash and i had slowly gained strength and little energy to start working out.....) I done that for a good year, but i was always saying 'but i still don't feel good, i still feel so tired and weak and my breathing was still so horrible'.... i just never felt any better.....

i know that was off topic, but sometimes anything that is posted can help bring more understanding about us in some way

my 2 cents....

tennille

[RunningWild]

POTS hit me right after about 6 months of half marathon training, and a race. I haven't been able to run much over 2 miles since then.

[bellgirl]

Oh my, I could write a book, but I won't...lol. I've done every exercise known to man. Dancing, (ballet, jazz, tap), drill team, swimming, running, aerobics, weight lifting, softball, hiking, canoeing, scuba diving, horseback riding, tennis and I even went mountain climbing once!...Always on the go

[jangle]

Believe it or not, when I was first hit with POTS I was playing high school football in Texas. Which is fundamentally different than playing high school football in other states. In Texas, the coaches are actively trying to kill you.

Although as expected, I didn't last long after my POTS became really bad, I quit my junior year in high school, during the off season. I have no idea how I made it through the season, but I was very athletic at the time. I could easily run for miles, I could lift about 3/2 my body weight on the bench press. I was squat pressing over 300 pounds (I weighed like 150 pounds at the time), and I could do all the other lifts with way above average strength.

[Christy_D]

My son was playing select soccer year round and select baseball in the spring and fall. He had to quit it all in the 8th grade.

[potsgirl]

Jangle, you sound like my son!

I was also very active before POTS, working out 4-5 days a week, hiking, etc. Now I'm lucky to do 40 minutes on the treadmill or EFX 3 times a week. Oh, and always ab work!

[Clairefmartin]

ME! I was actually setting up an underwater reserach site when POTS hit, swimming 5-6 hours a day while diving. Also had started sports and dance at 3 and done everything - snowboarding, skateboarding, soccer, basketball, etc....Still wnet to the gym on and off for years with POTS and was very active (would design flowers for 16 hours a day sometimes) until recent "relapse".

[sue1234]

I was a "casual" athlete. I did things like take aerobic classes, play tennis occasionally, walked for an hour every day. The one thing I could NEVER do is run!! I'm 52, but even when I was 18-20, I would try and run, but could never make it past about 1/8 mile! I never had the breath to run. Even though I could hike mountain trails on vacations, etc., I just never could run.

[Clairefmartin]

Which is why a certain doctor's sweeping statements about all POTS being caused by deconditioned small hearts is balony. That is my edited word for it.

[Serbo]

^ Have to agree with you. I have always had a big heart (5.8cm) from exercise (body building etc), got hit immediatley after some surgery. The heart can shrink in POTS patients from deconditioning becuase POTS stops you from being able to exercise, not the other way around.

[Ernie]

Hi,

I was born with POTS. From 18-25 years old I was swimming 2 miles a day. Then later in my twenties I was doing cardio and weights for an hour 3 times a week. Two days before turning completely disabled I danced for 6 hours straight.

[janiedelite]

When I became ill with POTS, I was working 12 hour nursing shifts plus nights occasionally and going for 3 to 5 mile walks on my days off.

[roxie]

I was very athletic for my age. When I got sick I was 12 but had always been super athletic. I got sick at the end of soccer season.

The school I went to did that presidential physical fitness test stuff. I ran the fastest mile the ENTIRE school system seriously, i beat 12th grade boys. My miles were consistenltly under 7 minutes.

[Katybug]

Trained and competed horses 5-7 days a week from 12 until early 2010 when I just couldn't safely get on a horse anymore (being dizzy and riding are not a good combo!) I also walked my dog a minimum of 1 1/2 hours a day, worked on the nautilus equipment in my apt's workout room 3x/wk, and hiked 3-5 miles with the dog on rugged terrain one if not both days on the weekends. I also averaged 55-60 hrs/wk at work. Over the course of the last 4 1/2 years, POTS or Lyme, or the combo of the two, has wittled away at each of these things. But, I was definitely not sitting still right before it all happened. I went from super-active to feeling like I was hit by a Mack truck.

[chipper]

Ballet at age 3 and exercise instructor for many years. I too was in good shape when dys. disabled me. Wish the doctors would read the life changing stories on this wonderful site. All of your stories are very touching.

[HopeSprings]

HOW did you people get POTS? You're the healthiest people I've ever seen! I was never athletic, never did sports, no consistent exercise. Wasn't a couch potato either, but never pushed my body like you've all described.

[Rachel]

It's interesting how many of us were so athletic before becoming so ill. I was a year-round competitive swimmer when I first started noticing symptoms of POTS. I swam 3 miles a day, 5 days a week. I also did weight lifting for 2 hours a week. Beyond that, I did ice skating once or twice a week. I also did about 10 hours of babysitting a week, and I was one of those active babysitters - running around, playing games, cooking supper, giving baths. I was busy!

Eventually I had to quit swimming, but I continued with ice skating (about 2 hours twice a week) and babysitting for the last 3 years of high school. My health even improved enough that I was able to be a camp counselor for 5 summers (end of high school and first years of college). It was hard, and each summer was successively harder on me physically. I'm so glad I pushed it, though. I'm mostly homebound now, and I'm so thankful that I took advantage of my healthier years.

[firewatcher]

I had over a decade of Martial Arts (Karate/Kung Fu) experience with three to five hours a week of training. After that, I had several years of weight-lifting six days a week. Despite all this, I have never been able to run. I trained hard for months, but could not get my heart/system conditioned to bring my HR down. I topped 200 bpm at anything above 3.5 mph. I have been taking Pilates for over three years now and can not push beyond once a week. I have terrible weakness, soreness and inflammation that takes four to five days to recover from.

[rubytuesday]

I rode standard bike 10 miles every day (before I got hit by car, I would ride 50 miles, then when fibromyalgia hit, reduced activity to 3 miles on treadmil, 100 sit ups, wt. lifting, stationary bike or rowing and weight lifting regime every day). With the POTS I was reduced to recumbent stationary bike (and that was with working 55-70 hour work week).

[ramakentesh]

I was in my local soccer, cricket and a few other sports. I regularly rode my bike 12 miles. I ran. I was pretty darn fit. i was also in my wrestling team and I was going places because I always weighed far less than the other kids so Id compete against smallies...

[brethor9]

Before I got POTS I went through training for law and security......used to run two miles everyday...plus a 2hr weight training workout which included 200 crunches everynight......I also unloaded furniture trucks at Pier 1 at a part time job....I was really active.....a total exercise nut.......thats why I dont understand these doctors that say we are sick due to deconditioning?? I really dont get that? Most of us were in great shape before and during this illness until we crashed and couldnt function at all. Whats up with that? I almost wonder if it isnt that we stressed our bodies too much with being so active???

Bren

[jangle]

Before I got POTS I went through training for law and security......used to run two miles everyday...plus a 2hr weight training workout which included 200 crunches everynight......I also unloaded furniture trucks at Pier 1 at a part time job....I was really active.....a total exercise nut.......thats why I dont understand these doctors that say we are sick due to deconditioning?? I really dont get that? Most of us were in great shape before and during this illness until we crashed and couldnt function at all. Whats up with that? I almost wonder if it isnt that we stressed our bodies too much with being so active???

Bren

Bren, interesting you should mention that, according to this study: http://hyper.ahajour...pe=HWFIG#ref-13

(In its references 11-12 I think) it cites that excessive exercise might actually induce OI intolerance. But in my case, I mean, I was clearly having symptoms before I began exercising, at like 14 or so. It really gradually came on, with a strong presentation my freshman year, a remission my sophomore year, and the really bad presentation my junior year.

Either way, given that many people (marathon runners, football players, soccer players, etc etc) train at very high levels and don't seem to have significant presentations of OI, I'm tending to think that it's not caused by excessive exercise.

[ramakentesh]

Yeah I read that. I wonder what Ben Levine thinks of that little gem...

My recovery from exercise was always poorer than my friends. I remember that as well.