Anxiety after exercize

[SCOOBY]

I was recently diagnosed with POTS and I suspect it’s the hyperadrenergic subtype as my BP increases significantly after standing  from a lying position. I have very limited exercise tolerance, but my doctor recommended daily limited aerobic exercise in an attempt to improve my exercise tolerance.
 

I’ve noticed the day after exercise that I often have extreme anxiety and my HR is much higher than normal, particularly in the morning. Does anyone else have experience with this? Is this a sign that I overdid the exercise and need to rest, or should I continue to exercise through it?

[Pistol]

@SCOOBY - I have hyperadrenergic POTS, currently somewhat controlled by meds and IV fluids every week. I used to be very exercise intolerant and also suffered from adrenergic surges and high BP after any activity. However - when I was at my worst and essentially bedridden I still exercised. I did leg-strengthening exercises while reclined, this was essential for me to be able to get out of bed at all. Once I improved to where I could be more active I started to add mild weighted exercises and orthostatic training ( leaning with your back against a wall for a few seconds and increasing the time to tolerance ). Today I use a rowing machine with good results, I can exercise my whole body while sitting.  I found that exercise is very important but you have to only do exercises that GIVE you energy, not USE energy. When you do too much or the wrong exercise it will make you sicker. For me it was important to exercise lying down initially and then upgrade to sitting and standing exercises, but only when tolerated. Some days I can not exercise at all and others I can. Listen to your body - and if the exercises you currently are doing make you symptomatic do milder ones that don.t trigger you symptoms. 

[Sushi]

On 2/21/2020 at 8:32 AM, SCOOBY said:

I was recently diagnosed with POTS and I suspect it’s the hyperadrenergic subtype as my BP increases significantly after standing  from a lying position. I have very limited exercise tolerance, but my doctor recommended daily limited aerobic exercise in an attempt to improve my exercise tolerance.

I have posted in the past about just completing cardiac rehab using a program which was individually designed for me with Dysautonomia in mind. I could never have exercised daily though as each session required days to recover from. We worked out a program (which was extremely helpful) of sessions twice a week, using only recumbent machines and with a five minute rest period after every few minutes of exercise. At first it was after 2 minutes and by the end it was after 6 minutes. I am continuing this program at a local gym. I increased my aerobic exercise time by about 1 minute per week and this worked for me. I was able to double my exercise capacity after 36 sessions and gradually the post exercise “payback” diminished and has now nearly disappeared—this is a huge improvement! 

Please realize that most doctors will not understand the problems that Dysautonomia patients have with exercise.

[Conrad_hemsley]

I've had exactly this. It caused anxiety and random adrenaline rushes. It forced me to stop exercising altogether - since then I've been trying to build up my physical condition by slowly increasing steps.

[Pistol]

I would like to add that I personally benefit from increasing the exercises by frequency rather than length. I am not able to increase the time I spend on the rowing machine in one session but rather the frequency of the sessions. Instead of increasing from 2 minutes daily to 3 minutes twice daily I increase to 2 minutes three times a day and so on.  This seems to avoid exhaustion that carries on throughout the day.