Exercise!!

[tennisdude]

Hey, my name is Scott and ive had POTS for the last 3 almost 4 years. When i first startted gettting symptoms i was 13. I would get severe stomach cramps, and extreame nausea. I was not able to eat any food except rice krispys, breadsticks, plain potatoes, and some meat . I weighed in at 85 pounds. YIKES! After about a year I started getting extreamly fatiqued, and very tired. Ever since i have been sleeping 15 hours a day (including naps). I was wondering if anybody else suffered from fatigue and tiredness? Im now 17 and i havent been able to do sports for the past couple of years. The past month i have been trying to exercise at least an hour to 2 hours a day. I try to just get outside, go play tennis, go on bike rides, lift weights, do erobics, play basketball, but my weight (170's) still isnt going down! grr . I was also wondering if anybody else has put on weight due to this illness or due to medicines that you are taking. Any tips on getting rid of the weight? Im only looking to getting rid of 15-25 pounds to get lean for the summer. anyways thanks for looking, i look forward to hearing your thoughts

I find that exercising after eating is NOT a good idea, it always give me stomach cramps and makes me fel nauseas

Does anybody else sweat in excess when exercising or even when changing enviroments? Some days when i go off to school i find that after about 5 min of being in school i start sweating while just sitting down!! its horrible! people keep asking me why im sweating and i have no clue how to stop it hmm any thoughts, tips, input?

[bttrflyamby1981]

It sounds like your trying to do to much.

For me I had to start with walking (only), for about two months that's all I could do.

Slowly I started adding more stuff like yoga and lifting weights.

Everything I do I do at my own pace. I still have weekness and dizziness no matter what I do, but working out makes me feel like I'm acompishing something.

The only thing you can do is listen to your body.......I couldn't imagine playing basketball or tennis.

Just take it slow. It's your body and your the only one who can say if you have had enough.

I have also had a weight gain and want to take off 25-30 pounds. I try and watch what I eat (not always easy) and I work out at least 4x a week. I tried doing more but it was too much.....I take it day by day.

If all I can do is 5 min then at least it was "something".

Good luck,

Amber

[Ernie]

Hi,

I sweat a lot even doing nothing but if I go on the treadmill I sweat even more. I have to go slow.

[MightyMouse]

Welcome to the forum.

You can find a list of common symptoms on the main DINET site ( http://www.dinet.org ). Also, you can find links to other sources that describe autonomic disorders within the pinned topic (top of this forum section) called "frequently asked questions: help yourself to answers."

Nina

[dianaD]

Holy cow, I don't think we even have the same illness!! Two hours of exercise!!??!! I'm impressed.

I'm no exercise wimp - I used to run about 35 miles a week and taught aerobics for years, but now, I FORCE myself to do 30 minutes!! I told my doc that it feels like I have a 101 degree fever, somebody just kicked me in the gut, stuck a straw in my mouth and told me to exercise like that. It is HARD!!!

Dr. Grubb says that more than 30 minutes MAY be counterproductive. We are all different, though. Early on, exercise was the only thing that seemed to really help me. That's kind of leveled out now, though.

YOU need to tell US how to get THAT functional!! What IS your secret? What meds are you on? I want some!

Thanks!

[Suzanne]

Hi Scott, sounds like you have gone way too extreme. Your body is run down from the fatigue, lack of exercise etc and you need to build up SLOWLY. Even if you feel like you can do more, it will take it's toll and you may have a setback and lose your enthusiasm. I have teenage boys and know that they overdo it simply because of all the hormones, energy etc and they are healthy. So, I suggest you try walking for 20 minutes daily and see how you feel. Record how you feel and what you do and if all is going well after a month, I would add some light weights, I stress light!! I am glad that you are so keen, but please take it easy.

As far as the weight gain, I keep it off due to stress which is not good.

Take it easy

Suzanne

[Lukkychrm42]

Hi Scott,

I used to be super-active, but when I got a lot worse about 2 years ago I had to stop. I just now have started to do some more after being put on some new meds that actually help a lot. Although, for me certain times of day have ALWAYS been off-limits for exercise- in high school, I would go to the gym in the early morning with my dad and end up vomiting in the toilets instead, and then be able to go back that evening to do the same workout with no problems. For me the best time to work out is between 5 and 8:30 pm.

Other than that, I've always been into stretching and weights, though I have to be careful with the weights (despite the fact that I'm very strong). For cardio, the thing I've been able to do the best is the recumbent bike. It's sitting down, only halfway upright, and right now I wouldn't dream of doing the treadmill, stairstepper, or elliptical trainer, but the recumbent bike is great! I think I did about 55 minutes today. Whereas on a treadmill, well I lasted for 5 minutes on my stress test. lol. I also love yoga, but focus more on the stretching poses than the strength poses at this point.

I, too put on weight since I stopped going at it regularly. Fortunately, I'm able to usually work around the nausea since it seems to be mostly in the mornings. Besides that, I've always had a hearty appetite, and the weight came on pretty quickly, but it's fortunately stayed pretty much the same for over a year now. I'm hoping a bit of it will start to come off as I get back into the routine. There are lots of factors I think- inability to exercise, corticosteroids, and lack of energy to make wise food choices, as well as stress which tends to increase the amount of fat-storing hormones.

Anyway, i guess my point is to just get to know your limits. Good luck!

[tennisdude]

thanks for all of your guy's input. As for meds i'm just on zoloft, and zofran(as needed). The Doctors down at the mayo say that im on the stomach cramp, nausea side of POTS, while others suffer more from fatigue. I do also get fatigued greatly, but not nearly as much alot of the other people on this site. Thank you guys for all your imput! Maybe i should try lighter exercise more times a day? kinda like eating, small meals, more times a-day. hmm i dunno, i just hope i grow out of this soon so i can get on with my life! anyways, thanks again for your imput!