Post exertional fatigue, both cognitively and physically are probably my biggest issues with ME/CFS.
A few times in the last 3 years I've been fortunate to have experienced feeling I'm on the road to recovery but then BAM, I've overdone it without knowing that a crash was coming. Either I didn't get any pre-warning or it was too subtle for me to be aware of. What I am aware of is the head pressure, lead legs, garbly speech and extreme fatigue that hits me after it's too late to avoid the inevitable crash.
For those of us who've never had specialized testing done (ie. V02 max), is it reasonable to use the equation (220 - age) x .6 to get the max heart rate for staying within the aerobic zone or is that equation for healthy individuals only? Regardless, since the symptoms, causes and for some of us, effective treatments, of CFS/ME are so varied, how can one equation work for all of us?
Is there a way to stay out of anaerobic 'exercise' (when stair climbing, talking while walking, showering etc) if professional testing is not an option or even if one is not willing to take the chance that the testing might cause a severe crash that will last for weeks/months.
I'd really like to start a gentle exercise program and am determined to stay with my aerobic threshold but not sure what that threshold is.
Thanks for any input.
A few times in the last 3 years I've been fortunate to have experienced feeling I'm on the road to recovery but then BAM, I've overdone it without knowing that a crash was coming. Either I didn't get any pre-warning or it was too subtle for me to be aware of. What I am aware of is the head pressure, lead legs, garbly speech and extreme fatigue that hits me after it's too late to avoid the inevitable crash.
For those of us who've never had specialized testing done (ie. V02 max), is it reasonable to use the equation (220 - age) x .6 to get the max heart rate for staying within the aerobic zone or is that equation for healthy individuals only? Regardless, since the symptoms, causes and for some of us, effective treatments, of CFS/ME are so varied, how can one equation work for all of us?
Is there a way to stay out of anaerobic 'exercise' (when stair climbing, talking while walking, showering etc) if professional testing is not an option or even if one is not willing to take the chance that the testing might cause a severe crash that will last for weeks/months.
I'd really like to start a gentle exercise program and am determined to stay with my aerobic threshold but not sure what that threshold is.
Thanks for any input.