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Did you have any problem with aerobic exercise before becoming ill? Like childhood?

Oberon

Senior Member
Messages
214
I have been thinking about this and remembered that even as a very healthy child I could not run, swim, bike as far as other kids my age--I would just poop out. This is making me wonder if there is a genetic component that affects the production of aerobic energy (or glycolysis) that predisposes us to later develop ME/CFS. (@Rose49 )

Looking back, there was never I time when I could run any distance, jog, take an aerobics class etc. Of course this was greatly exacerbated when I developed ME/CFS.

Do any others have this history?

100% exactly like this Pre-CFS. No matter how hard I tried to boost my cardio through regular aerobic training I could never up my capacity. Almost everyone around me would blow me out of the water when it came to cardio with minimal effort while I couldn't run for more than a few minutes even after training.
 
Messages
1,478
Wasn't sporty at all....in fact was in the bottom PE group at school and was always the last picked for teams (even past the fat kid we called Jaffa ...don't know why and the runty kid with big teeth "chipmunk"). I never understood people when they said they got a natural high from exercise...I always assumed that they were just insane.....how can having heartburn/feeling sick when you run be pleasurable? I always had good stamina for walking or light jogging and good strength stamina for lifting and carrying....sprinting however was horrid. Never had PEM or anything of that sort.

When I was older I bought a Nordic track machine and used to push myself on that in search of the elusive "burn". Never felt it, even at heart rates of 145 etc ..I guess I don't have endorphins with exercise, and nausea probably was my folate inhibition from my carbamazepine prescription. I do think some folks have a predisposition to this disease...perhaps the signs were always there or perhaps it just lay there dormant for the right set of circumstances.....who knows?

EDIT: I have gradual onset CFS
 
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Old Bones

Senior Member
Messages
808
I had trouble hiking at an altitude exceeding 9,000 feet above sea level (couldn't get enough oxygen). Otherwise, I was very sporty -- able to do sustained high-intensity activities (hiking, mountaineering skiing, cycling, and swimming).
 

ryan31337

Senior Member
Messages
664
Location
South East, England
<10 years old I would play football from sunrise to sunset, win medals sprinting at school sports days etc. Completely normal.

Then from aged 10 I had gradual onset: primarily fatigue, migraine and leg pain after prolonged exertion. Then infections (probably EBV), OI & increasing severity of migraines hit 12-18 months later and made the decline much more rapid.
 

Snowdrop

Rebel without a biscuit
Messages
2,933
I had gradual onset ME and as a child I could not keep up with others physically except that I was good at sports at school when short bursts of energy required (short distance running/race).

Although my daughter does not have ME I have an even better idea of comparison having watched her and her school mates growing up. My daughter does not do well at sustained aerobic activity at all.
 

NelliePledge

Senior Member
Messages
807
i was pretty active as a kid took ballet and tap classes used to walk to school, played football (the proper sort!!) with my dad and brother in the back garden, went down to the shops on my bike for mum. But I was never that good at games or athletics and cross country running was my idea of hell as I just couldn't run for any distance and had to walk most of the way. Always struggled going uphill on country walks but could still walk several miles. I started being less active in my mid 30s when I was spending all my time on career and got my first car. I then gradually got less fit until by mid 40s I had put on quite a lot of weight but could still walk reasonable distances. But from then I think I had mild ME a lot of viral infections laryngitis, flu etc and in early 50s had a fall which pushed me into moderate symptoms and got diagnosed with CFS. Now depending on how my symptoms are I can manage to walk 2500 steps in a day at a push and more like 1000 most days. And I cant stand still so queues are very difficult.
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
Nope, but problems with getting gains from aerobic exercise preceded my ME with 1-2 years.
This was my problems too. I remember when I was in a bike club and each spring we had training rides. The others quickly regained the stamina lost over the winter but I just couldn't make headway on increasing my aerobic tolerance. Then I would feel "sick" for a couple of days after a ride--but had no idea why--no one had every heard of PEM in those days.

That said, as a kid I could do slower sustained exercise but ask me to sprint (kids were always having races) and I'd poop out half way to the finish line.

Interesting replies everyone.
 

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
The only odd thing I noticed as a child was a strange wheeze when I stood still and swung my arms around horizontally while exercising. This was the only exercise that caused that sound that I can ever remember. Does anyone else experience that wheeze with that particular exercise ?
 

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
I did a lot of cycling (steady touring speed) and I was very active compared to most kids. But I remember once around age 11 at a school athletics day I had to run in a 500 m race. I started well, then around a quarter of the way it was like someone pulled the plug and all the other competitors overtook me. I remember the teachers being as surprised as I was!

I did a lot of cycling as a child and all my adult life. Still bicycle a good bit. Could do a ton before getting ill, 3 strenuous sports in a day! Now if I exercise 1 day, I take the next off for rest :)

GG
 

Chezboo

NOT MY BOARD
Messages
55
I didn't have access to the variety of 'organised' sports many have being that I grew up in Ireland. It was hockey, hockey or hockey (the dark, cold windy field type). I hated hockey but loved other physical activities. I noticed that I was very good at anything I tired like climbing trees, long/high jump, horse riding, wind surfing even basket ball. I would say I was able for explosive type activities rather than aerobic. When I tired as a 10 year old to train for running a mile with a friend I found I had to give up as it was hell. It was clear I had absolutely no stamina and no amount of training would change that. In terms of onset, I am the gradual decline sort with an occasional burst of accelerated degeneration.
 

Murph

:)
Messages
1,799
I also miss running. I had been a somewhat fat and bookish child but I got into running aged about 16 and pursued it until I got sick and even somewhat afterwards.

I wasn't good per se but god I improved dramatically - from 7 minute kms for 4km, down to doing sub 5 minute kms over a 10km course. I really enjoyed how running made me feel.

Just before onset I was doing 10km a few times a week and playing sport, (but also going to a lot of parties getting rather drunk, and not eating very healthily, like a 20 year old man doesn't.)

Seems like a lot of people were in the best shape of their lives *and* quite busy just before they got sick. I sort of hope there is something in common with overtraining syndrome because we could really use some of that elite sports research money!
 

Forbin

Senior Member
Messages
966
I was thinking of starting a thread on this same subject.

When I was in grade school, I had plenty of energy. I swam, played baseball, street football, and rode my bike for long distances. My friends and I were always running around the neighborhood. I had no reason to think that I had any difficulty with exercise or stamina.

But... I discovered, to my surprise, that in fact I had no endurance for flat out exercise. My friends were engaging in no more "aerobic training" than I was, but in flat out running, or swimming, I would find myself gasping for air halfway through a race. I was not overweight. On the contrary, I was so thin that my mother questioned my pediatrician about it.

In my early 20's, I thought I had discovered the answer to this when one of my early ME (mis)diagnoses was "mitral valve prolapse syndrome." It turned out, though, that my MVP was so slight that it could just barely be elicited by taking amyl nitrate (to induce rapaid heart rate). I subsequently saw a cardiologist who could not detect any MVP at all. He assured me that whatever the source of my (ME) symptoms was, it wasn't from MVP.

I suppose MVP might have explained my lack of "flat out" endurance in childhood, but I now kind of doubt it. I've had plenty of cardio "stress tests" since then and none has shown anything that would explain this (unless the MVP somehow corrected itself after childhood).
 

A.B.

Senior Member
Messages
3,780
I didn't have any problems and did sports, but remember being unhappy with running out of breath faster than other kids when playing soccer. That might just have been not being as trained for that kind of exercise.
 
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Hugo

Senior Member
Messages
230
I have been thinking about this and remembered that even as a very healthy child I could not run, swim, bike as far as other kids my age--I would just poop out. This is making me wonder if there is a genetic component that affects the production of aerobic energy (or glycolysis) that predisposes us to later develop ME/CFS. (@Rose49 )

Looking back, there was never I time when I could run any distance, jog, take an aerobics class etc. Of course this was greatly exacerbated when I developed ME/CFS.

Do any others have this history?

I wasnt that aerobic but nothing to base a theory on I would think in my case. On the other hand I got an infection that some of my friends got and they all couldnt excersise or hardly work during a half year. My got worse because I got a second infection aswell (flu I think). First one probably was C. pneumoniae
 
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KME

Messages
91
Location
Ireland
Interesting thread. My answer is yes and no. Pre-onset, I was sporty, more than most of my family and friends, doing lots of running, hiking, walking and aerobics. As a child I was very active with multiple sports going on at all times and a lot of outdoor time. But at times I also seemed to have limits that other sporty types didn’t have. As a teen I was a sprinter, but I literally couldn’t do the warm-up laps. Anything bursty – fine. Anything endurance-y – crumpled heap. I got injured a lot more than my peers and eventually had to just bow out of competitive sports.

In my twenties I learned what worked for me and what didn’t – I could jog regularly but needed to alternate a jog-day with a walk-or-hike-day to be able to sustain this, otherwise I would get colds +/- injuries; I couldn’t train for anything on other people’s terms, I needed to listen to my body rather than adhere to any kind of plan, e.g. others were able to train through a cold, whereas I learned from experience that I needed to stop anything beyond a light walk for at least 2 weeks with any infection, often longer. I exercised far more than most of my peers throughout my twenties, but these were the days before everyone was doing ironman/triathlon-type things. I did notice that I often became symptomatic with an infection the day after a run, so I seemed to be very susceptible to that little dip in immunity. A run seemed to be able to kind of put an infection through me, including the one that triggered my ME. Bit o' laziness would have helped me that night [she reflected from her hospital bed a few days later].


I think there’s likely to be a normal range of exercise tolerance, perhaps with a bell-curve distribution, and I was well within it, towards the upper end but not able for professional levels. Exercise was a big part of my life and I miss it a lot. I sometimes put myself to sleep by imagining going for a run, from putting on my runners…although it has crossed my mind that if the mind-body people are right, I’ll get PEM just from visualising it, ha ha. Hasn't happened yet. I still remember the thrill of winning sprints, God, that was great.

Edit Further to previous...I definitely had mild orthostatic intolerance from childhood, although I only realised what it was when it became a prominent part of my ME in my 30s. I think this is why tennis and most other ball sports made me feel awful - just vaguely nauseated and ugh-feeling, occasionally a bit lightheaded but generally just felt bad, even grumpy. All that standing still waiting for the other person to serve/take a penalty/whatever, and then bending down to pick up the ball. Not good. Makes so much sense now. Swimming was the same for me, I think because of indoor pools being heated (the air was the problem, not the water) and no fresh air. So running was a good find, as it builds up the muscles in your legs, which helps OI, and the colour of my face suggested plenty of blood was making it to my head. I wonder did any others have OI-type exercise issues as children?
 
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