I am sure I am not writing anything new here, but wanted to speculate a bit on why exercise may cause us problems as a jumping off point for future psts....
Contrary to some doctor's view of CFS as being a disease of deconditioning, I have found that many sufferers were big exercisers prior to their ME/CFS onset. I was training for a triathlon when my CFS became too bad to ignore. When I participated in a study on POTS at Vanderbilt, the lead doctor told me that many patients were competitive swimmers when they came down with POTS (and I think POTS and CFS usually have the same etiology, irrespective of what label the disease is given.) And, as we all know, even mld exercise often causes crashes and setbacks.
Many researchers/doctors have zeroed in on pathogens and altered immune response as being at the root of CFS. I have been particularly intrigued by Dr. Montoya's and Dr Chia's research. The Stanford site has a clear, concise description of Dr. Chia's theory on altered immune response being at the hear of CFS at http://bit.ly/ik8BKC
Intense exercise causes a suppressed immune response http://nyti.ms/h9iTJd
Since our systems are impaired, what defines "excessive" exercise has a much lower limit, as shown by Pacific Labs. So we are potentially stuck in a vicious cycle, where we are continuing to suppress our TH1 responses every time we go past our limits. But if we don't do any exercise, we also have a down-regulated immune system.
If only the optimal amount of exercise for us wasn't such a moving target!
Contrary to some doctor's view of CFS as being a disease of deconditioning, I have found that many sufferers were big exercisers prior to their ME/CFS onset. I was training for a triathlon when my CFS became too bad to ignore. When I participated in a study on POTS at Vanderbilt, the lead doctor told me that many patients were competitive swimmers when they came down with POTS (and I think POTS and CFS usually have the same etiology, irrespective of what label the disease is given.) And, as we all know, even mld exercise often causes crashes and setbacks.
Many researchers/doctors have zeroed in on pathogens and altered immune response as being at the root of CFS. I have been particularly intrigued by Dr. Montoya's and Dr Chia's research. The Stanford site has a clear, concise description of Dr. Chia's theory on altered immune response being at the hear of CFS at http://bit.ly/ik8BKC
Intense exercise causes a suppressed immune response http://nyti.ms/h9iTJd
Since our systems are impaired, what defines "excessive" exercise has a much lower limit, as shown by Pacific Labs. So we are potentially stuck in a vicious cycle, where we are continuing to suppress our TH1 responses every time we go past our limits. But if we don't do any exercise, we also have a down-regulated immune system.
If only the optimal amount of exercise for us wasn't such a moving target!
