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Question for former athletes/fitness rats

Amaya2014

Senior Member
Messages
215
Location
Columbus, GA
It would make sense that if one was a fitness buff that aerobic capacity would not be an issue prior to sudden onset illness.

It might be useful for this thread if info was included as to type of onset.
I'm wondering if it might break down to aerobically fit/sudden onset. For those with slow onset then the question would be if they had tried the types of exercise the previously fit people did and how that worked out prior to being disabled enough to know that there was a health issue.

I would def be sudden onset. A vaccination, flu- like illness and within space of two months struggling to walk at anything more than a slow pace.
 

Aerose91

Senior Member
Messages
1,400
I danced a lot, even got a danceclass for teenagers. Loved walking, cycling and sailing. But running I could not do. And after dancing I slept very badly and was hangoverish the next day... Other kinds of sports I could not do, in the gym I got a very red head and asthma.

But like justy, I could not increase my activities, could not better my shape (if that is how you call it). I was waiting and working and hoping for it, thinking, well now nothing stands in the way to improve my shape, butter it did not happen. In retrospect, I certainly think something was not right which started when I was a teenager.
Sounds like you always had a little something something going on. I had an impressive difficulty increasing my endurance as well
 

Old Bones

Senior Member
Messages
808
I have a $2000 treadmill . . . that are just collecting dust now. I know I need to turn these into income but part of me hangs on to the hope I may use them again.

@Amaya2014 Yup! I have two pairs of x-country skis, two pairs of downhill skis, one pair mountaineering skis, a x-country training machine, bike, professional rebounder trampoline and canoe, not to mention the accessories and clothing -- all collecting dust or taking space in my drawers and cupboards. Like you, I haven't been able to get rid of them. The psychological benefit of hanging onto the hope far exceeds the income I might derive from selling them. Regardless, after more than 25 years, no one would want items so far out-of-date. They'll match my "old bones", if I ever get to use them again!
 

TigerLilea

Senior Member
Messages
1,147
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia
What type of training did you do prior to falling ill? Im wondering if we have always had somewhat weak mitochindria and therefore aerobic systems.
For instance, i was phenominal anaerobically but moderate to poor aerobically and had a bitch of a time increasing my aerobic threshold vs an easy time with anaerobic.

Im curious if we always had a weakness in our oxygen delivery and consumption without realising it.
I was a gardener before getting sick and I could easily go at it for 10 to 12 hours a day. Now doing 20 minutes exhausts me. I used to do a lot of digging and couldn't imagine going at it for hours at a time anymore. Five minutes and I'm done.
 

Amaya2014

Senior Member
Messages
215
Location
Columbus, GA
I was a gardener before getting sick and I could easily go at it for 10 to 12 hours a day. Now doing 20 minutes exhausts me. I used to do a lot of digging and couldn't imagine going at it for hours at a time anymore. Five minutes and I'm done.

@TigerLilea sending you hugs. Most people may not consider gardening aerobic but when you consider the bending, lifting, pulling, digging, etc. it can be demanding work. Esp. putting in so much time. Also, it can be remarkably therapeutic.

I've had to give all that over to a lawn care service but at least I get to enjoy blooming season. Have you been able to retain any of it or did you have to let it go? Feel free to message me if you prefer.
 
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TigerLilea

Senior Member
Messages
1,147
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia
@TigerLilea sending you hugs. Most people may not consider gardening aerobic but when you consider the bending, lifting, pulling, digging, etc. it can be demanding work. Esp. putting in so much time. It can be remarkably therapeutic.

I've had to give all that over to a lawn care service but at least I get to enjoy blooming season. Have you been able to retain any of it or did you have to let it go? Feel free to message me if you prefer.
@Amaya2014 I still do a bit of gardening, but nothing like what I was able to do before CFS. I usually crash at some point and then have to take a week or two off. My gardens definitely don't look as nice as they did years ago.

You're right - gardening is definitely a great workout. I'd much rather spend a day in the yard than working out on a treadmill or at the gym. My arms used to be very toned from the digging and hauling big boulders around. I miss being able to work outside all day. Gardening is definitely my passion in life. Unlike a lot of people, I find it very relaxing and a great stress reliever. :)
 

ScottTriGuy

Stop the harm. Start the research and treatment.
Messages
1,402
Location
Toronto, Canada
Sudden onset. Woke up feeling like I had never felt before. (Now its hard to remember what 'before' felt like.)

Three time competitor at world triathlon championships in my age group. Multiple Ironman finisher. Provincial long course champ.

On good days I can walk my dog on flat ground. (Today is not one of those days.)
 

Aerose91

Senior Member
Messages
1,400
Sudden onset. Woke up feeling like I had never felt before. (Now its hard to remember what 'before' felt like.)

Three time competitor at world triathlon championships in my age group. Multiple Ironman finisher. Provincial long course champ.

On good days I can walk my dog on flat ground. (Today is not one of those days.)
This bums me out.
Big ups on your Iron Man's tho
 

ahimsa

ahimsa_pdx on twitter
Messages
1,921
I was not fast but I had stamina. I could run a 10K, no problem. I used to do 45 minutes on the Stairmaster, level 8 or 9. I did a 3 hour "aerobathon" for charity. (Heh, there gotta be some folks here who are old enough to remember when aerobics classes were all the rage)

In the summer I used to work a full day and then drive to the Columbia River Gorge for a 6 mile hike (with 1600 foot elevation gain). Enjoyed cross country skiing. And I climbed to the summit of Mount Hood. Twice. No altitude sickness.

So, I had no problem with my aerobic system before I got sick at age 29 (in 1990). I would not have won any races but I had loads of energy and stamina.

Mine was a fairly sudden onset but not a single day. I got a viral infection of some kind (never identified) but I thought I had recovered from it and went back to work. Over 5 or 6 weeks I slowly got worse and worse (dizziness, nausea, short of breath, increased heart rate, etc.) until I had to go out on medical leave.
 
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daisybell

Senior Member
Messages
1,613
Location
New Zealand
I was fit prior to becoming ill. That year I had done a half-marathon and a few short triathlons - the non-competitive kind. I ran regularly, swam, rode horses etc. I caught parvo and never recovered. Gradually deteriorated since then. Now the most I can do is some short bursts of gentle gardening, or slow walking on the flat.
 
Messages
86
Weight lifting, power lifting, bjj, bouldering, sprints. Hell i was fit in remission last month! weighed the most i ever did, looked fine. crashed and body died in a matter of few weeks.
 

Aerose91

Senior Member
Messages
1,400
Sounds like we were a good mix of aerobic and anaerobic athletes here. Guess that doesn't give any credence to always having weak mitochindria
 
Messages
2,087
Sounds like we were a good mix of aerobic and anaerobic athletes here. Guess that doesn't give any credence to always having weak mitochindria
I don't believe ME/CFS is something we always have had, it's a switch that gets turned on and your life goes from active to inactive.

Its hard to know what percentage of people were athletes of some form or another but there definitely seems to be plenty here on PR who were very active prior to onset.
 

LiveAgain

Senior Member
Messages
103
I've found it interesting (and odd) that many people who develop POTS (and perhaps also have ME) were athletes at the time. There's a doctor in Sweden who has been looking at a possible association between Gardasil vaccination and young women developing POTS. She has observed that many were high level athletes at the time of vaccination and speculates that intense exercise lowers immunity making them more susceptible... to? I'm not sure because she didn't expand on this thought. This NY Times blog article is very interesting about intense exercise lowering immunity. It may have nothing to do with any of this but could it possibly relate?

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/phys-ed-does-exercise-boost-immunity/?_r=0
 

TigerLilea

Senior Member
Messages
1,147
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia
I don't believe ME/CFS is something we always have had, it's a switch that gets turned on and your life goes from active to inactive.
I've always said that my CFS started in a split-second and it was as if someone had flipped a switch because it was that sudden. I remember thinking at the time 'what the hell just happened?'.
 

Aurator

Senior Member
Messages
625
What type of training did you do prior to falling ill?
Though I've referred to myself as an "athlete" before, I was actually an amateur competitive cyclist before I fell ill. My workload was typically 10-15 hours a week, including races (usually one or two a week in racing the season).

I had sudden onset over three years ago after contracting a URT, which I never recovered from. The day I fell ill a new bicycle frame I'd ordered arrived. I was intending to build it into my new race bike for the coming season, but it sat in its box for two years until I had to accept that I might never ride it and it was best to sell it before it got too out of date. I made a loss of £700 when I came to sell it even though it was still brand new.

All my other cycling stuff has been moth-balled, including about five sets of wheels, four frames, and countless other components, tools and clothing, about half of it still brand new.

When the BPS school start talking about deconditioning and "fear avoidance" being factors in our illness, I have to question whether any of them have ever had any experience of what it is to be an athlete and have the first idea to what extent sick athletes DON'T fear "exercise", but on the contrary feel utterly bereft that they cannot do the one thing they most want to do. It's like telling a mother who has had her child forcibly taken off her and doesn't know when she'll be allowed to see it again that her anguish is due to her not wanting to see her child.

When lies of this magnitude become entrenched and therefore hard to combat, they can make the afflicted feel very angry indeed.