Bending down causes malaise, but elliptical trainer does not...?

[Bansaw]

I work out doing 15 mins aerobic on my elliptical trainer and feel ok at the end.
I don't have PEM. I arrived at 15 mins as a safe time limit.

However, simply going into the garden and weeding for a shorter time induces immediate malaise and struggle.
I wonder if its simply because I am not used to weeding, or is it an indication of something else?

 

[jesse's mom]

bending over makes me super dizzy. squatting causes horrible pain for me. pots?

 

[alex3619]

Not necessarily POTS, but it very much sounds like some kind of orthostatic intolerance. In all forms of OI the blood supply to the brain is compromised.

 

[RK220]

I work out doing 15 mins aerobic on my elliptical trainer and feel ok at the end.
I don't have PEM. I arrived at 15 mins as a safe time limit.

However, simply going into the garden and weeding for a shorter time induces immediate malaise and struggle.
I wonder if its simply because I am not used to weeding, or is it an indication of something else?

I also had similar kind of issue. I was able to do elliptical or walking for 15 mins with out any problem. But a few mins of any house hold chores used to kick in my malaise. what i noticed was any activity where i have to move multi directional(like say move all small things from one side of the room to the other side) used to kick in malaise with in a couple of mins, rather than a symmetric movement on the elliptical.

 

[RK220]

Also i mentioned this to my CFS doctor i see, and he was not sure on what caused this behaviour

 

[Hip]

I work out doing 15 mins aerobic on my elliptical trainer and feel ok at the end.
I don't have PEM. I arrived at 15 mins as a safe time limit.

However, simply going into the garden and weeding for a shorter time induces immediate malaise and struggle.
I wonder if its simply because I am not used to weeding, or is it an indication of something else?

I notice a similar thing. I don't tend to get much PEM or negative repercussions from physical exercise, and I can easily walk for 40 minutes at a brisk pace without problem (except that I feel slightly more tired and brain fogged for about half an hour or so after my walk, but that clears up quickly, and I don't think that is actual PEM).

However, recently I was cleaning out a large bedroom fitted wardrobe, and I was bending down a lot to get into the wardrobe, in order to clean the interior surfaces, and after doing this for around 30 minutes I suddenly felt quite whacked and decided to stop. Yet in terms of energy expenditure, that does not make sense, as I would think I exert more energy during my brisk walks.


Possibly the POTS / OI theory mentioned above could explain this: because I was doing a lot of repeated crouching down then standing up (as you would probably do during weeding also), and this might have been beyond my autonomic nervous system's ability to cope with all these sudden changes in gravity-induced blood pressure.

The other explanation that comes to mind is that during cleaning I was using muscles that I normally do not use much, and maybe this takes a higher toll than using muscles which are toned from frequent use, such as the muscles employed during walking (I go for a brisk 40 minute walk at least 3 times a week, so my walking muscles are reasonably toned).

Maybe muscles that are toned from regular use become more energy efficient, thereby having more resilience to PEM?

 

[Rebeccare]

Bending over or crouching are some of the hardest things for me, too.