Readers Digest Gets it About ME/CFS and Exercise

[Cort]

Who knew?

The Readers Digest actually gets it about ME/CFS and Exercise. From

50 Fitness Myths That Can Seriously Damage Your Health

https://www.rd.com/health/fitness/fitness-myths-that-can-damage-your-health/

Myth: Increased exercise will help chronic fatigue syndrome

While exercise improves most health problems, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is not one of them. In fact, according to NPR, even light exercise can make this condition much worse. This is a common misconception even among doctors; the CDC only revised its guidelines about exercise and treatment in 2017, after recommending the exact opposite for the last 30 years, when CFS was thought to be more of a psychological issue. Before embarking on a fitness plan, make sure to discuss it with your doctor first.

 

[RWP (Rest without Peace)]

Great!

Here's a link that works (It looks identical to Cort's, but that one didn't work):

https://www.rd.com/health/fitness/fitness-myths-that-can-damage-your-health/

 

[Mary]

And here's a link to the NPR article, also very good, which was cited in the Reader's Digest article. It mentions how the CDC has removed GET and CBT recommendations from their website and calls out the Mayo Clinic and WebMD for continuing to promote these harmful treatments: https://www.npr.org/sections/health...ic-fatigue-syndrome-more-exercise-isnt-better

 

[Judee]

I have a feeling that lots of PWC will print that out and frame it on their walls and make multiple copies to hand every doctor who brings up GET.

Maybe we can have t-shirts made.
PR could use it as a fund-raiser.

 

[Pink]

Wow I'm really pleased to read that.
Can the infectious disease Dr who told me to hop on a bike and ride 3 miles a day see this?!

 

[Mary]

Wow I'm really pleased to read that.
Can the infectious disease Dr who told me to hop on a bike and ride 3 miles a day see this?!

If you send him or her a copy

 

[Pink]

I highly doubt she will care, it was a horrible experience.

 

[kakapo]

It should have been changed to "strenuous exercise" with the comment that people with CFS have a certain level (which varies widely from individial to individual) that they can do before it becomes too hard for them, since, we all benefit from increased blood flow around the body, but it is only once you have gone too far that it will affect you in a negative way. With the consequence that the M.E. sufferer will feel markedly more tired in the following days/weeks after they have overdone it. The nuances are not well followed, even when an article mentions it in a seemingly more "positive light" - (though even articles which treat of M.E. as a real condition mostly only gloss over our condition as some sort of a trendy yuppie's complaint of a lighter illness).

 

[Pink]

But, @kakapo it isn't strenuous activity for everyone. For myself, sometimes just standing for too long or something like cooking leaves me doubled over w nausea and gasping for air from exhaustion.
Sometimes just sitting up even propped with pillows is too much.
Other days I can do more, but certainly even mild exercise is way too much for me, and prob many people.

 

[Diwi9]

@kakapo - I understand what you are trying to say, but look at Dr. Rowe's research. @Cort tweeted about it during the Montreal Conference. It's not just exercise that can be a problem, it's neuromuscular strain and very simple things that don't even sound like exercise can instigate symptoms (like a doctor raising and holding a patient's leg up for 12 minutes). We do not know enough about this disorder to do anything but advise against exercise until we know more...just seems precautionary. Of course, most of us want to exercise and try to find ways to do what we can as we are able since our limitations are frustrating. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0159386

 

[Tally]

It should have been changed to "strenuous exercise"

What's going on? I've been seeing reactions like this all over social media.

We all know there are people who can't eat on their own. What strenous exercise? Toe curls in bed crash me.

Few days ago a lot of people were even rejecting scientific research that ME/CFS has lower qualiy of life than cancers, MS, etc.

Where is this suddenly coming from? Patients cheer on such recognition of our illness. I've never seen patients undermine it.... hmm....