This looks like a minor typo:
..will present the client from functioning in a consistent and reliable manner..
Shouldn't the word be prevent?
Overall, this report is what the numbers posted before said, based on my experience. Either 30 or 40 watts output at anaerobic threshold is way too low for a normal life. Hitting AT with a heart rate of 87 is a disaster. (My own HR goes to 105 when I stand up.) Unfortunately, many doctors look at the peak numbers, and decide you can function if you just try hard enough. That even Pacific Fatigue Labs didn't follow through to the end of recovery disturbs me; this is the real kicker for me. You were close to being admitted via the ER at the end of test 2.
I can tell a doctor that getting to an appointment is the only thing I will accomplish that day, or even that week, and it seems to mean nothing. I can tell them it will take me X days to recover from a test. This doesn't appear to mean a damn thing, except "patient shows resistance to treatment" when I am in fact making all appointments and cooperating to the best of my ability. The only time it has made an impression is when I have been hospitalized. Even then, records show miraculous recovery when insurance runs out.
My next door neighbor has only been there for a few months. She has never heard me talk about my illness, as far as my faulty recall goes. She is already asking "shouldn't you sit down?" when she sees me having trouble. (Part of this is a kind of hypoxia and part negative Romberg sign. You should understand too well.) After shaking hands, she asked if I have problems with circulation. This is not a medical professional, trained to ignore non-specific signs.
If chronic illness persists long enough, I imagine doctors saying, in effect, "this is perfectly normal, most people your age have been dead for years." When I first reported symptoms, and exhibited the signs my neighbor saw, I got lectures about the emotional stress of adolescence and "growing pains". Living within my bounds has come to mean spending no more than 4 hours/day when I am not lying down. There have been periods when this was reduced to 2 hours.
A typical physician will report there is absolutely nothing the matter, except my complaints. When I had a dental problem requiring a root canal, they were surprised I had not reported pain. Oh, I felt pain, but that is nothing unusual.
Much of this testing is aimed at convincing insurers that the patient is not faking. For personal use, these parts can be dispensed with. What I need is a convenient way of determining AT without a laboratory. I use a monitor for HR and O2 sat. My pulmonary circuit is healthy, so the oxygen measured in my fingertips seldom decreases, unless circulation decreases, and I can tell that when fingers turn white. Recovery time gives me an indirect way to tell if I have gone past AT. Does anyone have another way to check during exercise?
