I do a slightly different form of exercise these days - I lift weights (obviously I dont have significant OI issues most of the time)
I lift weights because I've tried walking - I've tried gentle exercise - I've tried stretching - I've tried gradually increasing the amount I do - you get the picture - all failed - because of several years of this sort of approach I can, even now, barely walk without pain and am barely mobile most of the time. I find an hours training less demanding, less painful and most of the time less likely to cause PEM than walking 100m to my corner shop and back (100m total journey).
Good to hear that you've found something that works for you. And it's interesting that an hour of weight lifting is less likely to cause you to get PEM than the other activities.
I used to push through PEM, I used to just keep going until it was impossible, I've kept pushing until I've taken 2 hours to get a couple of hundred yards and another hour to haul myself up the stairs to my flat. In my case pushing on and ignoring PEM simply results in a decrease in ability not an increase - normally a marked decrease.
PEM is tough to gauge sometimes. If I've overdone it then my version of PEM now is being couchbound and taking 3 naps a day because I simply can't stay awake. I have to push myself through mild PEM if I want to eat, etc though since I get it from just trying to keep up with daily living.
In terms of weights trying to lift whilst PEM'd results in a 60% decrease in strength at the same perceived exertion level and a 40% decrease going all out - weights have numbers on - it's easy to tell - but the dangerous bit is that it results in a complete failure of endurance - whilst when not PEM'd I can train for an hour when PEM'd I can lift once, maybe twice and then thats it - the next 2-3 days (sometimes a lot longer) are a total write off.
PEM nails my endurance too. I was thinking about the weight part ... I'm find as far as lifting it a few times but then my muscles gave out on me. I was calling that an endurance problem ... I THINK we're saying the same thing ...
PEM should be taken seriously, it's an indication your body cant cope with simply surviving, giving it more to do when it cant cope will not improve strength or fitness - it will decrease them - at least in my experience.
I totally agree that PEM is to be taken seriously. I DIDN'T gain anything except muscle strength from this experiment ... I'd hoped that all this exercise would help my body detox and I'd see a reduction in PEM but that didn't happen.
In 16 months I've gone from being barely able to get off the bed/sofa (or occasionally floor) during a bad patch to being able to function minimially even during a crash - raw strength helps - before a 40% drop in strength was enough to completely incapacitate me, now I'm stronger the same drop isnt.
Great to hear this ...
However there is no way I will ever be able to do 25 situps without consequences, last time I tried 2 sets of 5 was bad enough to convince me it was a bad idea - and I do have abs of steel (they are currently operating under cover tho lol)
Hmm, I wonder why you can't do 25 sit ups. OK, it took me 4 1/2 months to go from 0 to 25 though. I went from 0 to 3 to 7 to 10 ... I was just able to increase these like all of my other exercises.
All I can say is PEM shouldnt be ignored, whilst at low levels most of the time it's possible to exercise it's ultimately fairly pointless as your body isnt in a condition to benefit - a bit like it's possible to do a 10 mile run with a broken ankle - but it wont improve your fitness at all and stands a chance of doing significant injury.
I sure hope I didn't make things worse by exercising through my PEM. I have no idea how anyone could tell if it did ...
BTW the reason you can feel better whilst and for a few hours after exercising even PEM'd is because your body produces endorphins in response to exercise - in fact when I first started I used to train at least partially because it actually gave me a few painfree hours - which was a novel experience then. That doesnt mean it's good to exercise PEM'd - it just means your body can be a bit thick at times.
Anyway, I wish you every sucess with your endevour - but please dont push too hard - even if it feels good lol
thanks ...
edit - just read your post at the top of this page - more or less any leg or core exercise should help with OI - at least in theory - as functioning muscle should help prevent blood pooling in the legs - pretty sure I've read somewhere that fighter pilots use leg muscle contractions to help conteract blood pooling caused by high G manouvers.
I tried leg exercises in PT a year or so ago for my OI and they didn't help. I don't appear to be getting blood pooling in my legs.
tc ... x
PS ... I'm still under the weather and fuzzy headed from having severe allergies this week and taking anti histamines so I hope this makes sense ...
