VO2max - Where did you do it and what were your results? Useful or not?

[eric_s]

Hi everybody

I plan to get my VO2max tested. And if it's useful, i would try to set things up in such a way that i can send many people from our association there to do it.

I've seen a video by Dr. Peterson where he says they often find values in PWCs during these tests that are very abnormal, values that don't exist in sedentary healthy people. I've also seen the video by Dr. Klimas on the CFS Knowledge Center's website. And i've read a bit about what the Fatigue Lab at the University of the Pacific is doing.

What i would mainly be interested in is what your values were. I guess the most important ones are the anaerobic threshold and VO2max, but i don't know.

Could you share them here, please?

And if you think there's a better protocol for this than what Nancy Klimas or the Fatigue Lab use, then please tell me so.

Thanks

 

[maryb]

Hi eric I had the VO2max test done at KdM's but as ar as I'm concerned it doesn't represent an accurate test for me, at the time of this test I felt absolutely great, maybe 70% well, I walked around the parks in Brussels (albeit slowly) and managed the whole trip really well. At present I am back to about 40% so what would the test show now if I was able to make the journey? What I'm trying to say is sometimes tests like these are not a true reflection of the worst periods of your illness as you need to be relatively well to get to do them.
These are my results from that well period anyway
VO2max 0.722 l/min or 10.8ml.min-1kg-1 (very low:54% of expected value)
The anoerobic threshold 1,0 is reached at 50watt and a rate o 115/min> At exhaustion the RQ was 1.02. The maximum ventilation was 19l/min or 52% of expected value (respiratory muscle weakness)

 

[eric_s]

Hi Mary

Thanks for the info. I would not necessarily say that the test is not accurate, you had ME/CFS then and the test was abnormal, so it's not like the test was wrong. Maybe now it would be even lower, but we can't know. From my understanding the important thing is not so much the actual value, especially not after the first test, but the change between the first test and another one 24 hours later. This seems to be a measure for PEM and since i always have that, i think the test should work in my case. But i will know after doing it...

 

[SOC]

I had the VOmax test at the Hunter-Hopkins Clinic (Dr Lapp) 4-5 years ago when I was much better than I am now. At that time I was still largely active, although definitely overdoing. The trip and the test gave me an extended crash (not surprising), so best be prepared for that.

I'll dig out my results later and post them in this thread, but I'm posting this now in order to bump the thread because I think this is an interesting question.

 

[fla]

Excellent thread. As an engineer I love to measure things and VO2 max is a great thing to measure to help us to avoid crashes. One major concern I have is what are the health consequences of the test? It's well known that repeated (even minor) exertion causes the disease to progress over time but what about one time extreme exertion such as the VO2 max test?

 

[eric_s]

Thanks to both of you. I also think this is one of the most important tests. Not so much treatmentwise, but because it seems to be able to document the problems we have in an undisputable way.

I know that i don't tolerate physical activity very well, but i have no idea how i would react a VO2max test. From "normal" overdoing i usually recover pretty fast, but i don't know how much more intensive such a test would be. Ok, you can stop at any time, but it would of course be a shame to in the end not get anything out of it. I would guess it takes around 3 to 5 minutes of pedalling, but that's really not much more than a guess. I don't care so much about how i will feel after the test, but of course i would not want it to send me into a long-term crash or even change the trajectory of the illness. And the Stevens protocol demands 2 tests done 24 hours apart from each other.

So it would also be interesting to hear how quickly and how well you have recovered from doing a VO2max test.

 

[eric_s]

Hi

I'm bumping this thread again, so it doesn't get lost. Maybe some people could share their results and experiences re VO2max testing here.

Thanks

 

[November Girl]

I think that the time of exertion will depend on the individual. I don't think it's very long for any of us. There have been a few other people on the forum that have been tested recently. Maybe finding those threads will give you more info.

Mary, I'm curious about your results. When you had your test done, were you given any advice about keeping your heart rate under a certain threshold? I think one benefit of the test is to show the patient what is their safe exercise level. Over the years, I've often done what I could, which was more than I should have done to maintain my level of health.

A lot of places that specialize in sports medicine can do these tests, but I'm not sure they do all the measurements that are done for ME/CFS. I don't know that they don't either!

For now, I'm using the formula calculation to set my target heart rate, and trying to stay under it. I don't always wear my monitor though, depending on checking myself. I probably don't catch the elevated rate as soon as I should though.