My Discovery For Getting Fit with Dysautonomia & Fibromyalgia: Seated Exercise Videos

Discover Exercise from a Seated Position

After years of struggling with exercise since becoming a ChronicBabe, suddenly everything clicked when I recently read a statement on a fellow POTSie's blog that said (and I'm paraphrasing here) "When you have dysautonomia, all your exercise should be done in the seated position." 

What a Well, no duh, why didn't I think of that? moment!  After all, I learned last year at the Mayo Clinic in AZ that when I am standing still, my blood pressure goes all over the place, bouncing from high to low and back again. I can only imagine what happens when I try adding movement to standing...

Since this discovery, I've decided to make incorporating seated exercise into my weekly routine one of my goals for 2012.  So I went to YouTube looking for some simple seated exercise videos that could get me started.  What I found is a variety of videos that range from easy and beginner to experienced and challenging.

My Top Four Picks

My doctor advised me to start with just a few minutes of exercise three times a week and slowly work up to more.  So I'm starting with this fun and energetic seated dance video set to Hawaiian music which utilizes a technique called the MUVE method:





I've heard that Zumba is the latest fitness craze and I have been feeling a little left out since an hour dance exercise class is so not practical for me.  So imagine my delight when I found this Zumba Gold chair routine that I can do from the comfort of my home.





I'm loving Coach Nicole from SparkPeople.com and her calorie burning Seated Cardio Workout.  This is definitely a more advanced workout that I am aspiring to when my fitness level improves.  She's also recorded a Seated Upper Body Toning Workout and a Seated Abs Workout too.





Jackie Tally, another new favorite, has several different seated exercise videos on her Smart Moves YouTube channel.  My absolute favorite is a routine she set to the song Chicken Fat, a song I remember fondly from my childhood (I am not able to embed it here, so you'll have to head to YouTube to see it.)  It seems like a fun way to start the day with exercise!





Honorable Mentions

Mike volunteers with patients living with multiple sclerosis (MS), teaching a seated exercise class in a local hospital.  Skip the first minute or so of these videos to get right to the easy five minute seated exercise routines that he teaches to his clients.  Then check out the last link for more information about his Move with Mike class.

Seated Exercise Program 1
Seated Exercise Program 2
Move with Mike - Seated MS Exercise Program

I love yoga.  Unfortunately, my body with fibromyalgia and chronic myofascial pain doesn't find traditional yoga very relaxing or helpful anymore.  That is, until I discovered two seated yoga videos that just work better for me in my current state of health.


Chair Yoga
Chair Yoga Refresher


A Tip for Watching These Videos Anytime

Love these videos, but wish you didn't have to go to YouTube to watch them?  Guess what?  I discovered that RealPlayer lets you download videos from YouTube to your computer and covert them into several different formats, including MP4, WMV and RealVideo.  You can also burn them free of charge to a video CD using the free version of RealPlayer.  If you upgrade to RealPlayer Plus, you can burn these videos to DVD.


DISCLAIMER:  This post is intended to convey general health information and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your health care provider before beginning any exercise program.

A Pretty Pink Holiday Surprise at the Mall

Pretty girls dressed in pink at the mall.

Oh, to go shopping at the mall!  I don't have to tell you it's that time of year again...or what a workout it can be if you live with chronic illness.

But who knew, every once in a while, pretty pink surprises happen, when you least expect them, at the mall?

I discovered a viral holiday video yesterday and wanted to share it will you.









I really enjoyed watching this video and I hope you will also.

I also made an interesting observation and felt some real appreciation for the creative minds behind the scenes while I was viewing it.  You see, I absolutely LOVED how the producers of this video included women of all shapes, sizes, ages and colors in this video.  I even watched to see if the dancers included some buxom beauties and was pleasantly surprised to see them as part of the troupe too.

As a plus size woman, I have to say that this video really helped me feel good about myself AND the holidays, because going to the mall to find clothes that fit when you are ample can often be a very frustrating experience.

Right about now some of you may be thinking that the solution for me (and everyone else who is carrying around extra pounds) is to lose weight.  I won't disagree with you in principle, but in practice this has been extremely hard for me. My chronic illnesses aren't helping me to be able to exercise like I should and they are even changing my biochemistry to promote weight gain.  At times, this can be extremely discouraging.

So when I see something in the media that celebrates women AS THEY ARE I am so grateful.  Images like these go a long way to counteract the tendency to feel bad about ourselves when we don't meet the unrealistic and unattainable standard of female beauty set in the media.

So kudos to T-Mobile for serving up a pretty pink holiday surprise at the mall that helps all women feel comfortable about their bodies.  I have to say this was a really special holiday gift.

By the way, the video was filmed at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois. You can read more about the making of this video at the ChicagoNow website.

This post is sponsored by T-Mobile.

Mission 2011: Some Final Thoughts on Exercise

Image by Cornell University Library via Flickr
Yesterday I finally touched base with my best friend and learned that she is currently participating in a boot camp style exercise program. She described for me in detail what her workouts look like and how much fun she is having doing them. She admits that exercise has never really been her thing, but this whole boot camp approach has recently changed her mindset on exercise.

Then she told me how sore she was from today's workout and said, "I bet this is how you feel all the time."

I certainly appreciated her empathy, but I have to admit that her description of her current exercise program made me 1) feel like a big, fat slug and 2) realize that I live in an entirely different world than she does.

Exercise has always been a part of my life since I was a kid. I can remember dance lessons, bike riding around our local park, hiking and backpacking as a Girl Scout and years spent as a member of the local YMCA swim team. In high school, I was my mother's companion at the gym, riding my bike to meet her there and then taking aerobics classes and working out on the weight machines.

Exercise became even more important to me when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1999. I discovered just how powerful it was in helping to maintain tight control over my blood glucose number. I also discovered the elliptical machine at the gym, which quickly became my new favorite piece of exercise equipment.

The irony has not escaped me that my entrée into life with fibromyalgia was a trip-and-fall accident that occurred while I was taking a brisk walk around the building while on a break at work.

While I have been exploring exercise in my blog posts during this past month, I have learned that I need to work on my acceptance of how fibromyalgia has completed and totally changed what exercise looks like for me now. I can more clearly see that my expectations about what I should be able to do are a complete mismatch with what my body can do. I can hear that tiny, critical voice inside my head saying, "You can only do three minutes of exercise, three time a week?!?" Yeah, that little, judgmental voice needs a reality check.

But I also understand: that voice is the part of me that misses being busy getting things done. It's really hard for me to be home all day and unable to get done all the things I need and want to do because I lack the physical energy to do so. It's those physical limitations, the by-product of living with chronic and disabling pain and fatigue 24/7/365, that are the hardest part of my current health situation.

I think spending this past month adjusting my attitude towards exercise will help me be more successful with my current endeavor to implement the exercise advice I got last month from my new neurologist.

To that end, I am pleased to report that I am slowly building up the number of reps and number of exercises I do on a daily basis from the Exercises to Help Manage Orthostatic Hyptension handout. I light of my recent diagnosis of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), I am putting together the money to purchase a recumbent bicycle, since it is now clear to me I need to engage in seated exercise. Perhaps I can get a good quality used one from a second hand exercise equipment store.

I am also practicing more patience and understanding with my body. After all, it is doing the best it can despite all my health challenges.

So you see, like my best friend, I am working on changing my mindset when it comes to exercise.

Related articles

• Question of the Week: How Do You Get Your Exercise? (ohmyachesandpains.info)
• Mission 2011: Fibromyalgia Redefines Exercise (ohmyachesandpains.info)
• Mission 2011: Exercises for Dysautonomia (ohmyachesandpains.info)
• Mission 2011: Exercise, Exercise! (ohmyachesandpains.info)

Question of the Week: How Do You Get Your Exercise?

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If you've been following along with my Mission 2011 posts on Thursdays, then you know that I have been devoting April to the topic of exercise.

Of all the self-help strategies I employ to manage my fibromyalgia symptoms, exercise is the one that presents the most challenges for me. I've talked a little about my struggles with post-exertional fatigue and shared a new approach to exercise that was shared with me at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona last month. I even wrote a pretty interesting post last week on how having fibromyalgia redefines the word exercise...because it certainly does for me!

So I've been wondering: how do you get your exercise?

--> For those of you who have figured this exercise thing out, I'd love to hear about what works for you.

--> For those of you who are struggling like me, share what hasn't worked and then tell us about what you are going to try next.

I'm a firm believer in learning from my peers, so I hope you'll take this opportunity to start a discussion either here in the comments area or over on the OMA&P! Facebook page.

Related articles

• Question of the Week: Are you struggling with making changes? (ohmyachesandpains.info)
• Mission 2011: Exercises for Dysautonomia (ohmyachesandpains.info)
• Mission 2011: Fibromyalgia Redefines Exercise (ohmyachesandpains.info)

Mission 2011: Fibromyalgia Redefines Exercise

Fibromyalgia fundamentally changes your relationship with your body.

One of the greatest losses that I deal with on an ongoing basis is my inability to do whatever I want, whenever I want. I simply don't have the energy to live the active life I used to lead.

Yet one of the great paradoxes in the current state of fibromyalgia treatment is the recommendation of regular exercise as a means to manage symptoms.

I think that what many of the people making this recommendation forget is that fibromyalgia makes each and every activity during the day into exercise. Or that chronic pain and chronic fatigue makes everything in life more difficult to do, especially when it comes to physical activities. They don't acknowledge that physical activities may need to be modified so that pain and fatigue are not aggravated or made worse. Nor do they talk about the very troublesome problem of postexertional fatigue, that very tardy message from your body telling you did way too much yesterday.

Trying to figure out the how's, what's, when's and where's of making exercise fibro-friendly can be daunting. For starters, you need to start looking at exercise in a whole different way. I mean, you can't just stroll into the gym like you could before, work out for half an hour and expect to feel okay over the next 72 hours. Exercise means something completely different when you have fibromyalgia.

So for example, if your fibromyalgia symptoms include dizziness or fluctuations in your heart rate or blood pressure, doing exercise in a standing position may not be the best choice for you. If you have problems tolerating heat, working out in a warm water pool might not be a good idea either. If you are dealing with moderate to severe fatigue, just getting to and from an exercise class might be more activity than your body can handle; between the travel and the class, you might find yourself completely wiped out.

When it comes to how much exercise and for how long, I think the adage start low and go slow perfectly applies here. Since it's so easy to overdo it and derail your exercise efforts, it really makes sense to start with just a few stretches done just a few times. Or maybe just a few minutes of walking or biking three times a week. If postexertional fatigue rears its ugly head it's a sign to cut back and try again. If you can tolerate just this little bit, then play it safe and add a tiny bit more over time: one new stretch, two more reps or one or two more minutes of cardio.

I share these thoughts with you today because I know that all too often the recommendation to exercise doesn't come with fibro-friendly instructions. My hope is that if you can remember that having fibromyalgia means having to redefine what the word exercise means, you can take that recommendation and make it work for you.

This post is for informational purposes only and doesn't take place of the advice of your health care team. (Yeah, the irony of this statement in light of the discussion above is not lost on me.)

Mission 2011: Exercises for Dysautonomia

Today I am sharing with you the exercise handout I received from my new neurologist during my visit to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

Strengthening my muscles is the purpose behind all the exercises below. Stronger muscles help prevent blood from pooling in my lower extremities when I stand, as well as help my body maintain a more consistent blood pressure. It is my understanding that my body's inability to compensate correctly when I stand is what causes me to get dizzy. While I have never fainted from standing up, I do get dizzy, light-headed and woozy.

Hopefully these exercise will help minimize these symptoms over time.

I have been instructed to start with the first three exercises, all done while laying down. Once I have mastered these, I am to add the rest of the exercises, one at a time, to my routine. After a month or so of doing all the exercises every day, I then will add some cardiovascular exercise, like biking or walking, starting at three minutes, three times a week.

The goal with my exercise program is to start out easy and work very slowly towards adding more exercise for longer periods of time. This is definitely not your typical exercise program, but it is a good fit for where I am currently with my multiple health problems that interfere with me being able to exercise in a more typical fashion.




You'll find this handout loaded into Google Docs, which will allow you to download and print it for your own personal use. Be sure to discuss it with your medical provider to make sure these exercises are right for you and your unique medical situation.

Related articles

• Mission 2011: Exercise, Exercise! (ohmyachesandpains.info)
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Mission 2011: Exercise, Exercise!

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As I mentioned last month, the topic for my Mission 2011 posts in April is exercise.

Funny thing is, as I thought about this topic, a song about exercise from my childhood popped into my brain and stubbornly got stuck there. That led to a several day quest to find the song and then figure out a way to be able to present it here on my blog.

All I knew a few days ago was that the song began, "Exercise, exercise! Come on everybody do your exercise." What I learned from my Internet search is that this song was from a segment on the 1970s children's TV show called Wonderama. This song was sung by the show's host Bob McAllister and the children in the audience.

It took some finagling, but I finally figured out a way to capture the song using my video camera. The audio and video quality of the clip below isn't that great but I hope it's good enough to convey all the reasons why this song caught my attention when I was a kid and has been stuck in my brain ever since. My hope is that the infectious tune and upbeat nature of this little ditty will get you into the proper mood to tackle the topic of exercise this month.

Enjoy!

Exercise, exercise!
Come on everybody, do your exercise.
Exercise, exercise!
Come on everybody, do your exercise.

Jumping Jack, Jumping Jack!
Come on everybody, do the Jumping Jack.
Jumping Jack, Jumping Jack!
Come on everybody, do the Jumping Jack.

And freeze!

Exercise, exercise!
Come on everybody, do your exercise.
Exercise, exercise!
Come on everybody, do your exercise.

Hands on hips, hands on hips!
Touch your toes with your fingertips.
Hands on hips, hands on hips!
Touch your toes with your fingertips.

And freeze!

Exercise, exercise!
Come on everybody, do your exercise.
Exercise, exercise!
Come on everybody, do your exercise.

Stand up straight, shake around!
Let me see you twist your body all about.
Stand up straight, shake around!
Let me see you twist your body all about.

And freeze!

Exercise, exercise!
Come on everybody, do your exercise.
Exercise, exercise!
Come on everybody, do your exercise.

Now rest!

Question of the Week: Are you struggling with making changes?

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I write a lot about strategies that I've used to make a lot of changes in my life in response to the challenge of living with multiple chronic illnesses. Even though I've had a lot of success, I'm not perfect. There are still some aspects of life of chronic illness that I struggle to get a handle on.

Like you, I put a lot of effort into following the advice of my healthcare team and implementing their suggestions. One suggestion that I've heard over and over again is, 'You need to make exercise part of your fibromyalgia self-care plan.' In trying to implement this suggestion I've run into a lot of problems, with a major stumbling block: something called post-exertional fatigue.

What is post-exertional fatigue? It is an intense state of exhaustion brought on by physical exertion. It begins anywhere from an hour to 24 hours after exercise and can last up to 72 hours. Post-exertional fatigue is actually one of the hallmarks used to diagnose chronic fatigue syndrome, although in my case this could also be related to my chronic hepatitis C infection.

Prior to 2004, I used to work out on average three times a week for 30 to 45 minutes a session. Since living with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, I have found that walking a block can wipe me out for several days. It boggles my mind that so little exercise can wreak havoc in such a big way. And perhaps getting stuck on the absurdity of my current situation has created a stumbling block preventing me from overcoming this obstacle.

I came to this realization after my consultation for dysautonomia at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. When Dr. Goodman suggested that exercise needs to be part of my self-care plan, he gave me detailed instructions. First, he handed me a pamphlet with specific exercises geared towards persons living with autonomic dysfunction. Then he asked me to start with a few of these exercises. The first goal was to work towards completing them all on a daily basis. Then, after a month of doing all these simple stretching and strengthening moves, he recommended that I try adding some cardio exercise for just three minutes three times a week. He acknowledged that this may be very difficult for me to do initially, so he further advised me to take it slow and easy. He also said that it might take quite a long time for me to build up to longer exercise sessions.

So as I work with this new way at looking at exercise, I feel a great sense of appreciation for how Dr. Goodman approached the subject. I can tell you that it really made a difference when he gave me specific instructions while at the same time acknowledging how difficult exercise is for someone like me. In validating my experience, he helped me see that there may be a way to work around my obstacles to exercise.

In light of this experience, I'm wondering what changes you are struggling to make. I'm also wondering what you think you might need to help you move past struggling to success.

To get this discussion going, I invite you to leave a comment here or on the OMA&P! Facebook page. In addition to sharing with us the areas in which you are having problems, feel free to offer your suggestions about what has worked for you to others who are struggling in areas you feel you have mastered.

What Works: Focusing on Lifestyle Physical Activities

Image via Wikipedia

I don't often gloat when I am right, but this time is the exception.

Remember the post a wrote a few days ago: Just Do It!--The Cure for Fibromyalgia? Well, the venerable researchers at John Hopkins University recently published the results of their study that showed short bursts of activity throughout the day benefited persons living with fibromyalgia more than traditional exercise programs.

"Just trying to accumulate a little more physical activity throughout the normal course of the day, as opposed to engaging in traditional exercise, can improve self-reported measures of functioning and pain among people with fibromyalgia," lead researcher Kevin Fontaine, PhD, an assistant professor of rheumatology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, told WebMD.

What Dr. Fontaine refers to is technically called lifestyle physical activity. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the article at WebMD doesn't really explain this concept very well. So I put together lists of examples of what lifestyle physical activities are and suggestions on how to implement more of them into your day.

EXAMPLES:

• Housework, including vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, cooking, laundry and making the bed, taking out the trash
  
• Yard work like gardening, raking leaves, shoveling snow, watering the plants, mowing the lawn
• Activities while running errands, such as pushing a shopping cart, walking around the store, carrying groceries and shopping bags from the car to the house
• Leisure activities like playing a music instrument, playing an interactive game like Wii Sports or Wii Fit, walking your dog, riding your bike or playing with your kids
  

HOW TO INCLUDE THEM INTO YOUR DAY

• Wear a pedometer and work on increasing your daily number of steps slowly over time.
  
• Park further away from the entrance to the store, doctor's office or other places you visit to create opportunities to walk more.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.
• Explore new places with your family or pet, including your local parks, beaches and walking paths.
• Try standing when you do an activity OR alternate sitting and standing.
• Turn on the radio and dance!
  
• Take regular breaks from sitting, reclining or laying down by getting up and walking around the house.
• Make a list of fun activities you enjoy or would like to try that can help you get moving more each day.

I hope I've got you thinking about ways you can incorporate a few more minutes of activity in your day. Start with something fun, something that you enjoy and will do every day, even if it is only for a minute. The participants in the study worked on adding up to 30 minutes of activity into their day for 5 to 7 days per week, but depending on your situation, you may decide on a different goal. As with all things, start slow and small and work your way towards the amount of activity that works for you. The goal is to try to be more active without causing flare-ups or worsening your symptoms.

Lifestyle physical activity: now this is a great example of how to make "exercise" more fibro-friendly.

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"Just Do It"--The Cure for Fibromyalgia?

I feel so frustrated and flared-up I just want to scream! Aargh!

I had to go to a "fibromyalgia evaluation" Friday, conducted by a doctor I hope I NEVER see again. Hence the reason I am currently flared-up. I had a feeling this was going to happen and I did plan accordingly. Robert drove me to the appointment, which was in downtown L.A., and I scheduled no appointments for next week, so I have plenty of time to rest and re-cooperate.

I try so hard not to let medical professionals who just don't get it about fibromyalgia and chronic pain get under my skin. But on the ride home, I just lost it. It has been a long time since I have had a tender point examination, so I forgot just how painful one is. It's also been a long time since a doctor lectured me on the "Just Do It" cure for fibromyalgia (FM), insinuating that I have not done everything I could to get better. Those of you with FM probably know what I am talking about. The lecture goes something like this:

If you just exercised every day, you would get better. Start with 10 minutes of aerobic exercise and build up to an hour a day. You will be very sore the next day and the next week, but you need to work through the pain and increase your activity time every week. You need to reset your pain threshold and the only way to do it is to create more pain in the short run. It might take a year or two, but it is only with daily exercise that you will get better.

Seriously?

I tried to stick up for myself. I tried to impress upon the doctor that I do exercise every day, by walking the two blocks I am able to do without seriously jeopardizing my energy envelope, creating a flare-up of my symptoms and setting the vicious cycle of post-exertional fatigue in motion. But my efforts where deflected by the comment that went something like since most of you pain is in your torso, you need to get a pair of 5 pound weights and start exercising your arms more to increase your pain threshold there.

Seriously?

I admit there was a time in my life when I could "Just Do It." A time when I had a membership to my local YMCA and went three times a week for one hour workouts. A time when a little pain, soreness and stiffness after a workout was really no big deal, back when "no pain, no gain" meant an entirely different thing. Those were the days when fibromyalgia and chronic pain were blissfully absent from my vocabulary.

Here is the thing. I know that exercise is important, which is why I got a dog in 2008 to encourage me to walk every day. Those first two months I walked my dog every day, twice a day, about four to six blocks total in a day. I was miserable. All I succeeded in doing was increasing my pain and fatigue symptoms. My level of function decreased from about 30% of my healthy normal to about 20% of my healthy normal. But I stuck with it, because I made a commitment to being a good dog owner.

Then I broke my foot. For a while, my sister came over and walked my dog each day while I hobbled around in a cast. Then I discovered that I could walk my dog using my mobility scooter. That discovery was like a light bulb turning on. I realized that trying to walk my dog twice a day, for four to six blocks, was just too much for me. It made my quality of life decrease as my symptoms increased. In short, I was failing to live my best life despite chronic illness.

What works for me is somethings altogether different: walking half a block, riding my mobility scooter a block, walking another block, riding for a block and a half and then walking the last half block. I am able to do this because my husband comes with me for dog walks and rides my scooter when I am walking. If I am having a bad day, I can ride more and walk less. If it is a good day, I can walk a little bit more.

So in a roundabout way, getting a dog did help me develop a habit of walking every day. I just had to modified how I walked and make it fibro-friendly. Using this approach, my level of functioning is back to around 30% and I have energy to do the other things I need and want to do each day that make living a life with chronic illness more bearable.

So you see, the "Just Do It" method doesn't work for me anymore. I am writing this blog post to put this question out to the blogosphere: does this approach work for anyone with fibromyalgia? Please leave a comment here and share your experiences. Better yet, write a blog post with your response and I will add it to the bottom of this post. Let's figure out once and for all if "Just Do It" is a pearl of wisdom or a pile of crap.

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