ME/CFS clinic - appointment 7 heart rate and cardio

The time between appointments has been a bit longer hence the reason I haven't blogged in a while. At my last appt on Friday we chatted about my progress and I explained that the viral infection had hindered things but now I'm managing two ten minute walks on work days and have been doing the Pilates exercises twice a week.

To be honest I'm not sure Pilates is for me. I find it a chore to do and think I would much prefer to do yoga so I think I`ll go back to my `beat fatigue with yoga` DVD.

My therapist explained about MET which is the metabolic equivalents of how intense an activity is. So making the bed, carrying heavy groceries, swimming and unloading the washing machine are all considered to be of high MET value. She gave me a calculation to figure out what my maximum heart rate should be during exercise so I can avoid PEM (post exertional malaise) the next day. Interestingly she said this also applies to a regular person doing exercise (although they could maybe push up to 80% of their resting heart rate). 

Here is the calculation:

220- (your age) = (answer)  then x by 0.6 = (answer) then x by either 0.60 or 0.75 depending on whether you want to work at 60 or 75% of your heart rate (or anywhere in between). The total should give you a number roughly between 100 and 140. Hopefully that makes sense as maths was never my strong point at school!

I now have a cardio circuit to do but I`m going to attempt these on the days I'm not working. Will let you next time how its gone. Hoping I`ll be as fit as this by the end of the programme :D

ME Clinic - 3rd Appointment

I had my third appointment on Friday. I'm still completing my activity diaries and we talked about how I'm breaking my days up a bit better i.e. not having such big chunks of medium or high energy activities and am switching between mental and physical tasks. I'm definitely thinking more about what I'm doing during the day and prioritising what needs to be done and what can wait. I really notice my instant reaction to things that happen that are stressful and how my body and mind responds to them. My therapist spoke about how the body is often on 'high alert' in ME and sufferers reactions to stress are amplified, which I can really relate to. Pre-ME I would become nervous or stressed but now I feel like the slightest stress makes me feel quite disconnected, brainfogged and anxious which then leaves me feeling drained minutes, hours or days afterwards. It's funny though as most people who know me say that I never really look that distressed but I have a habit of internalising things..So to break that cycle I've learned that I need to delegate tasks to my other half so I'm not taking everything on, leaving things that don't need to be actioned straight away and practising more relaxation. I also need to stay in the moment and not start catastrophizing (I know I've slipped into CBT talk now....) I think that's where mindfulness would be really helpful.

We also chatted about exercise. I'm having to give up my yoga class due to moving house and the location of the class which is a real shame as I've been finding it very helpful. I'm on the lookout for another though and in the meantime have ordered the Beat Fatigue with Yoga DVD which I've used in the past and would recommend. The therapist has given me some stretches to do and if I get on ok with them then we'll look at some others at the next appointment. She's been adapting them to a yoga style which makes them a bit more interesting to do.

So until the next appointment the main focus is to be more zen like :)

                                                  Photo: taken at Lake Como September 2012