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Strength training and fibromyalgia
Sep. 12th, 2010 10:45 amI'll spare you all the story of how I finally got diagnosed, but to make a long story short, last year I learned that I have fibromyalgia. It is only occasionally debilitating (i.e. I cannot do anything but sit in bed and doze), but it can impair performance at work and my general daily functioning. Sometimes, it can just be a minor annoyance. The important thing is, I now know what's been causing me misery for a number of years, and I now have some idea of how to manage it to keep it from affecting my life too often.
In short, I still get flareups, but not as frequently as I used to, and when they start, I can sometimes take measures to make them not as bad as they could be. I already knew that adequate sleep and trying to minimize stress (ha, ha, ha, right...) were helpful. So was getting regular exercise. In fact, the worst flareups of my life happened after a foot injury sidelined me for a few months.
After getting diagnosed, I did find that some of my coping strategies were in fact recommended by experts as ways to deal with fibro. Adequate sleep, dietary changes, stress management, etc. Oh, yeah--regular exercise is also critical, even on days when I feel like I've been beaten with wet ropes.
( More on my own experience with exercise and fibro )
Am I alone in finding that heavy lifting can be beneficial for managing fibro symptoms? Or have other people had similar results? Conversely, has anyone found that an intense resistance training session only makes things worse? Anyone else subject to similar cynicism on the conventional advice?
Given that fibromyalgia is still enough of an unknown that there's even some doubt that it exists, I would have to think that the jury is still out on what makes it better or worse.
Thoughts? Comments? Questions?
In short, I still get flareups, but not as frequently as I used to, and when they start, I can sometimes take measures to make them not as bad as they could be. I already knew that adequate sleep and trying to minimize stress (ha, ha, ha, right...) were helpful. So was getting regular exercise. In fact, the worst flareups of my life happened after a foot injury sidelined me for a few months.
After getting diagnosed, I did find that some of my coping strategies were in fact recommended by experts as ways to deal with fibro. Adequate sleep, dietary changes, stress management, etc. Oh, yeah--regular exercise is also critical, even on days when I feel like I've been beaten with wet ropes.
( More on my own experience with exercise and fibro )
Am I alone in finding that heavy lifting can be beneficial for managing fibro symptoms? Or have other people had similar results? Conversely, has anyone found that an intense resistance training session only makes things worse? Anyone else subject to similar cynicism on the conventional advice?
Given that fibromyalgia is still enough of an unknown that there's even some doubt that it exists, I would have to think that the jury is still out on what makes it better or worse.
Thoughts? Comments? Questions?
