Self-help Articles

by Robin August, Ph.D.

In the case of exercise, there are some important differences between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia in how you approach exercise.

First of all, I would like to state that for many patients with CFIDS and Fibro, the deconditioning (lack of exercise and stretching) can add other symptoms such as anxiety, depression, sleep problems, malaise CFIDS), and pain (Fibromyalgia). And make sure that you don't do exercises in the evening as there is a very good chance that this will interfere with your sleep. This is nothing that I care to happen to me.

In CFIDS, sometimes even a little too much exercise can lead to a relapse or worsening of symptoms. This is often referred to as post-exertional fatigue. Some exercises you may already do without even realizaing it. This can be such activities as washing the car or taking your child to school. Make sure you include those activities when you make up an exercise plan. It is also a good idea to make up a chart of your exercises and stretching so that you can see over time whether you are doing too much and the impact, good or bad, the exercise and stretching are contributing to.

CFIDS

1. Check with your Physician first as to whether she recommends an exercise plan and if there are any limitations to this plan.
2. I suggest that you start with reasonable exercise. This may be as short as two minutes of stretching or washing your dishes. See how that goes before increasing the amount of exercise that you do.
3. The first type of exercise may include just stretching and strength . These can be done easily at home. It may be good to monitor your daily activity levels in order to establish a point that does not cause a relapse.
4. Pacing yourself means not overdoing it. For examply, you make wake up one morning feeling particularly good and try to fit more activities in that you usually do and the whammo!! You relapse. So try to keep roughly the same amount of activity per day unless you have planned to increase the amount of exercise that you do. Slow is the operative word.
5. It is important both in CFIDS and Fibro to have rest periods between activities. You might exercise for five minutes and then rest for one half hour. For me, the rest period is longer.

Fibromyalgia

1. The differences in exercise for Fibromyalgia includes stretching and endurance exercise but again, started very carefully until you know how much you can do without causing relapse.
2. Stretching usually helps reduce pain and stiffness.
3. An endurance program like walking helps most fibromyalgia patients. Again, start off very slowly until you know your threshold level so that you don't relapse. Water exercise may also be good exercise because it takes stress off of joints and connective tissues but still provides endurance exercise.

Good exercising helps deconditioning!!!

About the Author

Robin August, Ph.D., LCSW. obtained her Master’s in Social Work and her Ph.D. in Psychology from major Universities. She has also studied Life Coaching. She has been in private practice since 1987. She specializes in working with survivors of child abuse, coping with chronic illness, depressive and anxiety disorders, life coaching and general psychotherapy. She lives in the beautiful Smoky Mountains where she enjoys the outdoors. Dr. August also lives with Fibromyalgia and Systemic Lupus so she brings a unique personal understanding to her work.