Coping With Chronic Illness - Exercise Part 1 - Is it Good or Bad?

Is Exercise Good Or Bad for the Chronically Ill?

If you have a chronic illness you know you should exercise, right?  You know it, I know it, we all
know it.  Healthy people should exercise.  Sick people should exercise.  Old people, young people.  Everyone should exercise.  It’s good for you.

And yet… it’s just not that simple.

The challenge

Sure exercise is beneficial – but how do you do it, where do you even start when you are:

Feeling completely and utterly horrible?

Too weak to stand, walk, or even sit up for any length of time?

Afraid because of bad experiences in the past – such as exercising beyond your strength and then experiencing a relapse with your illness?

Having pain with all or certain movements?

Experiencing post-exertion fatigue – fatigue that comes hours or even a day or two after activity?

Dealing with an unpredictable, fluctuating illness – never sure where you stand?

Weakened and exhausted by almost any exertion – even mental – to the point where you become bedridden?

Feeling overwhelmed with what you are already doing, unable to add anything else?

Having very low brain function (brain fog) making everything more complex?

These are real challenges.  These are real obstacles that may make you want to laugh in the face of (or throttle) a doctor who says you just need to exercise more.  They just don’t get it.

In point of fact, there are times, even long periods of time, when it is literally impossible to “exercise”, when we can barely breathe, barely call ourselves alive.  And yet, 

We need exercise despite the challenges.  Why?

Exercising while chronically ill presents serious challenges, not to be underestimated.  However, on the flip side of the issue, without it our symptoms will continue to worsen, we will have a harder time recovering any degree of health, we may eventually lose most independence, we will have to continue letting go of activities we love.

(Ok, In case I am losing some of you here, I just want to say that I am using the word “exercise” pretty loosely.  Yes, some may be able to do “normal” forms of exercise like jogging, doing an aerobics class, biking, etc…  But that is not my reality.  It has not been my reality for a long time.  As this series of posts continues you will see that “exercise” can really be a very flexible philosophy.  Hang in there with me. )

We live in a society that thinks of exercise primarily as  a weight thing – or something that makes one more physically “uniform”.  When we have a debilitating chronic illness, it’s true we may feel we have some weight issues.  But that is not what I want you to focus on right now.  Weight loss should not be the main goal of exercise for us –certainly not at the beginning.

The main goal is to be able to participate in life.  To be able to move about our homes, maybe to work, go grocery shopping, play with our children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews, to enjoy nature or a social event.  We just want to be able to have a little bit of a life.  The more strength we lose, the less of life we can enjoy.

The primary benefit of exercise is that it helps you to regain strength.  I did not appreciate that until I lost all of mine and was incapacitated.  But, regaining and maintaining as much strength as possible is really important in coping with a chronic illness. 

Did you know you need muscles for holding a pen or a phone, for carrying a purse, writing, or opening your pill bottles?  You need muscles to get you in and out of the bath.  You need muscles to walk to the toilet or the bathroom.  This is a really serious and basic thing.  If you do not exercise you may eventually lose your independence. 

Exercise can, over time,

1.    Build more strength for daily living
2.    Increase energy
3.    Ease pain
4.    Lessen our symptoms
5.    Help fight depression and anxiety
6.    Give us more control
7.    Strengthen the heart, lungs, digestive tract, lymph system, brain, muscles etc…
8.    Fight disease
9.    Improve overall health
10.  It may help you get off of some medications
11.  Builds stamina
12.  Improve quality of life
13.  And yes, it can help us get to a healthy weight.

So, we live in something of a conundrum.  We desperately need something that is often much more difficult than normal for us to attain.  However, because it is so important to our health, it is something we should give serious consideration to. 

We need to: 1. Rethink what it means to exercise.  2. Understand the myths and facts of exercising with chronic illness.  3. Think about ways that we can build strength with the energy, pain levels, or disabilities we have.  These are what we will discuss in the next 2 posts on exercise.

For further reading:

These are two good articles I enjoyed on this subject:

Being Active When You Have a Chronic Illness
Exercise and Chronic Illness

And now it’s your turn.  What challenges do you face when it comes to exercise?  What benefits do you notice from physical activity?  Won’t you share it with us.

Coping With Chronic Illness posts: 

It's OK to grieve your losses
Knowledge is power
Do not eat, breathe, and sleep your illness
Part 1 - Friendship is a basic human need (the dilemma)
Part 2 - Friendship is a basic human need (who can be a friend?)
Part 3 - Friendship is a basic human need (10 ways to be a good friend while chronically ill)
Part 4 - Friendship is a basic human need (How to be a friend to a friend who is chronically ill)
2 Reasons why lying keeps you sick
Let go of the dream, accept reality, and be happy (it breaks your heart and then rebuilds it)
Accepting reality - what it does NOT mean
3 Ways to advance in a new direction
18 Ways to ward off sadness
I Can't Do It Alone
Talk.  And Talk Some More.
You Do Not Need To Justify Your Existence
Coping with Chronic Illness - Dealing with Its Unpredictable Nature

Coping With Chronic Illness - Other People Have Problems Too
When I have no brain and no body
Caring too much what people think keeps you sick
Caring too much what people think - how to overcome it.

Energy Economy posts:

How to get food into our mouths while chronically ill part 1
Food part 2
Food part 3
Grocery shopping and chronic illness
Wardrobe considerations for the chronically ill - part 1
Wardrobe considerations for the chronically ill - part 2
15 suggestions for Leaving the house while chronically ill
14 suggestions for cleaning the house while chronically ill
Personal hygiene and chronic illness
Dealing with people while chronically ill
12 Ways to simplify your grooming and dressing routines
10 Ways to COPE with Cognitive Dysfunction (Brain Fog, Fibro Fog)  
10 Ways to COMBAT Cognitive Dysfunction (Brain Fog, Fibro Fog)