Excerpts from Experts

Excerpt from: Cytokine Inflammation and Management in Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
by John W. Addington - ChronicFatigueSyndromeSupport.com
07-24-2002

Hydrotherapy: "Drs. Charles Lapp and Paul Cheney both recommend hydrotherapy as a means of reducing cytokine levels. They recommend 15-30 minutes of being vertically immersed (standing) in water that is around 85 degrees [Fahrenheit], 2-3 times a week. Dr. Lapp explains, "when the temperature of the water is 85-95 degrees, it is cooler than your body temperature, so you are cooling down the core. When you cool down the core, it cuts down on the cytokines as well, and those cause the flu-like symptoms."

Excerpt from: Dr. Cheney's Basic Treatment Plan for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome  by Carol Sieverling - ImmuneSupport.com
October 19, 2001
Section on Exercise:
Golden Rule: Find the boundaries of what you can do and then stay within them. Both trying to do too much, or pulling back and doing too little are counter productive. Limit setting is probably the most important thing you can do. Patients are very susceptible to push-crash phenomena and you need to learn to stay within certain boundaries. To the extent you do that, you will tend to do better. To the extent you don't, you likely will not do well. Aerobic Training: Beyond certain limits this cannot be attempted until you are much improved. Be cautious about any aerobic exercise (any sustained activity, such as running, walking, or swimming, designed to raise the heart rate and increase oxygen flow throughout the body). The aerobic system is injured and reactive oxygen species (free radicals) generated in the mitochondria by excessive training may not be detoxified with resulting injury which can potentially be permanent (DNA damage). Walk, cycle or swim only as much as your body will allow, no more than 20 minutes, three times per week. Aerobic exercise past a certain point can dramatically worsen this disorder.

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The Best Sport for Fitness -- November 9, 2003
The best sports for fitness are the ones in which you exercise continuously, those that are least likely to injure you and the ones you enjoy the most. You become fit by exercising
vigorously enough to increase the circulation of blood. It makes no difference to your heart how you increase your circulation. The best sports for fitness use your legs because the blood
vessels in your legs are so much larger than those in your arms that you can circulate far more blood with your leg muscles. Arm exercises tire you earlier because most people have weaker
arms.
Some sports require a great level of fitness just to start. For example, to jump rope, you must spin the rope about 80 times a minute to keep it from tangling. Many people can't jump
80 times a minute. The safest sports include low-impact aerobics, walking, swimming and pedaling a stationary bicycle. Running causes lots of injuries because the force of your foot striking the ground can be three times your body weight, which can damage muscles and bones. Sports that don’t keep you moving may be fun, but they won’t make you fit. For example, the average tennis player spends 80 percent of the playing time waiting for the ball. The best sport for you is whichever one you will do for the rest of your life.

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Vigorous Exercise Reduces Belly Fat -- November 23, 2003
Storing fat primarily in your belly increases your chances of developing diabetes, heart attacks and strokes. People who store lots of fat over their belly muscles also store lots of fat in their livers which prevents the liver from removing insulin rapidly from the bloodstream. Your liver is supposed to remove insulin immediately after it does its job of driving sugar from your bloodstream after meals into your cells. If fat in your liver keeps it from doing this job, the high levels of insulin in your bloodstream cause your liver to manufacture fat and deposit more fat in your belly and liver. High insulin levels also cause your brain to make you
hungry. It's a vicious circle.

A study from Duke University shows that lack of exercise causes excess fat to accumulate in your belly, and vigorous exercise can reduce belly fat in just a few months (Science Daily,
May 29, 2003). In the five-year STRRIDE (Studies of Targeted Risk Reduction Interventions through Defined Exercise) trial, participants who did not exercise had an 8.6 percent increase in visceral fat after eight months, while those participants who exercised the highest amount saw a 8.1 percent decrease in visceral fat.

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Warm up Your Heart -- November 30, 2003
Most people know that warming up skeletal muscles helps to protect them from injury, but many do not know that warming up the heart muscle helps to prevent heart attacks in people with blocked arteries. Before you try to run very fast, you can protect your muscles from injury by performing a series of runs of gradually-increasing intensity to increase the circulation of blood to your muscles. The same principle applies to the heart. Angina is a condition in which the blood vessels leading to the heart are partially blocked so the person has no pain at
rest, but during exercise, the blocked arteries don't permit enough blood to get through to the heart muscles, causing pain. A study from the Quebec Heart Institute showed that if people
with angina exercise very slowly before they picked up the pace, they were able to exercise longer and more intensely before they felt heart pain (Circulation, Volume 107, Issue 14, 2003). Always check with your doctor if you feel any heart pain during exercise.

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Use Different Types of Exercise for Fitness and Muscle Strength December 28, 2003
You can't train for heart muscle fitness and skeletal muscle strength with the same activity. To strengthen your heart muscle, your exercise must be intense enough to speed up your heart rate and keep it elevated for a while. To strengthen your skeletal muscles, you need to work against increasing resistance in short, hard bouts.

Your heart muscle gets stronger when you exercise vigorously enough to make your heart pump more blood. The accepted formula is to raise your heart rate at least 20 beats a minute above your resting heart rate, working up to 30 minutes three times a week. If you can't exercise continuously for thirty minutes, work until you feel tired, rest, then repeat the cycle; and gradually build up your endurance.

To strengthen your skeletal muscles, you need to exercise against increasing resistance by lifting weights, pushing against strength-training machines, or moving against gravity (such as running or cycling up hills). The greater the resistance without causing injury, the greater the gain in strength. However, when you exercise against resistance, your muscles fatigue very rapidly.

If you work against resistance for more than 50 continuous seconds, you increase your risk of tearing your muscles. A good program to strengthen both your heart and your skeletal muscles would include cycling, swimming or jogging on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and using strength machines on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Battling menopause with exercise
By Kat Carney
CNN Headline News
Friday, May 21, 2004 Posted: 10:16 AM EDT (1416 GMT)
"In fact, exercise programs that include a combination of aerobics, resistance training and stretching can help reduce both the immediate symptoms of menopause and the long-term health risks."

"Formerly sedentary women should start slowly and build up to the recommended times, but aim for a minimum of three days per week. And as always, be sure to check with your doctor before starting any exercise program. "

Women with FMS would be best NOT to try to reach the exercise range of the general public.  ANY amount of exercise is a good start and we should always be aware of the negative impact of overdoing it.  Many of the GG members who write with exercise recommendations caution that we start with as little as a couple of minutes of gentle exercise daily and work our way up according to how we manage.  Tesa Marcon

                                              Members Exercise Stories

This is what I try to do each week. When I feel really bad, I give myself permission not to do it all.  It does seem to help.  I also plan to add a Feldenkrais class after the beginning of the year.

10 min morning and afternoon on the treadmill at 2.5 mph, 3 days a week. 

Lift 10# weights for upper body strength 3 x a week and use a rubber band for back strength exercises.

My own yoga practice 3x a week, about 30 minutes (I have taken yoga classes for over 15 years).  I work on whatever is tightest or hurts the most or I just work on pain reduction.

Use a tape called Musical Acupuncture during the resting pose, and imagine the tones touching the places that hurt.  It really helps in reducing my pain.

Lynn Rogers
AR, guai 8/98, slow responder. just switched to QA guai and am working with a guai mentor, liberal HG