Most of us if not all of us experience the same post exercise issues.

exercise, both areobic and anerobic, both dynamic and static exercise produce neuro mudscular contraction and release hormones, signals and enzymes/neurotransmitter reactions.

Our ME/CFS ravaged bodies often have damaged Magnesium and Potassium chanelopathies (pathways) between the muscles and organs/brain (neuro -endocrine connections- the supply routes for the essential vitamins, minerals, enzymes and neurochemicals that are all needed to make muscles contract and release.)

Add to that te fect that we cant wash out our d-Lactate (d-lactic acid) from our muscles the same as a healthy 'control' person can and you better understand that we cant use our muscles the same as a healthy 'control' person can AND that our muscles cant recover the same as a healthy 'control' persons can , and you start to see both sides of the coin.

You can take iit a step further and figure that most people with ME/CFS eventhough they once may have been very active are now sedentary and limit their energy expenditure very signifigantly.

I used a Physical Training Officer and advanced methods of heart rate monitoring in 2006 . It took us 9 months to scientifically establish that my non body crash induced rate of exercise was heart rate < 50% max heart rate for no more than 15 minutes per day, and my Physical Training Officer said to me "Al' your at that level when your standing up and walking to the toilet so its pointless trying to do any exercise even in a recumbant form because it just induces a body crash".

He was right. Back then there was not the science to validate that crashes (Nitric Oxide - Perioxynitrate overloads NO-ONOO) were detremental to ME/CFS sufferers.
The science is available now.

http://www.me-cfs.org.au/news/research/the-pacific-fatigue-lab/
http://aboutmecfs.org.violet.arvixe.com/News/PRJan09Pacific.aspx

Quoat"

Dr Nancy Klimas and her former team at Miller School of Medicine establishe a VO@Max based Heart Rate Monitor and journaled experiance based protocal.
Its the best there is for those who want to exercise because you measure your pre wake resting Heart Rate with the monitor thats worn 24 & except when uploading it to computer and your pre wake resting Heart Rate gives you the clews as to whether you can even to light exercise on that given day OR NOT.

With the Pacific Fatigue Lab doing a new exercise testing regime, two exercise tests two days in a row and other tests (now known as the Stevens Protocol) theyve given the post-exertional problems ME/CFS patients have reported for so many years a chance to show up and they have.

Their results are both profound and disturbing. About half of the ME/CFS patients theyve tested do, in fact, fail or significantly under perform in the first single exercise test they cannot generate normal amounts of energy even when theyre rested. Its the rest of the patients that are so intriguing, though. When you give these patients a second test a day later many of them will fail as well--and fail spectacularly.

End Quoat

Increased d-lactic Acid intestinal bacteria in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19567398

Access to the videos for VO2Max testing and the HRM based ME/CFS sufferer exercise protocals is via Dan Moricoli's web site's exerxise group or at;

http://vimeo.com/26783830

http://vimeo.com/27073084

http://vimeo.com/27191660

http://vimeo.com/27342879

With the kind assistance of Dr Klimas and Connie Sol, the physiologist on staff at the CFS Clinic in Miami, we have created a series of three videos on the testing, the consult and the implementation of the program.

It is very important for my patients to know how to approach exercise in a safe way. if they dont exercise, they will only get worse. In our clinic we use a scientific approach to exercise called V02 max testing and it measures accurately what your body is doing when it is exercising and the point at which it becomes unsafe to continue. The results of V02 max testing will tell you how long and how hard you can exercise, and then from this information we can develop an exercise protocol for you that is safe and effective." Dr. Nancy Klimas



The mission of The Exercise Group is to provide resources and guidance for those afflicted with ME/CFS to fully understand the importance of helping one's own body heal itself and the role that a safe and effective exercise program can play in that process.

The Exercise Group has been formed to provide resources and a discussion forum for those who wish to learn more. You are invited to join in the group, add resources, questions, comments or suggestions for others based upon your own experiences.



Paula and Dan, the moderators of the group, have under gone VO2 Max testing at the CFS Clinic in Miami under the direction of Dr Klimas and her staff. In the ensuing months we have conscientiously followed a carefully developed and individually designed exercise regimen program with significant results.

Like others who have done the testing and followed the protocol, our ME/CFS symptoms have been dramatically reduced. We are, therefore, encouraging others to review the protocol and decide for themselves if it can help them on their path towards wellness.

Please note, however: No quick results can be expected. It takes at least 90 days too set a reliable bench mark where you can trust the equipment and your perceptions and understanding before you see results and only then if the program is diligently pursued.

Many ME/CFS patients benefit from stretching followed by Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) techniques, because some how it tells the toxins in the muscles to be released and cleans out muscle toxicitity to a better degree.

Many ME/CFS sufferers benefit from light hydrotherapy, the water makes us gravity neurtral not Gravity = 1 as when we are standing on earth a sea level. Some how water decreases the Impaired cardiovascular response to standing that is Orthostatic Intollerance.

Impaired cardiovascular response to standing in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

http://www.co-cure.org/Hollingsworth.pdf

Loss of capacity to recover from acidosis on repeat exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome: a case-control study.

https://listserv.nodak.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind1201B&L=co-cure&P=R234

Co-Cure is a portal which documents all the relivant ME/CFS research and allied conditions.
The address below is the most recent 24 research papers when searched under the terms "exercise",

https://listserv.nodak.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?S2=CO-CURE&m=25572&I=-3&a=Jun+1986+&q=exercise&s=exercise

If any of the paper subject titles take your fancy just clich on the relavent item number.

hope something I've contributed helps.

Dr Sarah Myhill w and co were the first people in the world to develop a test to measure mitochondrial dysfunction.

Original Article
Chronic fatigue syndrome and mitochondrial dysfunction
Sarah Myhill1, Norman E. Booth2, John McLaren-Howard3

http://www.ijcem.com/files/IJCEM812001.pdf

Remember the word Mitochondria (I knoow what they are their types and where they are)
Then watch ;
Dr. Terry Wahls - Minding Your Mitochondria

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc

http://www.mindingmymitochondria.com/

http://www.terrywahls.com/

If you adopt the Paleo diet, in accordance with Dr. Terry Wahls protocal and adopt VO2Max testing and the HRM based ME/CFS sufferer exercise protocals developed by of Dr Klimas and Connie Sol, the physiologist on staff at the CFS Clinic in Miami, you may be able to exercise the way tou imagine you should be able too.

Cheers
Al,

Al, thank you for the detailed information. I haven't read the links you've provided, but for the first time, I have been able to understand some of the science beyond the exercise difficulties I've been experiencing for many years. I will try to read some of the reports you've included.

Well, I guess I spoke too soon earlier in this post. The day after I wrote I started feeling awful and am too weak to walk at all:(

That is interesting about the hydrotherapy. I have been thinking about getting a swim/spa. The only exercise I can do without much relapse is walk my dog to the park and back. Otherwise I crash...

I do Yoga, it seems to work for me.

I would love to find a yoga teacher who understands something about CFS/ME, because I feel like I need geriatric yoga. I tried Chi Gong at the local HS, but the teacher was really inexperienced, didn't change it up enough, & had us doing far too many reps of the same muscle areas. I wanted to try Chi Gong b/c it's supposed to be the foundation for many other Eastern practices, but I had problems limiting myself when I knew I should have even tho' the work was not strenuous.

I really like DR Nancy Klimas, she seems to "get" us & has from early on in the 90s. Her lab has put out some very good stuff, & I'll have to read her articles when my eyes are working better.

I agree that the floating aspect of swimming is very helpful EXCEPT that then I'll feel so good in the water that I'll overdo it. Like it feels so nice to be able to move for a change that I'm deluded into thinking I can do more. And then I pay.

Does anyone else notice that if they start to sweat that things go downhill more quickly?

Yes. I get fatigued after activity. I think 15 minutes is a good goal. I walk each day as my dog needs to walk.
and some days I can go for about a 20 minute walk, other days it's just a walk around the yard and that's it and I am wiped out.
I find if I do too much, I am done and out of action for a couple of days.

I think you just do what you can. Maybe try and add a couple minutes at a time.

I use a resistant band and do a few arm exercises while watching tv. I try and fit in exercise in my day some way and it's tough but it's important.

I used to have one friend who was Super Sports Woman, & she just could not understand my illness at all could not wrap her head around it. I tried to explain that when I was hurting from PEM that it felt like there was lactic acid flowing thru my veins instead of blood. OK, maybe I shuold have said my muscles. Still, nice to find out that there was some basis in reality in my comparison so many years ago.