Both are important, but I know exactly what you say about feeling better with the exercise. It has been proven that exercise is essential for us. If we do not exercise, we will get weaker that much faster over time. A MG'er that cannot exercise is in a much worse position than a MG'er that cannot. Some people must rest just to have any strength.

It is important to exercise to reduce muscle loss over time without MG. Although evetyone needs sleep, I would say in some aspects, exercise is more important to us.

Good luck!

TJ

I asked the same question when I first started losing weight and realized much of it was muscle. The answers were unclear.

This is what I think: If your antibodies are under control (maybe with immune suppressants), then light exercise make sense.

I am currently on IVIG and perhaps the Prednisone is working. Either way, I don't need the Mestinon right now. I asked a doctor today if I can start weight lifting (light - maybe just 5 lbs) to build the strength back up. She said it was OK, but only after rested - either a nap or sleep.

If I were on Mestinon only, then personally I am not sure it was a good idea.

After 4 years since dx. I am starting to figure this out. It seems. for me it all depends on what's going on at that moment. If my mg is flaring, than rest is essential, along with a call or e-mail to my neuro. In the spring, my main symptom was fatigue, which can also be a symptom of other things ( for me, depression) I started swimming 3 times a week and taking walks. After a few weeks, I felt so much better. This lasted until the beginning of summer, when mg started acting up. I just finished a round of ivig after an exacerbation and I will slowly start taking walks again.
You just had major surgery. You are still recovering and will be for months. Your body needs lots of rest right now. Check with your neuro and surgeon about exercising.

Good luck to you!

Judith

My doctor said exercise could not increase the production of antibodies but that I should only exercise to a degree that required a few hours of recovery time. I was pushing myself to where it could take a day or days to recover. My observation about MG is that what is true for the population of all people is truer for our subset. If drinking too much gives people hangovers, it gives us really big hangovers. The list is endless for the bad things but is probably inexhaustible for the good things too. Eating a healthy diet can seemingly improve our experience of life more than it can a healthy person's. I believe this is true for exercise, but a person has to be healthy enough to exercise and, sadly for me, exercise within current abilities as defined by degree of illness. To get healthier one always has to push and feel it a little, but a little is different for us. I hate that (marathoner's editorial).

I have noticed from the beginning that exercising makes me feel better. Of course, I am physically incapable of very strenuous exercise most of the time, and when I was very weak I really couldn't move around. But from the time I was diagnosed, I (and my friends) noticed that my symptoms improved if we were walking around, but got worse if we were sitting still (even if we just were walking to a restaurant where we sat for two hours and then walked home, there was an obvious difference). On the days when I've been able to go running, my bulbar and ocular symptoms improve for several hours afterwards. There have been a couple of times that overexerting myself has been followed by a day of feeling terrible, as I know many people on here have experienced also, but generally when I exercise, I feel better for the next day or two. Maybe I don't push myself too hard when I exercise? I used to be a marathoner too, and even though I guess my instinct is to push myself, I also am really good at reading how I'm feeling and recognizing all the incremental steps between not enough and too much. I work as a photographer and graphic designer, and on the days when I'm sitting in front of the computer all day, I feel worse and am very tired. But the days when I'm standing up, shooting product, I feel much better. In general. (I work in a studio so I'm not carrying around my very heavy photo equipment.) And, of course, then there are those days when I just feel terrible and don't know why. :)

I was hospitalized three times for a week each time last year, and each time, I was noticeably lighter (of muscle) when I was released. And I've found that it's much harder to gain muscle strength with MG than it was a normal person, maybe because my muscles aren't contracting as much or as hard. So I would think that if you can prevent yourself from losing muscle tone in the first place, you'd be better off and better able to deal with everything. But! Of course be careful when exercising. Go for walks, always bring your phone, walk with a friend, stay out of the heat; and always make sure to stop if you feel you're doing too much. I'm not recommending that everyone will feel better if they go out and run a couple of laps right now. I became a distance runner about 18 years ago, so I already am firmly (chemically and psychologically) addicted to exercise, and was in good shape when I was diagnosed. My doc said, to walk as much as I can, and I could run when my MG is stable.

I agree with what Elinor says about things that effect normal people affecting us more obviously; and I think that staying mentally stimulated is really important for our overall health, or even just to help us forget that we could be feeling terrible. So that might be part of why busier days feel better for you (just like how I become limp when I'm doing boring, predicable photo retouching for hours without a change of scenery).

Sorry if this is long, but it's one of my favorite topics. :)
(Also, Thanks, Elinor, I've been wondering if exercise would increase anti-body production.)

My neuro recently told me the same thing Elinora's doc said - exercise will not exacerbate MG. He told me I must do thirty minutes of weight-bearing exercise per day, and if I am too weak to do that do 15 minutes in the morning and 15 in the afternoon. I've been running for months and improving by leaps and bounds compared to when I started. Even when I'm weak, I feel better after a run, and I'm finding it easier to do other things as I get stronger. If your MG is stable, exercise can be very helpful in improving quality of life.

I pushed myself too hard, but I am glad I did. I am learning that a lot of my symptoms from disease X overlap with MG. Who knows? Maybe the actual MG was more controlled than I thought. In any case, keeping strong for that next health problem down the line, if there is one (or more), may be the reason to make the extra effort. It is harder to commit to exercise with MG.

SO HARD FOR ME TO EXERCISE,,,,I RECENTLY HAD TO STOP WORKING (MY LAST DAY WAS THIS LAST FRIDAY) MY DR, TOLD ME I WAS DONE, FOR ME AT TIMES.. JUST WALKING ABOUT 50 FEET AT TIMES GOT ME SO EXHAUSTED, OF COURSE MY JOB WAS LABOROUS AT TIMES AND REQUIRED WALKING UP AND DOWN A LOT OF STEPS,,,(OIL AND GAS BUSINESS) JUST HALF WAY UP THE 20 STEPS I WOULD BE SO FATIGUED, SO I WOULD SAT DOWN AND REST ABOUT 5 MINUTES,,,THEN FINISH UP TO THE TOP,,,,I WOULD LOVE TO EXERCISE,,,BUT THE BENEFIT WOULD NOT OUTWAY THE RISK FOR ME,,,,WHEN I TRIED TO EXERCISE I PAID FOR DAYS AT TIME.....MG IS VERY BAD NOW,,,I THINK MY NEXT STEP WILL BE THE IVIG,,CALLING NEURO MONDAY,,,,WISH YOU GUYS ALL THE BEST
TERRY

Terry, exercise for you might be stretching and light weights for 5 minutes. Or walking 25 yards. It has to be adjusted to the degree of weakness. Hug.

It seems to me that *if you are strong enough to exercise, exercising has a definite long-term benefit, and while resting can help you regain some strength in the short term if you're weak, resting doesn't offer a long-term benefit in the outcome of the disease.

Terry, it sounds like you're really struggling! I hope you do get IVIG.

I reread the original question again:

Is rest more important than exercise?

For me rest is more important. I am trying to keep my heart rhythm in line. But now that my symptoms are in control, I will lift light 5 pound weights.

A nap after eight hours of awake time is still more important - at least for me.

I agree. I think strength gains from regular exercise will help us when we are at our weakest. I'm not sure about antibody production; I'll have to ask the neuro. Angie, do you mind asking someone you work with if you're able? Perhaps for some a couple short periods of exercise would be better than one long session.

Dr Peter Karachunski is the MG specialist who told me that exercise will NOT increase antibody production. In recovery, your body has to rebuild and replenish all the things it used. This is true for everyone. Obviously, if your antibodies were low to begin with, your rest requirement will be different to get those AchR's back up to the highest level they can be. I think I read once that we get down to 80% before we experience symptoms so we are all operating at a serious deficit, meaning that when we are not well rest will obviously be critical, whereas exercise will not. I am not sure that placing those two at odds in terms of priority is something we want to do. Nutrition, exercise, and recovery are critical to health of athletes, regular people, and Myasthenics. If we do not exercise when we are healthy enough to do so, our overall health and strength will be diminished because of muscle and bone loss and overweight, just to name a few. I am guilty of overdoing it, but all three of my neuro's have told me to exercise.

Awesome. Thanks!

Though I am going to ask him how he knows this, or if it is an assumption!