READ THE NEWS ON ONE CLICK
http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk
1. Japanese Researchers Announce ME/CFS Graded Exercise Harm.
Lourdes Salvador writes in the American Chronicle: "Researchers in Japan noted that patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) report substantial symptom worsening after exercise and took an interest in the specific time course of the worsening. There was no cognitive or psychological benefit to the exercise, yet patients became more fatigued and suffered physical decline." Links to the recent activities of the CDC and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on this issue are republished.
*Note that exercise is beneficial for those with fibromyalgia only.
And this longer version from Dr. John Greensmith:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=36333
Most people with chronic illnesses, such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), and multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS), have been offered well meaning advice, such as joining a club, getting some exercise, and getting out more. These infuriating, but well meaning, suggestions often
leave the chronically ill individual feeling misunderstood. After all, would it be appropriate to tell an paraplegic to have fun by going dancing? Of course not!
Well meaning friends often believe that chronic illness is psychological and victims just need to get out and have fun. Or, they may believe that the victim would not be tired if they got in shape. Or worse, they think the illness is affecting the chronically ill person at a psychological level and believe that to be the reason why the ill person does want to go out more
often. In reality, those with chronic illness are quite adept at pacing themselves to avoid exhaustion. What friends fail to realize is that exertion is exertion, regardless of work or play. Now science has stepped in to provide evidence of this.
Researchers in Japan noted that patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) report substantial symptom worsening after exercise and took an interest in the specific time course of the worsening. They investigated the influence of exercise on the subjective symptoms and cognitive function of 9 female CFS patients and compared them with 9 healthy women. An exercise test was conducted and monitoring of vital signs, cognitive function, and psychological status was performed from one week prior to exercise until two weeks after exercise.
Physical symptoms in the CFS patients did get worse on the fifth day. However cognitive and psychological status remained constant. There was no cognitive or psychological benefit to the exercise, yet patients became more fatigued and suffered physical decline.
Regardless of pleasure or pain, exertion is exertion. Pleasurable exertion holds the same fatiguing capability for the chronically ill as unpleasurable exertion. And there are no psychological benefits to boot. The next time we recommend to a CFS patient to get out more, have fun, and exercise, it might be best to think twice and opt for a quiet home movie that won't make the
person sicker and more discouraged instead.
Reference
Yoshiuchi K, Cook DB, Ohashi K, Kumano H, Kuboki T, Yamamoto Y, Natelson BH.
A real-time assessment of the effect of exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome. Physiol Behav. 2007 Jul 24.
Copyrighted (c) 2007 Lourdes Salvador
* * *
Doctors LOVE to blame CFS on "deconditioning", and flat-out refuse to listen when the patient reports having been in excellent shape with a daily exercise routine. Some CFS patients were Olympic-calibre athletes when they got sick; how much more conditioned could they have been? Yet, just like the rest of us, 24 hours later, they were too sick to get out of bed.
It doesn't matter if I'm dancing (which I love) or exerting myself to do housework. The end result is the same -- my symptoms get worse.
3 comments:
So, after pointing out to the (new) doc that I can walk for hours if it's slow, but as soon as I get the heart moving, I "crash," he's sending me for a stress test. This should be fun; I just hope someone catches me! *wry* I'm curious if that's something you ever had done, and how you handled it?
The new doc is...interesting. I think I'm confusing him (he's a random internist in my plan), because I'm perfetlly aware of all the things I should do for myself (watch my diet, mild excercise within my limits, etc), and I tell him a bunch of symptoms that he's not sure what they add up to, but I'm not panicking over them. Of course, that's because I've had plenty of time to get used to them, so they're not a panic. THey're frustrating, but they're something I deal with, you know?
And btw, don't those losers in your comments have anything better to do? I've never understood the attitude of harassing someone you don't agree with. I've got better things to do, personally (like, oh, stitch!). Just remember the old usenet adage, "Don't feed the trolls."
Hey Allura! My treadmill test was wild. As Cheney points out, CFS effectively puts a governor on the heart so it won't overdo and fail. I was gasping for breath in seconds, but I was on the verge of collapse and we still couldn't get the heart rate up to the target range, so the doc was totally befuddled. (Obviously he hadn't read the Cheney article I sent him.)
When I got home, I reported this to one of my experts, who pointed out that #1, this is exactly what should've happened; #2, no CFS patient should EVER be put on a treadmill because it can cause permanent damage.
MarcD has asthma so bad that they can't put him on a treadmill without killing him, so he also reamed me out afterward that I should've just gotten off the treadmill and told them to do it the way he has his done -- they can inject something that produces the faster heart rate while you sit in a chair not risking an asthma attack. I had actually asked for that but because the doc hadn't read the article, he thought I just didn't want to exercise and gave me the usual BS to "just try".
Next time I'll bring a legal release for the doc to sign "I agree that if this CFS patient suffers permanent damage from being forced to get on the treadmill, I will pay a lot of money as penance for not reading the article she mailed me two weeks ago."
"And btw, don't those losers in your comments have anything better to do? I've never understood the attitude of harassing someone you don't agree with. I've got better things to do, personally (like, oh, stitch!). Just remember the old usenet adage, "Don't feed the trolls."
Yeah, you're right. Brian gave me that lecture, too, this afternoon. He reminds me that I talked myself blue in the face to my former doctors and couldn't get them to open their minds enough to let some new research data in, so I already know it's a waste of time to try to convince someone to think outside the box instead of clinging to their preconceptions.
They're young, they're arrogant, they think because they're medical students they know everything about everything.
And then they run into one of us patients who knows everything about one thing, and refuses to be cowed into backing down just because I'm being bullied by someone who thinks they know more than I do. Well, they'll get out into practice, and they'll run into a lot more long-term patients who act just like me, thinking it's our job to educate our doctors so that they do right by us.
Post a Comment