Exercise - power through the pain?

Hi!

 

I haven't been active on this site, I've been much more of a lurker for a while. I'm 13 months off a 1 month taper of .75mg K after 6 years of use. I was feeling pretty good, with most days at 80-90% healed. I've started exercising again - it definitely revs up symptoms and brings back ones I no longer have. It's not super intense, but definitely makes my day to day less enjoyable. Does this rev-ing up go away with more exercise & time? Should I power thru my 20 minutes of cardio? Or should I stop? I used to be so active and am struggling being sedentary for so long. I was walking a few miles a day, but it's not enough. Before all of this, I used to be at the gym constantly. Anyone go thru this too that has some advice?

I've seen so many posts talking about exercise, those who describe what you do, that it revs them up so they have to avoid it and others who power through it claiming it helps them feel better. 

 

Here is a post that might be helpful for you, there are also some folks in the Support Groups area of the forum who discuss the benefits they receive from weightlifting.

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=232036.0

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=244420.0

Build it up really slowly and take a break when the aches, pains and any other symptoms get too much.

 

I definitely have to push on through fatigue and some little niggles and I accept a certain degree of revving up my symptoms. But I feel like I know when to stop by now. I don't do anything intense though. I play table tennis sometimes in short bursts, which is fairly energetic. Most of my exercise is long walks. 2 hours is about right. Occasionally I will test myself with something different. Yesterday I was on my feet all day just about which I haven't done in a long time. I played snooker, which is not exactly intense but still active and we were playing for about 6 hours of the day. It took it out of me. Today I have been dehydrated all day despite drinking lots of fluids. I feel a bit spaced out and my tinnitus spiked. I ache all over but it's nothing major, just weary. I learned something about myself and I think I'll be alright in a couple of days.

 

I'm not personally planning on doing anything intense regularly any time soon but it depends where you're at in your journey for what is best for you. I'm happy just to try and build my strength up gradually with these challenges thrown in every now and then. I learned from yesterday that I need to exercise my core muscles so I'll get on with a light workout there. If it makes you feel ill I wouldn't do it but if it just revs you up temporarily and then predictably goes away, I would go for it. 

I agree about building up very slowly.

 

If I were you I would find a happy medium between the walking that doesn't feel like enough and what sounds like pushing yourself too hard. 

 

I've personally found that if I push too hard, like you, I pay for it with a wave of symptoms.  I try to be careful to only push myself too hard.  I also try to keep a good balance of moderate cardio, strength training (with bands in my case) and stretching.

 

It's not like it used to be - and that's frustrating- but it's important to accept that this is just the way it has to be as we heal.

 

Take care

 

 

I had always been physically active before benzos and withdrawal often playing tennis 4-5 times a week as well as other activities and sports. Once off and past acute I did start cycling. This was a good activity for me both mentally and physically. I did start slow and worked up the miles as time progressed

 

I admit that I overdid it more then once, and did pay for it.  However, being outdoors in nature was very therapeutic for me, kind of an outdoor meditation.

 

pianogirl 

What I did, was start off with 5 minutes of cardio.  Not very satisfying, but it's something.  Then I would add in more minutes, trying to get to my 30-35 minutes normal workout. I will tell you that I definitely experienced setbacks, even when I felt fine while exercising, and later realized that I had just done too much.  Honestly, it was very hard for me to gauge when I was overdoing it, for a while.  As time went on, I became better and better at being aware of my body's signs, and if I feel ill, I do rest and do not power through it, as the setback is me feeling too sick to exercise for days, even weeks, which totally negates the great effects of the exercise. 

It probably isn't advisable to push yourself too much. You can contact member Nov3. He got thrown back into "withdrawal" after pushing too hard.