Me, Exercise, Dercums Disease & Fibromyalgia.

SpoonieLife

it's nearly a year now since my dreaded new normal occurred.  I found out it's my Dercums that is getting worse the pain is now spreading to bigger areas.

My fibromyalgia causes pain in muscles & ligaments. My Dercums causes pain in my fat layer that lives under my skin & also causes thickening of the skin. The two diseases are nearly identical for symptoms.

One year ago I became to ill to get off my bed for 5months. I have spent the last 7 slowly rebuilding my strength & learning what I can do again. I have gained 24lbs during this process as before I got really poorly I was managing most weeks to make the gym 3 Times weekly for an hour n a half session of strength training & fat burning.

All nice, slow, manageable, low impact exercise that toned my muscles & took my weight to it's lowest since before childbirth.  The regular release of endorphins & liking my reflection helped with the depression being a spoonie can bring.

I also got better mobility, range, motion, posture as my muscles strengthened & my weight decreased. I noticed that less weight meant less pain in hips, knees, ankles & feet.  I found that my digestive system worked better, that my ibs had halved in intensity. I no longer suffered with a bloated, distended stomach to the point laying in bed with oversized pjs on was the only comfortable option.

I suffered with less muscle spasms meaning I got a deeper quality of sleep as instead of having painful spasms when in a rested state I barely flinched. My breathing improved dramatically when I weighed less & moving around was a lot more effortless and very energy efficient. I find when I'm overweight I get out of breath easily & any energy I can muster is halved during movement.

I've been feeling really down about my weight gain as my pain levels have been going through the roof. My hips & knees are starting to grumble about carrying excess weight again. I'm not sleeping as well as I was & after seeing what I could achieve physically, no longer like what I see looking back.

I'm still unable to use the gym, just getting dressed to go there kills me. I can't just chuck a tracksuit on & walk out the door. I need a bath every morning due to the amount I sweat at night. So gym for me involves bath, dressed, gym, first half of exercises, whole dry gym outfit, second half of exercises.  Then home, collapse for 2hrs, bath again, pyjamas.

I can't hack that routine now but feel well enough to do some form of exercise so had a good think about what I can make work for me & the best thing I ever exercised on was a rowing machine. 

Lots of different resistances & levels to fit in with My spoonieness, also its a great all over body toner & fat burning workout. My lightbulb lit if I can't go to the gym I'm bring a part of it to me. I have ordered a rowing machine with a great seat for comfort also that can be easily stored.

Once it arrives I am going to do a weigh in with measurements & photos then update on my progress once a week. It's hard to exercise at a gym I am realising why others don't. Unfortunately being a spoonie means we expend such little energy that we' d have to practically starve to lose any weight which is why many of us gain weight so rapidly.

At least having a rowing machine at home means it won't matter if I'm all sweaty with panda eyes wearing only my pants & a t- shirt Il be able to exercise. It won't matter if my hair is brushed, the only thing that will matter is that unless I'm bedridden completely I WILL BE ABLE TO EXERCISE whenever I feel able and I've felt able for a while but only if I didn't have to put any energy into a trip to the gym.

Wish me luck & here goes the beginning of yet another journey of learning what I can & cannot do with the limitations & boundaries of my new normal.

xxx Georgie