Day 3 and counting

The last time I went to the gym must have been over 6 months ago. And even that was a single visit after many weeks of not working out. I went, convinced that I would feel better if I could just move my body and begin to get the blood flowing again. Climbing up on the elliptical trainer, I was encouraged and hopeful convinced that, after the first few minutes, I’d begin to feel the benefit. I’m afraid just the opposite occurred. I could only endure the pain for 10 minutes before realizing that this level of exercise was now beyond my capacity to sustain. I haven’t been back since. And yet, I still keep my gym membership active, knowing that I’ll somehow be free again one day.

 

It's often better to start with an easier program to build up confidence. When you try to do too much too fast, it increases your anxiety, and hence pain. Try starting with whatever you can do without too much worry, even if it's just a minute or two, and increase gradually.

 

I get that you have fear about the activity causing pain (again). As David suggests, taking very small incremental steps may be the right approach. When I started walking without pain, I just added a very little each time, for about a month. Starting with maybe 100 ft, and adding from there. Soon I was climbing mountains, literally!

 

Thanks Andy!

 

Thank you, David!

 

Hi, Slundius. I'm wondering how you're doing since your post on June 9. Have you been back to the gym and if so how did that go?

If not, I agree that you should get back into gym exercise slowly.

You wrote after Day 3 in the SEP. Have you been journaling to discover why you have TMS pain?