Has anyone lost a lot of physical strength? How long did it take to regain?

[music321]

I would say on the physical side - I walked a few hundred metres one day, quarter mile the next, half mile the next - just kept ramping it up. I did not stop if there was pain, i kept on. (if you are used to being in pain 24/7 anyway...why not?!) Yes - my muscles were weak - but it does not take too long to get them back. Weeks, maybe months. It is being consistent and keeping on - keeping on, that is what works.

This speaks to my experience. I'm assuming that this took place after curing TMS. There was a time when I was vitamin D deficient, and physical gains came very slowly, if at all. Once the deficiency was corrected, I started gaining strength. However, my gains were very slow in coming. It took several years to get to a low/moderate level of functioning.

Last year, I was able to walk several hundred yards at a time. After pushing myself, I'd reach a point where I simply could NOT walk any more after a few days. It wasn't a question of willpower or pain. My muscles were simply drained. I'd have to sit around/lie around for a solid day or two, doing virtually nothing, until my body recovered enough strength to push forward. My strength was doubling every four weeks or so, but this translates into an extremely long time when you start out only being able to climb the stairs five times per day, for instance. This means that after three months, I'd be able to climb the stairs 20x/day. Yeah, this is a great improvement relative to 5x/day, but pretty lousy when compared to how a functional adult should be living.

I never knew if this was a normal rate of progression or not. It sounds like it's very slow relative to the recovery of those that don't have/got over TMS. To hear that you went from several hundred yards to half a mile in a few days is astounding. If I were to try this (and I can not walk anywhere near several hundred yards) I would need days to recover. I guess this is just an effect of the TMS.

Thanks.

 

[hecate105]

Another thing to get checked out is your thyroid... I was tested and it was 'in the ballpark' so nothing was done. But when i had heart palpitations and other odd symptoms a new doctor decided to retest me. Apparently you can test as 'in the range' but he started me on a small dose and I felt better and had more energy, still tested 'in range'... so he kept upping the dose until I was 'central in range' and thats what ive been on ever since - (except i realised soy was affecting the thyroxine uptake, gave it up and was able to go down from 150 to 125 mcg!)
It is important because your body can 'shield' the reading - so you may need thyroxine even when tests say not...Also - it makes a massive difference to the energy you have available...
The way i explain it - it felt like i was running on really cheap old batteries that ran out about mid morning, then i just 'existed' until after the next night's non-restoritive sleep. After getting thyroxine, I gradually felt like better, newer batteries were being used each day, I could just do a bit more, did not get that awful, 'punch to the gut' feeling, I could just potter about a bit more. Eventually it was like i was on duracell, best strength batteries, I had energy and with it, enthusiasm, I could attempt more. But I still had the 'so called fibro' - I still was in agony every time i tried to walk, tried to tidy up, go shopping or any activity....(I still tried - i am very stubborn!) It took understanding of the bodymind /tms connection to overcome all the pain.
Before - i said i would do anything to get rid of the pain - i could deal with the fatigue - but after thyroxine, i realised that getting rid of the fatigue was far more important, I needed the energy to cope far better with the pain.... if that makes sense?

 

[music321]

Makes sense. Thanks.