At least I know that I’m not the only one. Can’t tell you how many times my legs felt like cement and I would get chills, dizzy and even trying to walk back up the stairs felt like a marathon. I would beat myself up for not exercising and losing weight. Going for short walks and gardening definitely helps me out without feeling like I can’t move. I still have to take breaks and stop when my energy is feeling really drained.
Your story and tips are a large part of the reason I am doing so well. Because of your content, and other's like yours, I've managed to catch my condition early and within a year, put it into remission. I don't even feel like I have an autoimmune condition. I just want you to know how valuable what you do for other's is. And, I know it is a lot of work. I once did a podcast for about a year (about our connection to nature etc.), and couldn't stand how long each episode took to research, conduct interviews and edit. Ultimately, I didn't like how many hours I ended up in front of the computer, I ended up giving it up, even though people wanted it to continue. So I'm definitely not interested in tech stuff. But to know people out there are actually putting out useful and even life-changing content and information like you are, is a breath of fresh air. Thank you for what you do, Michele _/\_
Aw, thanks so much. I appreciate you saying this, and am so happy to hear you don't even feel like you have an autoimmune condition!!! That's my wish for everyone, and so glad it's happened for you 💕
This was one thing I’ve noticed in myself when I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. I became so fatigued and my muscle recovery was taking about a week so I knew something was off. That’s when I went to the doctor and had blood work done and found out it was hyperthyroidism. I still can’t workout like I used to and it makes me so sad that is now an adjustment because of my condition. Lifting was my therapy and now I have to not lift as heavy because I physically can’t.. 😢 Thank you for this video.
You're so welcome, and I'm sorry you have to go through this as well. It's so frustrating, isn't it? But for the most part I think you get used to it and learn to love new ways to working out. I honestly love what I do now (except for every so often when I just want to do what I used to - it doesn't completely go away but you get used to it).
I’ve actually always had this problem (at least as an adult) . Doctors never listened to me and would say I would have more energy if I worked out - an hour a day said one Dr. It makes me sick and I love exercise - Zumba - especially. This however kills me and I can do nothing else. I’ve been on AIP for a month but I know I have to take it slow. I really appreciate your story but it is so nice to not feel alone in this weird autoimmune space.
Oh man, I can see why a doctor would think working out more would help if it was only a case of you being out of shape but wow, it makes me sad to think of what that was probably doing to you. It's like best intentions gone wrong. Sorry you had to deal with that.
Readjustment(s). You need yourself in your corner. Listen to yourself and not others ( not compare ), at the same time you have to step back and also be (among other things) mother, cheerleader, and pollyanna. Because somethings will work, others won't ( for reasons, it seems, mere mortals are not to know why) Stand up for yourself. You are fighting for your health. Care about yourself.
This resonates so hard with me. I did body building all through my 20’s and when I got diagnosed with my AID, I felt actual *dread* at the thought of going to the gym. Thank you so much for making this video!
You are so welcome! Keep listening to that intuition of yours - the feeling of dread sounds like it was keeping you safe. Not everyone listens to that!
Seems like moderation is key, but accepting that is not easy, :/ specially for people like me, I was about to open a gym when I started feeling sick. How am I supposed to motivate people to workout if I am barely doing it myself? This hashimotto thing needs to be addressed more seriously, here in Brazil is the same story, you got to doctors just to hear: "just take levo" you'll b fine, or "what you're feeling must be something else". it is not! Okay? it is ruining many people's lives! ☹️
You are so right that accepting moderation is not easy! Sorry you had to give up on opening a gym - it's really not fair that this has to rob you of your dream 🙁
❤️ so glad I found this video. I was diagnosed with hashi 4 months ago. My doctor gives me no help with dealing with it “ the med is all we can do.” I know better and I have restricted my diet. I didn’t know that this disease came with exercise I tolerance. Now I know I’m not crazy or some weak minded baby. I also came to realize that I’ve probably had hashi for many years before finally being diagnosed. In my twenties I remember feeling exhausted after a very long walk or being at the gym. Thank you for this info. I’ve subscribed and I’m watching pt 2 now
Yes to all of that 😞 In my experience, rather than not doing things or having fun, like going on a hike with friends, plan the crash time. Even if you don't crash, at least you built in the buffer zone. Just don't go from one stressor to another, and by stressors, I mean doing what everyone else does. Laundry and house cleaning Saturday, a hike on Sunday, and back to work on Monday 😕 Long before I was diagnosed with Fibro, or hypothyroidism, I would angle for 4 day work weeks because I knew 5 days was too much and I would fall apart.
Such a great idea to plan the crash/recovery time if you really want to do something and to not keep jumping from thing to thing. Love that you do that!
Michelle, I guess I am glad to know that I am not the only one that this has happened to. I am turning 60 this month and it has been a long time since I have been able to work out consistently. I just bought a little thing that I can pedal while sitting in my comfy chair. I feel like if my body is moving but still comfortable its better than doing nothing! A way of tricking my body not to revolt???!! We will see. Thanks for this video.
I said it before, you’re a gem. Great information. I do exercise semi regular (at age 73 in addition to hands on operating a small remodeling business). So far no problem but it is great to be aware of this! My main goal is to stay in shape for skiing. My autoimmune disease is Celiac. I have some additional gut issues too that aren’t autoimmune.
I am so thankful for you making this video. Your right this is a subject that is so rarely talked about. I had my son in 2014 and wanted to get healthier and have more energy so I started working out again and started doing hiit workouts. It completely made me fall flat. I started seeing an integrative medicine doctor and found out I have hashimotos. And it has been such a rollercoaster ever since with just trying to figure out what foods I can and can’t eat. And what workouts I can and can’t do. I like you thought working out was doing any type of intense training and had a difficult time just walking or doing yoga 😂 now I know the importance of still moving my body while not over doing it. Thank you so much for making this video because I really felt crazy and have been to many different doctors to figure out the exercise intolerance issue. And I concluded on my own that obviously exercise is a type of stress and that’s what was causing it and then you made this video. So thank you because it just provides me with so much peace of mind to know I’m not alone ❤
I love that you came to this conclusion on your own! That's so smart and no, you are so NOT alone. I wish no one had to go through this, but at the same time, things like walking, yoga, qi gong, etc can be so beautiful and helpful in a different way. So it's just getting used to and accepting that that is the hardest part (in my opinion at least).
Thank you, Thank you for this!! I wish I could give you a huge hug right now!!! I have recently been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and on medication (and D3) I have been doing my best to eat better but sometimes I am exhausted just thinking about what to eat and many times I will only eat one meal a day and it's usually not very much or very good for me. My weight has become a real issue for me, I have never had a weight problem but I am over 200lbs. At the moment I am living in Germany and the sun rarely shines during the winter so I thought going for walks would help boost my mood...after coming back from my 30 min walk I find myself dragging. I was just talking to my husband and he suggested doing light stretching and wait for the warmer weather to do short walks if I feel up to it. This video explains a lot! I need to fight through the brain fog and fatigue,... make a grocery list, do the shopping and meal prep and start AIP! Thanks again! Madeline
Glad your husband is supportive of your energy! AIP can help with the weight too- many of the time weight is more of an inflammation issue, and as you quell the inflammation in your body you'll find the weight just "melts" off.
Thank you. It feels like nobody understands me. I didn't understand it myself at first. It's devastating, especially for those of us who want to achieve so much. You give your all, but this disease just stops you. Going through the decline process from being a successful athlete to not being able to do the training is tough. I remember in the beginning, I needed so much more time to recuperate just to get to the point where I didn't have the strength to get out of bed.
Michele, you’re an angel. I’ve been diagnosed with celiac. Thank you for these videos. You are helping thousands of people who are newly diagnosed. This is such a massive help for me starting out 💖 much love sent from Australia 🇦🇺 xoxoxox
Thank you so much! Just found your channel! I have Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Sjogrens Disease. I have had a severe sinus infection for 1.5 years! I have an immune deficiency of C3/C4 enzymes. So, no biologic meds for my AI Diseases. Since(off meds)they have been crazy out of control. (I have broken 2 foot bones and 1 ankle bone in 8 months( from just walking!!) exhausted! I’m doing “in bed” exercises, stationary bike, stretching. I have gained weight because I’m in complete menopause, taking prednisone tx, pain, migraine, and depression. My goal is to lose 30lbs. Thank you for getting the the word out about all these subjects!
Changed my diet and basically was just taking the stairs for my exercise but I recently learned about exercising in a sauna and while I still am afraid to get too intense for too long, it has been a game changing! I’m praying that it isn’t placebo and that this will give me the ability to be intense in my exercise without inducing my exercise intolerance. I’m hopeful. God bless
I’m steady gaining weight although I eat small portions of food due to already getting a gastric sleeve yet I have all of the 150 lbs that I lost right back. I was diagnosed with Cushing syndrome, delirium, etc and working out makes me extremely dizzy as I can’t move but so fast and my husband has to help me recover it usually takes 2/3 days to recover. Now I’m on a Walker and my body has deteriorated in what feels like seconds and this scares me, I don’t know what to do I’ve prayed but I need a concrete solution that would put a stop to this all together I wanna enjoy my marriage again.
Love this video! I came to this from the opposite end of the spectrum with a very low initial tolerance I've had to grow. I kissed the lower edge of morbid obesity, and decided that was no fun. I was able to lose the first 50 lbs. without exercise by eating clean and intermittent fasting, and helping my thyroid and mitochondria with red light therapy. Now I'm studying to become a CPT, as well as corrective exercise specialist and nutrition coach. My focus is on people who are exercise intolerant and/or struggle to form lasting habits, whether from chronic illness or a disintegrated nervous system and poor executive function. I want to share what I've found about using exercise as a tool to regulate and integrate, build an inner sense of strength and well-being, celebrate and ENJOY having a body! The reading is so fun, but I can see the mindset you're talking about. It's like they have all the scientific pieces to the puzzle, but not enough experience with what it really FEELS like on the other side, and too much skewed toward high performance and results. I'm excited to be able to fill some of that gap. Similar to what you do here! Thanks all your work and caring, Michele. Your perspective adds so much.
OMG, I LOVE that you're working towards helping people who are exercise intolerant or have any of those other conditions. That's so wonderful!! 💕 So needed in this world.
I have that experience too. Took me three years after my autoimmune diseases to move fr only able to do yoga exercises to some strength and hiits now. I m still exploring my limits and capability. Thanks the video, it is good to know I m not the only experiencing these
I can so relate to this. I used to be a long-distance cyclist and did several RAGBRAIs. I also did other workouts where if they were hard enough they weren't considered really working out in my mind. It's been challenging giving up the things I used to love so much in the exercise world and finding those right exercises for my body, like shorter walks, gentle stretching... most recently I've come across DNS (Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization), which is kind of like Feldenkrais, and my body seems to respond better to these so much better, but I still miss the harder workouts.
Yeah, it's the missing of the harder workouts that gets me. I actually am in a bit of a small flare right now because I missed the harder workouts too and just decided to do one last week. I know better, yet I did it - and am paying for it now. It's so hard mentally as I felt great doing it too! I need to check out DNS as I've heard quite a bit about it lately.
Thank you for sharing your experience with exercise and autoimmune diseases! I have also been on a journey of finding that balance of activity for myself. Your videos are so encouraging and validating to me! Your commentary on the attitudes of the fitness industry really resonated with me - “go hard or go home” and “no pain no gain” are such harmful attitudes for someone like me to adopt. I feel hopeful about the journey ahead 😊
Thank you so much for your videos! Thank you for sharing so much useful info. 4 months ago it turned out, I have Hashimoto. And since I am in Ukraine I was looking for any info in Ukrainian. It’s pity, but there is no channel on RU-vid as yours in my native language. I am lucky to know English and to be able to watch your priceless videos! I appreciate your content. Please, keep doing! ❤
I'm so glad I came upon your channel. You're so relatable and down to Earth. How you describe your experiences feel so familiar. This whole thing is frustrating and I haven't hot an official diagnosis. But I can attest to feeling better with strict diet changes. But a few years ago I started noticing that I couldn't go hard anymore. I used to not suffer from bad soreness after taking a break from working out. I had muscle memory and took pride that even my out of shape mode was better off than average folks. Now I may feel good and dance for an hour. But the next day feel hungover. I'm going have to stick to swimming for my work outs. I'm learning a lot from just watching two of your videos. I subbed for sure. I'm tired of the nausea and super mood swings. I am a mess and find it hard to do things I enjoy like swimming. I have to heal my body and I'm going to have be more strict. Avoiding gluten isn't enough I now see.
Oh my! I can SO relate the to muscle memory and feeling that my "out of shape" mode is better than most. That's where we have to really watch it though - I think I'm in a bit of a mini-flare right now because I just did a run on Sunday (which was what, 5 days ago?) and my ego took over - plus I really just wanted to RUN - and I did a few 8:30 miles. Not good. I mean, I could do them, right? And they felt good when I did it! But even though I had literally JUST recorded this video 2 days before, I didn't take my own advice and now am suffering for it. So it's a delicate balance of understanding what we're capable of on a physical level, and what that will do to us afterwards. Doesn't mean I'll stop trying because I'm a stubborn one, lol, but knowing I can't do that all the time and that there probably will be consequences if I do is helpful.
@@MicheleSpring Thank you for this response. Again you are so relatable. Recognizing that you exactly the opposite of what you just advised us, wow. We all have to battle this unknown territory. Our body tricks us into thinking it'll be different this time. And sometimes it is. You'll have those moments where you get away with very little consequence and think hey I can do this again. And then the next time you get a big reality check. Like whatever it is, having a drink working out, drinking coffee all week.
@@Mina-ok5qm It's like when we were younger and drank alcohol and woke up hung over and said "NEVER again" - yet the weekend after we did it... again. Our stubborn minds, right? 🤦♀
And yes, conventional meds that we're put on do not heal us. I did well with Prednisone but it has lots of side effects and can make things worse long term. Lifestyle changes and proper nutrition is most helpful to me.
So glad to hear you've found some help with lifestyle and nutrition. Conventional meds can be so helpful to some people, but it's good that there are these alternatives for those that it does not.
Thank you for this video. I am also mildly hypothyroid and taking 75mcg of levothyroxine everyday. I have been wondering what was wrong with me. Instead of getting stronger, fitter and more upbeat in general, I am only getting fatigued. I enjoy exercising and trying to better my earlier performance but it's backfiring to the point that I'm now only doing walking and yoga . It feels like a demotion or a failure but my body really can't keep up with my mind. So, I'll check out that other video which you recommend at the end. Thank you
Such a great video. Thank you Michelle for sharing all your wisdom. It means so much to hear personal stories; I think it helps all of us with Hashi's identify much more!
Great video Michele. Interesting. i finally 'crashed' hard out over 15 years ago now after I felt ill and had some symptoms then went on an overnight sea kayak trip and I crashed on the trip and I have never really recovered from it. Starting from scratch yet again, just trying to get functional around the house b4 I go try exercising . Its so tough. I used to go fo abig walk - slow - but quite far - then I realised it was just sucking all my energy for the whole day,
You're definitely not the only one! It is so easy to feel guilty when the media, etc tells us "you HAVE to work out" and make it sound like you're going to die if you don't, but if it causes too much stress it really can be harmful to do those really intense workouts like p90x.
I have RA and during doing the AIP diet I flared and couldn’t figure it out. The beginning of the week before I flared .. I was waking or doing some mild yoga at home every day and felt good until Thursday night when the beginning symptoms of the flare began.
It could be from exercise - or it could be something else too. That's the stupid annoying aspect of all of this - you never really can be 100% suer what causes a flare, unless you like, eat gluten and flare the next day. But the exercise stuff is so ambiguous. I find the more I do this the more I'm able to correlate exercise or stress or whatever with flares, but it takes time and patience to understand which one causes it. I think bottom line is though to ease off on anything while flaring and get plenty of rest and stress relief no matter what.
I have been taking pre workout for a long time probably from the age of 17 to 25 religiously, now I’m at the age where if I take a little pre and do my workout my body tenses up to the point where I feel like I might have a stroke. I’m 28 now and I’m starting to realize FUCK I fucked up somewhere. I’m a bodybuilder so now I’m battling wether to have to reduce my workouts to basically nothing without having these flare ups. It’s so scary and horrible.
I am just noticing some common background, maybe you can share please if the begging of your struggle have had some emotional traumatic experience ? Thank you 😊
This is me i used to walk 14 miles a day with my job and go gym too and i know i have ibs, and pains under my rib had my gallbladder remove but have the same problems. If i exercise i feel pale, weak breathless and get really moody and aggrivated and my hips hurt a little. The next morning especially i struggle to do anything and feel aggressive and down too. I dont know whats causing it my tsh and t4 thyroid hormones seem fine? Really stuck been going on for years and think im going to lose my job too because of it
I know of several people who have, so like everything, it's highly individual. One of my friends runs trail ultramarathons (like 100+ miles) and is fine. So definitely don't take this to mean you CAN'T do anything again, but that you should pay attention to how you feel so that this isn't one of the reasons you can't stop flaring..
My uveitis condition flare up, if I do hard exercises especially hot days in the afternoon. Doing moderate exercises( walking, tai chi) in the morning seems ok.
That's interesting about the hot days - I noticed when I was wearing a Continuous Glucose Monitor to monitor my blood sugar that it always spiked when it was hot (like if I sat in the sauna or out in the sun on a hot day), and I figured that meant I was stressing my body. So I wonder if the combo of the stress of the heat with the exercise is too much for you. Definitely a great thing to know!
