Exercise recovery times

[awilso]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone else suffered from long recovery times after exercise. It takes about 3 days for me to feel normal when I have undertaken some exercise. I also have to sleep on average 10 hours (on cpap) a night. My o2 sats are usually low 90’s without my preventer and about 96% when used. When I exercise I can get dizzy so I know that my o2 levels drop.

Just wanted to see if anyone else had the same sort of problems. When I talk about exercise in this regard I am talking about walking up a small hill (maybe 2-3 miles).

[Wheezycat]

A bit. I have been known to get that when I have just been out walking at normal pace. Not quite the same feelings but pretty similar.

[awilso in reply to Wheezycat]

Thanks, that’s reassuring

[MELNEL]

Yes definitely. Special in those times like now. I often struggle to do my exercise but I know I have to keep going as my stamina us already very down because of covid19. I been more active before and now I hardly leave the house at all, back to shielding anyway. It's quite devastating....but I wish everyone to stay safe and warm 🍀🍀🍀

[Springtimeholly]

I’ve noticed this my whole life (I’m 40, and diagnosed with asthma at 5 years old). The difference for me in the last 5 years is it takes less and less exercise for me to need that 3 day recovery period. Used to be a strenuous hike would do it. Now a leisurely bike ride will.

[awilso in reply to Springtimeholly]

I’m glad it’s not just me - I honestly thought something was going wrong. Thank you for sharing 🙏🏻

[Mezitonka]

If you can walk up a two-mile incline you are doing pretty well, especially if you haven't been doing it for long. The 02 stat looks reasonably good. Maybe you should reduce the intensity of the training for a while, say two months to get used to it (maybe X 5 weekly), then build it up progressively. Depends on how old you are and the degree of lung impairment.

[awilso in reply to Mezitonka]

Thank you. It’s true practice helps, but the fitness is lost so quickly when I stop for a while. (The lesson is clear: don’t stop!)

[twinkly29]

It's a difficult one in one sense as it will vary hugely across individuals, for all sorts of reasons not just asthma. So some might say oh well I can only walk 1 mile so you're fine. But that's them and what you can do is probably only relevant relative to you and your usual or previous best.

For me, it would be hugely less and often, especially after an exacerbation....but the effect would be similar in that it's like I've done too much and my body needs to recover. But it's more of a whole body thing not, for example, dizziness itself.

Dizziness can be a sign of other things - for example of breathing pattern issues, which would maybe be the cause at that point and would fit with having been exerting yourself. These issues are very common in people with long-term respiratory conditions, not appearing all the time necessarily but perhaps moreso when exerting oneself? This link is respiratory physio recommended and is various breathing exercises which might be worth a try - it starts off with more basic ones but once you've worked through those it moves on to using them when active - maybe worth a go at home and then trying them when you feel dizzy during your walk to see if it helps improve things? Or even in the few days afterwards maybe.

lifeguidehealth.org/player/...

Odd question about your sats and preventer - do you mean if you have periods of time without using your preventer your sats are generally lower or literally each day before using your preventer they are this low?

[awilso in reply to twinkly29]

Thank you for all your advice, I will have a look at breathing exercises.

Yes my O2 stats can drop between uses. It’s not normal a problem until I have to do exercise. But I sometimes check O2 before and after using the preventer out of interest and find that generally there is a reduction during the day. It’s to be expected really as the steroids wear off.