Has endo stopped you exercising?!

[lou840]

Hi,

I was diagnosed a few weeks ago with stage 4 endo of the bowel via a lap and awaiting the results from an mri to see how deep it is before they can tell me what surgery they can do. Its been almost 2 years now since i had to stop regular exercising due to the pain. I use to gym 4- 5 days a week, horse ride, yoga, jog and go out hiking all of which i started to struggle with as i would get pain in my hip, leg and groin and would get tired very easily (initially diagnosed as being hypermobile and then a possible tear to the hip before endo). Many people have suggested swimming but i just dont enjoy swimming and I really miss the buzz from exercise along with the health benefits.

Has anyone else with endo been in similar situations where they can no longer enjoy exercising and sport? And once the endo was treated were you able to exercise again?

[BlueTit98]

Hey, yes when you're endo is particularly flared up it can be really painful to exercise and I think the fatigue must come from your body dealing with having the endo and you going through the pain. My surgeon explained that some exercise can really help- swimming, yoga, walks but other exercise involving high impact and heavy weight can make it worse. Have you looked at your diet too? That makes a significant difference for lots of people x

[lou840 in reply to BlueTit98]

Hi, thanks for the reply, unfortuntely i cant do yoga and walks anymore My diet is good thanks and seems inline with what i have read about endo and diet, also managed to narrow down the main culprits which helped reduce the pain a small amount with the bowel issues. x

[AnnaMae]

The problem with endo is that it can form large cysts that can impact circulation and nerve sensitivity. Fatigue has always been a problem with me too, till I had a blood test which confirmed that I was low on iron. First things first, I got on supplements for a week and noticed improvements. Then, I stopped running in the evenings and always had my run before 8 am. Before running, I had about 250mls of water. Too much water can affect electrolyte balance and weaken/exhaust you more. After my run I have about 500ml water and have breakfast within 30 minutes. A cold bath and ice compresses have significantly cut down on muscle pains.

I think that if you have had your endo removed, the hip/groin pain should subside. Give it a few more days and take a run 😉 at it.

[lou840 in reply to AnnaMae]

Thanks and sorry to hear it affected your running too, were the supplements just for iron? My tests didnt show low iron, vit D etc, one doc told me my fatigue was because i was unfit! Yes i agree i do think nerve sensitivity definitely plays a part as i had a steroid hip injection earlier in the year which did help with some pain and it doesnt keep me awake all night as much. I really do hope once its removed i can jog or even go for proper walks again, i think i will definetly take your advice of ice compresses afterwards. x

[Tinkerbell16]

I had to stop exercising a few months ago due to pain of endo and swelling getting worse after exercising. I am now awaiting a hysterectomy and hope to resume exercise after I've recovered. I am also very tired all the time and in pain which is very frustrating as I used to go to the gym 4/5 days a week. I wish you well x

[lou840 in reply to Tinkerbell16]

Thanks for replying, sorry to hear you have been suffering too. I know for me its the frustration of not being able to gym to relieve the stress of all this sends me crazy, I miss feeling fit and healthy. I hope all goes well with your hysterectomy x

[luthien]

hey, see my most recent post, it'll be long, but there is a bit on exercise!

Before my laps to remove endo I couldn't do much exercise because everything hurt and I was always bloated, plus my confidence was rock bottom. After my laps, and giving myself time to recover, plus really listening to my body; I've done more of my polefitness, yoga, core strength and gymnastics rings. I love the exercise! It's like a new me, even though I still have some endo symptoms and they're just around my period I feel so much better doing these exercises over the normal gym stuff that I've tried before. They are all over body workouts and something about the stretching / targeting specific muscle groups seems to help the period pain and bloating.

I think it's about finding the right type of exercise that helps; look up / google "polefitness and endometriosis" theres a few posts by Emma Reed. The article "Endometriosis: Looking in from the Outside – Emma Reed" is what got me into trying out polefitness and realising that actually exercise does help endo symptoms!

Hope this helps in some way xx

[lou840 in reply to luthien]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes it's given me something to think about would love to do polefitness if it gets better as i was signing up to do it years ago before these pains kicked in, good to hear that it works for you and that you are loving it! I think as alot of my bits are stuck together with this endo I'm not sure how it affects stretching as i think thats why i had to stop yoga as even gentle stretching was painful. x

[luthien in reply to lou840]

ah no, perhaps see what the results say and then decide what you want to do regarding treatment; if you have endo removed it'll sort out the sticking together bits (I had that too) and so will help with the pain.

polefitness is awesome! see if there's an intro class you could try out, go along, have a chat with them, try it, and see how it feels