What exercise has benefited you most? Is weightlifting bad for endometriosis?

[puzzleprincess]

As title suggests - I am interested in getting others experiences of what exercise routines have been best for their endo.

I used to be a bit of a gym rat, and loved to weight-lift. But over the last 6 months(ish) it’s been more difficult getting to the gym because of pelvic pain. I also started getting cramps FROM going to the gym, so that was also making things tricky.

I recently was diagnosed with deep infiltrating endometriosis, and have started the POP to hopefully stop my periods and get my pain under control. But, I find myself now worried about going anything that might aggravate it any further and have heard high intensity exercise is not great for endo. I also see conflicting information online as to whether weightlifting is bad or good.

Would appreciate anyones experiences or advice on what has helped!

[Heartof3]

Not really helpful but I can't do any exersise that puts pressure on my core, or it will cause a flare! Only walking for me.

Just start of slowly & listen to your body 💜

[Sabrinacolada]

Hi,

I also find what I used to do- weights, rowing any HIIT etc can cause cramping. Recommendations online imply low and moderate impact is fine but I was hoping to just gain back strength after being hospitalised.

I have only really been doing walking and yoga, some physio exercises recently ( nhs physio but gave a number to find a pelvic physio to self refer not seen her yet but there's an endometriosis uk pelvic pain physio programme couldn't find link but have a google).

I was having bad back and sciatic issues so not really done anything more intense at this stage unfortunately. I've been on the pop now 6 weeks and finally stopped bleeding and definitely feeling better so far over the past couple of days , hopefully the same for you. I tend to on a good day over do it and have a really bad day the next day. I read for chronic pain management it's better to do the same activity level daily then to fall into the pattern of intense exercise, flare up etc. It makes sense but it's hard on very painful days to want to even walk more then 10 minutes.

Would be interesting to know from other lovelies if any are back to weights? More intensive exercise, and any flare ups noted?

❤ sabrina x

[puzzleprincess in reply to Sabrinacolada]

Thanks for your reply! Interesting about the pelvic physio. I think I will try and pursue that if I am still getting pain with exercise when I get back to it x

[Teacher81]

Hi there, I find that yoga and Pilates helps me, gentle stretches and long walks. I have endo of the bowel and the exercises help me go, which is a relief!

I hope this helps.

[Stitchrunner1]

My daughter has endo and she is an Olympic Style weight lifter, She tackles quite a bit of weight (the aim is to lift more than your body weight over your head). So she is pretty hard core. For her the benefits are not just physical, it is friendship and activity. My daughter beats her endo by not giving in to it. Its just her way and not everyone uses the same method. So I say try it and see. If you don't like it , Quit.

[puzzleprincess in reply to Stitchrunner1]

Yeah I am kind of similar to your daughter. I was lifting very heavy weights before (not Olympic style) but could easily lift 2x my body weight and could do pull ups etc. It was my absolute favourite thing to do, so was amazing for my mental health. Unfortunately I’ve lost so much of my strength the last 6 months from hellish flare ups.

But yeah I think I will just give it a go again once I’m healed fully from the lap and see. If it just isn’t working for me anymore then il have to give it up!

Thanks x

[Stitchrunner1 in reply to puzzleprincess]

One thing you may consider if you have had a loss of energy, is to check out anaemia. If you have endo you can get very heavy periods and anaemia. It is often overlooked . I had it and it took a faint during exercise to make me realise I was ill not lazy. I realised that my daughter had it when she had numbness in her arm. I even caught it in my husband when he had a blood issue. It is something even doctors overlook. So you may not even realise it. It is silent and sneaky, it only obvious when you are flat on the floor. I get hellish pain from arthritis. I know it is not the same thing but one thing I can say from my experience is to take pain medication to the therapeutic dose and keep on taking it a little longer than you might expect to. Don't be tempted to take too much when it is very painful and then none at all. I found that I got a better outcome taking the top therapeutic dose when it was flaring but to take a low maintenance dose for a while after as it settled. I also learned the hard way not to push too hard all at once. Work very slowly. I mean very slowly, below what you expect to be able to do. So if you used to lifting a x2 your body weight start out with just half a bag of sugar and build it ounce by ounce over weeks. That way you are always gaining. It sounds stupid but the slower and more gentle you go the better you will progress. I found this out the hard way and my daughter did too after she had Covid. I don't want to patronise you, I just don't want you to fail. And I know I rushed and failed and so did my daughter.

[puzzleprincess in reply to Stitchrunner1]

Thanks for your reply! No not patronising, I do agree. I think we all probably get caught up in rushing to try to do the things we used to do, but it just isn’t achievable sometimes. I’m definitely going to start off small and build slowly