Neurologist explains why he quit powerlifting after learning of its life-wrecking effects

Daily Mail ^ | 2 February 2024 | Caitlyn Tilley

[Bob434]

I don’t have a lot of stamina- it takes very little to wear me down physically- there is a condition or many I guess that include as a,symptom “exercise intolerance” where doing even simple things like walking any distance painful, and which wears the person down as though they have a flu- and which takes days to heal from, again like having the flu and needing several days to get strength back to the everyday level heat they are used to

hard to explain- but I guess the best ex0lanation I heard was that it is like the person wakes up in the morning with their battery only 1/4 charged (while,normal,folks get a 100% recharge by morning), and they quickly run out of reserves so that by noon or so, they are exhausted and need to “recharge”- just to make,it through till bedtime again.

It causes a burning muscle weakness like,as though the person built up lactic acid too much- the same kind of burn in the muscles as when a person pushes their workout too far. It happens almost immediately and won’t stop until resting. Oddly, isometrics doesn’t cause the issue right away, so I can do some before it gets too painful. Something like walking causes muscles to tighten and not release until I stop to rest and let the burning pain subside so,I can continue.

Anyway, not sure what is going on, bu5 have been dealing with it for a long time docs suggest chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, etc, but I’m thinking it’s more 8n th3 line of a breakdown in how,the mitochondria work (the body’s energy plant/cells)- maybe a mitochondrial dysfunction of some kind, but i just dont know. Whatever it is it struck in my early 30’s and steadily got worse over time-

[Zuriel]

‘legacy machinery’

Lol, I can relate.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

It blew my heart mitral valve in 1990. I ended up with open heart surgery. Now on high doses of Warfarin as a result, but still alive and in good shape otherwise, just not the body of Charles Atlas all men wished for back then.

[Sirius Lee]

Same with swimming.

Swimming is awesome! Don’t get a lot in during the cold months, but as soon as the ice is off the lake I’m out there in the Zcco crossing the lake. Still, strength training is key overall. Recommend moderation and slight immoderatation.

Once you hit 50 it’s no longer “no pain, no gain”, but “pain, how much am I losing”.

[Western Phil]

Running is not bad as long as you do not overdo it

I probably overdid it. I ran competitively - mile in high school - mile, 2 mile & cross country in college, country roads & road racing in 30s - on. Six or seven marathons in mid life (second childhood). Not much reduction in mileage latter on.

Never had any running related injuries. Did intervals and non interval days did the long runs at 6 minute pace for much of the completive years. Now 84 and am having heart issues.

[Western Phil]

All your work seems to be square bales. I did mostly round alfalfa which could be adjusted from about 60 - 80 lbs. I used a bale hook to wrestle the bales onto the hayrack until I saw an relatively small old guy use a short handled pitch fork to throw the bale onto the rack. I quickly got strong enough to do the same my bale hook for loading and avoid the poking injurers from the alfalfa stems.

While I was a grad student at Nebraska I worked for the Ag engineering department. One of the Profs had a variable density bailer from John Deere. He was doing a study to determine if cattle would eat mouldy hay. All the student employees of the department volunteered to help put up his hay. He had bales from some that were tied loose enough that they hardly held together when handled to some that were almost too heavy to lift. The hay was freshly cut alfalfa with as much moisture as possible. Never saw the results of the study, but did hear that they were surprised at how mouldy the hay could be and the cattle still ate it. I was betting on a hay stack fire - apparently that did not happen.

[EEGator]

I’m sorry to hear that. I’m not well versed in training people with medical issues aside from blood sugar and BP issues.

I had just finished rereading a Biology textbook last month.
Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
It generates the ATP (adenosine triphosphate) used in muscular contractions.
I haven’t looked too in depth, but I know some use NAD+, CoQ10, PQQ, and fish oil for supplementing mitochondrial health.
Healthy fats, proper sleep, and meditation are also supposed to help.
I’m not sure if there are legit scientific studies on the above.

Have you had your blood work done recently?
Have you tried changing up your nutrition?

[Bob434]

Yes- i get regular bloodwork due to followup with medical conditions- everything fairly normal- which is good,. but frustrating in a way because the energy issue isn’t showing up in tests- neurological electrical tests, which i hope i never have to go through again-

for nutrition- I’ve been through the gamut- tried everything from high protein diets to vegetarian, to enteral nutrition diet where i had nothing but formula for 6 months, trying to give condition a rest- spent many $1000’s on vitamins, amino acids, proteins, energy formulas, herbs, I’ve drank the nastiest concoctions imaginable- even smoked some stuff that was supposed to help with energy and lung issues- The only thing that did any slight help was -

been a long road to travel- expensive too- but learned a lot along the way- just need to find something that can help now- but maybe it’sw not possible- and just have to learn to live with it- not ready to give up tryign though-

[EEGator]

Interesting. I wish you well, and I wish I had something useful to tell you.

Let me know if you find some silver bullet.
I like knowing odd/helpful factoids.

[MinorityRepublican]

Perhaps you have an autoimmune disease. There are a lot of biologics available to treat that.

[Bob434]

I do but it is in remission- with only minor signs of activity in the past- no current news signs- i talked to my doc about the new drugs, but because there is no ‘active disease’ he can’t issue them evidently-

I was on autoimmune drugs- a few different kinds in the past when there was activity- and wow did they mess me up- kept gettign boils, lung infections- skin problems etc- and it didn’t do anything to help with the exhaustion/burning pain issue in muscles- i haven’t tried the newer biologics though-

I think my next course of action will have to be to go to a rheumatologist to see if they can discover what is going on (I’ve been tested for Lyme’s disease, and other tick bourne diseases- a few times- nothing showed up-)

got a couple of things going on- kidneys almost stage 4 disease- emphysema and COPD- (both pretty mild), and asthma which all just add to the exhaustion- the kidneys i know play a big part in how one feels- however- the weakness started before i stated having kidney failure -later when the kidney issues started, I used to be a ‘Stoner’ ie someone who passes lots of stones- passed 60 stones a year average for a few years until i figured out salt was causing the issue- so that really did a number on the kidneys too— so- i can’t really tie the weakness issue to the kidney issue-

[Bob434]

[[I like knowing odd/helpful factoids]]

Thanks- and yep- me too- my whole profile page is full of factoids- especially about climate change lies, illegal alien stats- and a number of things-