Intense exercise and strict diet seem to be key

[Hope4all]

Hello, Everyone!
I don't want to make anyone feel bad if they can't do this. It just has helped me so much that I wanted to share my experience in case it might help someone else. I increased my exercise to try to suppress my disease with a high level of fitness and changed my diet, and it has helped me gradually feel a lot less pain (almost none), sleep better (more time in deep and R.E.M. sleep, and less fatigue. Please check with your doctor first, but here's what I am up to:
I vary the exercise to avoid injury, but I exercise everyday.
I rotate like this, and plan to work swimming in when our pool opens back up.
Day 1: run 40 minutes, back and core and abdominal exercises, full body stretching
Day 2: bike 50 minutes, lift lower body weights, stretch full body
(Day 3: swim 30 minutes, lift upper body weights, stretch full body)
If you do not know how to lift weights, maybe you can take a class or try hydrolic weight machines with pictures and directions, or use home videos. I worked my way up gradually to avoid flaring, but it was so worth it!
I already could not eat eggs, milk, wheat and nuts due to allergies. I don't eat nitrates, food dye, preservatives, artificial sugar or flavoring, msg, etc. The biggest changes I made are a stricter headache diet, including a low tyramine diet. The low tyramine diet I follow is through the University of Wisconsin and can be found online.
I made gradual improvement, but now I have my life back, which I thought would never happen. I don't need Lyrica and I also quit taking several other medicines. It helps me not have anxiety and depression. If it is safe for you to try this, and please check with your doctor first, it is worth a try! If you are like me the suffering can be intense. I wish for you all to get well. Please let me know if this helps anyone else. If you aren't exercising much now, it could take a while to get to this point. If you can, consult an expert. The General rule is gradually increasing in Frequency, intensity and duration of exercise over many weeks or months. You are in my prayers. God bless!

 

[Northernelf]

I totally agree how exercise helps us so much - and yes, it does take some time to work up to the duration/intensity to which you are exercising. I am also very active - cycling, step, weights, walking, stretching - finding what works. Diet is crucial as well - get rid of the crap. We eat real food, unprocessed. I also can't eat dairy or wheat/gluten and a lot of additives bother me. I drink a lot of water, rely a bit too much on coffee, but pump the vegetables and grains.

However, I would not say I am pain free. My philosophy is that I am going to be in pain anyway so I might as well work on being healthy. I have definitely reduced my pain. I only take amitryptiline because sleep for me is important and it helps my peripheral neuropathy a bit.

Yin Yoga - has done wonders for me. I took some classes and found some on YouTube. I made myself a list of exercises, my routine, and have a gym timer on my phone - I do each stretch for 1-2 minutes, have 15 seconds on my time to transition to the next. My routine takes about 25 minutes and the movement, the stretching, the calm breathing - it all helps.

Movement, stretching, and diet are gold - so important, I think of them as survival tactics.