Exercise and me - how it helps me live with a life-long condition

In the next in our series of monthly guest bloggers, I bring you Nat. I have known Nat for a couple of years now. I met her through running. I have the pleasure of classing Nat as a true, close friend. Below Natalie tells us how she uses exercise to help her manage her Chronic Fatigue. Below are her words... I have always really enjoyed sports and exercise and it forms a big part of my life. I make it part of my daily routine and it means that I feel good and stay healthy.

At the age of 16, I was diagnosed with glandular fever and it really hit me hard, I was unable to walk a flight of stairs without needing a lie down! I did recover, although I always felt that I was never 100% right, I became tired a lot easier than I used to and my limbs would ache, as if I had done a mammoth weight training session the day before! Because of this, I stopped exercising and became a lot less active. I also struggled to sleep on a night, which was really frustrating as I was so tired, yet unable to get the sleep that my body required to refresh itself.

Two years later and after several tests at the doctors, I was finally diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (M.E) and referred for cognitive behavior therapy. The specialist went through various strategies that would help me to feel more energised and hopefully sleep better. One of the things she suggested was light exercise and gradually building it up. I decided to go along with my friend to a spinning class at the gym. The first session absolutely killed me, I could barely keep up with the rest of the class and I felt shocking afterwards. That saying, I really enjoyed it and I was determined to stick at it! I would say it took about 6 months for my body to be able to keep up and get used to the class - It was the best thing I ever did.

Gradually my energy levels returned, the muscle pains were much less frequent and I was even sleeping 8 hours a night – bliss!

Since then, I have exercise 3 or 4 times per week and even manage to work full time as a primary school teacher – something at one stage I was unsure that I would be able to do. Last year, I joined a local running club with my friend from work and I have since got back into running again. It was at the running club where I met Mike, who has not only become a good friend, but has also given me treatment when my muscles have been inflamed and offered excellent advice on stretches that will help prevent future injuries and muscle fatigue.

Exercise definitely played a big part in my recovery and I have also spoken to other sufferers of M.E who have found the same. I find that if I don’t exercise, I feel less energised, the muscle pains come back and I don’t sleep as well so I really try to keep my body in a regular routine. I really hope that this can inspire other sufferers of M.E to take up some form of exercise that they enjoy and hopefully see similar improvements to what I did.