How To Exercise If You Have Chronic Fatigue

• Exercise Tips|
• What is ME/CFS?|
• Causes|
• CFS Treatment|
• Research|

Managing chronic fatigue syndrome with clinician and researcher Dr. Nancy Klimas.

Subscribe for future episodes

• 
• 
• 

Download this Episode (right click link and ‘Save As’)

Exercise Tips for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Physical activity can be very difficult for people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Even a small walk to the bathroom or the mailbox can leave them completely exhausted and bedridden, let alone 30 minutes of exercise.

Dr. Klimas explained that chronic fatigue patients have an extremely low aerobic threshold, and understanding this is key to creating an exercise regime that doesn’t leave them with a chronic fatigue flare up. “They’re much better doing short, but frequent exercise than to try to go longer on endurance.”

Key Exercise Tips:

• Do short bouts of exercise with adequate rest in between to allow the heart rate to return to your baseline.
• Keep heart rate within 30 beats per minute of your resting heart rate.
• Let the patient be the guide.
• Keep a log to track progress and understand flares.

She said, “You have to find this gentle way of moving them along and doing little short bits that they can tolerate. And then they’ll become more and more confident when they don’t crash, that they can do a little more…”

What is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

According to Dr. Klimas, Myalgic Encephalitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is an immune-inflammatory condition. It’s diagnosed by:

• chronic fatigue symptoms for 6 months or more
• post-exertional fatigue or relapse
• autonomic nervous system dysfunction, such as postural orthostatic tachycardia or sudden blood pressure changes
• physical or cognitive difficulties with symptom flares

Symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome affect approximately 2-3 people in 100, while the related illness, Gulf War Syndrome, affects 1 in 3 people who served in the Gulf War.

Though many people experience fatigue, Dr. Klimas says the defining experience of ME/CFS is that “You can’t rest your way out of this illness… if you take a vacation for two weeks and you’re much, much better, you don’t have this illness.”

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Causes and Risks

Chronic fatigue syndrome is often associated with viral illnesses, such as Epstein Barr virus, coxsackie virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV) or human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6). But Dr. Klimas said, “it can also happen after any neurological illness, like Lyme…or you were really exposed to pesticides, like farmers or pesticide workers.”

There also appear to be genetic reasons for chronic fatigue. Dr. Klimas noted, “the detoxification pathways are part of the issue of who’s more vulnerable. It partly has to do with how well you can clear and deal with toxins… and then women… have a much more vigorous inflammatory cascade that is triggered more quickly, and they’re more prone to chronic inflammatory illnesses.”

Sponsored Resources

Hi everyone. I want to thank Doctor’s Data who helped to make this podcast possible and who I’m very excited to say has now released a profile called the GI 360 which is finally a validated microbiota mapping measure.

If you remember back, I’ve discussed numerous times the only lab that is really validating a mapping of the microbiota to have clinical significance is the GA map out of Norway. Well, turns out that Doctor’s Data is not only using the same methodology but also in collaboration with this group in Norway using their parameters to adjust what we call normal, abnormal or dysbiotic and normal. So great news, we finally have a validated measure.

Now this test also offers, in addition to the microbiota dysbiosis index, a PCR assessment for bacteria, virus and pathogens, a comprehensive microscopy for a parasite, a MALDI-TOF bacteria and yeast culture. And as you would imagine, because of the rigorous validation they’ve gone through, they also have approval from the CE, which is equivalent to the European FDA.
So great test, please check them out. Doctor’s Data is offering 50% off a practitioner’s first GI 360 test kit. Go to doctorsdata.com/Ruscio to claim your first kit, limit one per provider. The offer ends October 31st, 2020.

---

Chronic Fatigue Treatment & Medication

Dr. Klimas said “There’s no better doctor for an ME/CFS patient or a Gulf War patient than an integrative medicine or functional medicine doctor, because they’re willing to see the big picture.” She noted 3 main areas to focus on for treatment.

Oxidative Stress

“If you don’t fix [oxidative stress], nothing else is going to get fixed… Remember, the brain is the key to this whole illness. It’s great to fix the body, but if you don’t fix the brain, that’s what’s driving most of this illness.”

The key chronic fatigue natural remedies Dr. Klimas uses for oxidative stress are antioxidants:

• N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC)
• Curcumin
• Intranasal Liposomal Glutathione

Inflammation

“Inflammation is driving most of the suffering having to do with this illness. You can’t really tease apart oxidative stress and inflammation because they’re feeding each other… A lot of the protocols that we’re doing are focused on interrupting the whole inflammatory cascade…”

The key treatments Dr. Klimas uses for inflammation are anti-inflammatory supplements:

• Curcurmin
• Mega 3
• Fish Oil

Improve Cell Function

“The third piece is making the function of the cells work… Nutraceutical approaches can be somewhat helpful here… getting the viruses under control helps quiet immune activation.”

Key treatments Dr. Klimas uses to support cellular function include:

• Antivirals such as Immunovir (isoprinosine), or herbals like quercetin, monolaurin, or reishi mushrooms.
• Mitochondria support, such as PQQ, CoQ10 (ubiquinol), NAC, and alpha lipoic acid (ALA).
• Ensure patients have adequate salt and electrolyte intake.

Researching a Cure for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Dr. Klimas’s team has recently been researching new treatment regimes for CFS and Gulf War Illness that might be able to “reboot their system back to its normal homeostatic balance.” The project is moving into human clinical trials once COVID-19 eases up. If successful, this would be a huge win for ME/CFS patients.