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medical

The gym is my friend

Wow, going to the gym really makes a big difference for me. One thing that my diagnosis does for me is that it explains how exercise doesn’t have the same effect on me as everyone else. everyone always says, “I love working out, I feel so energized afterwards.” I felt like crap, like my soul is leaking out of me. Exercising really take it out of me, I don’t feel like doing much of anything for an hour or two afterwards. I might even fall asleep.

So it’s tempting for me to not go, it really is. Here’s the problem, when I don’t go, I pay the price. I have found out that if I don’t go for a couple of days, I get real stiff, the spasticity in my legs is pretty bad. Still no pain, but wow, they lock up good. If I go to the gym, I’m much looser. Of course, that first day back is pretty rough. Stretching doesn’t seem to help all that much, but the activity does.

I’d like to say that I’ve found this out with a controlled scientific approach, but I can’t. It’s mostly about how lazy I get. But it truly is pay now or pay later. I hope I can maintain this through the heat of summer because people with MS typically don’t do well with the heat. AC and an exercise bike are all I need to stay on course, and I suppose a little reminder from my legs once in a while would help too.

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