could I have a mito ds?

February 4, 2004

Hi. I'm a healthy 36 year old female who decided to take up

jogging 1 1/2 years ago. I had been physically active before

starting by going to the gym 3x week and using an eliptical trainer.

My friend, a real exercise nut, convinced me to try to run a 5K. I

worked hard at it, and somehow was able to complete two runs (I use

that term lightly), April, and May 2003.

I know the following symptoms may seem mild, but they concern

me. While training, I was plagued by breathlessness, and fatigue.

I would seem to hit a wall at 1.75miles, and I'm jogging slow, about

12min/mile. Now I struggle to do 2 miles, and stop because my legs

feel like they are weak and can't go any further.I have not been able

to improve past this point, and each time it's the same feeling. I

also did two 20 mile bike rides last summer, and hit a wall at the

same point both times. I was literally so weak that I could barely

keep the bicycle moving. After one of these, I got a severe cramping

and stiffness in the upper inner thigh area.

At first I thought it was asthma, but no wheezing. Then I

thought it could be my heart, but echocardiagram was normal. I saw a

neurologist and the basics were ok, ie. resting CK and Lactate. We

both hesitate to take the workup further because it can be long

painful and fruitless. It's so frustrating to work hard and get

nowhere, plus I am a little concerned that this could be the

beginning of a chronic illness. Has anyone else had these symptoms

at the beginning of their illness??

February 4, 2004

Welcome to the group. I was mildly symptomatic as a child, so have never

been an exercise person, although I was able to do lots more than now. There

are some on the list that seem to more in the same boat as you.

The fatigue, cramping and breathlessness can be a part of mito, but also

other things. My suggestion is to research in addition to getting info from

here.

laurie

>

> Reply-To:

> Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 17:10:53 -0000

> To:

> Subject: could I have a mito ds?

>

> Hi. I'm a healthy 36 year old female who decided to take up

> jogging 1 1/2 years ago. I had been physically active before

> starting by going to the gym 3x week and using an eliptical trainer.

> My friend, a real exercise nut, convinced me to try to run a 5K. I

> worked hard at it, and somehow was able to complete two runs (I use

> that term lightly), April, and May 2003.

> I know the following symptoms may seem mild, but they concern

> me. While training, I was plagued by breathlessness, and fatigue.

> I would seem to hit a wall at 1.75miles, and I'm jogging slow, about

> 12min/mile. Now I struggle to do 2 miles, and stop because my legs

> feel like they are weak and can't go any further.I have not been able

> to improve past this point, and each time it's the same feeling. I

> also did two 20 mile bike rides last summer, and hit a wall at the

> same point both times. I was literally so weak that I could barely

> keep the bicycle moving. After one of these, I got a severe cramping

> and stiffness in the upper inner thigh area.

> At first I thought it was asthma, but no wheezing. Then I

> thought it could be my heart, but echocardiagram was normal. I saw a

> neurologist and the basics were ok, ie. resting CK and Lactate. We

> both hesitate to take the workup further because it can be long

> painful and fruitless. It's so frustrating to work hard and get

> nowhere, plus I am a little concerned that this could be the

> beginning of a chronic illness. Has anyone else had these symptoms

> at the beginning of their illness??

>

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>

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>

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

February 5, 2004

Hi there, I'm an exercise junkie with mito. I too had symptoms

throughout childhood that were milder than today. Pure

Mitochondrial disease (meaning not as the result of another illness)

is very rare. It's unlikely, but not impossible that you have it.

As Laurie mentioned, there are other conditions that should be

considered and many other basic workups that I'd consider before

persuing mito.

A few that come to mind would be thyroid disease, diabetes, diet

related nutritional deficits, dehydration, sleep apnea and certainly

you could be just exceeding your aerobic capabilities. I know you

feel like 3 times a week is adequate exercise, but whenever I

trained for races etc... I always ran 5-6 days per week and

gradually increased the distances until I was comfortable at the

distance I'd be racing. Generally, doctors are now recommending

exercise 5 days per week, 30 minutes per day in order to maintain

aerobic benefit. You can also be using diferent muscles when riding

a bike than you would be running or on the elyptical machine. If

you aren't stretching and properly warming up and cooling down you

can increase the lactic acid and do muscle damage as well.

Dehydration is common too. I would expect that on days you exercise

you should probably be drinking at least 10 x 8oz glasses of water

per day. Remember that any caffiene or sugar can deplete your

hydration as well. Gator Aid or a similar drink can also supplement

much needed electrolytes.

If nutritionally you feel that you are doing the right things than

keep persuing docs to investigate. An Internal Medicine doc is a

good place to start. They tend to look at the larger picture and

can make recommendations/referrals regarding additional

specialists. Whether you have Mitochondrial disease or not, it

won't be persued until all of the more common illnesses can be ruled

out. Unfortunately, that's just the way the system works so be

persistent !

Best of luck,

bug

February 5, 2004

-Dear Saphire, I hate to say it to you, but my neuro muscular disease began like

that, with the accompanyment of gastroparesis. (I

don't have a definite mito diagnosis) I used to be very physically active,

swimming several miles a week, walking miles everyday but

gradually I was less and less able to cover the distances, got more tired, and

took longer to recover, had muscle discomfort for a long

time after the activities. I have always tried to push myself to do phsydical

activities, but I have to admit they are at an abysmal level

now. I think you need to extablish a balance at each level of functioning

between getting some exercise, which is good, versus

overdoing it which is bad. (and of course it's hard to detirmine the limit),

Celia-

- In , " sapphire72210 " <sapphire72210@y...> wrote: