Exercise, Nutrition, WLS & Cooking Q&A - 10/9/2013

If you have questions about Exercise, Nutrition, WLS, or Cooking I am here to find you an answer. Office Open!

Hello Keith, 

I was just trying to find some exercise answers before logging on to OH this morning.   Did you read my mind???

I am in my 3rd week post op (down 26 lbs) .   Surgeon said to go ahead and ease into some activity.   My biggest hurdle with the exercise is my Narcolepsy/Cataplexy (one of the reasons I have done the surgery).  My guess is if I lose more I can do more and then lose even more.   

Here is the definition of Cataplexy from Wikipedia:

Cataplexy manifests itself as muscular weakness which may range from a barely perceptible slackening of the facial muscles to the dropping of the jaw or head, weakness at the knees, trembling of mesenteric muscles, rictus, dysarthria, may drop objects held in hands or a total collapse. Usually the speech is slurred, vision is impaired (double vision, inability to focus), but hearing and awareness remain normal. The person will lie there, fully conscious, for a few seconds to several minutes. As the attack continues the patient may experience sleepiness, hallucinations, or sleep-onset REM period. A full-blown attack may occur and results in complete muscle paralysis with postural collapse and possible injury. However, most often patients with postural collapse have the capability to avoid injury because the fall is slow and progressive. ^] Cataplexy is different from narcoleptic sleep attack because it is usually precipitated by strong emotional reactions or by sudden physical effort, especially if the person is caught off guard.^[6]

These attacks are triggered by strong emotions such as exhilaration, anger, fear, surprise, ******, awe, embarrassment, and laughter. An effort to catch a suddenly thrown object can trigger a cataplectic attack.

Cataplexy can cause serious social and parenting challenges because cataplexy can occur when one is attempting to discipline their child or during sexual activity.

So as you can see I have a few obstacles to overcome.   The physical effort is the part that makes exercising difficult.   I almost feel like just when the heart starts pumping (which could be within a minute or two) that is when an attack can come on. 

I want to exercise, but I guess starting out "slow" is a must for me.  Any suggestions on some "easy does it" exercising that I can get started on and work up to more "blood pumping" ones as the weight comes off???

Wow! That is certainly a challenge. Ok so you are still early enough out that really the only thing you should be doing is walking. It is the best thing for fat burn and from the sounds of your condition probably the safest exercise for you to do right now. Given your situation you could do a stationary bike as well. I would make my routine more interesting by spending half my time on a bike and half on a treadmill. Make sure to attach the kill switch on the treadmill in case you have an episode.

Once you hit 6 to 8 weeks out if you want to incorporate some dumbbell exercises there are plenty of seated exercises that would probably be relatively safe for you assuming you can feel an episode coming on and you can safely set the weights down.

That sounds like a good plan to me.  I have heard yoga is good.  Is that more for balance and stretching?  Or can that be a good thing to try to work on too?

That's actually a great idea. For whatever reason I tend to shy away from Yoga as the exercise answer because I think people are looking for the run/lift/sweat approach, but I think for you and many people on here Yoga is a fantastic answer. I think shy away from it too because I do not practice it (yet) but I plan to very soon.