Exercise ptsd

[Carpman]

Hi I’ve just started yoga the last two weeks, I also train regular at gym doing weights, and I cycle quite a bit, I did do a lot of running but found next morning I would feel too alert/on edge, has anyone else experienced this at all, I’m also looking at outdoor wild swimming, I’ve just been put back on sertraline after horrendous desperate feelings last couple of weeks, I just think bit of exercise might help get me through, many thanks

 

[Gs172003]

Hi I’ve just started yoga the last two weeks, I also train regular at gym doing weights, and I cycle quite a bit, I did do a lot of running but found next morning I would feel too alert/on edge, has anyone else experienced this at all, I’m also looking at outdoor wild swimming, I’ve just been put back on sertraline after horrendous desperate feelings last couple of weeks, I just think bit of exercise might help get me through, many thanks

I'm not sure what you are asking.

 

[Carpman]

Sorry was a mixed bag, basically do some people feel worse/ more alert after cardio, normally myself the next day.

 

[Kubash16]

I wouldn’t think it would have anything to do with ptsd unless there’s a trigger in there somewhere. Usually feeling bad after working out is either you’re training too hard or your dehydrated.

 

[Gs172003]

Sorry was a mixed bag, basically do some people feel worse/ more alert after cardio, normally myself the next day.

I normally feel better.

 

[Sideways]

I always (like...always) feel better after cardio unless I’ve physically overdone it.

Yoga on the other hand? Was a bit of a minefield for a long time. There’s a lot of focus on being present in your body, which can be really confronting, and bring up a whole bag of emotions. I stick with gentle forms of yoga, and have worked with a trauma-informed yoga instructor to make yoga work for me. Combined with a bit of “this is uncomfortable, but actually therapeutic”, because it definitely has been therapeutic in a lot of respects for me - it just took a while to get there.

 

[Gs172003]

I always (like...always) feel better after cardio unless I’ve physically overdone it.

Yoga on the other hand? Was a bit of a minefield for a long time. There’s a lot of focus on being present in your body, which can be really confronting, and bring up a whole bag of emotions. I stick with gentle forms of yoga, and have worked with a trauma-informed yoga instructor to make yoga work for me. Combined with a bit of “this is uncomfortable, but actually therapeutic”, because it definitely has been therapeutic in a lot of respects for me - it just took a while to get there.

I'm the same way. I have been avoiding yoga for a long time and that's probably why :/ but everything else helps me.

 

[Kubash16]

I love yoga, weirdly the gentler one is a little harder for me because of such an intense focus on breathing and nothing else. Something my therapist suggested was to forget about focusing on the breathing like everyone else. Focus on your muscles and imagining your blood flow. It’s been helping me work on being more present and paying attention to my body without having the almost panic attack feeling. Maybe that could work for y’all?

 

[Sideways]

@Kubash16 - I always find yoga conversations fascinating. The breathing in yoga is one of the reasons I stuck with it so long. It’s been crazy helpful with managing my anxiety!!

 

[EveHarrington]

Yoga is pushed by many as the latest, greatest form of exercise that is a cure for everything.

It’s not.

There are many of us out there who can’t tolerate this form of exercise, and I’m one of them.

Five minutes of yoga gets me so agitated that I want to go run five miles.

Suffice to say, I don’t do yoga.

 

[Gs172003]

Yoga is pushed by many as the latest, greatest form of exercise that is a cure for everything.

It’s not.

There are many of us out there who can’t tolerate this form of exercise, and I’m one of them.

Five minutes of yoga gets me so agitated that I want to go run five miles.

Suffice to say, I don’t do yoga.

I like power yoga. I can't do slow yoga At. all.

 

[Friday]

Exercise is hands down the single most useful thing for me in managing my stress cup... (( The ptsd cup explanation <<< if you haven’t read this, yet.))

Daily
- the daily bleeding of stress before it can build up

PRN
- quick venting of stressors / blowing off steam as things come up
- burning off fight/flight chemicals in my bloodstream after I’ve been flooded with them

That said?

- If my anxiety is running hot I have to be very careful not to over-do it, venturing into self-harm territory AND I have to be careful what type of exercise I’m doing,.. because things I love normally can simply be too much.

- Certain types of exercise and I don’t get on. Either normally, or just when my anxiety is up.

***
So that’s me. I’ve read other people having issues with exercise stimulating their fight/flight response, especially when it’s newish to them & their only real experience with their heart pounding in their chest is in fear & pain. Increased Heart Rate? Clearly this is a life or death situation!!! (No, brain. No. It isn’t.) Those I’ve known who have worked through it have done so by treating it like a trigger... coming at it slowly, so that their body can learn that not all boom bada boom is BIG BAD boom bada boom. Some, in point of fact, is just plain fun.

However... since you just started a new med? I’d think that’s likely to be playing a part in this. To oversimplify... it may be lifting you up out of the depression, then when you lift yourself up the added boost from the meds is pushing you to the next level. IE Anxiety. I may not be, but it’s something to keep in mind as a possibility. Talk with your doc about it. Meds that do that (lift a person up a level, regardless of what level they’re at... low to neutral, or neutral to anxious) are pretty notorious for doing so.