Swimming with EDS

Did you know that exercise is good for you? What?!

Yes, exercise can help improve mood.

Yes, exercise can help reduce headaches.

Yes, exercise can help control IBS.

I’m aware of all that, and when strangers who know nothing about me or Ehlers-Danlos suggest exercise/yoga, it just pisses me off. If it was that easy to make myself go exercise, I would have way fewer problems in my life, and I likely wouldn’t be here, treating the internet like a diary.

I’ve been in a pretty big funk lately, and I once again acknowledge (over and over again to my dad) could be improved by more exercise. But that being said…

I have some good news – it only took two months, but I finally got myself into the pool! I’ve only gone once so far and I felt pretty out of shape, but it was an overall positive experience.

The idea of swimming never really excited me (unless you count lounging by the side of the pool with friends and a couple of red Solo cups). I’ve always loved playing volleyball, and making the change to swimming is not something I’ve been looking forward to. I played volleyball all throughout high school, and I used to play after work whenever I could. My knees would occasionally give out, and if I played really hard or for a long time, I could barely walk the next day because my knees and hips were in so much pain. Yet I still kept playing. Why? I think partially because there were still moments when it was fun, but I was also too embarrassed to stop playing just because it hurt to play. The “suck it up” mentality is real, and just as it suggests, it sucks! People acted like I was ridiculous or being overly dramatic by simply sitting out for a few games (don’t even get me started on when I stopped going altogether). They said y joints couldn’t possibly hurt like that in my 20s. Well, guess what, my joints CAN and DO hurt like that in my 20s.

Swimming was a completely different story than volleyball. I went for about half an hour and mostly stuck with breaststroke. My arms were a little sore, but that was it. And it was just the kind of soreness you feel when your muscles haven’t been used in a while. None of the usual aching and stabbing pain of inflamed/grinding/subluxed joints, where it feels like a knife is stabbing you any time you make the slightest movement. Only some mild muscle soreness – I’m still a little in disbelief. I do need to work on getting myself to the pool again, but it’s still a start that I even went once (small victories). The best part is, now I know that swimming doesn’t cause the pain I’ve associated with exercise.

I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but I’m proud of myself for making it to the pool, even if I took the long road. Baby steps add up!

Until next time, I give you the face that launched a thousand ships.

Xoxo

A

When you need to exercise, but depression stands in your way.

I literally have no suggestions, only exasperation. Exercise has been a HUGE struggle for me for a long time, especially the past few months.

Regular exercise is beneficial for depression, anxiety, migraines, IBS, chronic pain, joint strength, weight maintenance, etc. But my depression has been so bad lately, it’s difficult to even get out of bed in the morning. The only reason I get up most days is because I know my dog needs to go to the bathroom (although he just keeps sleeping until I finally get out of bed, which is not the most motivating of potential dog behaviors). So how can I also be expected to exercise???

When I got my Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) diagnosis, the doctor told me getting regular exercise is the single most important thing I need to do in order to keep my joints strong. When I brought up my depression as a roadblock, he didn’t have anything particularly helpful to say. Thanks doc!

When I lived in the DC area I played volleyball occasionally, but after I moved to Boston I didn’t have anywhere to play. My social anxiety makes it difficult to join new groups, so that’s a fun extra hurdle to jump that I couldn’t get over. It’s been almost a year since I got any real exercise that is not simply walking my dog, and that needs to change.

With the EDS diagnosis, I now know that volleyball is actually a pretty poor choice of exercise due to the high impact on my joints. It should have been a clue to stop playing when my knee kept giving out on the court, and when I always had trouble walking the next few days. Volleyball has been the only form of exercise I’ve really enjoyed, despite the pain. Exercising regularly feels even more overwhelming now, because it also involves finding a new form of exercise.

The most recommended exercise for EDS that I’ve come across is swimming, because it’s easy on the joints. I took swim lessons at the YMCA as a kid, and I was on the swim team in fifth grade (I was pretty terrible, but I got lots of participation ribbons like a good little millennial). So, I know how to swim, but swimming laps has never been something that I found to be particularly enjoyable.

What do you do when you’re told exercise will help your depression, but your depression prevents you from exercising?

I know real exercise would be beneficial for so many things in addition to my depression, but I still can’t get myself to start doing it. Once I start, I think momentum will help keep going, but getting started feels nearly impossible.

There’s an indoor community swimming pool that’s a five minute walk from my apartment, and a year-long membership is only $30. Hopefully posting this will make me feel some sort of accountability to finally go to the pool and get a membership. Once I have a membership I’ll likely feel more obligated to go since I’ll have paid, and guilt is (sometimes) a magical thing.

I often wish my dog was annoying in the morning, but it’s nice my roommate’s dog comes to hang out with us 😁

I still assert that if I ever won the lottery I would move to a farm and adopt all the greyhounds. Like a dalmatian plantation. But I also only played the lottery that time it recently went over $1 billion (and spoiler alert, I didn’t win), so it seems unlikely to happen.

Hopefully by my next post I’ll at least have gotten my pool membership. 🤞

Xoxo,

A