As I am grappling with this new diagnosis of COPD, I am hearing all of the self care essentials - no smoking at all, diet, exercise, weight management.
I have a chronic illness (myalgic encephalomyitis) that is worsened with cardio exercise. Any kind of exertion that gets my heart rate elevated past a certain point will result in me being bed bound. This is not a “push through it” situation. For me, small mobility exercise is what I can do, and even then only on some days of the week. I’m forced to be sedentary.
This is disheartening because obviously exercise is important for all, but I’m hearing it’s vital for those with COPD. I am really worried that my lack of ability to do cardio exercise is going to be a significant factor in worsening my COPD prognosis.
I have heard of pulmonary therapy but my pulmonologist didn’t mention it to me yet. Yes I also need to lose a lot of weigh - but even with a large decrease in daily caloric intake (which I am working on with some success), I probably cannot lose much weight unless I consider something aggressive like weight loss surgery.
Does anyone have advice? Am I double-doomed because of my physical limitations?
Feelin’ hopeless.