UCPPS - Prostatitis, Interstitial Cystitis Forum

Any thoughts on this? I was a regular runner until I came down with CPPS/IC.

But since then I've pretty much gave that up. I noticed that high impact actitivities like running and dancing at clubs made it worse on occasion.

I am feeling better than I was though, and working out though is SOOOO critical to good health, so it's time to start back.

Any thoughts about walking on the treadmill maybe 30 minutes( low impact activity) and working out with weights a few times a week?

I think in my case that it's at least partially a muscular condition from sitting in front of the computer 60+hours a week (being a web designer and internet addict), so I would think working out lightlycould be great for CPPS/IC.

I do have an appointment next week with Kansas City's IC specialist, so maybe I should talk with him first.

Thoughts?

IMO light walking is OK, if you don't start feeling worse. I had CFS with the CPPS, so for the first few years any activity left me exhausted and breathless (quite frightening). Now I walk daily.

what about lifting weights?

I can only speak for myself on this issue. Working out is beneficial for me, not harmful. My routine is something like this
Wake up 5am
have half a glass of water
stretch for 15 minutes
run on the treadmill for 25 minutes at about speed 6.3
lift weights for 15 minutes. Nothing crazy, just a good workout.
swim for 10 minutes (a few laps)
sit in the hot tub for 10 minutes or so

I do this 6 times a week, and I find it has no correlation with my CP/CPPS.
The things that DO have an effect are
1. bike riding (avoid this)
2. sitting on a hard surface like a church pew for 30 minutes or more
3. too much sex

I think have well-conditioned abs and a healthy body is key.

I work out 4 times a week, on treadmill for 30 min at 80% max HR (VERY hard workout, too hard in fact, but still tuning) and weights for about 20 mins.

So far the only things that have caused me grief are:

Ab workouts:Even after 10 or so crunches/situps, whatever for the next two days I have ab, pelvic and perineal/testicular pain bordering on nausea/vomiting.

Sex: Getting an erection and esp orgasming even once per week results in immediate upset and pain similar to doing an ab workout.

Hard chairs: Cause my 'boys' to get very painful.

Haven't any real probs with prolonged sitting in a decent chair tho, thank God.

Tragically, I have a well conditioned body, but my abs are still distended more than I'm happy with. Will be trying yoga and pilates to maintain ab/back muscular coordination so I don't throw things out to much by conditioning asymmetrically.

When I'm exercising I'm bettering my overall health and not thinking about my condition. Don't know what I'd do if all I could do is lie about worrying. Actually, I probably do...

JD,I've found that when it comes to exercise and CP/CPPS everybodys different. Some people can get away with it and swear that it helps with the pain while others get flare ups from it. Every couple of months I jump on the tread mill and run a couple of miles for a couple of days strait until the the pain kicks in. That kind of running will put me in god awful pain for a couple of weeks. However I do intence weight training about 4 times a week including abs, which I find to be extremely helpful in cutting back the muscle spasims. We may all have the same disease, but our symtems may vary slightly from person to person. What causes a flare up for one person may not for another. I think our bodies may have different limitations. I do think that it is something you should ease into to find your own limitations. Also I've found that exercise is easier now that I've had this for over a year than in the beginning. Anyways goodluck and I hope you can find some level of exercise your bodys comfortable with.

tedk wrote:JD,I've found that when it comes to exercise and CP/CPPS everybodys different. Some people can get away with it and swear that it helps with the pain while others get flare ups from it. We may all have the same disease, but our symtems may vary slightly from person to person. What causes a flare up for one person may not for another. I think our bodies may have different limitations. I do think that it is something you should ease into to find your own limitations. Also I've found that exercise is easier now that I've had this for over a year than in the beginning. Anyways goodluck and I hope you can find some level of exercise your bodys comfortable with.

You're definitely right about everyone having different symptoms and things that cause them to flare up. I guess that relates to CP/CPPS/IC maybe being several different disease mechanisms.

I've read things where some Doctors think CPPS/IC is a bladder reflection of something going on elsewhere in the body. That stuff is scary to think about.

Thank god they're greatly increasing the pace of research into all this. Within the last 5 years they've learned more about this than the previous years combined, and now the're vastly increasing the research from even the last 5 years.

One of my greatest fears is this War Dubya wants so bad will further destroy the economy and take away the much needed $ they are finally putting into intensive research for these conditions.

If the NIH research goes forward as planned, I bet they will have a very solid treatments for this within 5 years. It's all about giving the doctors Grants for research on this and they are finally doing it.

Do you guys stretch properly after a work out?

I just resumed my workouts, I use to go to the gym, but now I workout from home. When my pain was at it's worst, I was probably in the best shape of my life. I attribute part of my problem with Ma Huang extract. I use to take Ripped Fuel which had Ma Huang in it. Now when I workout, I take nothing. What I have learned though is working certain parts of my body aggreviates my prostate more than others. When I work legs, whether heavy or light, I have prostate pain for 2-4 days afterwards. The pain does go away though. Whenever I lift heavy with chest or doing arm work, if I strain, I can feel a twing of pain, so I stop or go lighter. I've learned to listen to my body more than I did when I was younger. I'm 41 now and feel pretty good. Doing the treadmill doesn't bother me unless I run for a long period of time, so moderation is key. Walking is just a good as running, so I combine the two. I also just purchased the Gazille or whatever that thing is called for my wife. I use it too and it doesn't bother my prostate much at all, it is low impact. Working out is an important part of my life, I like to look and feel good. If I have to cut back at times I can live with it, as long as I don't have to stop all together. And yes, ab work bothers me too, but I still do it in moderation

I'm 43; I used to do ultramarathons and triathlons; I ran, biked and swam daily. Since this disease began, I can do none of these. It seems that anything that causes me to strain pelvis muscles leads to pain. Now, I simply walk-- this causes no pain. JP

I find it funny that this disease is assosiated with people who sit for long periods of time like truck drivers and and computer programmers while at the same time a high percentage of us are also into working out and being physicaly fit. I too work out almost daily and at the same time spend a lot of time sitting. (A student of computer networking) I also was taking Ripped Fuel and a number of other thermogenic (raise metabolism) products for a couple of years. I've read other CP/CPPS stories where the syptoms started almost immediatly after taking these products. Is it possible that understanding this disease might be advanced through the understanding of how exactly these products interact with our bodys specifically the prostate, bladder, nerves.

tedk wrote:I've read other CP/CPPS stories where the syptoms started almost immediatly after taking thermogenic products. Is it possible that understanding this disease might be advanced through the understanding of how exactly these products interact with our bodys specifically the prostate, bladder, nerves.

Yes. Good point.

Off the top of my head one obvious connection is that these products raise the overall level of sympathetic nervous system arousal. If I'm not mistaken, many CP sufferers also suffered fom anxiety/anxious personalities prior to acquiring the condition which also results in long term increased nervous activity and hypersensitivity. Did I not read something about hyperthyroidism and CP too?

I would assume the link between non-supplement taking athletic people and CP is less compelling. Probably more likely to be the fact that the same personality that takes an interest in their health beore they get ill is likely to seek information to get well afterwards. Therefore, we would see a preponderance of health motivated personalities here.

At any rate, it's interesting. Leads one to think about the nervous threshold theories again. Some form of perpetuating sympathetic response?

Hepcat wrote:Some form of perpetuating sympathetic response?

Hytrin's action this regard is interesting, then.

My take on whether exercise helps or hurts is that it realy depends on what is causing your symptoms. From all the posts on this topic I've read, exercise really helps some peoples symptoms, possibly through some endorphin mediated process. However many, including myself, appear to suffer after a bout of exercise. I really think it is an individual thing, and the range of individual responses to exercise makes me think we are dealing with more than one disease process here.

For me, not being able to exercise has been one of the hardest things - I have been very active throughout my life, and my Job (Lecturing), coaching and consultancy work, hobbies, not to mention my social life, all revolved around sport and exercise prior to getting CPPS.

For those of you who can exercise, I'm really pleased for you but very jelous

Over the past couple of weeks I have been able to go for 2 mile walks, gradually increasing the pace - It's a start at least!

Al.