I hear ya,
When things were bad I hated looking at my self in the mirror. I felt like I was being destroyed. Everything bounced when I walked and everything I did hurt. Getting up off the floor hurt, let alone trying to exercise. My doctors promised the meds would help and that doing exercise during a flare was not a good idea as it promoted damage to the tissue instead of healing. So I waited until my body felt capable of exercise.
Try not to think of the things you can't do. Remember you have a disease, it's not your fault and anyone who laughs at you clearly has no idea what you are going through. My girlfriend broke up with me, my boss treated me poorly and even my doctor seemed to think I was over reating (or so I imagined). Rest is a very good thing to do while you have a flare, ya your gut gets bigger and everything gets flabby, but it's the only thing you can do. Keep your chin up, stay as active as you can without pain, focus on healing (meds and diet...then drop the meds - they are hard on the system)
I tried to keep as active as possible when I first got diagnosed. I kept walking with knee braces, I rode a motorcycle (ya I bought a little 125cc bike to get me around, that's pretty much it. Bowling hurt my arm alot, dancing in small doses was OK, team sports were out, and I suppose doing lite aerobics or yoga would have been good (but I didn't do them). Swimming is really good. Basicly you need to do things in a safe environment where you can call it quits whenever you feel you've had enough, where you can control exactly how much you have to put out.
When you're finished exercising, ice your joints and make sure you eat a really healthy diet with plenty of protiens (see the No starch diet NSD). Take suppliments to help you heal. I take multi vitamins, calcium and magnesium (helps reduce cramping), cod liver oil and glucosamine (helps repair joints). Make sure you sleep enough, you need your sleep so your body can heal properly over night. I also tried to stay warm alot, I kept my house really warm in the winter (cost me a fortune).
With the NSD I was able to do more and more activities, I have started skiing again, riding my bicycle, and travelling around with my camera (my hobby, it gets me out an about). I feel great these days and I hope to get back into hiking, running and mountain biking. I've even bought a nice new Motorcycle which takes alot more muscle to handle.
Other activities you can do are resistance training with surgical tubing, exercise in water, skating (gliding along is easy on the joints), or tai chi.
hope it helps
kris
