Bridget B

Original info from Facebook but I couldn't get a permalink and can't find it now but it seems plausible and the comments were mostly minor terminology or tweaks. My current thinking is that this is useful as a gist understanding of what people are experiencing.

Why does this happen? How can we change things so the cells so they use oxygen better? All still questions. You can't use gradually increasing activity levels to improve your anaerobic threshold effectively.
NB this is a simplified overview, I do not have the energy to be a specialist biologist.

For people with ME, the switch to anaerobic respiration tends to happen at a much lower heart rate, 50-60% of the "Max". Activity just in the 80s-90s can be in this inefficient, damaging mode. So even light activity can be exhausting and take time to recover from.

Also, anaerobic respiration builds up lactic acid and carbon dioxide in the cells. It's less efficient, causes more damage, and takes longer to recover from than aerobic respiration.

The glycolysis process turns glucose into energy (ATP). Aerobic respiration uses oxygen for this, very efficient, one glucose gives you 30-38 ATP.
At higher heart rates there is not enough oxygen. Anerobic respiration starts, much less efficient glycolysis process, one glucose gives just 2 ATP.

I saw a useful explanation of some ME/Long Covid energy issues and I'll try running it through here, see how simple I can get it.
If you've been on treadmills you've probably seen Max Heart Rate = 220 - your age. 165 for me. Below this, you're working aerobically.

I don't like wearing things on my wrists, this is a compromise while I have to pay more attention to my heart rate over the day. I think my Fitbit is the last model you can wear on a belt clip.

And the activity monitoring ties into the diet-controlled diabetes monitoring and energy expenditure. People would look at my "steps" count and think I had a good day, when it was 40 minutes of sitting and repotting seedlings then washing some pots out.

I should probably try the Visible system for chronic illness pacing. It's a wearable (which I don't like) but if it's giving me a heart rate check, I can put my Fitbit back on my waistband to be a more pure step counter. Wrist mounted it's hugely overestimating my activity.

It's quite folklore and anti-fae, the iron in the wood.

A brown/grey cat sprawled on my lap in the living room.

Visiting Toby. Being visited by Lucia.

When I visit, you can say "Inside the wolf there are two people".

And one of them is far too online.

Bit of both! I have a few machine quilt projects half finished, and some cross stitch cards to make for Christmas, for a start...

I don't often pay much mind to likes, but I do feel particularly supported in my endeavours with the last couple, thank you :-)

Well it's a nice idea, a nice alternative focus. I might not manage all aspects of the projects, but I can see where I'm at. And next year I can get back to watching 30 films in 10 days.

CFF time is approaching! Oct 23-Nov 2. Usually this is Cambridge Film Festival, but current health and mobility limitations mean complications/risks/discomfort outweigh the fun.
Instead - Craft Fabric Finish, 11 days of projects. I'm nearly improved enough to manage sewing and a little ironing.

Aha! If I want a bird feeder, but I don't want it over soil to avoid seed mess, and I don't know how to fix a bracket to the fence over the patio bit -
I can get a big old pot and fill it with spent compost and put a pole feeder in it on the patio! Easy sweeping, adjust position for bird access.

The 80/20 rule of time travel films. 80% is set in the 80s, 20% is set in the 20s.

Close up inside a kitchen cupboard. There is a mug, a box of herbal tea labelled "Sleep", and a tin of Nescafé Azera americano intense.

Choices

Hoped for delivery early morning (ARRIVED as I was typing this) (live worms for the garden) (I'll make them at home in a minute).
And the diabetes course I've been on for a year, went to finish writing up the lessons but they took one out and renumbered the rest so it's a mess.
WORMS NOW

A day where everything has a hurdle. Weird dentist appointment (accidentally added to internal scanner reservation calendar). Try to buy a Kobo audiobook but won't accept my password or send me a reset link. Weird hospital call, appointment is at a different hospital (8+8min on hold).

You know those electrical switches in kitchens, where a red edge is visible when they're switched on so you absolutely know they're on?
In a dream I saw one of these switches, unusually large. I thought "I wonder what happens if I press this" and the red edge showed, written on it STUPIDITY.

Yes!

There must be something in the change of the season. I looked in the fridge, and the two lodgers and I each have a broccoli.

She has big dark eyes herself.

We're mostly breathing nitrogen.

Missed lunch plans but could not have pushed through for it.

5 weeks of this relapse. I was going to post that I was much improved but then I squeezed too much into an hour (manageable planned things plus 3 extra or unplanned things) and just had to lie down quietly in the dark for 3 hours. Gentle afternoon, should feel better again tomorrow.

The gardener did a lot of backfilling with the opportunity to check the root balls.

And the colour tester pots which I thought would be useful for touch-ups, state "not to be used for touch-ups" as it's a different formulation. All 14 listed on Olio and collection arranged.