I used to be an elite level cyclist and would get in the gym to lift heavy. That part of my life is over due to this SFN. When it first came on last year, I couldn't even unload the dishwasher without having to go lay down in the middle of the job. Over several months, I started walking laps in a gym pool. I've now worked up to water aerobics 3x per week (I'm, by far, the youngest one in that class). Even then, I have days where I wake up and clearly I haven't recovered from doing little the day before. It's very hard emotionally to go from being a tremendously physical person to being able to do very little each day. I completed understand your frustrations.

It certainly seems we all have different forms of this hideous affliction. Exercise doesn't seem to negatively me. At least none of the mild stuff I've done to date.

I can tell you one thing I'm absolutely positive of right now...hormones are playing a role in the whole ebb and flow of it.

I get the burning most nights but last night mine was incredibly severe in both legs and arms. I don't know what to suggest but I find that a warm bath followed by a cold shower pointed onto my extremities seems to help a little. Commiserations anyhow. It is foul

I know what you mean about the dishwasher. The pain of such a simple task would make me nauseous and take my breath away. I actually couldn't do it for 4 months with out taking breaks in between racks. I can do it as of last month although its still painful. I could not even whisk a few eggs or chop vegetables until now with out excruciating pain and weakness. I can chop again but have to pace myself. That is also incredibly frustrating because cooking is a huge part of my life.
To be on the positive side though.... if there were things we could not do and now there are things we can, maybe we are getting better? When I look back there were things I could absolutely not do that I can now. I couldn't drive for almost 4 months because of the dizziness and my arms couldn't even turn the steering wheel. Now I can on most days. I am far from my normal self but things are not as bad as they were. The improvement day by day is almost imperceptible, but month by month there is something happening. It seems like I take two steps forward and one step back quite often with this bizarre thing. I slept last night and was only woken up by my 4 year olds nightly visit. How refreshing that was vs being awoken from pain.