Month 8 of the Modified Levine Protocol and Final Thoughts

Month 8 and the whole Modified Levine Protocol is complete!

Note: I have updated this two weeks after I published it to include how I am doing after easing up on exercise.

What month 8 is like

Month 8 is very similar to month 7, with a little added intensity. MSS workouts get up to 45 minutes. Interval workouts increase in length and number of sets until it gets to 10 x 2 minutes. Most of the month has no rest days. All of the base pace workouts are 45-60 minutes. There are two strength training days per week.

Notes

• Warm-ups: I have been continuing to do the core workout from Lesley Fightmaster every day this month. Holy smokes is my core stronger! I highly recommend this routine.
• Cool-downs: I have been doing stretches and mobility exercises that I learned through the Beyond Flexibility program.
• MSS: I tried a few new workouts this month. None of them worked well for MSS.
• Base pace: I either walked outside, did dance cardio with The Fitness Marshall, or did Walk at Home with Leslie Sansone. I’ve talked about The Fitness Marshall in the past and as I said before, love love love! However, if my boys are around, I don’t want a song like “Anaconda” to pop up. So, when they are around, I do the Walk With Leslie videos. They are super cheesy and repetitive, but they work well for base pace.

• Interval training: I continued to jump rope, which is perfect for this. When I do intervals, I rest for half of the time of the interval. For example, when doing 2 minute intervals, I rest for 1 minute in between intervals.
• Strength training: I continued making up my own routines that include a hodgepodge of things I’ve done in the past. I spend about 30 minutes on these workouts.
• Recovery sessions: I have been doing Fightmaster Yoga videos for recovery sessions.

How I’ve been feeling

I am a bit physically burned out from the protocol, so I cannot accurately gauge it from my ending point. So, I will instead use the figure from last time I gauged my functionality. Before I started the protocol, I was between 50-60% functionality, depending on the day. A one point during the protocol, I felt like I was at a solid 60-65%. So, the protocol improved my functioning to a modest degree. Aside from functionality, I have noticed other improvements that I will discuss below.

Two notes to consider as you read about the improvements I have experienced:

• I was already exercising 6 days per week for 30-40 minutes. If you are not exercising at all, you may have more dramatic results.
• I started Mestinon around the time when I started the protocol. Mestinon is effective for me, so some of my improvement is credited to that.

Going back to being physically burned out- I believe the volume of exercise in the final couple of months of this program is too high for me. There’s a small chance there is something else at play, but I’m pretty sure it is due to over-exercising.

As I go back to the exercise volume I am comfortable with, I have a lot of hope that I will see additional improvement in how I feel and function. You may ask, “Why did you finish the program?” Honestly, because I was so close to the end and I wanted to be able to say “I finished it”. The other part was because I like to give things a full effort before nay saying it. I would have doubted myself and my evaluation if I had stopped short.

Update: It has been two weeks since I finished the program. Since then, I have changed my workout regimen to what I detail below. I feel much better. I have experienced a gradual uptick in energy since I began listening to my body and would say I am around 65-70% functionality now and feel optimistic that I will experience continued improvement. I will keep you updated as things progress. Over the holiday weekend, I spent time with my family and was stunned by how I was able to keep up compared to other recent holidays. It must be harder for me to see this objectively in my daily life because the changes happen slowly to where I forget what I used to be like.

Pros and Cons of program overall

It seems like the Modified Levine Protocol helped my POTS symptoms more than the ME symptoms. That makes sense since it is a program specifically for POTS. Now, that’s a hard distinction to make and my evaluation may not even be entirely accurate. However, that is the best way I can explain it. The intense fatigue and crashes I would attribute to ME. The dizziness upon standing I would attribute to POTS. The “gassed” muscles and brain fog I would attribute to both POTS and ME. Overall, I have seen improvement in all symptoms throughout the course of the program, but the most dramatic changes have been in the POTS symptoms.

Pros

• Significantly less orthostatic intolerance (dizziness upon standing). Even when I go from a crouching position to standing, which was my hardest transition, I notice major improvement.
• Improved brain fog. It’s hard for me to perfectly sort out what exactly improved my brain fog over the last several months. However, it’s possible that some of this improvement is due to the Modified Levine Protocol.
• Energy crashes resolve quicker. It seems like I bounce back faster these days.
• Modest improvements in overall energy. I can do more in my daily life than I had been able to prior to the protocol. It’s not a dramatic change, but every little bit helps.
• Muscles feel less “gassed”. Mestinon and massage therapy are large factors in improving this is as well.
• Increased confidence. I am proud of my level of fitness and the fact that I completed the protocol.
• Fitness gains. This is pretty obvious, but I am stronger and in better cardio condition. I used to tolerate only 15 minutes of upright cardio and now I can do over 60 minutes without issue.
• Improved tolerance of positional changes in exercise. I can keep my hands above my head with less lightheadedness. I can also tolerate yoga again.

Cons

• The volume of exercise in the last couple of months is too much for me. Even when I was training for cross-country and track in college, I was a “low mileage” athlete. My muscles feel burned out right now.
• The improvement is NOT linear. This can be frustrating at times. It helps to anticipate this.
• Time commitment. The protocol is no joke. It takes an hour to an hour and a half most days.
• Energy commitment. Sometimes, after completing a workout, you will be spent for the rest of the day. That can be disheartening at times and it’s important to be prepared for that.
• Some cost involved. You will need some equipment or a gym membership, especially in the recumbent exercise phases.
• Some increases occur at too large of increments within a short span of time. This dramatic increase made the protocol harder on my body at times than it needed to be. If I were to design the program, I would adjust it to spread out the increases more incrementally.

Overall, I think the pros outweigh the cons because the cons are primarily things that can be dealt with if you know what to expect. I am better off from the protocol and believe I will be even better once I find my proper balance and amount of exercise.

Looking ahead

I am very excited about moving past the protocol and having more freedom in exercising. I believe what will work best for my body is a schedule of 3-4 cardio days per week, 2-3 strength training days per week, and one day off per week.

For cardio, I will have one long walk on the weekend (at least an hour), one jump roping interval day, and the third/fourth cardio day I will do what feels right that day and sounds enjoyable. For strength training, I plan to do yoga. If I feel like there are some gaps, I may add in supplemental exercises. For example, I would do a yoga workout, then a couple sets of pull-ups.

I plan to do yoga most days because I am really enjoying it right now. On cardio days, I will do a yoga afterwards. That helps me feel better after a hard workout. Lesley Fightmaster (whose videos I have done on YouTube) has a subscription program called My Yoga Pal that I’m going to try out. I have never taken a yoga class in person, so I look forward to having more guidance.

Other Modified Levine Protocol Posts

Modified Levine Protocol- Month 7

Modified Levine Protocol- Month 6

Modified Levine Protocol- Month 5

Modified Levine Protocol- Month 4

Modified Levine Protocol- Month 3

Modified Levine Protocol- Bonus Time

Modified Levine Protocol- Month 2

Modified Levine Protocol- Month 1 and Intro

Link to the Modified Levine Protocol Program

Modified Levine Protocol Program

Has anyone else completed the Modified Levine Protocol? What are your thoughts?

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. Statements on this site are not meant to be taken as medical advice. These statements reflect my personal experiences having mild-ish post-viral POTS and ME. Due to the wide spectrum of these diseases, comorbidities, and everyone being different, your experiences may be very different than mine.

Note: If you post a comment, this site does NOT have a feature to notify you of responses to your comment. I have not found a good solution for that yet. However, I usually respond to every comment in a timely manner, so be sure to check back.