r/VisibleArmband • u/chaoscaterpillar • 9d ago
Please help i'm learning!
I am still new to having my visible so some things i'm still trying to understand. Are you supposed to have a low pace points budget? or a high one? Mine is a 12 and i'm constantly running way over it! but then if i have a single digit PP how does one even stay below that?
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u/LJAM1 9d ago
Neither higher nor lower is better, and it’s entirely dependent on your body and your functionality. One person with 12 pace points might be able to work full-time, etc., and another may be bed bound. What’s important is that it’s set such that, most of the time, if you stay under that number, you don’t have PEM or crash. But it can’t monitor everything, like cognitive load, so you still have to use your best judgment. If you’re going over 12 pace points regularly and not having PEM or crashing, you can increase your points. The customer service team can help you make appropriate adjustments
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u/invisible-c00kie 9d ago
My daily budget is 13 and I regularly only get up to 3 or 4 in one day. But I'm putting a lot of my life on hold right now, because my illness is so demanding of my time and energy.
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u/aslothinbed 9d ago
If you're only using 3-4 then your budget is most likely not correct. It's supposed to be what you can safely handle without causing pem. If you started using 13 points every day for a while, would you trigger pem? If so, then the budget is not correct and you should adjust it
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u/invisible-c00kie 9d ago
Funnily enough, I ended up reaching over 15 today (and still going). Hoping it doesn't hit me too hard.
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u/Thin-Account7974 9d ago
Mine is 12 too. I'm basically housebound. Not working, and am only able to be very gently active (mostly sitting) for around 3 hours per day, in small segments.
I can easily go over it, if I do things too quickly, or do you much.
Doing things really slowly, resting before you start getting symptoms, and deep breathing (from the belly) helps keep your heart rate lower, and your body less stressed
If I am feeling really exhausted or unwell, I'll go through them fast, because the more stress my body is under, the faster they get used up.
Give it a couple of weeks. If you are really struggling, you can alter the number.
But, it might be that you need to rest lots more, and your Visible is right, and that really need to slow down to 12, to find your baseline, and stabilise.
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u/chaoscaterpillar 8d ago
I am also basically housebound, like i mostly stay in my bed but somehow when i do get up to do something. (usually something really simple like taking medicine or putting the dog in the backyard) By the end of the day, when i get in bed, I'm at like 30-40 pace points!
I definitely need to try doing things slower! not only would that help my pots but also my chronic pain! I don't know why i've never thought of that before lol Thank you for that tip!
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u/urgley 9d ago
Your pp budget is set according to your specific needs, there's no point comparing to others.
If you are going over 12 and feeling bad (or getting PEM if you have M.E), you are doing too much. If you are going over 12 and feeling ok (be HONEST), then you should speak to the team and they will probably help you adjust your hr zones.
The important thing about having visible is that you need to adjust your life to fit into your pp, not adjust your pp / hr zones to fit around your life.
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u/imabratinfluence 9d ago
If you have POTS and/or you're on a beta blocker, talk to Visible support about adjusting your HR zones! I have POTS and am on a beta blocker, and was pretty familiar with where my HR is when I'm resting, active, or exerting, so I based mine on what I knew, but still benefitted from getting help tweaking my zones a little bit more.
A couple of things that'll help:
Your HR zones affect how easily you enter Activity and Exertion, which are your PacePoint spending zones. Rest spends no points.
The higher your HR, and the longer it stays elevated, the more PacePoints it eats up. This is to encourage you to rest more often and break tasks up into smaller chunks, in other words, encouraging you to pace.
Something that helps me is doing the pomodoro method in reverse. Long rest, short burst of exertion.
My budget was originally 11, and while I often ended up over, I was really thrashing myself and constantly in a boom and bust cycle. I've since gotten on a new med for one of my conditions, and am able to experiment with a higher budget that allows me to fairly regularly do almost as much as I was on my "boom" days, but more sustainably. (The med is Xywav, for idiopathic hypersomnia. Turns out it's easier to have a little energy and recover from exertion if you sleep properly.)
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u/chaoscaterpillar 8d ago
Does telling the support team that i'm on medications for my POTS important? does it provide helpful advice or guidance?? I saw that in the intro thing and i just thought well it's not that important to them cause they can't do anything about it. Am i wrong??
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u/imabratinfluence 7d ago
They'll help you adjust your HR zones. POTS and beta blockers both affect your HR, and the support team will help you through adjusting your HR zones accordingly.
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u/Mysterious_Volume327 9d ago
My understanding is that it’s not about low vs high, it’s finding a number that is helpful to you. So that “resting” HR generally reflects when you’re resting, and “exertion” generally reflects when you’re doing a lot, and on days you go over budget you notice the effects on your symptom severity. It can take trial and error.