D1 with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Officialdb wrote:

I'm a d1 distance runner, best at the mile. I had mono last summer and it ruined my fall fitness and ever since I've been tired, fainted at times, been dizzy upon standing up to the point of blacking out, and generally not running as well as I used to. Anyone have CFS and tried to keep running at a high level? I'm actually doing okay this outdoor season, won a few tactical 1500s in 4:01 and probably in 3:53 shape. But I just feel so tired and can't keep this up.

The last 13 months have been incredibly stressful in so, so many ways. At this point, rest as much as you can. Eat well and pray. Best of luck friend!

Brother I'm going through the same thing except my case seems a bit worse, I was bed-bound for a few months and am only now coming out of it. I'm still unable to climb stairs, go for a jog or even be on my feet most of the day., but I'm definitely improving slowly. The first few months of being sick I also thought I had CFS because obviously the most pressing symptom was debilitating fatigue. Turns out I actually had POTS, which is somewhat similar to CFS and causes the same kind of fatigue. Reading your post I am almost sure you also have POTS. Fainting and lightheadedness upon standing are hallmark symptoms of POTS patients. You can test for it yourself, just lie down for a good ten minutes until you get to your resting heart rate, and then stand up. If your bpm increases by more than 30bpm upon standing, you have POTS. There are way way more effective medications that can help POTS than there are that can help CFS (0). The only thing that has me doubting myself is that you say you've maintained decent running form. I don't see how that would be possible if you have POTS, but who knows, everyone is different and has varying severity of cases. Since you are so fit, its possible that your heart rate may not rise quite as high as 30 bpm above resting hr, even if you do have POTS.

btw pots stands for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, so it literally is means standing rapid-heart-rate syndrome.

Thanks man, this actually sounds pretty probable for me and i'll talk to my AD about it. I wonder if I don't actually have it though since I can still run ok

Visit a cardiologist to make sure you don't have something else that could become persistent and difficult to reverse because you waited too long. In the meantime, get your blood tested for iron deficiencies etc... You might not be taking on enough calories either.

3:53-4:01 wins D1 1500 races??? Geesh!

RichardRider wrote:

Visit a cardiologist to make sure you don't have something else that could become persistent and difficult to reverse because you waited too long. In the meantime, get your blood tested for iron deficiencies etc... You might not be taking on enough calories either.

3:53-4:01 wins D1 1500 races??? Geesh!

At altitude with 25 mph winds? Yes. One of the guys I took down in 4:01 is a recent 3:43 guy. Tactical racing.

Officialdb wrote:

Thanks man, this actually sounds pretty probable for me and i'll talk to my AD about it. I wonder if I don't actually have it though since I can still run ok

True, but the thing is it also wouldn’t make sense if you have CFS either because of the post-exertional-malaise, which is the fatigue after working out. I assume you’ve already ruled out iron deficiency because that one is the most obvious.

Try taking a high dose of monolauren three times a day for at least three weeks

I would recommend getting tested for any sort of disease/infection that could produce these symptoms including/especially Lymes.

Backstory

I was a vegetarian through high school and didn't balance my diet correctly ending up being anemic for the first few years of my undergrad/end of high school. I than began eating meat again and balancing my diet more appropriately with iron supplements initially and stopped when i no longer needed it. I felt tired on almost every run at that point.

More recently

When I was training/qualified for Boston, I was tired a lot and had the same kind of lethargy as when I was anemic but my blood tests came back normal and I attributed it to a bit of over training (had about 3 doctors visits in that period for my lethargy/mood). Raced Boston and continued to feel like crap for another year(moody, couldn't finish 30 minute runs, etc). All of the sudden I developed Bell's Palsy (half your face goes numb) and luckily the doctor I got tested me for Lyme's as that is a sign of a long infection with it. Sure enough, I tested positive. Of note, I don't remember any tick bites, I don't live in an area traditionally assumed to have Lymes, and I never had a rash I could see. When I contracted it who knows but the infectious disease specialist I saw said that my history suggested a long term infection. Regardless, the routine treatment worked and I am not affected any more.

So, I would highly recommend you check this out.

Uk 117 variant of coronavirus?