Mystery Ailment - adrenals, thyroid, who knows?

Dude you should really try doing some high weight/low rep weight training. Especially since you will not be running you should really give it a thought. There are many benefits from it and I think it will improve your sleep and some of the other symptoms you were describing (anxiety/depression). What do you have to lose?

Was this ever figured out?

I have not yet figured anything out. I have made an appointment with OSU sports medicine to go get checked out where they can hopefully run some more advanced tests. Another benefit is they have a team of physicians dedicated to endurance athletes, which is nice.

Otherwise, all is still pretty much the same as ever. No amount of time off or rest is making any difference at all to how I feel.

Thought about giving prozac a try a la Salazar, but my main physician was cautious about jumping into that as a solution without trying a number of other things first. But it's going on a year now, and I'm really pissed off.

Go see a doctor who specializes in M.E./CFS, not a "sports physician." You need to run certain tests to rule it out, and most physicians, even infectious disease docs and immunologists haven't a clue. I'm serious. It sounds like you have CFS, and the longer you put off treating it, the bleaker your chances for a full recovery. You are still young. Nancy Klimas (FL), David Bell (NY), Derek Enlander (NY), John Chia (CA), Paul Cheney (NC) are some of your best options, but there are others. I would ignore the CDC guidelines on CFS, because they are counterproductive. At least see a cardiologist who specializes in NMH or POTS so you can see if that's an issue. I won't post on this again, because it's your call, but running is not your concern anymore. Healthy living is first. If sleep issues are still unresolved, I would consider some sleep meds before an anti-depressant. If your blood volume is low, you could probably benefit from a vasopressor.

Your ferritin is a bit concerning to me. From my personal experience, I start noticing a drop in performance when I get into the 30s. Of course I feel much worse once I get below 25 but I do notice a big difference as the number is dropping. I would try a good supplement, such as ferrochel, to get that ferritin number higher.

Also, your Vitamin D number isn't that great. A lot of different ranges seem to exist for D. Some of them claim anything over 30 is sufficient. Some claim that anything under 50 is not sufficient to maintain health. I suggest trying to bump that number up too because D can affect performance as well. If you want to try to supplement, look for D3 rather than D2.

You should notice a difference in a few weeks if either of those are the culprit. Just remember that iron should not be taken with calcium so maybe take your iron in the morning with non-calcium fortified OJ and then take the D at night with milk.

Also, Lucinda Bateman (UT), Byron Hyde (NJ), and Benjamin Natelson (Canada, but he's good). Dr. Dan Peterson (NV) and Dr. Charles Lapp (NC) also have wonderful knowledge, but they seem very "drug-oriented," or that's my impression at least, but perhaps that's not a bad thing if you can nip this in the bud. Dr. Martin Lerner in MI too, but he tends to have a one size fits all approach essentially. Dr. Jamie-Decker-Jones in AZ has a ton of knowledge as well. Good luck.

Thanks for all the responses. It's just kind of hard for me to up and fly somewhere across the country to go to one of these doctors.

What is NMH and POTS? I must have missed this.

I will look into the doctors you've suggested, however, and see if it is feasible for me to set something up.

To the other poster:

I have essentially ruled out Vit D, B, ferritin. I've taken supplements and they seem to be useless. I've been anemic before with low ferritin, and this is not the same thing, unless its some crazy form of it.

I have no idea what to do.

Neurally mediated hypotension or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, both of which can accompany CFS and are diagnosed primarily by doing a tilt table test. Have you at least done basic antibody titers for EBV, CMV, HHV6 and a sed rate? See if you can find an internist who specializes in chronic fatigue syndrome, but avoid the Fibro and Fatigue Clinics if you can. Where do you live?

I live in Ohio.

Haven't had any of those tests done. Wouldn't even know who to go to see that would do those, or what they even mean.

So it looks like for NMH, it has to be detected with a tilt test, then increase fluid, sodium, and get on the right drugs.

Have you been training with Levins?

Sounds like us:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=4576763&thread=4575085

Any luck?

Update:

Went to OSU sports med twice and they seem confident and optimistic they can help me figure this thing out. They tested blood again and found Vit D at 26, so they got me on supplementation (50,000 unit/week). I'm two weeks in and feel no different really, but I guess whether thats the cause of the problem or not it needs to improve. It will likely take a good bit of time to feel any difference.

The other avenue they are looking at is anxiety/depression related issues and doing something for that. I'm going back soon to discuss the next steps to take.

They found nothing wrong in terms of thyroid, testosterone, iron/ferritin, or anything else other than the Vit D.

I'm starting to get paranoid.

How you doing champ?

Lyme Disease!!!

I feel the same as always. 50,000 ut of vit d a week and Zoloft has shown no difference in anything. Only been on Zoloft for a week though, vit d going on 6.

And if that wasn't enough, I hurt my knee on one of the few times I went out to run a little bit, and it's still bothersome while running a month later. I'm afraid there's a small tear in there somewhere but doctor thinks an MRI isn't necessary at this point.

Anyway, yeah, I feel no different. Maybe it is vit d and I have an absorption problem?

Anyone else with advice or suggestions of possible solutions feel free to throw them out there....

Have you seen a doctor who specializes in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome yet? I would go that route. The sooner, the better.

I have had very similar symptoms as described in the first post for the last 9 years.

My advice is unfortunately to be very sceptical of people who claim they have the answer to your condition.

The truth is that modern medicine is still very much in the dark ages when it comes to a lot of chronic fatigue related illnesses. By definition you have ME/CFS because your doctors can't pin your cluster of symptoms on anything else. It is a diagnosis of exclusion & sadly has no overly effective treatment.

Eventually I discovered the worst of my symptoms (daytime fatigue, weakness, brain fog & decreased exercise tolerance) were caused by the fact I wasn't sleeping properly at night. I could be "sleeping" for 14-16 hours but not getting the deep sleep that your body requires to restore & recover.

I have since started on Mirtazapine & Melatonin at night which helps me sleep much better than I previously did. This has in turn, improved the above symptoms, though I am still very restricted compared to my previous level of function.

I have also found that adequate hydration has helped with a lot of my symptoms. I force myself to drink more than I feel I need to & remarkably feel better shortly afterwards.

Again, I'm not saying this is the answer to your problems as we may both have completely different triggers for the same cluster of symptoms. However I felt compelled to respond given how similar our situations were & I hope you can find something useful in it.

Thanks for sharing.

Sleep has been a big issue through all of this. I went from sound, deep sleep through the night about 27 days a month to waking up 3-4 times a night, having a hard time shutting down at night to go to sleep, but still waking up and feeling exhausted like I didn't sleep at all. I know what you're saying.

Also apparentlyy resting HR at the doc was 72...far from my usual around 50. I know I'm out of shape but that still seemed high.

I'd love to get more opinions and suggestions.

And no I'm not ignoring you Sagarin, but it sounds like if its a case of CFIDS/ME, there's nothing that can be done anyway since it sounds like its in the dark ages in terms of modern medicine. Plus, al the "best" doctors are an expensive plane trip away from me.

I don't know where to go at this point. Vit D and Zoloft and I have felt NO different at all. If it IS vit D, maybe I have an absorbtion problem. I guess I will find out the next time I get blood checked to see how that's doing (26 previously).

Just want to bump up to get discussion going again. I really hate myself like this. I need to figure it out. I can't live feeling like this all the time.