Mystery Ailment - adrenals, thyroid, who knows?

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is really given a disservice because of its name and ignorance on the part of the medical community that wishes to dismiss it as a psychological illness. it is a neuroimmune illness of unknown etiology.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3044169/

These videos are very interesting by one of the foremost experts if you have time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHO6-q6WGT4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWwZQUgaRJU

Don't ignore the possibility of mold/biotoxic illness. You have several of the symptoms, and there can be overlap with lyme/CFS, otherwise known as CIRS or chronic inflammatory response syndrome. Dr. Shoemaker has had great success treating patients in a sequential manner:

http://www.survivingmold.com

Thanks for the continued responses and advice, folks.

A friend mentioned MS. Not dismissing it, but I feel like things would be getting worse if that were the case. Also thought about an intestinal parasite or something of that nature. I never really gave the zoloft a fair shot either, since it was making tired during the day but then keeping me up at night. Maybe I would respond better to something else. Who knows.

Email should be with my login name for the person who wants to contact me. Feel free to get at me.

Hans Solo, I'm going to email you.

For everyone else and all to consider, if this came on after too much running, is it possible that it just may be long term burnout from too much running and not enough recovery? I see all kinds of things getting thrown around that it may be. Is it possible its Lyme, or MS, or whatever, maybe. But in my case of problems surfacing ONLY after running too much, I personally think mine is mimic'ing other health problems but probably massive burnout. This may be the OP's problem too???

Need help bad wrote:

Hans Solo, I'm going to email you.

For everyone else and all to consider, if this came on after too much running, is it possible that it just may be long term burnout from too much running and not enough recovery? I see all kinds of things getting thrown around that it may be. Is it possible its Lyme, or MS, or whatever, maybe. But in my case of problems surfacing ONLY after running too much, I personally think mine is mimic'ing other health problems but probably massive burnout. This may be the OP's problem too???

This line of thinking has been condescendingly thrown at the OP all throughout this thread and I just don't buy it. Overtraining should be able to be recovered from in a matter of weeks, no matter how big a "hole" someone has dug, and many of the symptoms don't match classic overtraining.

I believe that when people attribute having to take months off to recover from a bout of overtraining that they were dealing with an underlying illness to begin with. It is very easy to overtrain when the body is not 100%, and exercise can function as a great signaler when the body is undergoing some sort of infection or disease. I am of course referring to the OP's situation, I am not as familiar with your specific situation. Chances are, if you have had to take months off like the OP with no signs of improvement, that you are dealing with some sort of illness as well.

Han Solo, have you lost muscle mass? Not from inactivity, but while you were still trying to train did you notice that muscle mass was diminishing?

You obviously know nothing about the research done into this condition, go search Pubmed for starters. How about checking into it first before denying its existence then claiming he has some unknown illness. Some of the things thrown out in this thread sound crazy, really. Mold infection, MS, seriously? I thought the OP's stuff started during heavy training, is it possible that it could be too much training and not some mystery illness?

Need help bad wrote:

You obviously know nothing about the research done into this condition, go search Pubmed for starters. How about checking into it first before denying its existence then claiming he has some unknown illness. Some of the things thrown out in this thread sound crazy, really. Mold infection, MS, seriously? I thought the OP's stuff started during heavy training, is it possible that it could be too much training and not some mystery illness?

Yes, too much training on top of a pre-existing condition could elicit the symptoms being discussed within this thread. Training by itself, no. I am open to links suggesting otherwise, don't tell me I know nothing and then fail to back yourself up. If there is this supposed research on overtraining that leads to a year or more of debilitation, where is it?

Qui-Gon wrote:

Yes, too much training on top of a pre-existing condition could elicit the symptoms being discussed within this thread. Training by itself, no. I am open to links suggesting otherwise, don't tell me I know nothing and then fail to back yourself up. If there is this supposed research on overtraining that leads to a year or more of debilitation, where is it?

clap clap

I admire your persistence. Keep fighting and you'll win through somehow.

Is there any type of physical exertion that makes you feel better at the end of it than you did at the beginning?

Suppose I'm your coach, and you arrive at workout feeling terrible, and it's clear that it would not be in your best interests to go to lactic limbo. Therefore I ask you to take the next 60 minutes to do whatever you can to make yourself feel better physically.

Some people I know would jog very easily for an hour. Others would do strides (stride out, walk back, stride out, walk back). I know people who really enjoy doing drills where they "bounce" (eg A-skips, B-skips), these seem fun to them. Some people lift. Maybe an hour of stretching alone in a quiet place with no distraction. Of course it's possible that the best thing might be a 60-minute nap, or something passive like sitting in a hot tub or sauna.

What would you do, right now?

Caffeine is very hard on the thyroid and adrenals.

Wait, you deny something exists, then ask me to provide you all the links and evidence supporting it if indeed it does? That is pure laziness, go look it up yourself. Trust me, I did a lot of research last year into it, a lot. Anyways, I'm done in this thread, I'm not even the OP. I was just trying to help him out, I personally don't think he has some unknown illness at all.

Sounds a lot like overtraining to me. And to those saying it's not possible to have this for more than a year, well i've had it for 15 months, have had every test under the sun done to rule out any other possible causes, and have been told by very well respected experts that there's little treatment or magic cure for it, it's just a case of waiting, and doing very low-intensity exercise that DOES NOT worsen your symptoms in the meantime. This is hard to accept when you're used to pounding, but i'm talking going back to like 110 HR and then very slowly building up and avoiding the 'crash' days that accompany this syndrome. OP, i don't know if you have this or not (chronic overtraining syndrome), but don't let those who are saying you cant get OTS and be stuck with it for more than a year mislead you. I know two elite athletes who got it badly and were still not right a year or two later, and they had ruled out any other possible explanation for the feeling of constant fatigue. Hope you get better soon, remember that if it is OTS you will get better eventually, stay positive and try to be sensible and consistent with sleeping/eating/exercise habits in the meantime.

Sounds a lot like overtraining to me. And to those saying it's not possible to have this for more than a year, well i've had it for 15 months, have had every test under the sun done to rule out any other possible causes, and have been told by very well respected experts that there's little treatment or magic cure for it, it's just a case of waiting, and doing very low-intensity exercise that DOES NOT worsen your symptoms in the meantime. This is hard to accept when you're used to pounding, but i'm talking going back to like 110 HR and then very slowly building up and avoiding the 'crash' days that accompany this syndrome. OP, i don't know if you have this or not (chronic overtraining syndrome), but don't let those who are saying you cant get OTS and be stuck with it for more than a year mislead you. I know two elite athletes who got it badly and were still not right a year or two later, and they had ruled out any other possible explanation for the feeling of constant fatigue. Hope you get better soon, remember that if it is OTS you will get better eventually, stay positive and try to be sensible and consistent with sleeping/eating/exercise habits in the meantime.

I agree with I Need Help Bad and dsfdd. I would say if you have been healthy for the majority of your life and you come across these symptoms after lots of stress/hard running, you should stick with the simple reasoning that it has to do with running. It is a huge leap to say these symptoms are due to MS, mold, lyme and you will kill yourself alone by just worrying about those things. I have had the exact same symptoms as the OP and I Need Help Bad and now I am completely fine. I would say that I had strong symptoms for 3-4 months and lingering symptoms for 6-9 months. Like I mentioned in the other thread, go for walks,lift weights, relax and take your mind off of running.

OP - just curious, what is your current condition? Are you running at all? Still feeling ill? Updates would be great, I'm suffering similar symptoms to you and am curious of your status.

I'm not the OP but I believe my condition is truly OT'ing, sadly. You can read my thread below, there were quite a few people who spoke up. The OP's condition sounds a lot like mine. FYI, I struggled with sleep problems bad for 18 months or so. Either waking up multiple times and having ahard time going back to sleep or waking up 2 hours early and not being able to go back to sleep. It was like my mind was wired for no reason, and I couldn't really rest. But finally, I am able to sleep 8 hours and if I wake up in the middle of the night, I am actually so tired I fall back asleep. I was waking up and eating during most of the last 18 months, despite eating enough calories. I feel complete rest from all exercise and trying not to worry helped me finally get my sleep better. I still struggle with heavy legs and motivation though, bad. But I believe time will help, I think I dug a bad hole.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5252943

you're addicted to caffeine

It's called over-training. There are three stages, and you got yourself in one of them. This severely affects adrenals. Google "three stages of overtraining" or "overtraining syndrome." If you get yourself in the worst stage, you'll be finished for awhile.

I don't mean to high jack this thread but for those who experienced chronic OT'ing or know someone who has, how long does "heavy legs" last? Even now after over a year, I seem to have deep soreness or fatigue in both quadriceps to the point of having to limit lots of walking and stairs. I have had EMG/NCV on quads, CPK bloodtest along with aldolase and ferritin and iron and sed. rate, all is good. Every test I have had done for weak/fatigued muscles is fine, yet something is not normal with my legs. I recently switched my diet to wholesome foods and try and stretch, but I don't know what to do. I don't want to stress them if they need more time to heal but I don't know if working them out is what I need either. No doctor can tell me what to do, that is the whole reason I finally posted on this site because I don't know what to do, can anyone help who has experienced this???

I have read your thread. Much more curious about the OP's condition, I've followed this thread since way back.