Another Diagnose My Illness Thread - Severe Fatigue

Has your weight been pretty stable for the last year? What is your BMI?

kang6789 wrote:

Has your weight been pretty stable for the last year? What is your BMI?

No. Spring 2012 when I made a pretty big breakthrough in my racing was just after I made a pretty hefty jump in mileage and subsequently my weight came down quite a bit. BMI of 20 or so when I made the jump in training. Couple pounds heavier now.

Heal yourself. Visualize yourself being healthy and energetic (learn how to get into an "alpha" state), then start to act as if you are. In the visualization, feel the joy and the energy of health. Imagine it in detail. Each day, do one thing that a healthy, energetic person would do. This can't hurt. Give it a try.

I'm an otherwise healthy individual. (The last time that I've come down with a cold or flu was during the Winter of 2008.) Yet, last summer, I came down with a mysterious, fatigue-laden illness that took forever to get over. It turns out that it was the West Nile Virus, as I live in TX and we had an epidemic of it last year.

I don't know if WNV is something that is isolated to TX, but if you traveled here anytime and/or WNV is making an inroad in the Pacific Northwest, it may be something to look into.

The most noticeable symptoms that I had were migraine-like headaches, a diminished appetite and vertigo-like dizziness. Yet, the most telling symptom was fatigue unlike anything that I've ever experienced before.

I never did check the back of my throat to see if I had similar lesions, but if I did have them, it may explain my diminished appetite and "bad taste in my mouth" symptoms that I experienced.

Hi guys -

Was just hoping to bump this thread up and see if there were any other suggestions out there. I am still at where I was a few months ago. Took a couple months completely off with no improvement and so now I'm just kind of jogging easy everyday to alleviate the monotony/boredom.

Sores in my throat ended up being unrelated - part of a sinus condition (that I guess very well could have been part of a run-down immune system). Anyway, I did test for west Nile, negative.

Symptoms I've noticed recently:

-Low blood pressure all the time, with exercise not really influencing it too much (107/68 immediately after a run the other day).

-Blood pressure decreases RAPIDLY upon going downhill - will go from 140 to 110 nearly instantly. Lack of vasopressin/adrenaline?

-Pretty slow pulse that doesn't raise very easily with exertion at times (some days it's easy to elevate my pulse and other days seems nearly impossible)

-Icy cold hands and feet after meals - even when the rest of my body is warm

-Checked out blood sugar surrounding a bad run I had - 94 at the start, 122 immediately after easy run.4 and 5 hours fasted, respectively. Insulin resistance?

-Extremely tired after meals/headaches

-Overwhelming fatigue and lack of focus

Really hard to get any of my graduate coursework done in this state.

ZingZoon wrote:

Heal yourself. Visualize yourself being healthy and energetic (learn how to get into an "alpha" state), then start to act as if you are. In the visualization, feel the joy and the energy of health. Imagine it in detail. Each day, do one thing that a healthy, energetic person would do. This can't hurt. Give it a try.

This is good advice in my opinion. The cause of your problem is MOSTLY STRESS (again in my opinion). But I would make it more specific. To really cure yourself NEVER DO ANYTHING with over 80% perceived effort! Working, playing, running, talking etc. When you go over 80% effort it stresses your mind and body and makes you sick. In fact you should never go ABOVE 80% effort but you also don't want to go BELOW 80% effort! 80% is the ONLY sustainable number.

Meant to say heart rate decreases upon running downhill 140bpm to something like 110bpm nearly instantly.

I really don't think it has only to do with stress, there is most certainly a physical component going on here. I've been physically ill for months now, with various changes in lifestyle (lots of activity, zero activity, moderate activity, etc).

I'm actually with another guy in this thread, as weird as it sounds, it soudns like a form of depression.

bumbumsong wrote:

I'm actually with another guy in this thread, as weird as it sounds, it soudns like a form of depression.

I've acknowledged this point of view, because I have heard it from others, and went to a psychiatrist. I am on an SSRI now, but hasn't seemed to help much at all. The doctor I saw seemed to echo my sentiments that I am having a bout of situational depression, but it does seem to be physical in its origin.

The low blood pressure, slow resting pulse, and abnormal response to exercise are what I think have me feeling fatigued the most. I am able to tell when my BP drops pretty low, because I begin to have balance issues and feel extremely lightheaded. I have heard from others that overtraining can make you very, very sick, for up to a year at times... but its been such a long time (8-9 months now), with little alleviation of any symptoms. I would think that by now, with such a drastically reduced training regime that I would feel at least somewhat better.

My testosterone was also somewhat low for my age at 387 ng/dL. Vitamin D was 37, so also somewhat low. I am treating with Vitamin D now, with a little success at first, but not much different at the moment. It seems that I may just have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, and be in the same boat as this fellow:

However, still desperately looking for other possibilities.

OP, have you had a CT scan with contrast (or an MRI) to look into the possibility of a pituitary adenoma? Your issues certainly sound endocrine-related to me.

I was feeling really fatigued for months, had a terrible track season, was just done. Ended up getting so feverish and ill with a high heartrate that sky rocketed, that's what had me scared. Had to go to the ER it was that bad. Ended up having pneumonia all over in my lungs. I took antibiotics and was instantly human again. sometimes it's just viruses and stuff that can affect the body. It seems never ending but it will go away if you have a positive attitude.

my suggestion. Stop worrying so much about your health. Too much focus on the problem makes it even worse and depresses you. Don't run to be fast right now, do it here and there to keep fit, hit up some trails and run for time. Like 30 to 50 minutes.

Thanks. This is where I've been at for the last couple months. Just trying to not focus on it too much and live a healthy lifestyle as best I can... little bit of running and a good diet. When its been this long though, its hard not to think about it and look for other answers. I really appreciate the positive response.

I thought about this and mentioned it to my doctor a few months ago. He really didn't think it was a possibility because my TSH was elevated, and so didn't order the scan. This might be something I'll try looking into again though.

bumbumsong wrote:

I'm actually with another guy in this thread, as weird as it sounds, it soudns like a form of depression.

In my opinion depression is caused by stress too. So the simplist cause for ALL your symptoms is STRESS. I have found the simplist CURE for stress is NEVER go over 80% effort! Either mentally or physically. So if you are going to worry do not worry over 80%!

@ OP

Your experience seems similar to that of ultrarunner Geoff Roes. He was at the top of the UR world a few year ago and then in recent years had baffling fatigue similar to yours. Much of his experience is documented here on his blog:

http://akrunning.blogspot.com/

You might consider getting in touch with him to trade notes???

All the best.

PacificNWRunner wrote:

I thought about this and mentioned it to my doctor a few months ago. He really didn't think it was a possibility because my TSH was elevated, and so didn't order the scan. This might be something I'll try looking into again though.

That makes no sense. TSH is secreted by the pituitary, and an adenoma may result in hypo or hyperfunctionality. In fact, the most common pituitary adenoma is a prolactinoma that is secreting tons of prolactin.

Additionally, it seems odd that you have an elevated TSH, yet have not been worked up further for hypothyroidism . . .

Actually, looking back at your OP I see that your TSH was within normal limits. Was it a previous reading that was elevated?

Sorry, how does that not make sense? I guess I should have clarified and said "elevated" in the sense that there was no indication that it was hyper- or hypofunctional because my TSH was within the "normal" range (albeit on the higher end of normal). I tested once at 2.80 and in another earlier instance at 3.00, the higher end of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists' 0.3 to 3.0 range. As posted in my original post, I did have additional thyroid work-up, with my T3, T4, and thyroid antibodies tested, all coming back in the "normal" range as well. I do have MANY of the symptoms of hypothyroidism however, and doubt that my TSH is normally that high. I guess its just a matter of what is causing those symptoms. Also had prolactin tested later, which came back normal.

Thanks so much, I will definitely get in tough. Reading his blog, I feel as though I am reading my own thoughts. Eerily similar.

PacificNWRunner wrote:

Sorry, how does that not make sense?

Because multiple hormones are secreted by the pituitary, and the absence of a derangement in one of them doesn't rule out a pituitary adenoma.

That said, I'd have a very low suspicion for that in the first place (and even lower with a normal prolactin), but nonetheless your PCP's initial reasoning (if you're truly relaying his actual thought process) is slightly off.

Either way, good luck.

Another Geoff Roes column in which he discusses the onset of his symptoms:

http://www.irunfar.com/2013/04/one-story-of-overtraining.html