I am no triathlete (elite rower/ full-time athlete. Male, 28). Posting here, as this is the best thread on OTS I have seen on the web so far. Might be helpful to you guys, as my situation/symptoms was pretty similar to yours. Plus, I had to leave the record of my ordeal somewhere!
Basically, got a virus last summer (mid-August) and trained through it as I always do. Felt a bit unwell after, but it seemed to be going away, so I just kept on going. About a week later I have noticed an abnormally loud (and annoying) heart rate after finishing a session. Every single beat would literally shake my chest. I stopped exercising immediately, however, sadly it was too late.
Over the next two weeks I have had all of my flu symptoms back (muscle pain/general malaise, blocked nose, headaches) with the soddin’ ‘loud’ HR on top. Resting HR was abnormally high (for me), a massive jump from around 41 bpm to approx. 64 bpm. I have also developed annoying nausea which nothing seemed to get rid of. My appetite was non-existent; a full-blown fight/flight anxiety kicked in – insomnia followed as a result. Add on a crushing, persistent fatigue and you will get the whole picture – was having to persuade myself to have a bloody shower in the morning! Med tests (ECG, bloods) came back normal.
I had absolutely no desire to train, but was pretty anxious about losing my place in our group of pros. This led to two premature comeback attempts in late September, which only made things worse and completely killed off any health improvements I made over previous weeks.
It seemed like a ‘normal’ virus/post-viral so I thought I’d just rest it out. Haha, nope. I was in for a ride of my life. Nausea stayed until late November and would drive me up the wall some weeks, never threw up anything, though. Blocked nose stayed until mid-October, with muscle pain going away in early November. Fatigue began to disappear around then as well. Total time needed to kill the symptoms was 3.5 months, did not feel the urge to come back to any training for another full month after my symptoms died.
Why it happened? I have not rested enough – actually not had any rest during off season for my entire rowing career – solid 8 years. That (and some occasional academic/uni. stress) is the only reason that immediately springs to mind. I have always handled volume and power/weight sessions well, no matter what was said in the programme. I guess my body just wanted some time off and had to make me sick so I rested.
My symptoms: lowered body temp (36.1 C, enough to make me very cold), persistent nausea/GI stress, strong fatigue, lack of appetite, muscle pains, insomnia, ‘loud’ and elevated HR.
A few things I found useful in my situation:
-Forget about your sporting career – the sooner you do it, the sooner you’ll recover. Sport is no more for you, period. Take your mind off sport and play on your PS3 all day (I doubt you’d find power to do anything more productive with this stupid fatigue). Watch comedy. Play with your cat/dog. Get fat, if you can – I could not put any ‘recovery weight’ on until about 3 months into my OTS when my symptoms started improving.
-Take a lot of time off (I hate the word ‘rest’ – hardly applicable when you want to spill your guts for months!). No training whatsoever, go for short walks only if you absolutely must. If you feel like staying in and doing nothing then this is exactly what you should do. Read books or somth. To all those in full-time jobs – find ways to take at least 1 month off. Lie and cheat if you have to – I doubt your bosses will find you productive with a full-blown OTS anyway.
-Do not get caught in in the ‘cortisol/DHEA/whateverda****elsethereis’ hype, unless you are SURE you have these out of whack! My hormone tests came back normal, the only thing off was the estradiol/progesterone ratio, with estradiol being prevalent. I did nothing to correct this and it was not needed in the end. A point on blood pressure – mine was a perfect 120/70 throughout the OTS. I guess its individual.
-Diet – I just ate what I wanted (provided my stomach allowed it). Tons of veg and potatoes, meat and fish, dark chocolate, fresh fruit and bread. Force food down if you know you haven’t eaten enough. No fuel – no recovery.
-Research OTS and ask tough questions to yourself. Find things that did you in and figure out what do you want from your sport. Give up any unrealistic goals and rosy Olympic dreams for the time being. You time will eventually come, but it won’t be until you found and fixed most of the issues that set you back in being a successful athlete.
-Supplements – looking back, nothing really helped apart from two: Vit B15 and Piracetam. These put your CNS back into place and clam you down in process. I have made massive recovery progress after only two weeks on B15 (1g/day).
I suppose, I was lucky – I am funded through my relatives’ business and have no pressure on me to get back out until I feel 100% fixed. Not having to work also helps enormously.
Good luck and peace be with ya all!