Hi All,
I’m seeing advice on this one as I can’t figure out what kind of virus this is and wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience. Right after finishing my 90 runs in 100 days, I traveled to Spain for a bike trip 3 weeks ago where I rode 400 miles and really pushed myself every day. When I got home, instead of resting a lot like I should have, I got back into training pretty quickly and felt good, but by day 3 I was exhausted. Next thing I know…a little cough develops. I take really good care of myself and stay in bed almost exclusively, eat extremely healthy and take my vitamins. My illness changes to a profound weakness if I do anything physical at all along with the cough which really isn’t too bad compared to any past colds. I also get a hint of dizziness whenever I walk around more than a few minutes. No fever and no chills and no muscle aches…just unbelievable fatigue when I do anything. This has continued now non-stop with no signs of improvement for 8 days straight. I have taken off work this whole time as just walking from the car to the office completely exhausts me. I have never had a virus linger so long and not improve at all despite me sleeping a solid 9 hours at night plus naps and taking impeccable care of myself. The dizzy thing really bothers me too. Of course, I have my Kona qualifier in 3 weeks and I have written that off, although I still plan to race (assuming I eventually get better). I got tons of bloodwork done and chest rads. All was normal except a leukopenia consistent with a viral infection. What the hell kind of virus is this! Has anyone experienced this before and if so, can you tell me if and when I might improve??
Epstein Barr?
Was tested for EBV. Negative.
I would go see an infectious disease specialist ASAP. It may be nothing more than a virus but it sounds pretty scary. Just coming back from international travel you may have picked up somithing totally random while overseas. Those guys are really plugged in to what is out there when you visit other countries. This may very typical presentation of disease X.
My 2 cents. I would not sit on this.
What else is going on in your life?
I trained myself into a huge hole about 15 years ago. I had a new job, first child and the stress on top of training stress was not a good thing. I responded to reduced performance by trying to train harder causing a downward spiral. I experienced a feeling of fatigue, low grade fevers. I finally took about 6 months off from training and then slowly started back up.
Hope you get it figured out soon. Good luck
I would go see an infectious disease specialist ASAP. It may be nothing more than a virus but it sounds pretty scary. Just coming back from international travel you may have picked up somithing totally random while overseas. Those guys are really plugged in to what is out there when you visit other countries. This may very typical presentation of disease X.
My 2 cents. I would not sit on this.
Disclaimer: not an MD
I’d ask for the routine tests to be run again - any test has a chance of a false negative (though very slight, false positives and false negatives are possible… though the probability of ALL false negatives if they tested for a whole bunch of stuff is super low)
and ditto the above.
Similar thing here. Never really recovered after marathon in February. My symptoms varied from muscle aches, to headaches, to ear ache; but always had fatigue. Went on for weeks, and two visits to the doctor. He said he had seen atleast 30 patients with the same symptoms. Healthy people were showing up with it, college swimmers, runners, etc. Described it as ‘mono like’ virus, that I could waste my money testing on, or just grin and bear it. I’m finally feeling better this week.
Disclaimer: not an MD
Did they do a chest x-ray? It could still be pneumonia, even w/o a severe cough or fever. And did you get a CBC? See what your WBC’s are doing and get a differential.
Dang…that sounds a lot like what I have. My doc said she had another female runner patient with similar signs, but didn’t say when or if she eventually got over it. How many weeks would you say you had it in total? Could you train through it at all at some point without going backwards? What state do you live in? I’m in Colorado.
nad…yep…normal chest rads and just a leukopenia on the CBC consistent with a viral infection. Chem panel, thyroid and mono tests WNL.
Wouldn’t it be a leukocytosis for an infection?
Bacterial infections most commonly cause a leukocytosis. Viral infections usually cause a leukopenia due to neutropenia (despite a lymphocytosis).
Don’t have anything to add other than hoping you get well soon!
Lyme checked? EKG?
(Not an MD)
Had a personal experience similar to that last year (and about 11 years before that, but it’s not quite germane to this discussion). I took every physical exam under the sun and everything came back normal. Textbook. I kept looking around for a doctor to try and find some physical explaination until I got a primary care physician who sat me down and leveled with me:
I was suffering from depression.
Deep down I knew he was right. I had been using exercise to cope with a lot of internal conflicts, but I reached the point where training and racing was causing me excessive anxiety. My body did the only thing it could; It shut down.
I got physically better in a couple weeks. Mentally, though, well lets just say it’s been a long slog ever since.
Again not an MD, but maybe you should consider psychological causes.
Ask them to check for CMV. It’s a viral infection that attacks various organs etc in your body. People with compromised immune systems or any autoimmune issue are especially susceptible. I’ve had several go-rounds with it, and it is not fun.