One of my best yet worst runs ever!

Hi all - boring personal post, please ignore as you wish!

Had my first run (jog) since January today, very slow and not that far (1.3mi) and my legs and glutes feel a bit achy but job done! I've had fatigue for over 2 years with only a short spell last year when things seemed okay, at times even a 10 minute stroll was too much so this is a big step up. If I still feel okay on Saturday (the down after doing too much usually takes a day or so to really kick in) then maybe another short run next week!

Sorry to add yet another crap thread but I was rather chuffed with myself..

Comments

  • SteadyCJSteadyCJ ✭✭✭

    Congrats to you, at least you tried and only you know how hard its been over the last 2 years. I remember posting on another thread after my broken wrist and you not being able to do much then.

    Just remember to take things slowly and build up very gradually. If I were you I would feel chuffed. As it is I have had to take a week off due to a nasty insect bite just above the ankle that needed medical attention. I will be happy to do a mile at any speed this weekend.

  • Thanks SCJ - soryy to hear about those little biters getting you. Antibiotics? I had an infected bite a few weeks back, it reacted in the classic bullseye seen with Lyme disease which was one of the tests I had earlier in the year (negative that time!).

    Maybe just relax and enjoy doing other things? Hope you're better soon!

  • Well done Peter. Keep listening to your body, and doing stuff you can, without doing too much. My wife had CF for 3 years. She did a thing called the Lightning Process last November, which has been incredible. She's well and running up to 5 miles.

  • Cheers exiled claret - what's the Lightning Process? Glad your wife is better, it certainly is a pain in the a**e of an illness. I probably won't run again for a while, it was a spur of the moment thing today - just sick of walking!

  • Well done Peter, hope you are well and that the buzz of the run stays with you longer than the aches!

  • Hi Peter. It's a bit hard to explain. The basic idea is that the CF is caused by your body getting into a sort of cycle of responding to any kind of "stress" - not just anxiety stress, by overproduction of adrenaline. It is basically like living permanently with a tiger in the room, which we are not really designed to do, hence all the many and varied symptoms.

    The Lightning Process tries to break into that cycle, and the way it uses is by teaching you a process to control what messages your brain is sending and stop the overproduction of adrenaline.

    You have to be prepared to work at it and "do the process" for it to work - it's not just like taking a pill. It is a 3 day course to teach you how to do it. Unfortunately not available on the NHS and cost about £600, which is a pretty big gamble if it doesn't work, in the end we just reached a point where we said we had heard good things about it, and it was stupid to have a possible cure that we hadn't explored. It is the best £600 we have ever spent - I have my wife back!!!!! For some people it is a slower recovery, for some pretty amazing. My wife came back from the first day and said "Let's go for a walk" - just a short one, about 1.5 miles round a local hill, but no way could she have done it before. The morning following the last day, she appeared in the front room and said "I'm going for a run" - she did one mile, but again absolutely no way she could have done that before.

    I know 6 people who have done it, 5 have had pretty impressive recoveries, one hasn't, but by her own admission she didn't really stick to it and do it properly.

    I have no personal involvement in the process, and nothing to gain from it, just grateful a friend recommended it to my wife. I should say I am a science teacher, and quite sceptical of many things "alternative". I've not idea how it works - it all seems a bit wierd, but it did work for my wife!

    Sorry, long post, but hope it's helpful. There's quite a lot of info on the web if you look around.

  • Thanks Springle, feeling a bit sore today which is great in a strange kind of way, but so far no ill effects (touches wood!).

    exiled claret - thanks for taking the time to explain, sounds interesting. Glad it worked for your wife, there must be something in it then. I've read that one of the current views is that the immune system kicks in because of a virus or similar and then doesn't stop. So it's like you have permanent flu which describes it well for me. Stupid thing was though I recovered last year and like an idiot decided to get back to training for an autumn marathon. Went from nothing to two or three 5k runs a week to 50+mpw in around three months and then wondered why it all went wrong! I've got an appointment with someone who specialises in adrenal fatigue next week, so hopefully that'll help bring it to an end and give me some tips to prevent another relapse.

    Cheers, Peter.

  • Sorry to hear you have fatigue Peter, I've been suffering too, albeit only since Jan, and, as you say it's a pain in the a**e. Most interestingly, it seems that you thought you had recovered, and then went downhill again, well there's a warning ! After seeing countless Doctors and specialists to rule out all else, I was advised to start light training again to gently boost my immune system. Terrified to exercise again after making very slow progress, I found some advice on this site from Rowex, it's about keeping your heart rate low and increasing duration slowly - http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/health--injury/post-viral-fatigue/82684.html

    Would be interested to hear from anybody that is also using Rowex's advice or similar styled training plan, it's the best I've come across and I have made progress. 

  • Hi Phil P - I have seen that or similar and I generally follow the advice. I stopped all exercise for months and re-introduced very slowly. I haven't run again and I'm sticking to walking which is going well. If I were you I would always stop exercise feeling like I could have done more - don't tire yourself. I also regularly check my resting HR - it seems finally to be fairly normal now.

    I wasn't overly impressed with my hospital experience - apart from the appointment cock-ups, the specialists don't really seem to be interested in you and your problems - they just go through their checklist of tests and if they all prove negative it's out the door sharpish! My neurologist suggested cognitive behaviour therapy - I don't want to think nice thoughts about headaches that make me nauseous, giddy, cause my sight to go fuzzy - I want them to stop!!

    I've now been to see a nutitionist who specialises in adrenal fatigue. He thinks my issues probably started a few years back when I had a nasty dose of Noro Virus - the antibiotics probably let the "bad" gut bacteria take hold which, in my own non-technical language, caused my immune system to go bananas with the result being that my adrenal function crashed once the stress in my life got too much (work and overtraining). I'm now working on killing the bacteria, building up the good bacteria and supporting the adrenals and immune system. Fingers crossed this should work!

    Good luck, I hope you feel better soon.

  • Hi Peter, your experience is very interesting, but awful that the hospital consultants are not interested. I'm seeing a nutritionist too, but am not aware that I'm being treated for adrenal fatigue (that I know of), though my acupuncturist tried to sort out my adrenals some months ago.  I check resting HR too (normally when I wake),  it's quite low when I'm feeling well, normally mid 40s, which is I believe is low for a 42 year old, but there again it's always been low. When I first got ill my HR was a constant 90! If you want to message me feel free, we may have some common ground and share some useful info.

  • Hi Phil - sent you a test message as RW says you don't accept PMs!

    Your HR may just be where it should be - we all have different RHRs and if it normally is in the 40s then that sounds good! I check mine last thing at night and first thing in the morning and over the last few weeks it has settled. Strangely I have been feeling better since another course of antbiotics - I thought that meant I had been suffering from an infection all this time but the nutritionist said that probably I had just killed off the gut bacteria again (it was a two week double strength course).

    I only saw him last week but the meeting felt very positive. Had to order tons of stuff (not from him - various suppliers). All supplements to either perk me up, help me sleep, kill off the bad bacteria, build up my stomach acid or repopulate with the good bacteria. Also on a high protein diet, apparently sugars feed the bacteria.

    Might be worth enquiring about with your nutritionist?

  • Just a thought, Phil P, but have you had your thyroid function tested?  If it is underactive can cause a whole heap of fatigue and...a low resting heart rate.  Sorry if you have ruled this out.  It's jut that Doctor's often don't bother testing men for this as much more common amongst women.  But me, my sister AND brother all have it so it can affect men too.  

  • Hi McFlooze. yes, I think the endocrine clinic tested my thyroid function, but for a while I was convinced that was the problem too - as I hurt all around my neck and collarbones and I lost a lot of weight. I believe I've had just about every check possible. I reckon I just overdid it all, looking back on it, what I used to manage to cram into a day baffles many people. It's possible chronic fatigue is genetic, as are often auto immune issues. I never would have believed in 'fatigue' until I suffered it, my cousin felt the same, but fell ill to it too.    

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