hexron

Anyone have chronic fatigue they couldn't shake? I'm interested in hearing people's experience coping with this. What's the line between over-doing it a bit and a real problem?

I've been dealing with this for a couple years now. I've got all kinds of issues that generally fall into lack of recovery: waking up constantly at night, muscle soreness that lasts too long, moodiness from being tired all the time is the one my wife just loves. I'm not even riding that much right now - but when I do it leaves me feeling depleted.

Ogsarg

Just my opinion but this is one of those things that you should be discussing with your doctor or a specialist if your doctor and you agree that it's appropriate. There are many things that could be factors, you need someone that knows your history and can work with you to try and figure out what the issue is. Whatever you do, hope you figure it out and find a good treatment.

Steeljag

Campag4life

+3 what ogsarg said.

Can you tell us what brought you to this point? Can you share your combination of contributing factors in your opinion? Overtraining?. Job/life stress?
I personally struggle with fatigue if I overtrain and I am a reasonably fit older rider.

I join the others to wish you well. No fun to feel run down. I found too much riding or too many miles combined with too much intensity for me did more harm than good.

I presume you have had a complete physical with blood work as a starting point.

02Giant 

After 20+ years of seeing different doctors, and hearing nothing is wrong, mine turned out to be Hemochromatosis.

TMonk

Take enough time off the bike to rule training stress out of the equation. For most of us a few days off will do it but if you've really dug a hole you might need a week off and then a couple months of reduced volume. Do you train with power? That's a good way to be objective about bike-specific induced fatigue.

Once you can rule that out, if you're still fatigued, see a doctor. Focus on nutrition, relaxation and a positive attitude. Be low - be easy.

So basically + 1 to what everyone else has already said

hexron

Sorry - yes thanks - I did see a doctor - total blood work - was worried about thyroid - everything came back A OK.

canklecat

Yup. Mine turned out to be thyroid problems. I neglected it for years until I was so exhausted I could barely walk this summer. And could hardly swallow from the swelling.

Just had surgery in November. They found cancer but no sign of metastasis. Just anxious to get my thyroid levels and energy back to whatever is normal for my age (61).

I still manage one hard workout a week, either a 20-30 ride at my limit, or intervals on the trainer. And a couple of easier rides or spins. I'm slower and tire easily but, hey, I'm alive and riding.

But I've had to discontinue the back to back rides or spins, and force myself to get more rest. That's hard. Seems like there's always something that needs to be done and I feel like sleeping longer than 4-6 hours is a waste of time.

But I'm gradually changing my habits to suit whatever passes for reality.

And I'm taking more vitamins and supplements. I'll experiment with anything considered reasonably safe. But most don't seem to do anything: pregnenolone, DHEA, gaba, glucosamine, etc.

Maybe I need to reevaluate them after my thyroid supplement level stabilizes. I might be expecting too much from supplements.

CBD has a mild effect comparable to coffee. Seems like mostly hype to me but some folks seem to benefit from it. I'll drink coffee. It's a cost effective ergogenic and helps NSAIDs work better. And it's coffee. Tastes good and civilizes me in the morning.

Bromelain seems promising for mild chronic inflammation so I'll keep trying it. I got some mixed with melatonin and valerian root for sleep and it's effective without making me groggy.

rousseau

Obviously you can't heed medical device from strangers on an internet forum. But sometimes hearing about other people's experiences can be helpful, if only to spur you on to discuss the pursuit of a different diagnosis with your doctor.

Ten years ago I went through exactly what you have described here. They checked the whole physiological shebang and came up with nothing. Healthy as a horse. Is that a saying? Not sure, but I'm going with it.

Except I was feeling tired all the time, could barely ride at all, and kept on having these hypoglycemic episodes that were driving me crazy. I was hyper sensitive to any perceived "blood crash," and started monitoring my calorie intake like a diabetic. But every single thing Dr. Google diagnosed me with was contradicted by my real life GP. I didn't have diabetes, lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome or even hemochromatosis (though my uncle actually does).

What I did have, it turns out...was generalized anxiety disorder. I've actually had it my whole life, I now realize, but it was never overly disruptive, and I wasn't ever conscious that I had any sort of condition. Which in retrospect was just as well, as I more or less lived a "normal" life. Eventually it was explained to me by a mental health professional that where I was able to bounce back fairly easily from episodes or setbacks back in my teens and twenties, by the time I hit my forties being walloped by a couple of major stressors (financial etc.) was too much for me to simply brush off. I went on a low dose of an antidepressant and did cognitive therapy, and it worked wonders.

I'm not playing at being a doctor here. However, I am suggesting that perhaps, if and when they've ruled out all of the physiological possibilities, you might want to investigate the mental side of things.

Doge

I've seen it a lot - basically from over training, so that is different than Epstein-Barr. Often the Dr does not deal with folks that work out a lot. Still a good idea to validate it is not a virus, or there is not some bone marrow thing.
Lots of things to ask if it is NOT a virus, or real blood/bone thing.
-How much do you train/workout and what?
-Blood test results - Is hematocrit OK, did they test that?
-Diet - Vegan or hi carb?
-How much sleep a night?
-Got a pulse Oximeter? ($20) - what is your SPO2?
-What is your blood pressure? Standing/sitting?
-What is your morning resting HR.

canklecat

Ditto, anxiety. That can grind us down so gradually we're barely aware of the underlying reason for fatigue, chronic pain, erratic blood pressure and heart rate.

Dealing with that myself now and making my overall health and well being a priority for the first time in my life.

I was able to track my stressors by checking my BP and HR throughout the day and noting any apparent correspondence between fluctuations and my activities, including what I was reading, watching on TV or listening to.

I cut out a lot of stuff that passes for entertainment and information but were actually just fruitless stressors.

The radio is usually on classical music now. I'll listen to other stuff, but not as background music.

I avoid TV police procedurals, true crime shows, anything loud and obnoxious. Sci-Fi and even horror are okay because they're obviously fiction.

But those ubiquitous crime shows provoke a constant low level of fear, paranoia and irritation. I've noticed it in most people who overindulge in those programs. It's fear porn. My mom watched way too much of that stuff and I told her it was bad for her peace of mind. She switched to sitcoms and seemed happier.

I avoid obnoxious people. Including most of my own relatives. Nuff said.

I've noticed even my cats have responded. I adopted my late mom's two adult cats, who'd always ignored me or were semi hostile toward me. Now we're buddies and the main conflict is over which cat gets lap time.

GreenAnvil

StanSeven

Nachoman

I'm always fatigued too. But I think I know why.
I don't sleep well, I work more than full time, I have an active family (which I affectionately call my 'other' full time job) and I cycle pretty hard four days a week.

Campag4life

Hey guys, just want to say because the OP is missing in action and didn't have the courtesy to respond to all the great input and questions, its been an informative thread for any of us that suffer from fatigue from perhaps too much riding. Input has been enlightening.

You have to laugh. Members here took the time to share their experience and the OP is essentially MIA. No substantive response.
Crap in, crap out.

Just want to say a good subject for all of us to better understand as I believe chronic fatigue is quite common in endurance sports like cycling, running and even endurance swimming. It could even be conjectured that what we are asking our bodies to do in terms of net stress, jobs, living, and prolonged endurance training...our genetics based upon evolution likely aren't equipped for this aggregate assault as previous cave dwellers. Body needs exercise but rest as well including proper nutrition and of course sleep to rebuild. Lots of stress in society today which no doubt is additive as reflected by informative comments by members that have experienced CFS on some level.

MoAlpha

seedsbelize 

Informed input is always good. In my particular case, after having been on 20mg Prozac for five or six years, I took it upon myself to go every other day. My energy has improved significantly and immediately.

Doctor Morbius

I finally found out one of the reasons I feel like crap all the time. I took a sleep study last summer and discovered I have sleep apnea and wake up 18.5 times per hour.

Doctor Morbius

No kidding? I take 60mg daily. At 40mg I don't even feel like getting out of bed. Maybe I should try cutting back a bit.

canklecat

Sounds like personal experience. I know the feeling. My symptoms tick every box in the ME/CFS checklist. But not a single doctor I've seen has ever given any credence to the existence of chronic fatigue syndrome in any form as an entity apart from other causes. They've always insisted there are other root causes for those symptoms.

The tricky part is finding a doctor or specialist to actually take the time to dig into those hypothetical underlying causes.

In my case it was primarily due to Hashimoto's, a pesky auto-immune disorder that mostly characterizes hypothyroidism. I had surgery in November to remove a cancerous thyroid lobe. By that time it was distorting and crushing my esophagus and trachea. Now I can swallow solid food again with gagging. I still don't feel much better, nowhere near my level of fitness of this time last year. But it'll take awhile to recover. I'm just impatient.

And not a single neurologist has agreed on the reasons for the lifelong severe headaches: migraine, cluster headache, trigeminal neuralgia, they dunno. And they lose interest quickly when there's no apparent cause, or when I didn't respond to the various meds: ergotamine derivatives like cafergot, Imitrex, valproic acid, etc. Only beta blockers like metoprolol seemed to help. Personally I think it's due to chronic sinus congestion from allergies. When I got pumped full of prednisone and antibiotics last month the symptoms and severity of headaches eased up.

Where my symptoms differ from those described by some folks suffering from ME/CFS is that my chronic pain does respond to exercise. I have to be careful to warm up and cool down gradually, but in between I can do some reasonably hard workouts and even interval training. The best I ever feel is during those times, and for a few hours afterward.

But every morning I wake up in pain and it can take hours for it to ease up enough to get moving. It's frustrating but I've never found a doctor in more than 40 years of looking who's particularly interested. They look for single issue root causes and figure that will cure the symptoms they regard as byproducts of whatever the organic cause might be.

And they might be right. Almost every time I've second guessed my doctors I've been wrong.

Also, a lot of my chronic pain is from injuries -- mostly neck, back and shoulder. There may not be much anyone can do about that, other than anti-inflammatories. I have prescription pain meds but try to avoid using them unless nothing else works -- the stuff makes me too drowsy to function. They're offered gabapentin but it did nothing for me. It's not the type of neuropathic pain that gabapentin can help with. Kratom helps without drowsiness or noticeable side effects but the FDA is threatening to ban it and the VA, where I get medical care, seems to regard it as a "recreational drug." CBD hasn't helped me but others report it helps them.

It's a chore but I'm fortunate that I'm able to get some exercise and that it does help for awhile. I've met some folks who are too miserable or disabled to do the kind of aerobic exercise that seems to help me.

Campag4life

You are a thoughtful man and we could have a philosophical discussion about the all encompassing fruit basket called CFS. I believe you framed the condition precisely. Doctors are loath to sign up to the fruit basket as a generic catch all and btw, they are likely right...it is a specific rotten fruit...or couple of fruit of why the basket goes bad. Autoimmune is such a black hole. Doctors in fact don't really understand the mechanism of pain because of all the complicated contributors. State of mind affects pain tolerance in fact. We are walking chemistry sets. Perhaps you agree or not. For example I believe you feel you fall within the umbrella of CFS and yet your root cause was discovered aka hypothyroidism and you underwent surgery to correct it.

A question please....did a blood test direct your doctor toward a dysfunctional thyroid? Based upon your understanding of CFS, is a blood test always the best starting point for diagnosing the root cause for CFS?

I hope you feel better each day.

GrainBrain

Just thought I'd throw in to drink more water! They recommend at least half a gallon of water a day, I struggle to get that. So I've been working a lot more on staying hydrated. Having a kiddo I'll catch tons of random viruses so I've found if I'm lagging for a few days taking a men's multivitamin can help.

Also I've found a few ibuprofens before bed can really make a difference sleeping if I feel slightly achy.

When the wild fires were roaring out west we had air quality issues here that caused me to fatigue. Guy at the bike shop said it was hay fever, I'd never had anything like that before so it was surprising.

canklecat

If I'm recalling correctly the sequence of events, after my neck was broken in 2001 (an SUV t-boned my compact car) an ortho or neuro doc spotted some enlargement in my thyroid and told me to get it checked out.

My family doc did a thyroid panel and found it was abnormal. After an interview to check my overall symptoms he said it ticked the boxes for Hashimoto's, not just hypothyroidism. I had a hodge-podge of seemingly unrelated symptoms that my previous doctors had ignored because they were thinking in terms of their niche specialties. It ranged from not just low energy to a fairly sudden onset of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis that came and went without any apparent pattern, body-wide aching during those episodes that lasted for days or weeks, increasing incidence and severity of headaches, depression, etc.

A rural county clinic was able to provide meds at no cost because I was out of work for years after the car wreck injuries. They included levothyroxine. Seemed to help.

But in 2006 I realized my mom wouldn't be able to live alone much longer -- early signs of Alzheimer's, worsening physical disabilities due to osteoarthritis and multiple falls with worsening back injuries and concussions, etc. I'd just finished a stint as caregiver for both grandparents (I was a Navy Hospital Corpsman and seemed to be the logical choice to handle those duties). So I took over the same chore for my mom, which lasted 11 years. I didn't expect it to be that long, but mom improved physically while her dementia worsened -- partly because I'm a good cook and got her off the junk food and onto a good diet, and ensured she made her medical appointments and took her meds. She lost about 50 lbs over a period of years, and I lost about 25 lbs -- I'd ballooned to 205 after my car wreck injuries, way above my natural 150-160.

Anyway, during that time I neglected my own health. Never went to the doctor, didn't renew my thyroid meds. I fell into the cliched caregiver trap of self neglect.

In late 2017 while riding on the MUP -- slowly -- I passed a small group walking and we started chatting. The woman took a look at me and said "You need to get that thyroid problem taken care of." Turns out she's an internist. Alas, her practice was outside my coverage area or I'd have visited her practice ASAP. Anyway, she said it wasn't just the lump in the neck but my overall appearance. That was startling.

But I still didn't do anything about it. My mom's dementia was rapidly worsening and she'd lost Medicaid coverage for visiting nurses and aids. So anytime I was away for errands or a bike ride I had to depend on neighbors to keep an eye on mom, but that wasn't practical at night or for more than a few hours once or twice a week.So I didn't go to the doctor until May 2018 when I was hit by a car while riding my bike. The neck X-rays showed the thyroid was much worse -- basically calcified and radio-opaque from calcification. Fortunately that helped encapsulate the cancer so it didn't spread. By then mom was in a nursing home and I had the rest of 2018 just to take care of my own health issues. Surgery in November went well. It's just taking awhile to get my energy back.

Some days are better than others. Most of last week was pretty miserable. Today is pretty good. So I'm going for a bike ride.

Thanks. A good day is when I wake up wanting to ride my bike, instead of wishing I felt like riding my bike.