I came down with some pretty crappy virus over a month or so ago – not really flu but not really a cold either.

Pretty much knocked me out for about 10 days (which took me a bit by suprise) and then seemed to go to my chest which led to an Asthma flare up. Course of steroids later and asthma has improved a fair amount but still feel pretty much like I am carrying a virus (swollen glands, sore throat etc) ie right back at square one.

Will this ever go away and how can I help it along? People just say plenty of rest and relaxation but WTF does than mean – don’t seem ill enough to be signed off work sort of thing.

I have a history of severe depression and anxiety and I can’t help but think all these things are related and my virus is a stress response as was in all probability the 6 months I suffered with Gastritis all the second half of last year.

My own GP has quite literally gone AWOL so I have no relationship or history with the Dr I have seen and he seems completely oblivious to my history and I don’t sense he has a holistic view.

Any advice – sure there must be a lot of us top atheletes(!) who have struggled with ongoing non-specific viruses

Thx
Gary

Multivitamins, plenty of fruit and veg, plenty of fluids (water) and plenty of sleep.

It may be you have to take time off work, to let yourself relax enough to recover properly.

A doctor shouldn’t need to know your history- whats important is what is happening now, and neither the doctor or you should be looking at previous issues. If you do, you’ll just get caught up in the feelings of depression again.

Gary, I’m sorry to hear that you are feeling so crappy!

If it’s any consolation, my whole family have suffered with a series of viruses over this winter. They have been gastric and chesty viruses. I had asthma as a result of these which lasted for 6-8 weeks. I used to get asthma from time to time and after seeing the doctor recently, was lead to believe I’d end up on inhalers for the long term. This proved not to be so. This bout of asthma went on for weeks and I don’t usually bother seeing a doctor. It lingered on until it suddenly cleared up.

My advice is don’t worry about it. It will pass. Your GP should have told you there has been a lot of this going around.

Doctor’s these days are all too ready to prescribe medicines. Years ago they told my wife she had arthtiris and that this would become a debilitating life long illness. You can imaging how we all felt! A year or so later it went and 18 years on there have been no recurrences.

My friend gave up smoking a while ago and put on weight. he also gave up cycling. He has seen his GP a few times about high blood pressure and is on his second type of drugs. There are all sorts of side effects and he’s taking other medicines to counteract these side effect. I can’t help thinking that this toxic coctail is not helping, possibly making things worse. I suggested to him that he takes a very close look at his diet and starts a gentle, but regular exercise regime. However, the doctor advised him not to exercise unless he wanted a stroke or and heart attack. This friend is my age, just 45.

Where anxiety and depresion are concerned, this is another scenario where pills get dished out willy nilly, but with no other treatment. Counselling can be useful and some self-help is highly recommended (try a book called “Manage Your Mind” – gives people strategies for dealing with all manner of pressures).

The probelm with being on medication for anxiety and depression is that it’s always a long term thing. As a patient with no counselling, one is left feeling like a casualty. Conversely, too much counselling and digging up of things that really are not relevant can lead to the creation of further issues and/or the perpetuation of the condidtion feeling the way you do. You could even end up feeling worse. It’s almost as if these people are dragging things our to keep themselves in a job!

E.G. I have a friend who has been getting family group therapy about his wayward son. He realised after a few uncomfortable sessions when he overran his timeslot, that the counsellor was just there for the money. He stopped these sessions and now everyone in the family is getting back to normal.

A study of people in america who sufferd a traumatic event and who got counselling, came off worse than those who suffered the same event, but just got on with their lives!

My advice is therefore to get this book, learn some strategies. Identify the triggers and learn how to manage these. Pills won’t make much difference (if any) and your GP is too busy to give you the attention you might need.

It’s a fact that many many more people feel like you do, but the majority haven’t got the balls to do anything about it! People are scared witless about mental illness. This is stupid because we all feel like this from time to time. You are not loosing your marbles, you just feel down. Anxiety is just worry and depression is just sadness. For severe cases where feelings of hopelessness set in, you need support. The trick is to identify the triggers before such an episode and to deploy a strategy to prevent this. Get this book I recommend.

Stuff anyone that ridicules this condiditon, or perpetuates all the myths! Rememeber that you are really no different from anyone else.

Hope you feel better soon!

All the best!

BTW, my father was a GP and he held a similar view about over prescribing etc

It’s easy to let your physical state become a trigger for a dip in your mental health. If you can seperate the two, and that’s glossing over a difficult thing to do, then you can hopefully stay well mentally until your body picks up.

If it’s a virus, or a post-viral problem, there is little actual therapy in terms of medication available, and you simply have to wait it out, being, as suggested above, sensible in terms of diet and rest.

Take a longer term view, take your time to get better, and try to use the experience as small triumph by staying objective and mentally positive.

Sounds like you had the same thing as me, it took me 6-8weeks to get over it.

Every time I though I was clear, would wake up with a sore throat and feel rough again, only for it to improve during the day, then back to a sore throat and feeling rough again the next morning!

I ended up giving up waiting for my body to clear it and decided to fight it by getting back to the active life I was living before, cycling, running, sport. Obviously taking it easy at first, but for me it seemed to work and within a week I felt 100% better.

Not saying it will work for you GJP, but that’s how it panned out for me and I know what you mean about wondering if you will ever get over it, that’s exactly how I felt at the time.

Good luck

Ski – it is interesting what you say as I have felt I have been nursing something all winter but still kept up regular “training” etc.

Throughout Feb I had thought I was over it, I was glad I hadn’t come down with anything over the winter and had taken no sick leave etc unlike many at work which is unusual for me as I don’t tolerate minor colds etc very well.

Then upped my riding for a couple of weeks by 50% plus and then Wham.

Hi GJP.

Advice from me – take it easy, minimise significant physical and mental stress on the body as much as possible and try Co Enzyme Q10 (from 30 up to 120mg) and an l-carnitine/alpha lipoic acid combo.

These offer an excellent boost for energy levels and can really help support the immune system. I’m talking from a similar experience to you. I have researched and tried many different approaches and these work best for me, your mileage may vary.

Gentle exercise is a good way to speed up recovery from a virus BUT DO NOT OVERDO IT as you can make things worse in the long run. Swimming and walking are two very good activities to get you back on your feet, I would DEFINITELY advise staying away from Cycling or anything that will significantly elevate your heart rate until you feel 100pc.

Get well soon.

I lost my last job through illness absense but had decided that health was more important than work. I have been treated for over 15 years for clinical depression. I have to say that IME it is virtually impossible to divorce mental and physical health. I find that folk who don’t suffer from the Black Dog can’t understand what a terrible downward spiral it can be. Stay at work (& try to continue a normal life) and viral illness will in a lot of cases be very hard to shake. Take time off work and you stress about not doing your bit, depression gets worse and physical health can still suffer.

Don’t mean to paint a black picture but my experience is as described. You need to steer a path between the two. Do work understand your predicament? Would they consider letting you do half days or similar for a couple weeks? That way you could reduce your physical load and hopefully not stress too much about letting work down? If this is the case don’t get caught doing 8 hr MTB epics. Stay active, short light rides or walking to keep body and mind fresh without over straining.

Good luck to you with your health and life.

Andy S