Hi,

I’ve been lurking around a bit here because there’s very little information online about prognosis of long-term fatigue following viral illness…there’s of course the extremely depressing CFS forums, and then there were some posts on here, which seemed more positive and realistic about the course these type of things take…

I am very worried after what seemed a simple sore throat has turned into extreme fatigue for almost a month now…muscle aches…brain fog…on and off sore throat feelings.

That’s not really CFS. That’s a human getting a bug, and feeling ill for a month tbh. Not that unusual a timeframe.
I had it in November, and am going through the same now!

I’m sure it’ll pass…

DrP

Your symptoms could also be of chronic stress.

Do you spend a lot of time looking for whats wrong with you? googling, reading books, visiting forums, dr’s etc. This behaviour can maintain fatigue after the initial catalyst has gone? All this behaviour is doing is activating your flight fight response, and symptoms of chronic fight flight can be what you are listing.

2 sensible posts above. Step away from Dr Google NOW!

wow, I didn’t realize how obvious my neuroticism about this was 🙁

It is true, I do spend a lot of time reading up on possible scenarios and I do need to relax.

I’ve never felt so tired before, running and riding seem to make it worse.

It really helps to know of people who felt this way and improved though.

Stop reading and looking for excuses and get on with life.

If exercise is making your feel worse, then back off for a week or two, give your body chance to recover.

Get well soon Comet!

You will feel tired, its only natural.

Your body (and mind) is always primed due to stress hormones. Adding excersise on top will make you feel really tired.

Just take it easier with excercise while you recover – by quitting the negative behaviour.

I got trapped in this behaviour for 5 years so know how hard it can be. Just focus on other, more positive things and things will get much better over time.

I know that would be better but it’s really really hard to stop. I’ll get done with a session of browsing things and then I swear I won’t anymore…but then at some point I feel such a heavy fatigue and a sore throat or other weird things and then I just have to know more about possible outcomes!

I just wondered if anyone has any more success stories with this type of post-viral extreme lethargy

Thank you for the posts everyone

Do you take vitamin C? How are your ferritin levels? When did you last have a full blood count? Do you have a balanced diet?

Why do you need a success story is my first thought, sounds like you’re still convinced there’s something wrong?

Put down the internet, stop doing too much and give yourself time to recover. Good sleep habits and good diet. If you’re no better in a reasonable amount of time, see your GP.

Never experienced CFS, I do know what a complete lack of energy is like for other medical reasons and it’s certainly more than feeling a bit tired.

If it’s any use, the first advice given to me by my GP and practice nurse was to avoid the internet, at best it will scare you to death.

Comet – I had CFS for 3 years and recovered. Happy to discuss offline if you wish. email me barnt at hotmail dot com

I had a virus from hell a long while back and couldn’t get out of bed for 10 days. It took be 7 or 8 months to get back to normal and I also had strange symptoms and convinced myself I had something terrible.

If you have a bad virus/illness your immune system can go into overdrive and not switch off when it should and this can make you feel ill. Your brain is no different to any other organ in your body and can also be affected by the immune response causing fatigue and possible anxiety/depression. You just need to make sure you don’t get yourself into vicious circle of fixating on it too much and stay positive.

You will get better, don’t worry!

Had this two winters in a row, proper knocked out flu and then total lack of energy for months. Made me feel awful, apparently it’s pretty normal.

It got better and I’ve avoided a repeat episode for a while.

One thing to factor in is that there has been very low amounts of sunlight throughout November and December. That means that if you are quite active and do get out and about a bit then you can suffer from the lack of sunlight. We are not talking about full on SAD, but that vulnerability coupled with a virus can wipe you out for a while.

If you can take every opportunity to get out in the sun, when it appears. That we some exercise (obviously assuming you are on an mtb forum you might do some 😉 ) the endorphins and fresh air should help you feel better.

PS My wife has cfd and if you can do exercise and not end up in bed for a couple of days then I reckon you are ok.