I’ve been feeling rubbish since the end of August. I thought I might of had a Virus and that it would just go but after two month I’m still feeling the same.
I went to the Doctors last Friday and explained my symtoms which amongst others are feeling tired, blurry vision, nausia, lack of motivation etc, etc. I have had some blood this morning to test for various things but he has also suggested that I might be stressed as I’ve had quite a tough time since early summer.
I’m not asking for any remedies but for those of you who have suffered from it, can you exlain to me your symtoms/ experience as this feeling is really getting to me now?
P.S. I’m all out of MTFU at the moment and riding my bikes hasn’t helped. 🙂

It could be some kind of post viral syndrome.. I felt like crap most of the last year, only picking up again recently.

Losing sleep, waking up at crazy hours, an eye ‘tick’, generally looking like sh1t, impatient, no energy for normal exercise except weekend biking, increased smoking/ drinking, strangely I was a better boyfriend as I had less energy to do the stuff I really want, I dealt with it by having an unwavering dedication to find a new job.

symptoms i’ve had:

iffy sleep patterns, inability to make decisions, obsessive behaviour, periods of depression, lack of motivation, no drive, weight gain, nausea…..to name a few

Been diagnosed with depression/OCD/stress, changed jobs 3 times and finally found one I like but the issue goes a lot deeper than that.

I don’t have a way to fight it and have never found a solution, but keep on at the doctor, the majority lose interest and throw pills at you

an eye ‘tick’

I’m experiening something like that. The only way I can descibe it is that it feels like my eyelids are fluttering followed by my eyeballs rolling. Closing my eyes seems to stop it.

Yeahp, you’re tired and stressed mate. If you know what is bothering you… try and stop it, if you can’t… force yourself to exercise.
It may be the last thing you want to do, but honestly, it is the best thing you can do. Eat as healthily as you can too.

Mulletus – ygm.

IMO it is hard to say as the list is pretty much endless and will vary significantly from individual. My initial symptoms were general tiredness even though I was sleeping like a baby.

However, in my book chronic stress = depression end of story. There is some scientific support of this in that elevated cortisol levels for long periods are really not good for the fine tuning of the brain’s neurotransmitters (especially serotonin) needed to keep you calm, regulate your sleep and appetite etc.

So, I think you have done the right thing going to your GP to hopefully get to the root of the problem.

Also, against most of the advice your will hear, then if you are severely stressed then I would not recommend exercise, or at least not intense exercise, a good hammering on your bike for 3 to 4 hours will put a tremendous amount of stress on your already overstressed body.

Eczema flare-up, irritability, consuming more alcohol than normal/good for me (But not getting drunk), eating more refined carb junk foods, teeth grinding. Just some of mine.

I’ve been the same for about a year now – doctors seem to think it is ME but I sometimes feel like it’s just a copout when they run out of ideas. I have also suffered from fairly severe anxiety and depression – it’s sometimes very difficult to separate out the mental side from what feels like physical symptoms. Not suggesting you have ME by the way…

Stress symptoms for me: I catch myself clenching my jaw, tensing muscles generally, disturbed sleep, irritability

I have had a shite mare of a time the last 6 years due to a back injury. Very low energy levels and every time I reinjure it I get all sort of symptoms. I find dancing and stretching after a warm/ hot bath very good for it.

Also massage of certain areas and relaxation techniques. Try feeling your head and see if it feels tense or sore. Also roll your eyes and check to see if they are over worked.

Another thing I’ve started taking is a drink called Kombucha, I love it! it gives me loads of energy and makes me laugh a lot. Being an ebay trader is stressfull. Most of the stuff I buy is rubbish so I have to argue/ haggle with people all the time.

I also have to work all the time while I’m in a lot of pain, which means working when tired or exhausted as well. Still my back is getting better and although my life is very fu king hard. It’s no worse than a lot of other people.

Do you want me to teach you a relaxation technique?

Symptoms, loss of concentration, feeling tired and irritable, confusion, just not quite your usual self.

Anyone want to try Kombucha? If you live near edinburgh I can give you a bottle.

Then if it work you can tell other people and they can try it as well!

Teeth grinding, oh yes … GF always knows if there’s something on my mind due to the constant grinding of teeth through the night.

The almost overwhelming desire to kill something was another one too … but we’ll not talk about that, eh.

I’m a teeth grinder, got ridges on the insides of my mouth, inverted canine on the right hand side, and now have to wear a bite guard at night! I also sometimes get chest pain, which is quite exciting.

I’ve been feeling dizzy and lightheaded for years

doc tells me its stress

hey Mulletus the signs you state are the same for stress and anxiety (GAD – Generalized anxiety disorder) I too have similar symptoms with the added bonus of shortness of breath and the feeling that my chest is going to explode. I’ve had this for a couple of months and firstly I was told it’s just stress the symptoms got gradually worse so I went back again, had a long chat with the GP (a different one) and she said although both are similar from what I had explained she was sure GAD was the cause.

Man it’s a tricky one though as the more stressed you get the more anxious you get a bit of a catch 22 with this it seems, i’m trying to stay positive but as no doubt you understand we have our bad days. I’ve spoken to the GP and they are happy to put you on beta blockers and such without getting to the root of the problem – this is something that I am trying to figure out and that is tiresome in itself without the anxiety!

I agree MTFU just doesn’t work on this one I too am at a loss and feel like i’m running in circles over this, anyway enough of my senseless ramblings but feel free to mail me anytime you want to chat, bitch, moan, rant anything as the more you can talk the better it may get.

forgot to say perhaps us crazies 😯 (not meant to be derogatory) should form our own self help group wherein we counsel ourselves… Just a thought if none of us are local we could do this via mail whatever, at the end of hte day i’d be willing to give anything a shot to end this

Thanks for all your replies.
Some of the symtoms you’re all describing are very similar.
As well as what i’ve said in my original post i’m also experiencing an extreme lack of concentration, memory loss, i.e. forget mid sentance what i’m going to say and just stare or remembering simple things such as names and places, depression is setting in and today I have felt anxious but maybe that’s because of having to wait for the blood test results. I’m trying not to read into it until I get my test results though but it’s hard as I want to know what’s wrong.
I must add that my GP also mentioned fatigue too. I meant to put that in my original post but forgot!!!

Had the flickering eye -bas turd when revising for an exam!

More sleep, more laughter and more sex/personal enjoyment.

Also ride bike more.

Accepting that you have a problem and seeking help is probably the hardest part of the whole thing. So you’re past the worst of it.

Many of the symptoms mentioned above, most recently when my job was really getting me down. Fortunately, after several weeks off sick my company moved me to another team which has really helped.

There’s something else threatening to kick it off again at the moment but I can’t afford to let it as I have to be strong for someone else, but we’ll get there.

There’s a lot of it about.

I rather like the following (not all of which are possible all the time, but they’re worth thinking about!)

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11.. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come…

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.”

Some sound a little trite, but they’re not meant that way.

And as someone on here said in response to one of my posts ‘In twenty years, this will all be in the past!’

Don’t know what else to say really. Hope this helps someone.

Are you worrying about whats wrong with you? (= more stress) = more stress symptoms?

dyls – Member
Are you worrying about whats wrong with you? (= more stress) = more stress symptoms?

Yeah, that doesn’t make things any better either!

I would also consider the possibility of lyme disease. Have you been bitten by a tick or been in ticky areas. The feeling of having a virus and then the fatigue, memory loss, muscle twitching and mental health problems are all symptoms of lyme..Ask your gp to test.
for more info go to http://www.bada-uk.org

Bursting into tears at nothing. Not sleeping. Obsessive focus on inconsequential shite. Skin problems. Nervous tics. Staying in bed. Staying up late (oh look it’s late). Drinking way too much. Panic attacks. Manufacturing situations to fail. Picking fights for nothing. Not looking after basic hygiene. Avoiding any kind of responsibility. Not wanting to talk about it. Not seeing the positive in anything. Regretting everything you did and didn’t do. Blaming others. Blaming yourself. Feeling tired & run down. Picking up colds, minor infections, conjunctivitis, headaches, joint aches, muscle aches. Feeling worthless. Failing to see the point in life.

Stress / depression / anxiety – You gotta laff.

Ah, my glass is empty.

If I’m feeling stressed I’ll drink alot of water and have a really long sauna session. No matter how bad the world is, when you come out of a sauna nothing matters but sleep.

Long term stress and anxiety can have a huge physical impact, and its so different from feeling a bit stressed over a long to do list. I’ve had a similar year to the OP (although truthfully, its probably been more like two or three years), and signed off work for 5 months due to anxiety. I had/have symptoms such as bursting into tears for no reason, feeling really angry/wound up over nothing, headaches, muscle aches, injury after injury, no energy, feeling tired and run down, panic attacks, lack of concentration, memory loss, feeling dizzy, weight loss – despite eating serious amounts of chocolate, feeling mentally foggy/weary, eye ticks, not enjoying things i usually did, mixed sleep patterns, clenching my jaw so hard that i can sometimes hardly eat…the list goes on. I had extensive blood tests which showed up nothing.

My GP has been great and supportive – but it doesn’t change the fact that i can’t get rid of the problem that’s causing me the stress/anxiety. I’m beginning to feel a lot better but its taken a long time to get here – i choose not to have any kind of medication as i know what the problem is and i don’t like drugs to mask symptoms that dont treat the real cause. I had a coach during my time off work and we put together a list of things that i could do to try to make me happier/relax – things like having a bit of “me” time, and taking small steps to achieve little things helped. Things like yoga helped, but took time – to begin with, all i would do in my yoga classes was worry about work! Yoga has taught me to relax, and listen to my body which seems to help too. I wasn’t able to ride my bike properly, as all i could think about was work – whereas in the past, the bike was a complete release from things, it became something i didn’t want to do. Riding on the canal/cycle paths with friends for coffee was a nice way to get out and kept me from dwelling on things.

Calming your breathing down should make a big difference – make the out breath longer than the in breath. Even counting in for 4, holding for 2, out for 4, holding for 2 and so on can help – and it gives you something to focus on.

It is as much of an illness as the flu/cold etc. You need time to rest and relax, not mtfu.

Good list JA.

I hope no one minds resurecting this thread but was doing a search on fatigue on the forum. Seems like a lot of people are suffering.

I’ve been off colour for about 2 months. Doctor is doing some blood tests etc but not sure what is wrong.

Think it was down to a virus I had when I rode GT and pushed through it. Since then I’ve been buggered. Can ride but the recovery takes a few days and sets me back.

Last ride I went on was 10days ago in the Quantocks – great day and felt 70% fit but haven’t recovered yet. This was when I realised something wasn’t right.

Symptons are tiredness even though I’m getting a good 8-9hrs sleep a night, lack of concentration, aches and pains, palpitations, general feeling of not being 100%, skin tremors, headaches and still got sinus congestion.

Mentally I’m far from depressed – life is good and I’ve got no real anxiety to worry about. This condition is a bit of a concern but I know I’ll recover – its just going to take time.

So, does anyone have any tips for recovery?

Bushwacked – has your thyroid been investigated?

Edit: can I also mention that symptoms can be read by a GP as stress and depression.

Some may find this useful:

http://www.thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/index.html

Bushwacked, I’ve been getting all those symtoms too. The blood test results have found that everything is normal.

What briefly help for me was having a week off towards the end of October(Pre-booked leave). Throughout the week the symtoms begain to subside the more relaxed I became. I even got the urge to start riding my bike again and for the last couple of weeks i’ve been doing a gentle 20 – 30 road miles without too many repercussions.

I have been back at work for a couple of weeks and I have found all the symtoms coming back, but this time they seem worse than before. Axiety is tying my stomach in knots, Blurred vision making me nauseous, prickelly skin(sp?), sweats etc, etc, etc.

Back to see my GP tomorrow as something needs to be done about it. It’s a horrible way to be and I feel for anyone else who feels similar. 🙁

bushwacked – I had a run of similar viral/post viral things in the summer, also a tick bite and poss Lyme’s disease, so the full monty of antibiotics etc. Took a full 3 weeks of absolutely zero exercise and then got back into it gradually. I had a mild version fatigue syndrome and it took a good few months to get back to normalish. still sore throat and a bit tired/achy, but back to full riding and swimming, so exercising 4 or 5 times a week. still definately not wholly clear. In contrast there is someone in my team at work who went from a fit and active 24 yr old to a very sick part time worker who can only manage half days, even now after 18 months – it affects everyone differently, but message seems to be to not overdo it, whatever level you are at.

How does one determine what of the above are just part of the human condition?
I mean, I read a lot of the list above, and think got that, got that, got that, but come to the conclusion that life’s quite often just like that. I.e what’s to say that a lot of that isn’t just the default position for a human, and being happy and fulfilled is great when it happens, but maybe not always a realistic expectation?

Mulletus – ygm.

Ian – I hear what you are saying and I was wondering whether I was normal or not, but then things got worse overtime and now looking back I can see that the signs were there before but I chose to think that it was normal.

CG – Not had my thyroid checked.

Had some blood tests done in Sept as part of a health check via work and everything was spot on (except my cholesterol) – just had another look through the report and everything was right in the middle of the ranges and looking good. Wondering what this new blood test will reveal.

I’m taking it easy. Got a day booked to go snowboarding at the end of the month – thinking I will stay bike free until then (maybe a short flat ride if feeling like it).

I read that pacing yourself is very important in recovery. Finding a natural balance and gradually building up over time. I go out for a stroll a couple of times a day – work from home and if I didn’t I would just fester at home.

I was talking to a colleague who had a relative with something similar – he said it was like their immune system had been affected and was fighting something that wasn’t there. He said “it was like the immune system needed reseting”. Makes sense to me but he went on to say that unfortuantely no one knew how to reset it 🙁

IanMunro – yes, I appreciate what you are saying. I can only comment on my own situation and that my illness is having a huge impact therefore zero quality of life.

CG – I’m with you on quality of life.

I do wonder if as bikers we over do it, especially after illness, leading to the body to never fully recover – almost like we are training it to act in a certain way.

On this link, I can tick off about three quarters of those symptoms:

http://www.thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/pages/conditions/thyroid/hyposymptoms.html

I have been written off by my GP cos I had the audacity to question him and was then told to seek a second opinion from another GP.

All I would suggest is using the web to do as much research as possible and bear in mind that blood tests are not conclusive if one doesn’t know what one is looking for.

In my case I have known since the beginning of the year that things were not right. Towards the end of last year, I had a very heavy cold/sinus problems/chesty cough. This may have contributed to it, together with experiencing the majority of life’s most stressful events over the last three years.

MM – it sounds like you could be suffering the effects of chronic stress, as I believe you indicated in your original post.

If so, you may be in need of some “time out” in order to get some proper rest and recuperation, and not just a weeks leave. Have you considered whether asking your GP to sign you off sick so your “nerves” can heal? No different from resting a muscle following injury etc.

I expect to get thoroughly flamed for this post from the MTFU brigade, but unfortunately, there is a minority on here whose mindset with regard to mental health dates back to the Victorian era.