Can someone help with post viral fatigue ? Getting to me now feeling low

[girlofthenorth]

I just need some advice or reassurance I think . It could be worse , I know . Had chest infection and flu 6 weeks ago, antibiotics and steroids ..my asthma has been affected after another little virus.

DF also was also in hospital with pneumonia . That was very stressful, though he has more or less made a full recovery . We looked after him for a while . I had 5 weeks off work and now struggling to get back to normal on half days . I started to feel ' better ' after Christmas , but struggling to get back to my normal energetic self.

I am still feeling exhausted. When I have no work, I can potter around the house , walking a bit, doing some yoga , gardening . But if I have to do anything more strenuous , go to work, go to shops, I feel exhausted for the rest of the day . I'm constantly achey and still having low grade temperatures which the GP is unconcerned about , I've seen him twice.
I've had blood tests and all normal , infection markers normal ,vit D and B12 normal .
I'm constantly scared something worse is going to happen, and feeling very low . I'm having extra vits floradix, trying to be positive , nothing seems to be helping me. I also have another chronic condition which probably isn't helping . Please help!

Time OP. Give yourself time to bounce back.

You've had one hell of a rough time recently - it takes its toll. Antibiotics are incredible but they also do a lot of harm in the process. Tank up on probiotics and make sure you sleep well and rest.

I had post viral fatigue after a nasty virus last winter. It was awful, so frustrating. Like you I had all tests come back clear and the doctors weren't worried, just said to rest. it took me about 8-9 months (sorry) to get back to normal, with lots of ups and downs. But I'm fine now.

The worst part was the anxiety. I wasted a lot of energy worrying about all the strange symptoms I had - don't know about you but it wasn't just fatigue, I had all sorts of aches and pains, and then the anxiety led to heart palpitations...

It's horrible to go through and you feel useless don't you. I felt like everyone thought I was being lazy. I was stuck in bed a lot esp if I tried to push myself, then I'd get fallout from it and get worse again.

Try and go easy on yourself, and trust the doctors. Rest as much as you can. A friend advised me to only do about 80% of what I thought I could/should manage in a day, which gave me permission to rest more. You'll get better in time.

Thanks both, @LongBlobson 8-9 months, I can't imagine .

I know it's time, just like you say, the other symptoms are horrible, aching limbs, feel shaky, just weird . Just went for a coffee with my DD and couldn't cope with being out and about . Just felt so tired and only did half a days work today . Giving myself loads of time to rest though , but feeling like I have lost my way a bit .

The only time I feel ok is after a lie down or actually when I've done a bit of walking , maybe gentle exercise is the way to go.

Pacing is the key, I think. I've got Fibro, and the advice has been to very very slowly increase activity levels, but never to overdo it. Resting after a busy day isn't good enough, you need to not have busy days.

So do the absolute minimum you can on work days, and do something gentle on non work days. When you are managing that, increase the non work day activities very slowly until it's a similar level of activity as the work days.

Does that make sense? Hard to do- I'm struggling with not overdoing it.

Thanks@picklemepopcorn that's a good idea re non work days . I have 3 of those .

I work 2 full days in one job ( main one ) normally and two half days in another job with a bit of admin thrown in which I can do when I please ( I run my own small company) . My main job is the hard one because it's very busy and full on .
I'm doing half days at the mo , maybe I need to ask for another week of these and see how I go...I'm just really shocked at how I'm not recovering quickly !

@picklemepopcorn do you work with fibromyalgia ? And if so , is that the way you manage, by not doing much else on work days ?

I suffered with CFS after having a nasty virus and it has left me getting tired quickly. This happened when I was 14 and am now 49. You need to listen to your body and have plenty of rest. Gentle exercise and spend time outside in garden or beach etc. No one can say how long you will be like this, could be weeks/months or even years. Good diet is important and fish oil tablets are also good. I wish you a quick recovery.

I work 9 hours a week, and do a lot of community work as well. I was doing 5 hours on Monday, then two and two or three and one. I was advised to do three three hour days, so I didn't wear myself out on a Monday. I have found it much easier.

I do Monday,Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Wednesday morning I do Tai Chi, Friday morning I go to the posh pool to do exercises in the hydro pool and do the sauna, steam rooms etc.
That means I have afternoons to do various community related things.

An evening out, meeting or social, wipes me out and I'm really slow next day.

Imagine looking after yourself as if you were a baby- aim for routine mealtimes, bedtimes and work times. Don't let yourself get overtired. Anything that's not essential has to wait.
Go for minimising decisions, easy options.

It's really important to look after yourself now- if you don't you can get stuck in a pattern of boom and bust, work till you drop, get ill, recover, work till you drop.

Thanks @picklemepopcorn that last part is basically what my life is up till last year , always on the run, working solidly , then just slapping into a brick wall .
I have to change my lifestyle .

That's exactly it. Basically after a while like that, the recovery gets longer and longer. Eventually you get stuck- CF Fibro.

It can take quite some time for your body to recover Op.
My DM (then aged about 63) had flu and it was ages (months) before she felt back to her normal self.
Be kind to yourself.

OP took me 6 months after a nasty chest infection to not feel exhausted all the time sorry

I just wanted to say yy to everything picklemepopcorn said. My DP really messed himself up with the "boom and bust" and has ended up with longer term problems. Don't do that!

Thanks for all your replies - is it reasonable to go back to the GP in a couple of weeks if things haven't improved?
I worked today and felt slightly better when I was working but exhausted this evening! I feel that's an improvement though!

I took a tonic after flu last year and took me 6-8 weeks to recover. I took Floradix.