Post viral or stress?
Posted , 6 users are following.
Hello,
About 5 months ago, I came down with a terrible cold. It took 2 weeks to get over and some antibiotics to go away completely. I was healthy and fine for 3 weeks, and then all of a sudden, I developed a lot of weird symptoms. I had tingling in my hands and feet, burning in my legs, arm weakness, sore joints, and achy muscles. I had extensive bloodwork done, and everything came back normal. After that, I started to feel a little better while making some progress, and then all of a sudden, the symptoms came back again. My doctor suggested I go to a neurologist to rule anything else out. I had a head and spine MRI that all came back normal. My doctor thinks the cold virus I had rebounded, and will eventually go away with time. I've been feeling this way for 4 months now and am getting really discouraged. I'm beginning to wonder if this was all brought on by stress, as I was overwhelmed before my cold. Then when these symtpoms showed up, I grew insanely stressed and anxious. Does it sound like something post viral or stress? Any suggestions on how to get over this? I just want to get back to my healthy, normal self. 
Many thanks,
Sara
0 likes, 4 replies
tracy47348 sara35000
Posted
philsey sara35000
Posted
Sara
My suggestions are
1. Discover a new level of patience. You want to get back to your normal self, but to do that you must give your body a real chance. So if you've been 4 months like this, it ain't gonna turn round in a 'normal' type of time frame that we expect from other illnesses. For example, let's say it takes you twice as long to recover as it did to get ill. So, if you really look after yourself for another 8 months you could avoid being ill for 7 years! CFS tricks you and people nearly always underestimate how ill they are.
2. Find out about PACING. See my reply to Jadajink https://patient.info/forums/discuss/night-needs-with-cfs-667603?page=0#3277293
3. Do all you can to avoid setting off anxiety and stress. With CFS the adrenal system goes south and that's why you are getting those symptoms. Avoid situations which makes you more anxious than you already are. Don't do anything that feels like a strain. Live on the Alpha side, not the Beta side!
"Qui va piano va sano e lontano"
"who lives gently, lives healthily and for a long time."
janet71271 sara35000
Posted
Hi Sara sorry to hear you are unwell. It is too early to define your issues as actual chronic fatigue syndrome. You certainly sound to have a post viral fatigue and the best thing you can do is to take things steady. Don',t push yourself . If you work take some time as off as it will only cause stress and serve to exacerbate symptoms, which in turn causes more stress. And so it goes round and round. Rest but don't completely give up. Try to be positive.
You are in very early days and hopefully with careful pacing and looking after yourself, you will hopefully avoid your health worsening developing into actual ME/CFS. If won't happen overnight as it takes a while for the body to recover after being compromised by some infections. So you need to be patient but hopeful.
Try boosting your immune system with a nutritious dietary intake. You can try supplements if you want. Never helped me but does some people .
I hope you can feel better before too long . Take care x
sara35000
Posted
Thank you all for the encouragement and kind words! Prior to this, I was a perfectly healthy and active 24 year old. It's hard to believe I was fine one day and then the next, I wasn't. Almost all of my neurological symptoms have gone, so now I am just dealing with the achy muscles and joints. I'm trying to pace myself and not get discouraged, but as I'm sure all of you know, it is very hard to stay positive when you have been ill for so long. I will be sure to take all your advice!
~Sara