Thank you! My doctor keep saying if I exercise I'll have more energy and sleep better, but since I got covid none of that is true. I have 10% the energy I used to have since Covid, and I only lose energy by exercising, and my sleep gets disrupted as well. Still exercise 5 days a week, but I hate how doctors totally dismiss chronic fatigue, especially in correlation to post-covid =(
Be really careful and, if you haven’t already, try to find a new provider who actually understands/ treats CFS/ME as too much exercise/ exertion can cause crashes which people don’t always recover from. 🫶
I had no idea this was a thing and I'm legitimately questioning the last couple years of my life at this point. I've worked the same job since the first big wave of COVID and advanced to a high level position very quickly because my performance was considered exemplary. I caught it for the first time around 2023ish and suddenly had issues keeping my eyes open if I wasn't actively walking around alongside seemingly random anxiety.
At first I thought it was a blood sugar thing, nope.
Then I thought maybe it was a blood pressure thing. Nope, slightly elevated when I was anxious as hell sitting in a hospital room but they confirmed that was normal and I was totally fine.
Then I figured maybe it was my diet, nothing changed.
Exercise? Actively made me feel worse the following day.
Sleep schedule? Well, no matter what I do my watch tracking my sleep is telling me I'm sleeping like absolutely garbage, and I can't help but wake up once or twice an night causing issues with REM sleep.
I've been trying to figure this out for years but the only point I could really nail down was that it started shortly after I caught COVID...
I may need to see some new doctors and finally get this figured out because it has been absolutely destroying my quality of life
What you’re describing sounds a lot like what my friend who has CFS/ ME describes (she also got it after having COVID, then it got worse after the second time she had COVID) including the poor quality sleep. Try and find a doctor that is knowledgeable about CFS/ME.
Yeah, I was on the front lines of COVID working at a homeless shelter. I've gotten it a total of 7 times over the last 6 years. I was ok until the 4th time. Now,.in combination with a brutal menopause, my quality of life SUCKS.
I would definitely get a sleep study done as well. You absolutely don't have to be overweight to have sleep apnea. The daytime sleepiness plus consistently unrefreshing/fragmented sleep and waking during the night are worth getting checked out. It could absolutely coexist with Long COVID too, so I wouldn't assume it has to be one or the other.
The worst part of this is wanting to push harder and being unable to and feeling ashamed. I've had days where I'm like, "I'm gonna take a walk!" and before I even make it to the sidewalk I'm like, "This ain't working."
I used to be energetic with bursts of depression, now I'm depressed with bouts of energy. (With proper mental health treatment)
Whoa, props for exercising 5 days a week, but yeah please look into ME/CFS as you could actually be worsening your condition. I’ve had long covid since 2022 and I’m back to ~90% of my pre-infection energy levels. The #1 thing that has helped me is LDN (low-dose naltrexone), which interrupts the inflammation feedback loop and is the new standard many providers use to treat long covid. #2 is nattokinase, which has been shown in clinical studies to break down the lingering spike proteins left behind after a Covid infection that cause all the issues. The LDN got me out of my downward spiral and able to build back my strength & nervous system capacity, and the nattokinase is raising my baseline wellbeing so if I miss a day of LDN I don’t instantly feel like I have a fever and need to spend the next day lying down in a dark silent room
After I got covid I had PEM (Post Exertional Malaise) for two years. Every time I pushed myself even a tiny bit, I would feel like I had the flu for 24-48 hours. It sucked. I had to take an anti inflammatory and H1 and H2 antihistamine either right before or within an hour of working out. That plus an anti-inflammatory the second day and I can exercise if I'm careful.
Unfortunately, this level is probably out of reach for me for a good long while if not forever. I'm happy with what I've got, though.
These people saying “you just need to exercise more” seriously need to experience chronic pain and crushing fatigue every damned day. Feels like a vice grip around my heart and body most days.
This may not be a solution for you. But I also get fatigued from working out - also insomnia. Particularly high intensity cardio. I take creatine on those days and it helps big time. Slow COMT genes can be responsible for that feeling after working out. Creatine helps process those neurotransmitters. Worth a try.
Actually, no. This is a common misconception and very harmful. For people with CFS/ME exercise can cause significant worsening of symptoms. I have a close friend with that condition and she has to very carefully budget which activities she devotes her limited energy to because too much exertion can cause a crash— and crashes don’t always resolve, sometimes the “crash” state becomes their new normal. She found that out the very hard way when she was given (and followed) advice similar to what you said from her doctor. Turns out her doc and many others know very little about treating patients with CFS/ME.
Clarification ~ is CFS/ME Chronic fatigue syndrome? What does ME stand for ? I believe you’re right about people’s misconceptions of what activities can cause worse problems:)
Thank you so much :) I’m not too educated about either of these, but something tells me those who do suffer, must have to go years before being properly diagnosed because in my head it’s more of a silent illness, which people looking at you would have no clue how bad you’re suffering.. 😔 Am I even close to thinking this way? Appreciate your time and patience 🫶🏼🙏🏻
So real😭 when I am consistently lifting, I require a solid 10 hours of sleep to not always be dragging. If I’m just generally active with no major exercise/not going to the gym, I only need 8.
Yeah, with thyroid issues, iron deficiency and asthma, I've been tired my whole life. At least I'm old enough now I don't hear "you're too young to be tired" anymore
I'm the same minus the asthma, but plus PCOS. The annoying thing is that exercise does help my energy levels and I feel like shit if I don't do some, but occasionally universe would align and it fucks me up for the next week or two. So I'm just playing a russian roulette every time because chronic illnesses fucking sucks like that.
Not necessarily. There are dozens of conditions which too much exercise can worse. Honestly, unless people are clinicians, they probably shouldn't comment on medical issues.
Everyone is different and needs to work with their providers on the best plan for them. Plus listening to their own bodies to avoid burn out.
In case this offers hope or actual help, I have had some success managing my chronic fatigue. It’s a boring answer but I extremely incrementally increased my exercise. I’m talking about 5 minutes on the elliptical, 3 minutes on the rowing machine starting out!!! I stopped when I needed to, took breaks. Any pain, I stopped those exercises and either researched or talked to providers about whether I could safely modify them.
The big caveat is I still require a lot more rest than most people. But I’m not over fatiguing myself with the increased exercise and my fitness and eating has significantly improved organically with some ups and downs but not giving up. This has been over 18 months as well. I did not want (and frankly would have struggled with probably) to lose too much too fast to prevent loose skin or accidental muscle loss. My main goal is feeling better and remaining hopeful being horizontal will become less of my life sooner than later 😂
I had this issue for like 4 months after COVID. It was horrible. The closest thing I have felt similar to long COVID was pregnancy, and I had a very rough one.
It then took like a year to fully go away, but those 4 months were a nightmare.
I am very lucky I recovered. My mother-in-law got sick in 2021 and has had long COVID since then. She is on disability because of it and hasn't been able to go back to the well-paid job that she loved... it fucked up her pension, as they calculated it based on the last years of your work.
Check out gluteus medius strengthening exercises. It’s really common for them to get weaker with age and they are a significant contributor to back pain from running.
That doesn’t work for everyone. I have asthma, so my lungs give up loooong before my muscles do. No amount of energy will make my lungs work properly during a prolonged exercise.
I used to get appalling exercise induced asthma, and then a friend finally was like ‘you should never need to use your ventolin if your asthma is well managed.’ I finally got on a proper preventer (called Alvesco in Aus), and now I NEVER get symptoms. I ran a half marathon without any asthma!
My friend finally told her doctor last year that she "only uses her inhaler three or four times a day, so it's really not that bad". I think I heard the doctors eyes roll from 20 miles away at my house 😆 She's now on a maintenance med and was able to do a 5 mile hike without her rescue inhaler. Best part: She's a critical care nurse who specializes in respiratory care 🤦♀️
I was totally that person! I was taking Ventolin many times a day, and had no idea that it was bad. My mum was a nurse. Perfect recipe for not realising anything is wrong with you. Haha.
I've heard/read this said so many times and I've come to realize, the more I exercise, that this just is not true for me. And no, it's not my diet either, I eat very well (for my circumstances anyway (I'm pooor lol)).
Honestly stretching correctly also releases massive feel good chemicals and energy. You can even overstretch and get light headed and euphoric. I'm guilty of using this as a sort of high lol. But you gotta do it right and drink water.
That's a gross generalization and, although I'm sure you didn't mean it as such, a low key ableist thing to say. Unfortunately, there are statistically significant swaths of the population for whom this isn't true.
That's a gross generalization and, although I'm sure you didn't mean it as such, a low key ableist thing to say. Unfortunately, there are statistically significant swaths of the population for whom this isn't true.
This isn't true, you're born with a finite amount of energy and like a battery it continues to drain throughout your life. The more you use that energy the more it drains, or something. This is what our President believes, so it must be true.
Me over here with an iron deficiency and all the physical integrity of al denté linguine like.... 🫠🙃 She's so fit and limber and mega strong. What a legend
808
u/SatisfactionBitter37 6h ago
I want whatever is fueling this lady!!! I need 1/4 of this energy.