This is the question I keep asking myself. Is my tiredness
getting better or worse? Strangely I do not know the answer. I have some good
days and some bad days. Sometimes I am really optimistic and then the next day
my optimism vanishes.
Some symptoms are better than a couple of months ago and
some worse. Looking at the good side first. My “brain fog” in the morning seems
less bad. My mind seems a bit slow but at least I am capable of writing an
email and doing some work. My resting pulse is a little lower than it was (but
still higher than normal) and when I go for a gentle jog (I call it a jog not a
run as it really is slow and my heart rate never gets above 120 beats a minute) it
is easier than it was a couple of months ago. I am also sleeping better and
have fewer headaches. Another good sign is that I sometimes feel anger again.
For months if something was going wrong I would just get really sad and upset,
now I sometimes get cross. I used to have a lot of anger, which I needed to
keep a check on by going running and so to have it again is definitely a
positive sign of returning to my old self.
The main symptom that
is worse is that I quite often feel dizzy, really light-headed, sometimes as if
I am about to faint. Another really nasty symptom is that sometimes my
heartbeat is really erratic. It can have three or four little beats really
close together followed by a normal beat. I also get these hot flushes, particularly
when out jogging. This heat suddenly starts flowing through my body
particularly my chest but sometimes my legs.
The change of lifestyle I am finding to be reasonably easy.
It is over two months since I had any alcohol, the long hard runs stopped a
while ago. I am avoiding taking on any new things that will cause me stress and
I feel much more on top of everything at work so much more relaxed.
Overall, I knew it was going to take a long time to recover
properly and I guess I just need to be patient but optimistic that I will fully
recover.
The doctors are taking my problem seriously, which is good.
My blood pressure and resting pulse are higher than normal so they know
something is wrong but lots of test have shown no reasons for my fatigue and
tiredness. It seems once they have ruled out everything else they are left with
the only other thing matching my symptoms which is a mild form of Cronic
Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Mild, because I can still function reasonably normally,
including going for gentle jogs. It is nice to have a diagnosis (or will be
when all the tests are finished) but it is not one I particularly like. It
seems to me that the current state of medical knowledge is saying that we know
there is something seriously wrong and there are other people with similar
problems but at the moment we are not really sure what is causing it. This is
why in my previous blog I liked the adrenal fatigue diagnosis (even if it is
not a medically recognised condition).
Thanks for all the comments from my previous blog and personal messages I have received. I really
appreciate all of them and I am taking on-board everyone’s suggestions. It is
great to hear from other people who have had similar tiredness and hear how
they have recovered.
To finish here are a couple of pictures when I have been out and enjoyed the occasional nice day we have had recently.
