Wow, I feel terrible with a capital T. The last couple of weeks I got ambitious and took on some home renovation projects as I was feeling somewhat better energy wise.
Two days ago, i tried to cut my lawn. BIG BIG MISTAKE. I feel incredibly sick. Hours after doing this, I felt very weak.
I was doing housework that required a lot of extracting nails, drilling and other manual labor. My hands are now severely hurting and have been for 5+ days. I'm scared. They are tingling like crazy and very painful. I wake up every night now in pain due to both hands throbbing. My physiatrist took x-rays of my hands y-day. Nothing shows. He said carpel tunnel syndrome, which was confirmed by EMG years ago.
Today, I can't think straight at all, bad head pressure, chills, headache, muscles aching, eyes watering, low mood, and 20 other symptoms.
What a pointless illness. I ripped up some carpet and padding a week ago. I'm praying there wasn't some unknown mold exposure or odd thing aggravating my issues. It was not a basement area or one of known water exposure.
I seriously can't believe how bad my hands hurt. The thumb and next two fingers tingle a lot and throb. I can barely squeeze my hand together.
What on Earth is going on with me? Systemic inflammation from overactivity? Babesia going crazy because I tried to do aerobic exercise (lawn cutting)?
My physiatrist recommended Naproxen 500 mg 2x daily and to get some wrist splints designed to alleviate carpel tunnel symptoms. Sometimes it's hard to ever imagine I had a life before where I could actually cut the lawn and handle stupid little activities and function fine.
Posted by greengirl (Member # 25316) on :
Oh, I hope you are feeling better. You should check with your doc. But, I can tell you, on the days I attempt yard/house work, like raking or anything that vibrates (like mower, trimmers, etc.) I get awful awful pain in my arms, fingers, shoulders. It usually goes away in the next couple of days. I usually use heating pads and flexall.
Posted by seekhelp (Member # 15067) on :
Is it Lyme causing it? Just how embedded are these bugs in our system? Scary. Posted by Michael_Venice (Member # 17254) on :
Seek, I'm really sorry that you're feeling so bad.
You know, the other day, I saw your posts about how good you felt and how much you were doing. And I didn't want to bum out the thread by saying maybe you should temper your activity a bit.
I think it's very, very common for any of us to have a decent day or two and we're suddenly making up for lost time. Even on my days where I'm just not REALLY sick, and I do 'too much' (which is a pathetic amount), I really can suffer for it.
Even if you feel great, and I hope you do again soon....do about 1/3 of what you feel like you can do.
Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :
That's what happens when I try to do life. Just last week we went on relaxed family vacation. Everyone else has recovered and gone back to their lives. Me....
I'm absolutely exhausted. Can't even find the energy to go to my Y water class. I'm hurting and my body is ticked off.
I should of joined the rest of the family and drank myself silly every night, I certainly couldn't feel any worse.
Pam
Posted by MDW005 (Member # 22706) on :
I'm sorry you hurt and I'm sorry your good days went away.
I did the same thing... all kinds of renavating
and yard work a week ago. It was fun while it lasted. with all the work I have done lyme just about kicked my behind. Slow and steady I have been told.
Posted by seekhelp (Member # 15067) on :
Yep, good advice here. I know what you mean Michael. You wouldn't have burnt out my thread. I kind of expected this to happen as it has 99.99% of the time. The weird part with me is my 'payback' is usually delayed 4-7 days then all hell breaks loose. i never know I'm doing something bad to myself until it's way too late.
I just can't comprehend how it works like this and the events going on in my body. I wish someone could explain why. Why can't we recover like normal people like you said map1131?
With all I did, I'm scared getting back to normal baseline may be hard. My brain feels swollen almost. I can't focus.
How are we supposed to liofe weights like TF says if we can't even handle this level of activity? I don't get it. I used to bench press 300+ lbs before I fell ill years ago. I feel like this disease is eating away at my joints or something.
Posted by sutherngrl (Member # 16270) on :
Seek sorry you are paying..... but think positive. At least you were able to do more than you have been able to do in a very long time. That is a good thing!
Don't beat yourself up because now you need time to recup. You did things that you have not been able to do!!! That is awesome!
I got frisky and went to the zoo with my kids and grandkids last sunday and I just started to recovery from it today. I have done almost nothing for 4 days straight. But it was worth it. It was something normal and it was fun.
Our bodies have to recondition and that in itself is a very serious part of recovery. You are not going to go from being disabled to being completely functional over night. It will happen very gradually. Think on the positive side!
Also I had to get a wrist splint for one of my wrist a while back, and within 3 weeks of wearing them......about half a day each day, my wrist got so much better. It hasn't hurt since and that was a month or two ago. I don't know why it worked, but it did.
Hang in there. Rest a few days or a week or two or however long it takes and then go at it again. You will finally get there!
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Plain and simple... you did too much at once.
I used to say for YEARS that I felt like I had been run over by a truck (or train).... then many years later I found out I had LYME.
Hang in there, buddy!
Posted by Ian (Member # 24637) on :
You probably just got too much sustained exercise. As Dr. B says, any kind of exercise reduces T cell count. He recommends anaerobic exercise every other day because the T cell quickly rebounds and then some. If you do too much for too long, though, your T cell count will drop and take much longer to recover. In short, exercise stresses the immune system.
The good news is that it looks like you haven't suffered any permanent damage if you were able to function well for a few days before the flare up. What's your diagnosis? My doc attributes my pain in my feet and hands to Bartonella. Were you diagnosed with Bart?
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
When I was in treatment and had good days I was sure to REST for 50% of the good day. Your body needs energy to heal, so I wanted to be sure my body had 50% of all that energy to heal.
It's difficult to sit around on a day you feel good for a change, but it helped me. I didn't have such lows after good days .... I had lows, but not terrible ones where I paid dearly for my activity.
I did workout through my illness. It's more controlled than all the work you did when you felt good so it doesn't seem to wreak as much havoc on the system. You need that movement to reach the deep bugs and toxins.
Work on detox, flush out this bacteria/toxins that has been irritated by all your movement.
Posted by Marrit (Member # 25454) on :
seekhelp, wow, do I ever know what you are going through! I am too sick all winter to do much, but come spring, I begin to perk up in-between the flares. I had a bad week, felt better on Saturday, promptly went outside (it was a BEAUTIFUL day), and decided to take off the branches of some shrubs so that the maintenance guys could just dig the stumps out (we are replacing the shrubs). I ended up sawing all the branches off and then got a shovel and began to dig the stumps out myself. Years ago I could do this all day and only be a little fatigued. I dug 2 stumps out. I knew I was overdoing it, flushed face and rash breaking out, but I kept going. I then when to Lowe's and bought 2 new small shrubs, dug their holes and planted them. That night I felt horrible. I crashed into bed. The next day I was so sick -- the run over by a truck feeling -- chills, low grade fever, swelling in sinuses, pain in ears, spasm, all over achiness and pain. Mostly, I just felt half dead. I slept all morning and napped in the afternoon. I ate a ton of food to try to replenish glucose stores. This one didn't last as long as others, maybe because of all the food? Like you, I find it hard to pace myself and often don't know when I am overdoing -- until afterwards. Just a suggestion: Why don't you try to eat a lot of good food next time? That might help to replenish the liver. Fluids, too, of course. And rest.
Posted by sandyk (Member # 17959) on :
This is exactly how my husband tries to describe to me how he feels after doing the smallest of tasks - forget the big ones, he ripped down a wall in our kitchen yesterday and when I got home from work I thought he was dead on the couch.
He's been sick for 3 years but unfortunatley only on ABX for 3 months a year and 1/2 ago, then had all kinds of complications so we went to a 3rd LLMD who was supposed to be top notch and she said absolutely no lyme (MDL labs) Has 2 positive from IGeneX and LabCorp prior.
So we believed her and went on the road to figuring out what it was just like the first year and 1/2 - 20 specialists, a week at Mayo.. no one knows anything - we are convinced it is Lyme and were dealing with the false negative thing and some crap doctors.
I was wondering, as you continue on your ABX treatments does this symptom subside any as you start to feel better? Does the "herx" reaction have anything to do with it?
Seeing Dr. H in NY on Tuesday!
Posted by Marrit (Member # 25454) on :
Sandyk,
It is always possible your husband has CFS and not Lyme -- or, that the Lyme has been eradicated but his immune system has become dysregulated or that he received a virus along with the Bb from the tick. The symptoms of CFS and Lyme overlap and are very similar.
Unfortunately, CFS research is only in the early stages. A retrovirus is currently thought to be a cause, but if so, we will have to wait until appropriate anti-viral therapy is available.
I just read that some people develop auto-immune conditions even after the Lyme has been eradicated. Others have immune system dysregulation but not an out and out auto-immune process.
I'd like to get my viral titers checked. Has your husband had this done? Also, has he had ANA and so forth to check for auto-immune process?
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I kind of expected this to happen as it has 99.99% of the time. The weird part with me is my 'payback' is usually delayed 4-7 days then all hell breaks loose. i never know I'm doing something bad to myself until it's way too late.