I am trying to work out what's behind this current crash. My pacing is pretty good, and I haven't been overdoing it lately. There are three possible culprits that I can think of. Actually, make that four.
1. My partner has been away for two weeks (back tomorrow, hurray!). To be honest, I don't think this has made a difference. I've had support workers in every day, and I'm not really engaging in my pouncing duties with the cat (my current main form of exercise) any more than usual. I am definitely getting lots of cuddles from her, she turns into Velcro Kitty whenever he's away.
2. I had a snazzy new walk-in bath put in just as he was leaving. Showering is so much easier now, and bathing is absolute bliss. We live in different flats in the same building, so it was pretty straightforward, I just camped out in his flat while the plumbers were in, though I had to go up and down the two flights of stairs between our flats a bit more than usual, and I have memories of standing talking to plumbers and realising I had to sit down because my heart rate was in the 90s. Anyway, the main culprit I'm eyeing up is my lovely new padded shower stool. It is smelly, in a new-vinyl sort of way. It's been ten days and it is still smelly. Also there is a new shower curtain. I honestly can't tell if the shower curtain smells or not, since the seat is so pungent, but I don't recall having problems when I replaced shower curtains in the past (mind you, I could have just not noticed). Might this be an outgassing thing? I haven't experienced that in, ooh, the last incident I can remember is a landlord painting the flat around me eighteen years ago, and having to flee to a friend's and still being too ill to sit my exams. I don't have the option to put the shower stool outside to air, unfortunately. I don't spend all that much time in the bathroom, which has no window but does have an extractor fan. Could it be what's set me off?
3. I've been on this pain flare for weeks, so who knows, maybe having to take tramadol and diazepam every day is making the ME worse? I don't think it ever has in the past. Normally I end up taking them a few days a week. I'm experimenting with cold packs for pain, also a TENS machine as of the last few days, but I can't see those causing a crash.
4. New supplements. I've recently added in carnitine fumarate, the Dr's Best one, which I titrated up over a few days to a whole capsule. Then I added Thorne's Vitamin K2 (MK4) drops, titrated up to 8 drops, and have rather nervously gone down to 5 in case it's that. Also Vitamin A, 5000iu retinyl palmitate, which I'm thinking of changing to every other day. (This is me finally looking at what nutrients I am probably short of due to being vegan, on top of the ones I take already like Vitamin D and high dose B12. My teeth are already feeling and smelling better.) Could any of those be the problem? If it's one of those "healing crisis, gets worse before it gets better" things, I'm prepared to wait it out, but I don't want to simply be making things worse. I don't generally have huge reactions to supplements, and it's rare for me to get a really bad reaction. What is more common is that I take them for ages and eventually realise they made no difference whatsoever. Anyway, I am trying to work out whether I should back off on the supplements at all. I'm seeing the dentist next month, so I'm particularly keen on improving the state of my teeth. Undergoing lots of dental work would definitely not be good for me.
The main crash symptom is just fatigue and sleepiness. I've been napping most days. My sleep quality noticeably improved when I added i the carnitine (that Fitbit is really useful), but isn't quite as good more recently.
1. My partner has been away for two weeks (back tomorrow, hurray!). To be honest, I don't think this has made a difference. I've had support workers in every day, and I'm not really engaging in my pouncing duties with the cat (my current main form of exercise) any more than usual. I am definitely getting lots of cuddles from her, she turns into Velcro Kitty whenever he's away.
2. I had a snazzy new walk-in bath put in just as he was leaving. Showering is so much easier now, and bathing is absolute bliss. We live in different flats in the same building, so it was pretty straightforward, I just camped out in his flat while the plumbers were in, though I had to go up and down the two flights of stairs between our flats a bit more than usual, and I have memories of standing talking to plumbers and realising I had to sit down because my heart rate was in the 90s. Anyway, the main culprit I'm eyeing up is my lovely new padded shower stool. It is smelly, in a new-vinyl sort of way. It's been ten days and it is still smelly. Also there is a new shower curtain. I honestly can't tell if the shower curtain smells or not, since the seat is so pungent, but I don't recall having problems when I replaced shower curtains in the past (mind you, I could have just not noticed). Might this be an outgassing thing? I haven't experienced that in, ooh, the last incident I can remember is a landlord painting the flat around me eighteen years ago, and having to flee to a friend's and still being too ill to sit my exams. I don't have the option to put the shower stool outside to air, unfortunately. I don't spend all that much time in the bathroom, which has no window but does have an extractor fan. Could it be what's set me off?
3. I've been on this pain flare for weeks, so who knows, maybe having to take tramadol and diazepam every day is making the ME worse? I don't think it ever has in the past. Normally I end up taking them a few days a week. I'm experimenting with cold packs for pain, also a TENS machine as of the last few days, but I can't see those causing a crash.
4. New supplements. I've recently added in carnitine fumarate, the Dr's Best one, which I titrated up over a few days to a whole capsule. Then I added Thorne's Vitamin K2 (MK4) drops, titrated up to 8 drops, and have rather nervously gone down to 5 in case it's that. Also Vitamin A, 5000iu retinyl palmitate, which I'm thinking of changing to every other day. (This is me finally looking at what nutrients I am probably short of due to being vegan, on top of the ones I take already like Vitamin D and high dose B12. My teeth are already feeling and smelling better.) Could any of those be the problem? If it's one of those "healing crisis, gets worse before it gets better" things, I'm prepared to wait it out, but I don't want to simply be making things worse. I don't generally have huge reactions to supplements, and it's rare for me to get a really bad reaction. What is more common is that I take them for ages and eventually realise they made no difference whatsoever. Anyway, I am trying to work out whether I should back off on the supplements at all. I'm seeing the dentist next month, so I'm particularly keen on improving the state of my teeth. Undergoing lots of dental work would definitely not be good for me.
The main crash symptom is just fatigue and sleepiness. I've been napping most days. My sleep quality noticeably improved when I added i the carnitine (that Fitbit is really useful), but isn't quite as good more recently.