The unconscious part of the brain

[SmokinJoeFraz93]

i don’t know if anyone has the same kind of response, but when I’m in my house I’m fine. Body feels okay, but I’m obviously a little tired. No big deal.

However, the minute I think about going somewhere, I get an overwhelming mental fatigue rushing over me with this sensation in my head. It’s like unconsciously/subconsciously my brain is like protecting me or something like that.

Even if it’s going to a mate’s house that consists of the same energy expenditure watching TV on the sofa just like it would be in mine, my brain won’t have any of it. WTF like?

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[erin]

Recently I feel similar SmokinJoeFraz93.

But I don't think it's unconscious/subconscious part of my brain doing this. I thing its POTS, getting worse because I'm having a bad flare since April. Maybe it is not a flare any more which is scary. Maybe I just got moderate+ now.

As soon as I get up and try to do something, including going out I feel dizzy and tachycardia.

 

[Hanna]

I experiment also big difference between walking in my yard (1800 steps) and trying to walk outside. Generally after less than 60 steps I begin to collapse (quadriceps tighten to the maximum) and have to find urgently a place to sit. I opened a thread about this phenomenon a few days ago called "Not all steps are "created" equal !"

 

[Wonko]

One is a significantly greater environmental processing challenge than the other.

 

[lansbergen]

One is a significantly greater environmental processing challenge than the other.

More stimuli

 

[HowToEscape?]

I wonder if there isn't an amplification of a hormonal response involved.

Perhaps
1. Some condition whether it's thinking about a difficult situation or perhaps being outside where your system anticipates it may need to respond to external conditions (don't get lost, don't get run over by a truck, etc.) causes of physical preparation in the body.
2. That ordinary physiological step then goes down a broken pathway. It may be some hormone takes up a level or two, which in a normal person would prepare them to tackle a physical or intellectual task. With us that pathway is broken in some way, and somehow we start feeling exhausted.

•• It is a bit of bait for the psychologizers, who could simply say "see, it's all in your head!". But you must understand their motivation is simply to kick the sick person for being sick, not to help them get well.
There's a physical process going on and if you were to try to push yourself through that exhaustion you'll either fail at the task (such as not perceiving and reacting to car traffic fast enough to save your hide), or push into a crash. Trying the same thing again when you're less sick will probably produce different results.

All guesses, it just feels like there's some chain of process we don't know about going on here.

 

[Skycloud]

I get something similar, all I know from experience is that I should listen to it.

 

[boolybooly]

IMHO people are often unconscious of the way their mentation can lead to stress.

I studied zoology at uni and there are interactions which go on daily which are so normal they go unnoticed, between people and due to their location, which change the way their body will pump out stress hormones.

Firstly male <> male social interactions are often based on mutual strength assessment. So in order to greet males will often go with a kind of manliness like a confident voice and a firm handshake etc which is friendly and demonstrates the value of alliance but is at its heart a biological display of virility and strength which requires stress hormones to be released in the body. Its almost a reflex response for many folk, an unconscious or semiconscious process and we take it for granted until something goes wrong with it as you may be experiencing.

Stress hormones change metabolism and suppress the immune system and can be released by just the thought of greeting a friend as recognition and response to gender is a perceptual process. That could account for your experience and I would not advise simply trying to push through it if you are ill with ME, though you may be able to work around it by taking a consciously more gentle and stepped down approach.

Secondly there is an issue of territoriality and in leaving your own home and entering the outer world and then entering another's home you are crossing two territorial boundaries and these too are cognitively appreciated and probably have a big semiconscious impact on stress hormone modulation of our senses and preparation for action.

This is why going out makes people feel more alive in the first place. But its that very liveliness which can cause a problem with ME.

So this issue may not simply be the activity level, it may be your own psychological response and processes leading to stress hormone release. You would need to be aware and mindful of these responses as a first step to working around them.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Wishful]

I don't have a problem with thinking about going somewhere, but there are plenty of other activities that just seem overwhelming and cause that 'anticipatory mental fatigue'. Sometimes I want to start some sort of project, but when I start thinking about all the prep work involved, my brain says "Nope." ME/CFS has also made me far more sensitive to frustrations and complications. I just don't have the mental energy to deal with such things.

 

[Woolie]

I don't have a problem with thinking about going somewhere, but there are plenty of other activities that just seem overwhelming and cause that 'anticipatory mental fatigue'. Sometimes I want to start some sort of project, but when I start thinking about all the prep work involved, my brain says "Nope." ME/CFS has also made me far more sensitive to frustrations and complications. I just don't have the mental energy to deal with such things.

Yea to that, @Wishful. Its like the disease saps me of initiative, even for things that I can physically do, like writing emails and such.

Perhaps, @SmokinJoeFraz93, you've learned there's a relationship between going out and feeling worse, so you anticipate that outcome, without the need to reflect on it consciously. That's what brains are supposed to be for, right? Helping us to act in a way that maximises good stuff and minimises bad outcomes.

 

[SmokinJoeFraz93]

I don't have a problem with thinking about going somewhere, but there are plenty of other activities that just seem overwhelming and cause that 'anticipatory mental fatigue'. Sometimes I want to start some sort of project, but when I start thinking about all the prep work involved, my brain says "Nope." ME/CFS has also made me far more sensitive to frustrations and complications. I just don't have the mental energy to deal with such things.

Now we’re talking! ‘Anticipatory Mental Fatigue’. That’s exactly what it is! I wonder what the driving force is behind it?

 

[andyguitar]

During the years i spent working for someone with severe ME one thing that came up regularly was how the ability to cope with various things varied according to where the person was. It's really to do with all the extra information you have to process when you are somewhere that is not so familiar. Sensory overload. It can be reduced by wearing earplugs and sunglasses. Best advice I can give. Hope it helps.

 

[SmokinJoeFraz93]

During the years i spent working for someone with severe ME one thing that came up regularly was how the ability to cope with various things varied according to where the person was. It's really to do with all the extra information you have to process when you are somewhere that is not so familiar. Sensory overload. It can be reduced by wearing earplugs and sunglasses. Best advice I can give. Hope it helps.

Thank you for the input. I struggle to watch much TV and being on my phone for a long period of time because of my head feeling this funny sensation.

 

[andyguitar]

What you are describing is very, very common. you will hear all sorts of scary explainations for it but don't get to stressed about it .Watching TV produces a lot of stimulus. Best to just limit it and not get to the point of getting any strange feelings in your head. Listening to radio might be a better option.

 

[aquariusgirl]

Is it a thumping feeling in your head? I would check out videos on Dr Blair Grubb on you tube. WOrld expert in POTS..

It could be your issue is autonomic.