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Any other conditions causing PEM?

svetoslav80

Senior Member
Messages
700
Location
Bulgaria
I suffer 2 conditions which cause fatigue. The first is (presumably) Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome, and the second is chronic oesophageal inflammation. At present my health is very bad and it's difficult for me to even stay straight. However, exertion doesn't seem to worsen my condition (and never has), and I've never experienced PEM. Another conditions which I associate with fatigue are the common cold, flu, other acute/chronic inflammations, alcohol hangover - these don't cause PEM for me either, just fatigue. What about you, are these/other conditions causing PEM for you? What I'm trying to understand is if PEM is specific symptom to CFS, and maybe some other disorders, or is it just a symptom that only certain people have with any fatiguing disorder?

Edit: by other conditions I mean something different from ME/CFS and fibromyalgia
 

Sparrow

Senior Member
Messages
691
Location
Canada
Sorry to hear that your health is so poor right now. I hope that things look up for you soon.

To my knowledge, I've never experienced PEM (or PENE, or whatever one chooses to call it) as the result of a regular virus, hangover, depression, or any other condition I've encountered. I might be more tired the next day, or a little weaker or what have you, but it's not the same at all. The PEM for me is not at all a subtle thing, and it's been very unique to the ME/CFS. I seem to get it only from too much exertion - exercise/movement, socializing, or sometimes excessive stress. Other things can temporarily bring down my level of functioning (e.g. a cold, certain food issues, a particularly bad night's sleep, etc.), but I don't think it's really the same sensation as the PEM.

I would say that PEM seems to be one of the one very reliable symptoms that's actually shared by ME/CFS sufferers. The rest of them seem to be a bit more hit and miss to me (or at least seem to vary greatly in their severity from person to person or day to day). I would say that PEM seems to be one of the things that distinguishes ME/CFS from other fatiguing disorders.
 

L'engle

moogle
Messages
3,187
Location
Canada
Hi Svet,

Do you mean PEM just in relation to physical exertion, or mental exertion as well. You say you have brain fog: do you get sick from doing mental exertion? It seems there are some here who do not have PEM from exercise or physical work but still have it from mental exertion. Your conditions sound painful :(
 

maddietod

Senior Member
Messages
2,859
It seems to me that this is specific to CFS/ME, because nobody else understands what I'm talking about. They literally can't wrap their brains around the idea - it just doesn't make sense. Which means that nobody I've ever met has had PEM from flu etc; they've never had it at all.

I'm sorry you're having such a rough time. :balloons:
 

peggy-sue

Senior Member
Messages
2,623
Location
Scotland
I'm pretty sure folk with both Lupus and Sjorgen's syndrome get PEN.

With ME, I've found brain-work can cause physical PEN, physical activity can cause mental PEN.
There's just no escaping it.