SOC
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Here's the background~
Daughter and I flew down to INIM late last week for our semi-annual visit. Because we are both doing much better and disability services at Miami Airport are awful (not just inefficient, but insulting, humiliating, and downright rude), we decided to walk Miami Airport instead of wheelchair it. It's a BIG airport. So it's quite possible we overdid to the point of PEM, although we tried to be careful and felt fine in the moment. We were tired during the trip, but it seemed normal tiredness from more than usual activity, not PEM.
Saturday we were home when the exhaustion hit. You all know it. It's not tired from doing a lot; it's that utter exhaustion of PEM. PEM hitting after three days would be about right for me, maybe a day or so early. I wasn't convinced it was PEM yet.
Sunday we felt even worse and the muscle aches started. By Monday my cognitive function was severely declined, I was exhausted beyond belief, and every muscle in my body ached and was very stiff. No swollen lymph nodes or the like, though. Still, I was pretty sure it was PEM.
I had a long workday I had to get through since I took three days off last week, so I can't ask my clients for more time off unless I'm bedbound. Lunch time rolled around and I wasn't sure I was going to make it through the day. It was one of those WTH moments. I usually take 1200 mg of ubiquinone in the morning and 600 mg at noon. I decided WTH, and took 1200 mg at noon also. That's the max dose I'm willing to try until I do further research. I had in mind some research Dr K mentioned in which healthy people (athletes, I think) were heavily exercised and then given CoQ10. The researchers found NO signs of 'damage' (I'll have to look up my notes as to what damage -- oxidative stress or muscle breakdown indicators?). The CoQ10 seemed to have eliminated the negative consequences of the heavy exercise. Worth a try, I thought.
I got through the afternoon. By late afternoon I noticed an interesting feeling that's hard to describe. I felt tired like I needed a nap (not sleepy, just tired), but I didn't feel that heavy muscle exhausted feeling. It was a bit like I was still mentally exhausted but my body wasn't exhausted anymore....? I had dinner and went to bed early.
I woke up this morning fine. Okay, not completely fine. I'm maybe 80-85% of my baseline, but I feel fully capable of putting in my full workday, I just feel a little tired. Not exhausted, not even very tired. Just a little. Muscle aches are minor. My cognitive dysfunction is also a little below baseline, but not much.
This is not at all typical of PEM for me. Ordinarily I get worse over several days until I'm too exhausted, mentally worthless, and in pain to put in my workday and I end up in bed. Then I slooooowly come out of it over several weeks. The fastest PEM recovery so far was 10 days.
If this was PEM, then I should have gotten worse over a couple more days, spent a day or two in bed, and then struggled through at least another week at about 50% of my already low baseline. Instead, I had a sudden turnaround.
Today I took 2400 mg again. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.
I don't intend to take 2400 mg of ubiquinone routinely, but if I can mostly shut down PEM with a massive dose of ubiquinol, this could be huge for me since PEM ordinarily knocks me down for 2-8 weeks. However..... this is not an experiment I'm willing to undertake deliberately. I'm not going to purposely PEM myself on the chance that I might be able to cut it short with a massive dose of ubiquinone. Still, if I end up PEMing myself again some time, I'll probably try the CoQ10 again, although probably ubiquinol next time.
Any theories why this might have worked? Assuming that it did -- no guarantees yet. It's early days.
Daughter and I flew down to INIM late last week for our semi-annual visit. Because we are both doing much better and disability services at Miami Airport are awful (not just inefficient, but insulting, humiliating, and downright rude), we decided to walk Miami Airport instead of wheelchair it. It's a BIG airport. So it's quite possible we overdid to the point of PEM, although we tried to be careful and felt fine in the moment. We were tired during the trip, but it seemed normal tiredness from more than usual activity, not PEM.
Saturday we were home when the exhaustion hit. You all know it. It's not tired from doing a lot; it's that utter exhaustion of PEM. PEM hitting after three days would be about right for me, maybe a day or so early. I wasn't convinced it was PEM yet.
Sunday we felt even worse and the muscle aches started. By Monday my cognitive function was severely declined, I was exhausted beyond belief, and every muscle in my body ached and was very stiff. No swollen lymph nodes or the like, though. Still, I was pretty sure it was PEM.
I had a long workday I had to get through since I took three days off last week, so I can't ask my clients for more time off unless I'm bedbound. Lunch time rolled around and I wasn't sure I was going to make it through the day. It was one of those WTH moments. I usually take 1200 mg of ubiquinone in the morning and 600 mg at noon. I decided WTH, and took 1200 mg at noon also. That's the max dose I'm willing to try until I do further research. I had in mind some research Dr K mentioned in which healthy people (athletes, I think) were heavily exercised and then given CoQ10. The researchers found NO signs of 'damage' (I'll have to look up my notes as to what damage -- oxidative stress or muscle breakdown indicators?). The CoQ10 seemed to have eliminated the negative consequences of the heavy exercise. Worth a try, I thought.
I got through the afternoon. By late afternoon I noticed an interesting feeling that's hard to describe. I felt tired like I needed a nap (not sleepy, just tired), but I didn't feel that heavy muscle exhausted feeling. It was a bit like I was still mentally exhausted but my body wasn't exhausted anymore....? I had dinner and went to bed early.
I woke up this morning fine.
Okay, not completely fine. I'm maybe 80-85% of my baseline, but I feel fully capable of putting in my full workday, I just feel a little tired. Not exhausted, not even very tired. Just a little. Muscle aches are minor. My cognitive dysfunction is also a little below baseline, but not much.This is not at all typical of PEM for me. Ordinarily I get worse over several days until I'm too exhausted, mentally worthless, and in pain to put in my workday and I end up in bed. Then I slooooowly come out of it over several weeks. The fastest PEM recovery so far was 10 days.
If this was PEM, then I should have gotten worse over a couple more days, spent a day or two in bed, and then struggled through at least another week at about 50% of my already low baseline. Instead, I had a sudden turnaround.
Today I took 2400 mg again. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.
I don't intend to take 2400 mg of ubiquinone routinely, but if I can mostly shut down PEM with a massive dose of ubiquinol, this could be huge for me since PEM ordinarily knocks me down for 2-8 weeks. However..... this is not an experiment I'm willing to undertake deliberately. I'm not going to purposely PEM myself on the chance that I might be able to cut it short with a massive dose of ubiquinone. Still, if I end up PEMing myself again some time, I'll probably try the CoQ10 again, although probably ubiquinol next time.
Any theories why this might have worked? Assuming that it did -- no guarantees yet. It's early days.
