Different feeling PEM depending on activities

[soxfan]

PEM is my most debilitating and troublesome symptom. I am wondering if anyone experiences what I do...
My PEM feels different according to what activity has brought it on. Like when I work and get home I am almost always crashed the minute I walk in the door. I usually lay down and my body is in total turmoil not being able to settle down. I feel as though my entire insides are trying to recover and rest but unable to. It is an extremely uncomfortable feeling and just goes on and on. I can rest for hours but it can't be relieved. I need total quiet. It usually doesn't feel better until the next morning.

Now if I go out with a friend to a movie or lunch I still experience PEM afterwards but it is more of a physical tiredness not like when I work. I can still treadmill and have no after effects.

I am now trying to decide if I need to stop working because this (after 6 years) is becoming more of a problem for me. I have no trouble getting through my shift at work and only work 2 days a week but the after effects are terrible. Now today I am just very tired but the inside turmoil has gone.

So does anyone else experience different feelings of PEM according to activity? I am really very upset and worried that after all this time of struggling trying to hang on to my job I might have to give it up. I am hoping this is just a bad time period and will get better.
Thanks

 

[L'engle]

I get different kinds of PEM. From exercise I get fairly sharp pains in the back of my head as though the blood vessels were straining to get enough blood through. From mental exertion it's more an all over head, dull heavy ache that gets sharper if I push through it. From social interaction it's more of an all over body ache and weakness.

 

[caledonia]

All my PEM is the same, just lesser or greater depending on how far I've overdone it. Body ache and weakness, extra foggy, etc.

Your description actually reminds me of a chemical sensitivity more than PEM. What kind of work do you do? What kinds of chemicals, paints, markers, cleaning products, pesticides, etc. might you be exposed to?

I've gotten the most help on my MCS by doing Richvank's protocol. Neutralization drops from my environmental medicine doc where very helpful before that.

 

[soxfan]

I have worked in a chain pharmacy for 18 years. Only within the past 6 months has my PEM from working become bad..keeping me in bed for at least a day afterwards.

I really think it just might be all the activity of stocking shelves, helping customers, the bright lights, interacting with co-workers. I think maybe it just overloads and over stimulates my brain and causes the turmoil in my body which leads to the exhaustion.

I am also in the middle of a cortef taper..almost off completely so not sure that is a factor. I will give this a little while longer and if I continue to have major problems from working only a 6 hour shift then I might have to give in and quit...the after effects are too overwhelming and uncomfortable.
thanks for the reponse.

 

[borko2100]

I was going to make a thread about this, but there is no need since this one already exists.

So to the point, I can report the same phenomenon. My PEM from physical activities is quite different than PEM from mental activities. Furthermore I could subdivide PEM from mental acitivities as well. I think in total there's probably 3 or 4 different kinds of PEM that I get with differing symptoms and fatigue levels.

I find it interesting why this would happen. Also interesting how the symptoms of PEM, at least in my case, do not seem to be strongly correlated to what caused it. For example if I am doing a physical activity I might expect to get sore muscles, but this isn't always the case, or vice versa, if I am doing mental activities I would not expect sore muscles, but again that's what seems to happen quite often.

Anyone else?

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Anyone else?

this is an important topic- we should get this thread revived.....

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Wanted to mention that the DAILY cycle ME follows in my body- is itself a form of daily PEM...the exertion being:

I got up and am attempting to live thru my day. That day will conclude, post exertion, with some type of malaise which intensifies daily after 3 pm.

so every day, the around 4 pm thing happens. I've run out of something needed to operate.

My chinese herbalist says I"ve run out of Yin. I have used up my allotment for the day, and YANG takes over (overheated).

You drink a cup of coffee, your depleting your Yin- borrowing it, for some use it wasn't allotted for.

 

[Jyoti]

I got up and am attempting to live thru my day. That day will conclude, post exertion, with some type of malaise which intensifies daily after 3 pm.

so every day, the around 4 pm thing happens. I've run out of something needed to operate.

My chinese herbalist says I"ve run out of Yin. I have used up my allotment for the day, and YANG takes over (overheated).

If and when I am having a good day, I too run out of the thin stream of vital energy that gets me to that point--also often 3-ish-- and experience a kind of mild malaise for the remainder of the day. Or maybe I ran out at noon and just kept going?

The other thing I notice is that if for some reason I must continue to be active in one way or another (could be an unexpected but unavoidable phone conversation or a kid need or a mess that needs urgent cleaning--anything really) I will end up with the PEM @soxfan mentions after work, where I am trembling and totally discombobulated inside. Could this be Yang taking over, @Rufous McKinney? it always feels like I have to call on something really toxic to stay functional and then there is a big price to pay. Thus, I do not sleep that night at all and it takes me at least another day and night to recover.

But I think I am blessed with a range of PEM variants...

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Could this be Yang taking over, @Rufous McKinney?

I think the Yang "taking over"...maybe be somehow interfacing with Ammonia, taking over....as the wired but tired phenom also is rather common in the late afternoon.

I find myself VERY agitated, very almost totally NOT COPING. And that is this strong message to GO LIE DOWN.
Then I might be thrashing, I put myself into the corpse pose: lie on my stomach across the bed ....and go on a Magic Carpet ride I call go visit Galaxy 16. I can float out there for a very long time and feel so incredibly GOOD,.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Or maybe I ran out at noon and just kept going?

of course, that also!

 

[borko2100]

Wanted to mention that the DAILY cycle ME follows in my body- is itself a form of daily PEM...the exertion being:

I got up and am attempting to live thru my day. That day will conclude, post exertion, with some type of malaise which intensifies daily after 3 pm.

so every day, the around 4 pm thing happens. I've run out of something needed to operate.

I have the exact same thing every single day for the past 5 years. I've even kept up logs on it to determine when it happens. What I've found is that 90% of the time it happens between 3 to 5 hours after waking up. It feels like my brain has run of out of energy, I begin to feel light-headed, the various pains I have become more noticeable and I get an overwhelming urge to lay down (which I inevitably have to do). Then I might take a nap or just lay in bed for a few hours.

Your theory about running out of something resonates with me. Maybe when we go to bed, our cells get rested or recharged somehow. Then when we wake up and start putting stress on our muscles and / or brain, the cells need to produce more energy, then after a few hours the energy runs out and we inevitably crash. Very curious phenomenon and I know there's quite a few others on these and other forums that have it. Maybe this could give some kind of a clue to researchers as to what is going on?