Does anyone else get gradual onset crashes?

[serafim]

I’m trying to determine whether i’m in a crash or if it’s something else.
I had to travel in early July and that caused me to crash badly. I paced myself but instead of getting better i kept getting PEM from minimal exertion that i normally tolerated even in crashes. I’ve very gradually deteriorated from moderate to very severe over the course of 2 months. Ive been doing no stim rest for like 22h a day for nearly 2 weeks. i think i stopped getting worse at least but i don’t seem to be improving at all.

My labs are within the normal range, although slightly out of balance. my lymphocytes are elevated compared to leukocytes and neutrophils, which are borderline low. I haven't picked up a new virus and i don’t have allergies. My symptoms are ordinary except for how extreme my fatigue has gotten. I can barely talk or walk. Screen time is very limited.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Did you get better with time?

I think it’s more likely that i’m just in a weird crash. But there’s a possibility that there’s something else going on. I have moved back in with my family (the stress of the move has triggered my decline). There’s no mold issues in the apartment and i doubt i have any strong environmental sensitivities. I have changed sleep meds from Amitriptyline to Mirtazapine. I tapered gradually. I had side effects but they resolved in a few weeks. Family wants me to go to a hospital but i think it’s no use and will only make me worse.

 

[InitialConditions]

I'm sorry to hear this. I am currently in a very similar position. I've gone downhill since late June and I'm not recovering. I'm even thinking about moving from amitriptyline to mirtazapine.

What prompted this change in meds, and do you think it's helping? What doses?

 

[serafim]

What prompted this change in meds, and do you think it's helping? What doses?

i tend to develop tolerance to sleep medication very easily. started off taking 10mg amitriptyline but had to increase the dose all the way up to 50 over the course of 10 months. the anticholinergic side effects were getting too much, especially dry mouth. i also didn’t want to keep increasing the dose forever and decided to quit while still at a low-ish dose. I originally was reluctant to try mirtazapine bc im concerned about the weight gain side effect and im afraid ill develop a tolerance to it like with every other drug. But im out of options. I like it so far. I’m on 15mg. Quitting Ami wasn’t easy. I tapered. For a week or two i was nauseous all the time. Drank a lot of sparkling water. Had other unpleasant side effects too. But i’m glad i’m off it. Probably for good.

 

[serafim]

re

I'm sorry to hear this. I am currently in a very similar position. I've gone downhill since late June and I'm not recovering.

I hope we’ll both pull through. At this point being just severe sounds great to me. It may take a long time but i have hope

 

[hapl808]

Has anyone experienced something similar? Did you get better with time?

Somewhat similar to what happened to me when I was less severe. Real exertion like heat exposure, travel, injury could all cause a crash that would change my baseline. I usually recovered eventually in a matter of days or weeks…until my first major crash after 40 years old and I never really recovered. I was initially making my way back as usual (just more slowly) and then had a few other stressors (mostly allergen related) and that knocked me from moderate more into severe.

I think a lot depends on age and amount of time sick, but also how long you can rest for. I was recovering even after that post-40 crash, but after a year of recovery the people around me got tired of being supportive and convinced me to travel again, push myself a bit, do more physical therapy, etc - and I never recovered after that. Almost ten years in my current state and not really expecting to improve any more, despite my constant health tracking and experiments.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

the travel/ move version of crashing can last quite a while, in my experience.

I "recovered" in theory, from the three month thing in which I experienced intense tachycardia every day at 5 pm.

I don't seem to have that any longer. But my other lists grow longer.

I think symptoms evolve, change, shift. Perhaps something improves a tad over HERE; while something else worsens.

Like seeing double all day, two weeks ago. Really?

Oh, yes and now I have lymphoma: oh SORRY I shouldn't mention THAT.

(somehow, today I can laugh about how ridiculous this all is) (Thursday I was sobbing/hari kari)

 

[linusbert]

at first, you moved to your family, thats a whole new situation. i think this can take up until 1-2 month.

Family wants me to go to a hospital but i think it’s no use and will only make me worse.

and this sounds like you have constant debate with your family about how you should behave, how you should feel... they telling you how disabled you should be according to their opinions..
if this is a regular thing you have a constant strong stressor which will prevent recovering.
if this isnt resolving you might need to move out again.

to be frank, i am hundreds of km away from my family.. and thats for a reason. 1 visit a year is enough for me.
not many phone calls because they are stressful as well.
i am surrounding myself only with people which are net-positive for me.


what i noticed from psychological crashes... they are somewhat twisted and weird. from physical overuse i crash like 24h later.. usually the amount of overuse defines how bad the crash will be, its pretty reliable.
but from emotional stressors i can crash like 1-2 weeks later and pretty rough.
(my theory is, some hormonal shifts in balances, maybe estrogen or prolactin?, which were caused by the emotional distress which prevent healing and energy metabolism until they somewhat normalise again which might take days)

what i also noticed this summer, when the weather shifts, especially from cold to hot i seam to crash for a few days... takes me 3-7 days to adapt.
when the weather changes back and forth every week i am constantly adapting and feeling crashed. this year we had 3-4 major shifts in weather going down by 20C celcius and 2 weeks later back up again.
this is awful.
if you have a similiar reactivity to weather change and this is going on for month you have a explanation why you are feeling its not getting better... but it will as soon as it stabilises.