First Major Crash - Possible Injury

[Hawk1]

Hi everyone!

Just wanted a bit of advice as I'm really confused on what is going on with me.

Some Background info - Had MECFS in January 2020 - September 2020 and went into full remission and was 100% normal again.(long story).
Had Second MECFS onset after viral infection in February 2023.

I've had MECFS for just over 7 months now, and I was still mild.
Around 2 weeks ago I had my first ever major crash. Prior to this I've never had any major crash, not even in my first bout of MECFS in 2020. Only minor crashes lasting a couple of hours. As of 2 weeks now, I am still crashed and have hardly even improved, so I'm really confused here.

The symptoms of the crash:
- My whole brain+body feel inflammed and back of the neck very stiff.
- Moderate/Severe brain fog
- Before the crash I was mild, now I have somehow overnight I have gone into moderate MECFS - fatigue wise.

I have been resting excessively - sleeping at least 16 hours a day and mainly housebound. However, there is very small improvement.

I am truly confused how this has happened, but there are three factors:

- I have been pushing myself over the weeks, but I was doing okay, and there was no signs a crash was coming (maybe there were, but since I have never had a major crash I didn't know).
- I as of a week prior to the crash been supplementing on 10,000 IU of Vitamin D (before that 2k-5k), and I have read on the forums that this has caused negative symptoms in people with MECFS. I have stopped Vitamin D completely for now.

- I had a fall. Some family members were "play-fighting" and one of them fell back and on top of me and I landed hard on my buttocks. The next day I felt pretty bad pain in my coccyx/coccyx region and to this day (2 weeks after the fall) I still feel pain in my coccyx/coccyx region, especially when I use the toilet, however it has improved.

My question is could this have possible injured my spine and caused this major crash?

Does anyone know of any stories where physical trauma has worsened MECFS symptoms?
My main worry is that since there has been very little improvement, that this is my new baseline and is permanent.

Any advice/thoughts is highly appreciated!

Thanks guys!

 

[hapl808]

Does anyone know of any stories where physical trauma has worsened MECFS symptoms?

Yes, but we have no idea the actual mechanism. Is it the mechanical injury, the extra stress, the inflammation (my guess), some other immune response?

Everything you describe is extremely common. I was mild for many years, always pushing myself. Then became more moderate. Often the declines were sudden, sometimes doing the same things where previously I had returned to my baseline.

In short, my guess is you'll probably recover and you're going about it the right way - resting and not trying to push further. Two weeks isn't a terribly long crash for me - I had several of those bedbound crashes when moderate where I 'recovered' back to my crappy baseline.

Sorry I don't have more suggestions, but basically everything you describe is very routine here I think.

 

[Hawk1]

Yes, but we have no idea the actual mechanism. Is it the mechanical injury, the extra stress, the inflammation (my guess), some other immune response?

Everything you describe is extremely common. I was mild for many years, always pushing myself. Then became more moderate. Often the declines were sudden, sometimes doing the same things where previously I had returned to my baseline.

In short, my guess is you'll probably recover and you're going about it the right way - resting and not trying to push further. Two weeks isn't a terribly long crash for me - I had several of those bedbound crashes when moderate where I 'recovered' back to my crappy baseline.

Sorry I don't have more suggestions, but basically everything you describe is very routine here I think.

Hey @hapl808,

Thanks for the reply.

I've only had MECFS for 7 months now, and any crash prior to this was very minor and relieved with 2-3 hours of extra sleep.

As I mentioned above I am resting excessively for 2 weeks now and staying at home 95-100% of the time, however after that fall I haven't even slightly recovered in those 2 weeks. That's the bit I'm confused about and worried that this is my new baseline now. The only thing that has improved is the pain in my coccyx region, there is still pain but its greatly reduced now.

Your views?

Thanks!

 

[hapl808]

As I mentioned above I am resting excessively for 2 weeks now and staying at home 95-100% of the time, however after that fall I haven't even slightly recovered in those 2 weeks. That's the bit I'm confused about and worried that this is my new baseline now. The only thing that has improved is the pain in my coccyx region, there is still pain but its greatly reduced now.

Your views?

My first bad crashes were in my 30's (got sick at 25) and often lasted weeks. I would eventually recover at least 80%-90% each time, until my first bad crash in my 40's which I never really recovered (although I kept pushing and getting further crashes trying to keep up a relationship, some small amount of travel, etc).

So in short, if you're mild and needed 2-3 extra hours of sleep to recover, this is just your first experience of a real crash. Especially if you're under 40, the likelihood of you recovering to your baseline is quite high if you're able to rest as much as possible. I remember I had a crash at around 35 years old from travel and heat that put me in bed for weeks. Couldn't even stand up for more than a minute or two. Felt like I would never recover, but I did.

Sadly I always tried to push too much - it's very hard to accept strict limits that affect your life.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

The only thing that has improved is the pain in my coccyx region, there is still pain but its greatly reduced now.

I got knocked over by my dog, once. Landed on my coccyx. On flat rock. I was hallucinating for a couple of hours after that.

Frankly: it was the worst physical pain injury I ever experienced. However, I was lucky and it self repaired after several weeks and I have no further issue at that location.

I did not go get exrays which was recommended by my alternative health person I was seeing at the time.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

it's very hard to accept strict limits that affect your life.

goes against our basic human nature....

 

[Hawk1]

I got knocked over by my dog, once. Landed on my coccyx. On flat rock. I was hallucinating for a couple of hours after that.

Frankly: it was the worst physical pain injury I ever experienced. However, I was lucky and it self repaired after several weeks and I have no further issue at that location.

I did not go get exrays which was recommended by my alternative health person I was seeing at the time.

Hi Rufous,

So, when that happened did your MECFS symptoms worsen? or did you go into a crash? How bad was the pain? Mine was moderate coccyx pain, now turned to mild after 2 weeks.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Mine was moderate coccyx pain, now turned to mild after 2 weeks.

This was during my mild era. (decades of that). I didn't have classic ME symptoms back then. I could hike all day back then. Crashes were infrequent but I"d get "the flu-like symptoms" and wipe out periodically for a week at a time.

IT sounds like you'll probably be OK if it's calming down after a couple of weeks. Some chiropractors work on the area.