• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

High performers PR survey

Martin aka paused||M.E.

Senior Member
Messages
2,291
I have talked to hundreds of patients when I still had the energy to work as an OMF Community Ambassador whose focus was mainly on raising money but also advocating.

What always amazes me is the energy with which most of us lived most of our life before the illness. Academic degrees, workaholics, artists, people who were always above average seemed to me to be particularly susceptible to the disease.
Stress, for example, permanently weakens the immune system.

perhaps a factor that contributes to the development of the disease?
what was your life like?
 
Messages
312
Location
USA
I have talked to hundreds of patients when I still had the energy to work as an OMF Community Ambassador whose focus was mainly on raising money but also advocating.

What always amazes me is the energy with which most of us lived most of our life before the illness. Academic degrees, workaholics, artists, people who were always above average seemed to me to be particularly susceptible to the disease.
Stress, for example, permanently weakens the immune system.

perhaps a factor that contributes to the development of the disease?
what was your life like?

I've found the same thing talking to others with ME. Most of us were incredibly active and with high energy levels before. I did long-distance cycling along with very long steep hikes in the mountains. No matter what I did, I still had too much energy to spare. Most that I've talked to with ME were similar. It seems like there's an article out there about it somewhere. I can't remember. :confused:
 

SnappingTurtle

Senior Member
Messages
257
Location
GA, USA
I was never very physically active but I played varsity basketball in high school. Before ME/CFS, I worked 60 hrs/wk at my IT job, was raising our 2 young kids with my husband and was caregiver of my aging mother.

The stress probably compounded my management of this illness in early stages but the clear triggering event was EBV. After EBV, my life was never the same.
 

Irat

Senior Member
Messages
288
https://www.natrolive.com/blog/2019/4/22/stress-part-2

https://www.natrolive.com/blog/2019/8/26/me-amp-stress-limbic-kindling

‘stress’ doesn’t just mean emotional stress. It can also be things like an infection (viral, bacterial, fungal/mold), physical or mental trauma, inflammation or even environmental toxins such as pollution, pesticides and heavy metals (eg mercury or lead). Your body responds to all of these (and more) with its stress response .......
The exposure to the stress can either be a short-term but high intensity exposure.
 

Martin aka paused||M.E.

Senior Member
Messages
2,291
https://www.natrolive.com/blog/2019/4/22/stress-part-2

https://www.natrolive.com/blog/2019/8/26/me-amp-stress-limbic-kindling

‘stress’ doesn’t just mean emotional stress. It can also be things like an infection (viral, bacterial, fungal/mold), physical or mental trauma, inflammation or even environmental toxins such as pollution, pesticides and heavy metals (eg mercury or lead). Your body responds to all of these (and more) with its stress response .......
The exposure to the stress can either be a short-term but high intensity exposure.
Please stay on topic
 
Messages
39
I was always a very physically active kid and running around and biking. Always on the move.

Right before I got ill Iwas working 40 hours a week in manual labor. I would volunteer to do yard work for elderly people on the weekends and I would spend several hours on that. I also was bodybuilding 5-6 days a week for at least 2 hours a day. I was taking lots of ephedra and caffeine to push though it all. I also was taking anabolic steroids through the time period. I think between the drugs and the massively over doing everything physically it led to my illness.
 

Martin aka paused||M.E.

Senior Member
Messages
2,291
Hmm I think I did.because what I m saying is that yes all kind of stressors accumulate,weaken the immune system ,can reactivate viruses etc,...or did I get your question wrong ?
If you read my post and the headline it should be clear that I don’t mean infections, physical trauma etc
 

Irat

Senior Member
Messages
288
If you read my post and the headline it should be clear that I don’t mean infections, physical trauma etc
Oh yes...and that's what I and this article does say.........:Stress can also mean bad diet,too much exercise,always pushing over your limit,overworking,losses in life etc......and the brain does not differentiate if it's a virus,heavy metal toxicity,trauma, or "normal" life stressors .................anyway I was a pusher all my life and mostly overutilzing my sympathetic autonomic nervous system
 

Judee

Psalm 46:1-3
Messages
4,461
Location
Great Lakes
I actually got sick at a young age (10 y.o I believe) so I cannot say if I would have fit that "high achiever" profile.

I had a hard time even then with brain fog and fatigue and multiple colds/flus through my growing up years. I finally had to quit school and finish by homeschooling. Even that was difficult.
 

LINE

Senior Member
Messages
832
Location
USA
Back in the day they called it the "yuppie flu" -meaning it was the over driven Type A that seemed to get it.

High performance requires high adrenal activity which is never good for any prolonged period of time. Research will clearly indicate that high cortisol or other adrenal hormones have a deleterious effect on the the immune system and other recovery systems such as redox.
 

godlovesatrier

Senior Member
Messages
2,545
Location
United Kingdom
The thing is I think the data is bias. When collected from certain places where crrtian people congregate.

For example on PR and other forums you can end up with people from professional backgrounds or IT backgrounds. That's because those people are more likely to analyse the disease due to their prior jobs and are more likely to think to find a forum due to past exploration and the nature of the job.

As for high performers etc. I think this can also be true and it's absolutely no criticism of those who are basically not around (around PR and forums like it). I think those who were not high performers in terms of physical pursuits and busy lives possibly even over achievers (as they call it in the states?) Are probably more likely to be on Facebook groups. I know from the Facebook groups I was in that most (90% I'd say) people are not interested in analysing the disease and as I say it's absolutely no criticism (of these people). Just what I've noticed over the last 5 years.

So I think it's hard to get a collation of data that is truly representative. Problem with all stats gathering I guess we can say the same for any analysis we do for recovery stories or anything else.

Just my thoughts :)
 
Last edited:

blueberry

Senior Member
Messages
103
Location
west yorkshire
Both my episodes of ME started when I was trying to work AND study (at post-grad level), then got a flu-like virus. Almost identical situations. I'm not a "high achiever" by conventional standards, but have always been passionate about my work and my music; at the time of my major relapse (five years ago?) after 12 years of almost 100% remission, I was also recording an album at weekends on top of work and study. There were several major stressors in the 2 years prior to that, including being flooded out of my home.

(Reading this back I can imagine people thinking why didn't I learn my lesson the first time round- I truly believed I was cured and never thought the ME would come for me again. Got that wrong!)
 
Last edited:

Boba

Senior Member
Messages
332
Yes. Was burned out the year before getting Covid. Never expected sth like this to happen.
Got symptoms the day I wanted to chill for a couple of months…

Edit: ADHD and undiagnosed anxiety didn‘t help
 
Last edited: