Physical vs. cognitive PEM

[HTester]

When you suffer a crash or experience PEM, do you find physical fatigue/weakness is always accompanied by cognitive difficulties, or do you sometimes experience "physical PEM" without "cognitive PEM" or "cognitive PEM" without "physical PEM?"

 

[Wishful]

My PEM was always cognitive; ME never gave me weakness or reduced my physical endurance or gave physical fatigue.

 

[hapl808]

Always accompanied by cognitive difficulties and physical. Doesn't matter whether the trigger is mental or physical exertion, the crash is always both. Even when I think back to when I was mild 20 years ago, the crashes were more mild but I usually felt a bit slower mentally and physically. Just kinda run down.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Always accompanied by cognitive difficulties and physical.

similar, both mostly.

for me, teasing out cognitive could be challenging...thinking about it..

I have alot of eye problems (hooked into the brain, feels like) and throat problems.

so reading, or looking at the end of the paint brush, is like reading. and uses muscles.

And talking involves the throat muscles and breathing muscles.

 

[Mary]

My PEM is almost exclusively physical, although it can be caused by mental exertion and emotional stress as well as physical exertion. So when I'm crashed I have to be very careful to avoid mental, emotional and physical exertion which would exacerbate it.

 

[wabi-sabi]

Initially when I as mild I had only physical PEM. However, my coworkers at the time noticed the cognitive problems before I did. Embarrassing, but when your thinker is broken it's harder to notice that you can't think, I guess. Now I have both physical and cognitive PEM. Physical PEM is brought on by doing physical things- showering, standing. Cognitive PEM is brought on by physical or mental exertion such as reading.