possible to experience severe crash months after major stress?

[soxfan]

I moved about 5 months ago and it was extremely stressful. We had lived in our prior home for 34 years and had a beautiful house and yard. I had worked at the same job for 21 years and had great friendships with my co-workers.
We wanted to make the move so it isn't as if it wasn't planned. But I never realized how difficult it would be leaving friends...family...job and over all support. My husband and I were both so homesick we actually considered moving back.

In time we settled in and met people in the community. We have doctors...dentists...etc. I am learning my way around slowly and we both are now happy with the move.
I had felt okay during all this but did have days where I was extremely tired. I am able to walk everyday due to the wonderful climate we live in and we just bought bikes.

This week though something seemed to change and as the week went on I began getting more and more fatigued. Not just tired but entire body fatigue....tiredness and physical exhaustion where it is difficult to even stay upright. I just want to lay down and close my eyes.

I am actually frightened by this as I almost feel disoriented at times due to the horrendous fatigue. I have no other symptoms and have honestly never felt anything this major. It seems to get worse as the days go on and I have been resting most of the day because I can't do anything else.

Could my body just be giving in to the tremendous stress I experienced during and after the move. I have had terrible stressful times before and never had this happen. I am worried this could go on for a long time or something else going on. It is really very worrisome and I feel like crying my eyes out over this....

Any thoughts?

 

[peggy-sue]

Sounds a bit as if you've probably been overdoing yourself more than you thought you were for the move.

All the excitement of it will have got you going on a big adrenalin surge to get yourself through it, but you might just have felt you were coping better than you were.

I'm saying this, because it does sound like the crash I had, after having to keep going for 3 months solidly, at a time I actually needed to be cutting my activity down, because my Dad was dying.


I had kept going because I had to - there wasn't anybody else - much as you have just had to keep going throughout all this upheaval.

I'm not really sure when or how the crash hit me, but it was a massive one - the kind where you have to consciously breathe, otherwise you stop; and you can't hold your head up, "malaise" does not begin to describe it.

It was just like the sort of thing you're describing. I am a lot better now!

But it did take about 3-4 years before I established a new, (lower) baseline than I'd had before, but I didn't stay that low for that whole time.

 

[xchocoholic]

Hi @soxfan, I just went thru a major move too and had chalked up my fatigue to this and my "cfs". It turned out that I had an infection
but the symptoms weren't clear. Treating for a uti has helped tremendously.

I'd try garlic, etc and see if it helps. Tc .. x

 

[soxfan]

You are right...malaise does not even begin to describe this. It is even hard for me to be typing this as I really can't read or watch television either.
I know I have been doing more down here than I use to at my former home except that I am not working anymore.

I went through a similar thing with my dad while he was dying almost 5 years ago. He became ill and passed away within 4 months and my husband and I were driving up there every other week for doctors appts. and to support my mom through it. I don't remember crashing like this afterwards but then again I think I tend to forget the bad times.

I am totally devastated over this and really don't know how to cope other than lay in bed. I guess it has all caught up to me. I really thought I was handling things well after we settled down and we were feeling better about things. I am still concerned that something else might be wrong (the hypochondriac in me). I have a doctor but she is just a PCP with not any real knowledge on this.

 

[minkeygirl]

I think it's possible to have a delayed reaction to things. You get so wound up and so involved in making a new life that when you finally relaxed BAM!

I think you just need to cut yourself a break and just take care of yourself with rest.

I get the hypochondriac thing completely. And when I feel like crap, it is even worse. Sometimes we just feel like crap.

BTW, I moved 4 times in 14 months. Only one was by choice.

 

[TigerLilea]

It might not have anything to do with the actual move, but possibly the fact that you are now able to walk everyday due to the wonderful climate we live in and we just bought bikes. Maybe you are doing more than your body can handle and you just need to slow down a bit. Start off slowly and give your body time to adjust and then gradually work up the amount of time you spend walking and riding your bike.

 

[soxfan]

I have to say that I always walked this much but it wasn't outdoors. It was on a treadmill in my house. We just bought the bikes and I have been too crashed to even take it out for a ride.
Maybe I am doing too much socially or too many errands during the week....just not sure. My life down here is much different than it was but I don't think I am overdoing all that much.

I guess only time will tell once this crash or whatever it is goes away and I can be a little more active. I have done nothing for the past two days and feel much worse today than yesterday....I want to curl up in a ball and cry my eyes out which will make me even more exhausted...

 

[minkeygirl]

I know how crushing a relapse or whatever this is feels. But I think this is a temporary thing, just too much going on. Different doesn't mean you aren't stressed about it and it hasn't take. A bigger toll than you feel.

Go have a good cry in the shower and tell yourself you just need time. I'm the biggist pessimist and cynic there is and from what you have said you're healthier than I am. But I have come back from stuff.

Also when I'm in the middle if things I can't see any hope or end. But there was.

 

[*GG*]

Hope you figure it out, if you can do less, then why not try that? Wishing you the best and better health in the near future!

GG

 

[TigerLilea]

I guess only time will tell once this crash or whatever it is goes away and I can be a little more active. I have done nothing for the past two days and feel much worse today than yesterday....I want to curl up in a ball and cry my eyes out which will make me even more exhausted...

Possibly you just have a bug that is going around. We have a tendency to blame everything on CFS, however, we are human and are going to get sick every once in a while just the same as the general population does. If you've only been like this for a couple of days I wouldn't worry about it. It would be different if you were talking weeks or months.

 

[Martial]

I have to say that I always walked this much but it wasn't outdoors. It was on a treadmill in my house. We just bought the bikes and I have been too crashed to even take it out for a ride.
Maybe I am doing too much socially or too many errands during the week....just not sure. My life down here is much different than it was but I don't think I am overdoing all that much.

I guess only time will tell once this crash or whatever it is goes away and I can be a little more active. I have done nothing for the past two days and feel much worse today than yesterday....I want to curl up in a ball and cry my eyes out which will make me even more exhausted...

It might help to get a check up by a doctor and see where your vitamin and mineral levels are at, stress can deplete alot of vitamins and minerals and this can lead to several kinds of deficiencies and methyl traps to cause issues like you describe. I had periods of extreme stress before in my life and even being perfectly healthy you can crash pretty hard from it. It is like your body was running on pure survival mode for a while and all of a sudden it just burns out and shuts down.

 

[soxfan]

I have an appointment with my new endocrinologist next week and will definitely ask for blood work. I suppose I am so use to being able to do things that when crashes like this happen I over react and freak out. I am very hard on myself and have been since becoming ill ten years ago. This feels like malaise times ten....

To be honest I haven't been sick since 2004 when I had the flu that landed me in CFS land. I don't even get colds or anything at all. I never have a fever even though at times it feels like I do. I usually run in the low 97's and sometimes 96 range.

Thanx everyone here for the awesome support as I have really needed it today. I did have a good cry but all it did was make me feel even more drained....we will see what tomorrow brings.

 

[Seven7]

1) More likely to be overdoing, I think all relapses are an accumulation of body "stress" (infections, stress, trauma...)
2) Could be new infection or reactivation.
3) New things pop up unrelated to CFS or progression of it.

 

[Sherlock]

Maybe there is some pollen or mold or other allergen which only blooms at this time of year in your new locale.

 

[taniaaust1]

I personally dont think you should worry just yet, see how you feel in a couple of weeks time.

In the meantime keep up that resting. Maybe stay in bed and only get up for the loo and to get drinks. Ive found enforced resting can be very helpful to things like you are experiencing right now. If it is a crash you may be able to ride it out with a couple of weeks or less enforced resting.

Maybe too you have just picked up a virus or something which your body is fighting right now (which makes it important you probably do enforced resting as well).

Im glad to hear you have a doctors appointment as I do think it should be checked to make sure you havent developed some unrelated issue.
..........


From my own experience with this horrid disease, Ive experienced how one can just suddenly severely crash after a long stressful period, just when we think things will come right. This is what had me end up bedbound for 9 mths in my past, my worst crash ever (before that happened my symptoms had been such that I probably wouldnt have been able to have got a ME diagnoses). I think I was running on adrenaline for a long time, so once that stresser stopped, I crashed terribly bad sending me long term bedridden.

I'd been trying to get throu collage but then had to leave (due to my memory issues and inability to learn or do my exams), I left and then I severely crashed to a bed bound point. I think it was the adrenaline which held me up for so long.

 

[Martial]

Well from my own experiences I can tell you, since starting treatment for issue "lyme and Co" the hardest and most debilitating symptoms came with methylation. More specifically de tox, and methyl traps. Nothing can compare to the amount of symptoms that can cause, and I have been to the moon and back with all kinds of weird things going on myself. Stress can definitely deplete levels of certain vitamins/minerals, even the hard to test potassium/magnesium levels, with that at low intra cellular levels it will also cause methyl trap and a lot of other issues related to being low on those needed neuro transmitters.

Would definitely help to get a panel done to see any infections both bacteria/viral/ and maybe even treat for parasites? If you haven't already at some point it also might be worth while to get in with an LLMD and test for Lyme through IgeneX. That is something that can wax and wane for a while but will not go away until you properly treat for it.

 

[soxfan]

@Martial- I have been through the whole Lyme/Bartonella treatment which included IV Rocephin...orals...Bicillin Injections. I was treated from late 2006 through 2009 when I quit it all. At the time I was doing better but had residual symptoms including peripheral neuropathy and chronic fatigue.

When first ill I did not have the symptoms I have now. I didn't have PEM....overstimulation...mental exhaustion. These all occurred starting in 2010. My Lyme symptoms were different than what I experience now.
I saw Dr. Horowitz in NY for a couple years and also had an excellent Lyme doc in New Hampshire.

I am not sure if the CFS is from the Lyme.

I hear you about all the weird things that go on as I went through all that too.
The problem is I am new to the area and have no idea where to go for a doctor who would "get" all this. My doc in NH was fantastic and one in a million. But when I left he felt that He had done all he could and abx wouldn't help at this point.

I feel like I am totally alone in all this and have no one to help....Even though NC is over run with deer it is very hard to find a doctor that would treat without a positive test or proof of a bite.

 

[maryb]

Well I have no issues with lying to doctors. If you want to have blood tests for Lyme again I'd just say I had a rash which has now gone.............

 

[xrunner]

Could my body just be giving in to the tremendous stress I experienced during and after the move. I have had terrible stressful times before and never had this happen. I am worried this could go on for a long time or something else going on. It is really very worrisome and I feel like crying my eyes out over this....
Any thoughts?

I don't think so. If the stress had been a "crash" factor it would have hit you either during or not long after the move.
I can relate about the change in the symptoms picture as they can change with treatment. If you still suffer from residual neuropathy, overstimulation etc. it means your Borrelia, Bartonella infections are still active at some level and not sufficiently dealt with for your immune system to be able to cope. Lyme in fact does cause CFS.

So rather than the stress in itself, the overactivity of that period might have depressed your immune system just that much which allowed the infections to come back up a bit stronger, they are in fact slow growers. But this being just a personal thought. I hope you can find a good doctor who can help you through this.

 

[soxfan]

@xrunner- your post makes a lot of sense to me. Even when I moved from NH to NC my Lyme doctor was continuing to treat me for Bartonella. He kept saying that he felt I still had a raging infection but I had been on so many abx combinations I am not sure he knew what to do. I actually said I wanted to quit abx for a while to give myself a break.

Because I mostly seem to have Bart symptoms ( I did have a positive titer) he focused on Rifampin/Zithro combination. I was then switched to Rifampin/Minocycline combo. I have also been on Levaquin years ago. I think I am going to get in touch with him and see what he thinks. He said I could come up anytime for an appt. but I will just send him an email and let him know what has been going on.

Thanx for the post as I really had a feeling because of all the stress I endured with the move that my immune system was just out of whack and possibly the Bart is rearing up again.