Last week, I did something simple that a few years ago would have been easy: I tidied up my garage. It was not a complete sort-out; I just threw a few things away that had accumulated, and it took me about 30 minutes. Once I had finished, I went and had a sit-down.
I have STILL not recovered from that brief task.
Postexertinal Malaise (affectionately known as PEM) is a monster that can strike at any time, especially when I forget myself and think for a moment that I am that ‘normal’ pre-COVID Paul who could do things on a whim. Now, I have to factor in every little bit of movement I do, and for some reason that day, I forgot.
My symptoms since then have been extreme fatigue (even more than usual) and doubly aching limbs, especially my legs, which are so painful they have woken me up at night. It all sounds like there are no signs of abating, and in itself is very tiring, Of course, my mental health has consequently taken a plummet. I think it’s just the sheer energy I need to do mundane tasks.
I have a visible armband which, for some reason, I ignored that day - I managed to accumulate 54 pace points on a budget of 30!
I have been reading up on PEM. Apparently, exercise is not recommended for ME/CFS (closely related) because it can cause physical damage to your body. I think I may have done this during my brief mission to be ‘normal’. Time will tell.
In the meantime, if you have this horrible condition, be wary and do not get guilt-tripped into doing any graded exercise; it really could be bad for your health.
As always, let me know how your week is going. I would love to hear from you.
Paul
Currently sitting on my couch after finally crawling out of bed dealing with the exact same thing. Since starting a very low grade physical therapy plan and finding my new pace, I’ve seen quite a bit of improvement in my symptoms and no flare ups since Christmas of last year. But this week got the best of me. Started with having a contractor over on Monday. Wow my body didn’t over react to all the extra stimuli so I did an errands run on Wednesday. Wow still no reaction to this extra movement. So I hopped back into town Friday and yesterday. By last night I felt the PEM creep in. Slowly with a slight sore throat which always means my lymph nodes in my neck are starting to get irritated. Then extreme fatigue and then woke up today feeling overall icky all over. Incredible how easily we forget. For me I think it was simple hopeful thinking that this time I must be getting better. Hoping after a few days of rest I will be back to my “normal”. And wishing the same for you.