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Flu-like symptoms after exercise
I love running, using aerobic equipment and lifting weights; however, I ususually experience flu-like symtoms for days, sometimes weeks, later. For years now, I have felt as if a virus surfaces in me everytime I exercise.
My PCP is unhelpful.
My ENT recommended L-Lysine which I have been taking with a multi-vitamin everyday for a year.
Any suggestions?
My PCP is unhelpful.
My ENT recommended L-Lysine which I have been taking with a multi-vitamin everyday for a year.
Any suggestions?
L-lysine is often taken to enhance calcium absorbtion and promote some help in fighting viruses. You were not specific on the symptoms you experience, but my guess is that when you exercise you don't drink water, or you sweat to excess. This will dehydrate you and you will lose salt and other minerals. You can experience shaking of the hands, visual disturbances, headaches, stomach aches, stitches in the sides, exhaustion, low grade temps and other unpleasant symptoms. If this is the case, try drinking a fluid that has minerals in it like Cytomax. Make sure you take in salt, calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Take several breaks to drink sips (not gulps) of fluid as you jog around. Wear a hat to protect from the heat of the sun, and keep your head cool. If you breathe with your mouth open you may expect to dry out the bronchs and get a burning sensation in the chest as well. When you are exercising in an aerobic state, try breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth
1 Comments
Hi all just found this site and think the autoimmune issue could be a cause factor in the symptoms we are getting.
My recap - In 2013 after leading a party fuelled life i suffered a pulmonary embolism. The doctors said i an auto-immune issue and vitamin d deficiency. Lupus anticoagulant i think they called it. Anyway i didn't take the docs advice of taking blood thinners for the rest of my life as i believed my lifestyle at the time was the cause of the sudden illness and i could fix it without drugs. Anyway i stopped all drinking and partying and haven't touched anything for 5 years now and i replaced my party lifestyle with a fitness clean living lifestyle. Martial arts, Gym, Running, Cycling etc and was going great until last year when every-time i went out running within 2 or 3 days i would be extremely fatigued with flu like symptoms. It got to the point where i just couldnt train. Then i read about probiotics and gave it a go and to my amazement i would start feeling better immediately. However after a few days my eyes nose and ears were streaming and i went to the docs and he gave me anti histamine and again i started feeling better. I played tennis yesterday and today i feel like **** again. This isnt normal and i believe has to be related to the original diagnosis of an autoimmune issue. The comments on this board are i believe definitely in the right line of diagnosis - auto immune related.
My recap - In 2013 after leading a party fuelled life i suffered a pulmonary embolism. The doctors said i an auto-immune issue and vitamin d deficiency. Lupus anticoagulant i think they called it. Anyway i didn't take the docs advice of taking blood thinners for the rest of my life as i believed my lifestyle at the time was the cause of the sudden illness and i could fix it without drugs. Anyway i stopped all drinking and partying and haven't touched anything for 5 years now and i replaced my party lifestyle with a fitness clean living lifestyle. Martial arts, Gym, Running, Cycling etc and was going great until last year when every-time i went out running within 2 or 3 days i would be extremely fatigued with flu like symptoms. It got to the point where i just couldnt train. Then i read about probiotics and gave it a go and to my amazement i would start feeling better immediately. However after a few days my eyes nose and ears were streaming and i went to the docs and he gave me anti histamine and again i started feeling better. I played tennis yesterday and today i feel like **** again. This isnt normal and i believe has to be related to the original diagnosis of an autoimmune issue. The comments on this board are i believe definitely in the right line of diagnosis - auto immune related.
Like many of the people commenting and who share similar symptoms, I cut out gluten with excellent (though not instant) results. By week 2, I hadn't felt sick despite exercising. By week 3, I was able to exercise more than I'd been able to (without getting sick) for years. By week 4, I felt stronger and more alert than at any time in the previous 6 years. I'm now just over 7 weeks into it and am undoubtedly far healthier than I have been in a long, long time.
I had always been skeptical that I might have gluten intolerance since homemade bread was such a big part of my diet and I didn't seem to react quickly to changes in gluten intake (but apparently it takes a long time for changes to manifest). Also, I tend to avoid trendy health stuff. However, the other explanations were starting to look pretty scary, so I decided to try cutting gluten.
The symptoms I was having (all of which are gone now):
* I'd get sick for a day or two after about 1 in 8 routine exercises (e.g., 2 mile run, which used to be easy for me).
* About 1 day out of every two weeks, I'd be so "foggy" that I couldn't work, make decisions, or even drive a car safely.
* I'd get a lot of "cricks", deep muscle aches, and pain around bones.
* I was mildly lactose intolerant.
* I couldn't sleep after a single glass of wine.
* I'd crash after lunch most days.
Again, all of the above symptoms have completely disappeared since I dropped gluten, for 7 weeks now (much longer than my longest "good spell" over the previous 6 years). I now run 2 miles per day (my dog reminds me if I forget), I never have "brain fog", I have no muscle problems or bone pain, I'm no longer lactose intolerant, wine doesn't affect me any more than it does anyone else, and I have plenty of energy after lunch and through the afternoon. I also dropped 6 pounds despite that I wasn't trying to lose weight. It's a huge change in my quality of life -- so much so that it makes up for the lack of bread! (Though I have, since giving up gluten, literally dreamed about pain au chocolat.)
Other tests: allergies (no sensitivities), tons of blood tests (all normal). I haven't actually been tested for Celiac disease. While running this "gluten experiment", I didn't change anything else about my way of life.
My doctor was just confused about my symptoms. When I told him about the gluten thing a few weeks ago, he said, "Oh yeah, lots of people are trying that out and finding that it helps. Even one of the other doctors here did." I only say this to point out that a doctor may very well not say anything about "gluten sensitivity" to you, presumably since this isn't well understood and almost certainly wasn't taught to them. This is sad, because I've lost a lot of time to this, and I'm sure that many other people out there are currently losing just as much and are receiving just as little helpful advice from their own doctors.
While giving up gluten is mildly inconvenient, it's really not hard and is a good option to try if you're having these types of symptoms. It's important to note that it's not ratiometric (halving your gluten intake won't make much difference on the negative effects); you'll need to reduce wheat, barley, and rye gluten intake to essentially 0. You may need to read a few articles about going gluten free to do it successfully (e.g., soy sauce is ~50% wheat; ask for tamari instead). Further, you'll have to ask waiters to *check* that something you're ordering is actually totally gluten free (e.g., is the beurre blanc actually a roux?).
If you've scrolled all the way down here, then it seems like you're serious, so if you haven't tried going gluten-free yet, maybe this is a good option! Best of luck.
I had always been skeptical that I might have gluten intolerance since homemade bread was such a big part of my diet and I didn't seem to react quickly to changes in gluten intake (but apparently it takes a long time for changes to manifest). Also, I tend to avoid trendy health stuff. However, the other explanations were starting to look pretty scary, so I decided to try cutting gluten.
The symptoms I was having (all of which are gone now):
* I'd get sick for a day or two after about 1 in 8 routine exercises (e.g., 2 mile run, which used to be easy for me).
* About 1 day out of every two weeks, I'd be so "foggy" that I couldn't work, make decisions, or even drive a car safely.
* I'd get a lot of "cricks", deep muscle aches, and pain around bones.
* I was mildly lactose intolerant.
* I couldn't sleep after a single glass of wine.
* I'd crash after lunch most days.
Again, all of the above symptoms have completely disappeared since I dropped gluten, for 7 weeks now (much longer than my longest "good spell" over the previous 6 years). I now run 2 miles per day (my dog reminds me if I forget), I never have "brain fog", I have no muscle problems or bone pain, I'm no longer lactose intolerant, wine doesn't affect me any more than it does anyone else, and I have plenty of energy after lunch and through the afternoon. I also dropped 6 pounds despite that I wasn't trying to lose weight. It's a huge change in my quality of life -- so much so that it makes up for the lack of bread! (Though I have, since giving up gluten, literally dreamed about pain au chocolat.)
Other tests: allergies (no sensitivities), tons of blood tests (all normal). I haven't actually been tested for Celiac disease. While running this "gluten experiment", I didn't change anything else about my way of life.
My doctor was just confused about my symptoms. When I told him about the gluten thing a few weeks ago, he said, "Oh yeah, lots of people are trying that out and finding that it helps. Even one of the other doctors here did." I only say this to point out that a doctor may very well not say anything about "gluten sensitivity" to you, presumably since this isn't well understood and almost certainly wasn't taught to them. This is sad, because I've lost a lot of time to this, and I'm sure that many other people out there are currently losing just as much and are receiving just as little helpful advice from their own doctors.
While giving up gluten is mildly inconvenient, it's really not hard and is a good option to try if you're having these types of symptoms. It's important to note that it's not ratiometric (halving your gluten intake won't make much difference on the negative effects); you'll need to reduce wheat, barley, and rye gluten intake to essentially 0. You may need to read a few articles about going gluten free to do it successfully (e.g., soy sauce is ~50% wheat; ask for tamari instead). Further, you'll have to ask waiters to *check* that something you're ordering is actually totally gluten free (e.g., is the beurre blanc actually a roux?).
If you've scrolled all the way down here, then it seems like you're serious, so if you haven't tried going gluten-free yet, maybe this is a good option! Best of luck.
I found out I have a gluten intolerance (high antibodies) but going gluten free was not enough for the exercise issue, although it relieved many other symptoms. I also read about leaky gut and imbalanced gut flora in those with gluten issues, and after reading posts here I started taking culturelle just before a vacation in Mexico. surprisingly was able to do two one hour yoga classes and a couple others on my own. I was tired after the first one but ok after that. Coming home this was weird, within 12 hours started feeling sick again, but that resolved in a couple days. Stuck with probiotic and seemed to help. Switched to align a month ago and feel crappy again! I am researching probiotics and while your pharmacist will say there is no difference that does not seem to be the case. I am listening to an interview with a gut researcher ( Kiran and can't remember last name) who says many of the probiotics people take do not work - just dead bacteria. He also said avoid all refrigerated probiotics as this is a marketing tool. If it has to be cooled it will not survive the high temperature in your body. Lastly, he said do not fall for the multi- strain marketing tool as that does not make a probiotic better and it is not backed by scientific evidence. A good quality single strain is better than a multi-strain crappy one. Sorry I do not have links right now but do your research and keep your sceptic hat on! I am still looking for a probiotic but have switched back to culturelle to see if that has any effect. I'm not saying it is the best but that strain has been recently tested for peanut allergy and so I wonder if it helps the gluten sensitivity. Just wanted to mention this for those that tried a probiotic and it did not work...it might still. I am also looking into hormone imbalances and viruses since the gi doc thinks my gluten intolerance is being caused by something else. Been sick for almost 2 years. Sucks but hang in there and keep trying to figure it out!!
For people who eat a low-salt, or mostly whole food diet, you may have enough salt in your system for day-to-day living, but not enough for intense exercise.
I was training for a 2-day, 200-mile bike ride and came down with flu-like symptoms after my long rides. Thinking it might be deyhdration, I spent the week before my next long ride drinking at least 8 cups of water per day. But again got sick after my long ride.
My acupuncturist thought I might be low on salt/electrolyte stores. For people in this situation, the water they drink passes through them vs being taken up, utilized and stored by their bodies. Thus in spite of drinking plenty of water, they may still end up dehydrated.
She recommended I drink 2 16-oz bottles of water per day, each with a Nuun or other electrolyte tablet in it, for a week before my next long ride. She also recommended liberally salting my food during this time. It fixed the problem: I was able to complete my next long ride, as well as the 200 mile ride I had been training for, without any flu-like symptoms.
I was training for a 2-day, 200-mile bike ride and came down with flu-like symptoms after my long rides. Thinking it might be deyhdration, I spent the week before my next long ride drinking at least 8 cups of water per day. But again got sick after my long ride.
My acupuncturist thought I might be low on salt/electrolyte stores. For people in this situation, the water they drink passes through them vs being taken up, utilized and stored by their bodies. Thus in spite of drinking plenty of water, they may still end up dehydrated.
She recommended I drink 2 16-oz bottles of water per day, each with a Nuun or other electrolyte tablet in it, for a week before my next long ride. She also recommended liberally salting my food during this time. It fixed the problem: I was able to complete my next long ride, as well as the 200 mile ride I had been training for, without any flu-like symptoms.
I've had this problem for 20 years and no doctor ever took it seriously. The past two years, I haven't touch a weight, and would remain healthy when everyone around me was sick. Two months ago I started working out again and have spent the last two months sick. The last workout to suppress my immune system: one set of squats with 135 pounds. I keep dialing back the intensity, but lifting just obliterates my immune system.
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