Having to wait for illness to reveal itself

[yello]

I've been ill (again) for the last 5 days. No idea why, no definitive symptoms. Just fatigue, general tiredness, zero energy. There's a intense pressure in my chest that suggests maybe heart, or angina, or even indigestion! But it's not painful nor sharp, just solid and constant, and worrying... until it goes. I kind of ride it out but, blimey, do I feel like my numbers up.

It seems effort is a trigger; a solid day in the garden, or DIY will bring it on. This last epsiode preceded by a day boarding out the floor of a loft space, moving OSB boards around. The strange thing is that I feel absolutely fine doing it, and there's no immediate ill feeling (other than an expected level of muscle tiredness) It's the days that folllow when I become ill.

I've seen a cardiologist and been passed ok. Nothing untoward shows up in blood tests. I have no broken limbs nor blood gushing from anywhere. I saw my doctor on Monday, a routine repeat prescription for blood pressure meds. A blood test was done, again routine, to keep an eye on things. It showed my non-HDL cholesterol had doubled, out of nowhere! Now that can happen as a response to illness so I'll have the test repeated when I'm well again. I don't think it worrying.

As I say, nothing definitive as yet. Guess I just have to wait until something reveals itself.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Glad that they are monitoring it. The indigestion thing sounds interesting. Only because, I had that and some minor reflux, lasted for a couple weeks. I sorted out my gut health and it went away, and my energy levels jumped up to normal. Might be worth trying something homeopathic, but I would try and stay off the over the counter remedies unless instructed by the doctor

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I had something like that
very different in a lot of way so not the same thing

but it started to become clearer when the doctor decided to just test for a load of other things
he knew that my iron was very low in spite of taking iron tablets for over a year

but he tried a load for other stuff and one of the things he just tried not expecting a positive - turned out to be the problem

I would suppose your GP has tried some of that - but maybe next time you could ask them to try all sorts of nutrients and see if they are at the expected levels

Depends on the GP - in my case I had recently swapped to a new one that had the novel concept of listening to me
they do vary!

 

[yello]

Glad that they are monitoring it.

"They" aren't. I am! No, my doctor doesn't do anything unless I am sat in front of them. This is purely driven by me and my concerns. Tbh, I don't expect it any other way either. They've loads of patients, most in a worse way than me. I'm a whinging moaner in comparison!

Interesting what you say about medications. The doc this time was a stand-in (I forget what it's called in the UK), an intern and a serious young fellow to boot. He quizzed me on why I was taking a natural remedy (pygeum africanum) for my enlarged prostat, or BPH. Why I preferred it to the prescribed medication (tamsulosin). Whose advice I'd taken. Where I'd bought it from. All real 3rd degree stuff. He'd not heard of it before but did a quick bit of reading and seemed ok then. It is a commonly used, and professionally accepted, alternative in many countries - he just didn't know.

Gut health is an interesting one. I read a lot about it, and related subjects etc, and see it as something worthy of paying attention to - but tbh am at a loss myself to know what to practically do.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

I had some weird mild pressure in my chest a month or so ago, which developed the day after hitting a high heart rate a little higher than I'd done for a couple of years, during a Zwift race. I do Zwift Insider Tiny Races (4 back to back little races in one hour) most weeks over the winter and if I'm in the running to get a top ten, I'll usually sprint and send my heart up in the 175-180 ballpark, but this incident was 185.

Besides a bit more fatigue than normal and the pressure, I felt fine, but I started wondering if somehow I'd had a very mild heart attack or similar and came close to thinking about contacting the GP.

But after about a week it all stopped and I gingerly started pushing myself a bit more on the bike and in the last couple of weeks I've regained some VO2 fitness I lost in Feb from a lurgy beore this mystery thing, so I've no idea what caused my issue, hopefully your issue is something trivial!

 

[yello]

Depends on the GP

It does indeed. My actual doctor doesn't, I think, actually like being a doctor. It seems that way anyhow. They do minimal hours themselves and the 'slack' is taken up by a number of different interns and replacements. It's actually quite interesting in itself to see who you'll end up with when you go, their different approaches etc.

My fave is an 'old school' doc - he's actually retired from his own practice (was actually the head of a medical centre) but likes to keep his hand in, as it where. He's wonderful to chat to; very experienced and hands on. His approach couldn't be more different from the young interns. The new recruits tend to prefer to stay behind their computer screens, read and tap away, and print out prescriptions. You can just about see how the approach to medicine has changed over the years. As I say, fascinating in itself.

 

[yello]

@N0bodyOfTheGoat That does seem similar. That is, a high level of effort triggering a kind of delayed reaction. It's the kind of thing I'm thinking along the lines of anyhow.

Or, it seems that I don't have a particularly robust immune system so when I'm run down, I could be susceptible to stuff too; viruses, lurgies, etc. The higher level of effort could be just enough to run down my immune system and open the door to something.

Like you, I find that after 4 or 5 days rest that I'm good to go again. It's a kind of 'rinse and repeat' though.

​

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

@N0bodyOfTheGoat Like you, I find that after 4 or 5 days rest that I'm good to go again. It's a kind of 'rinse and repeat' though.

​

As in you have had this issue multiple times?

That's different to mine, it was a one-off in early April, never had anything like it before or since.

 

[Fastpedaller]

I had a 'no energy' ride a few weeks ago - just didn't seem to have any energy whatever gear I was in. My digestion didn't seem good either - have to rush to loo for no2. After a few days I realised what it was - the oat 'milk' I use (I became lactose intolerant several years ago) includes rapeseed oil. A couple of years ago I had some chips that resulted in terrible guts ache - I asked what oil they fried with..... yes, rapeseed. So it seems that during the last 2 years my body has become more sensitive to rapeseed, so I've changed to another oat 'milk' that has no rapeseed. Amazing how the body looks after itself by expelling the cause of a problem. That's something I discovered when I became Lactose Intolerant ...... it may be best not to use medication to 'resolve' a problem. Despite being told imodium was the answer, and my vertigo could be 'cured' by using 'anti-dizzy pills' I didn't take any medication because i wanted to find the cause. A nutritionist eventually suggested (at the first appointment! ) it was probably lactose - why did the medics not even suggest it during 18 months of suffering/non-conclusive tests?

 

[vickster]

How old are you? Have you had your testosterone levels checked?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/male-menopause/

 

[yello]

As in you have had this issue multiple times?

Oh yes, several over the years. It's a tried and trusted predictable reaction sadly! I first experienced it after rides maybe 6 or 7 years ago. It curtailed my longer rides to the point where I hardly ride these days. Not like I used to at any rate. It is getting worse though I feel. I have to pay close attention to not over exerting, and to hydration etc.

 

[presta]

One day in 1986 I had a sudden pain whilst I was swimming that felt like I been hit in the chest by a bolt of lightning. I managed to grab the handrail before I went under, and get myself home, but I felt green round the gills if I exerted myself at all, and had a week off work. When I went to the GP, he said I'd probably just pulled a muscle.

In 2012 one of the tests I had after going down with AF was a perfusion scan, and the cardiologist said the result was all clear, but when I got a copy of my records in 2015, the perfusion scan record said ?previous infarct?

 

[yello]

How old are you? Have you had your testosterone levels checked?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/male-menopause/

Thank you for the link. I gave it a quick skim but will read it later.

I'm 65 this year. Testosterone is one of the regular checks, all good. Total testosterone was twice the recommended at one point and my doc referred me to an endocrinologist. They said my free testosterone count was fine, and the high total was to be expected in men of a certain age with an enlarged prostate.

I'd waited near 3 weeks for that consult, with associated concerns, only to be in and out of their office in 15 minutes - for something Google, but apparently not my GP, could have told me!

 

[yello]

when I got a copy of my records in 2015, the perfusion scan record said ?previous infarct?

I feel you. What can you say? Times and knowledge change. Medical knowledge increases. Individual GPs, medics differ and vary. Some keep up as a matter of course, others stick with what they know (knew). It's a lottery in the field innit?

But whilst it's all well and good to be philosophical, it sucks to be on the receiving end.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

For me these things often don't "reveal themselves". I probably make them worse or last far longer as I obstinately try and "push through". Trouble is that as one person (no control group, nothing statistical) I have no idea if when I do does it help what would have been worse/longer or does it just prolong and worsen it? No answer without any idea as to the underlying problem.

I obstinately push on, maybe a bit more focus on diet, maybe start a multi-vitamin daily "just in case" all unscientific, all probably irrelevant to unwise.

My understanding is that fatigue can have so many causes that without a diagnosis or identified cause one person's experiences pprobably don't relate to somebody else's experiences.

Wishing OP a speedy recovery.