Posted 12/27/2015 7:23 PM (GMT -5)
Hi,
So the start of my health story is exactly a year ago. I was 21. I started to feel tired, out of it, and notably dizzy all the time. I had a couple other CFS-like symptoms like sore throat, insomnia and vivid dreaming, night sweats (for about a week), and digestive issues...nothing really precipitated these symptoms except for a stressful school quarter and a tiring ski trip with a bad ski fall.
It was a really difficult time and I didn't know what was wrong with me, and I was often worried about different diseases. However, I persevered through that year of college...a lot of the CFS-like symptoms faded, and my dizziness went away, returning sometimes, but then going away again. During this whole time, fatigue was not particularly bad.
I felt pretty good aside from intermittent dizziness/feeling out of it at times. Over the summer I struggled a little more, but once the new school year started I got into a good rhythm, and exercising at the gym 3 times a week really seemed to help. I finally learned my dizziness came from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, which is where my heartbeat rises over 30 bpm from supine to standing, and seemed to explain most of my issues pretty well.
I really felt in control and like I was basically normal, aside some intermittent issues.
Now I'm on winter break again and really upset and worried. Basically, this past week I'm feeling pretty badly fatigued. Like when I go on a small outing with my family I feel like this fatigue blanket is on me and I don't want to do anything and my eyes feel sore.
I'm really scared this is some sort of feature of the whole big picture of my issues, that it's somehow progressed into a worsening CFS. The prognosis and everything about CFS scares me incredibly.
On the positive side, it could just be a blip that I'll feel better from, like most of my issues are...
But I just feel like everything is fitting CFS now. Feeling more tired from simple outings. A slight sore throat....some slight muscle aches. Getting 10 hrs sleep a night but still feeling fatigued. Feeling like everything is an effort. Very irritable. I don't know about Post-Exertional Malaise because I haven't really worked out lately...but I feel hopeless.
I feel like I won't bounce back from this. My boyfriend is visiting in two days and I had so many activities planned but now I don't feel like doing much. I don't know. What have all your experiences been as far as recoveries and relapses, interaction with POTS? And do you think I'm being needlessly hopeless or that it could be a worsening CFS?