The familiar pattern of one-day-up-next-day-down continues. I walked 7,000 steps going up and down three stations on Metro 9 taking photos yesterday. St Ambrosia, Oberkampf and Republique, I think. That's nothing compared to 12,000 steps and 600 feet elevation that I took on Navajo trail in Brice Canyon. Or 16,000 steps on Misty trail in Yosemite. Yet, I stayed home all day with fatigue today. I'll have recovered from this post-trip struggle when I can go out 2 days in a row.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Big Crash, Finally
This was just about the worst post-exertional sickness I've had since I started out on this trip in April. I still was under the influence of Benadryl, with some sluggishness and muscular resistance. We went out to Notre Dame and Latin Quarter and I ended up registering 12,000 steps. I've done more than that in this trip and didn't get sick. This time, I stayed in bed all day.
This makes me think that Benadryl has the opposite effect of Sudafed on CFS: it lowers the exercise tolerance. Now, it could well be just coincidence, and there are other factors like jet lag and colder weather here in Paris, or the walk pattern/pace was more taxing. You wouldn't know till you do controlled trial. I could try Benadryl again and experiment, but I don't think I ever will. It has bad effect the next day, period, even if it doesn't lower the exercise tolerance of CFS.
Even if Sudafed and Benadryl have effect on my exercise tolerance, it does not mean that they do on other patients. Even for me, I didn't notice the effect till recently. I've been taking Sudafed since 2009, but only noticed that it partially relieves the ache and fatigue; its effect on the exercise tolerance was not noticed. It could be that my tolerance has increased and became flexible that I'm starting to notice the effect, where as the threshold was a brick wall back then.
This makes me think that Benadryl has the opposite effect of Sudafed on CFS: it lowers the exercise tolerance. Now, it could well be just coincidence, and there are other factors like jet lag and colder weather here in Paris, or the walk pattern/pace was more taxing. You wouldn't know till you do controlled trial. I could try Benadryl again and experiment, but I don't think I ever will. It has bad effect the next day, period, even if it doesn't lower the exercise tolerance of CFS.
Even if Sudafed and Benadryl have effect on my exercise tolerance, it does not mean that they do on other patients. Even for me, I didn't notice the effect till recently. I've been taking Sudafed since 2009, but only noticed that it partially relieves the ache and fatigue; its effect on the exercise tolerance was not noticed. It could be that my tolerance has increased and became flexible that I'm starting to notice the effect, where as the threshold was a brick wall back then.
Monday, October 2, 2017
Paris, Day 3
I'm still struggling with the jet lag. I swallowed a Benadryl to help sleep and my CFS worsened yesterday. It was like good old days: weakness, ache and draining fatigue returned in full force and I had to frequently sit down while out, and lie down while in. Too bad it didn't help much with the jet lag itself. Jet lag will take a finite amount of time no matter what, just like the post-exertional sickness, and the sleeping pill only makes it easier to endure by letting you sleep during that period. It doesn't shorten the jet lag.
The trip itself I handled very well. We checked out of Union Hotel at 11:30, hung out in SF till 4 PM and then I fetched the car to load up our stuff. I then returned the car to the garage and we took BART to the airport. The red eye flight wasn't till 10:30, so we hung out some more in the airport. I spent most of 16 hours flight drifting in and out of sleep. I didn't get up at all except once to go to the bathroom. We arrived at our rental home at 10:30 and I slept fine to make up for the deficit. This was about the best handling of long flight ever, before or after CFS.
The trip itself I handled very well. We checked out of Union Hotel at 11:30, hung out in SF till 4 PM and then I fetched the car to load up our stuff. I then returned the car to the garage and we took BART to the airport. The red eye flight wasn't till 10:30, so we hung out some more in the airport. I spent most of 16 hours flight drifting in and out of sleep. I didn't get up at all except once to go to the bathroom. We arrived at our rental home at 10:30 and I slept fine to make up for the deficit. This was about the best handling of long flight ever, before or after CFS.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
SF, Day 2
Some post-exercise fatigue, but no crash after 2 km walk yesterday. In fact my pace was faster than usual in the afternoon on the way to Sunset for the haircut line and I had to consciously slow down to about 94. So, I'm tempted to declare my post-trip struggle over. Except that I'm not really settled in yet. I won't be till November, thanks to the unexpected trip aboard.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
SF
The trip is now officially over. Sacramento was supposed to be the end, but it wasn't home. Not yet, anyway. The ding ding sound of F train, the smell of joints on the street and the sight of homeless poop marked the true home coming. And I was back in my element.
I walked 1.3 miles, or about 2 km, from the car garage to the hotel in Mission District. My phone buzzed all the while with the heat warning. It's only 85 in SF, yet they were treating it like a natural disaster. Any case, I must've finally recovered from the 3 day post-trip crash. If I don't crash again tomorrow, I'll declare the post-trip struggle over. 2 km is the normal distance I was walking before the trip, which means my exercise threshold is no worse than before the trip. That will be only a week of post-trip struggle. A promising start to the post-trip phase if that materializes.
I have to go abroad for a month in a few days. It's a long, private family story, so don't ask. I'll have to treat this as part of the "travel treatment" and then observe the after-effect when I return. So the conclusion about this experiment will have to wait for at least for another month.
I walked 1.3 miles, or about 2 km, from the car garage to the hotel in Mission District. My phone buzzed all the while with the heat warning. It's only 85 in SF, yet they were treating it like a natural disaster. Any case, I must've finally recovered from the 3 day post-trip crash. If I don't crash again tomorrow, I'll declare the post-trip struggle over. 2 km is the normal distance I was walking before the trip, which means my exercise threshold is no worse than before the trip. That will be only a week of post-trip struggle. A promising start to the post-trip phase if that materializes.
I have to go abroad for a month in a few days. It's a long, private family story, so don't ask. I'll have to treat this as part of the "travel treatment" and then observe the after-effect when I return. So the conclusion about this experiment will have to wait for at least for another month.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Post-trip Observation
A week since we settled in Sacramento, and the post-trip struggle continues. I felt a little better on the 24th after struggling for a few days, so swam 5 laps. That seems to have put me on downward spiral and I've been feeling debilitated since. How is that possible that I could take 16,000 steps and 600 feet elevation gain and still function while traveling, and yet I conk out only with 5 laps slow swim? I haven't taken more than 4000 steps a day either.
The travelling clearly have had an effect on my condition. I had lip sores that I haven't had since I got sick with CFS. That means my exercise threshold went way up that I did not keel over by the physical stress that was enough to trigger lip blisters. And I didn't lie down, not once, while charging the car on the return trip whereas I had to frequently when I started out on the trip. That's an improvement. But that could be because I was in a more stimulated state on the return trip from NYC than when I started out before. NYC was still a new environment when I left.
Now that I settled back in, however, the familiar struggle returned. It will last another month or so if the past is any indication. The real question is, will this long trip have any lasting effect? I wouldn't know for a few months, but chances are that it won't. The past trips haven't made much difference. They had only temporary lifting effects while travelling, just like Caffeine or Sudafed, only to end up with post-trip struggles. This one may end up the same. We'll see.
The travelling clearly have had an effect on my condition. I had lip sores that I haven't had since I got sick with CFS. That means my exercise threshold went way up that I did not keel over by the physical stress that was enough to trigger lip blisters. And I didn't lie down, not once, while charging the car on the return trip whereas I had to frequently when I started out on the trip. That's an improvement. But that could be because I was in a more stimulated state on the return trip from NYC than when I started out before. NYC was still a new environment when I left.
Now that I settled back in, however, the familiar struggle returned. It will last another month or so if the past is any indication. The real question is, will this long trip have any lasting effect? I wouldn't know for a few months, but chances are that it won't. The past trips haven't made much difference. They had only temporary lifting effects while travelling, just like Caffeine or Sudafed, only to end up with post-trip struggles. This one may end up the same. We'll see.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Sacramento, CA, Day 4
It happened again. I pooped out the next day we arrived and it got worse progressively. Yesterday, I was debilitated and vegetated all day. After 9 hour sleep I feel better this morning, though my legs are still achy and and tired. I may be finally coming out of the post-trip fatigue. Will I struggle for another month or two with lowered exertion tolerance? I'll test the threshold in a few days. Meanwhile, I need to rest a bit more just to make sure that I'm out of the post-trip fatigue.
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