Post Viral Fatigue and weightlifting?

Hey guys,

I’m in my early forties and have gone back to College. I got sick with strep throat in February and then sick with the flu in April. The flu hit me during my exams. I’m studying a trade that is is somewhat similar to mechanical & electrical Engineering so it was very stressful. I took time off to rest. I am now done for the “summer” and have the luxury of taking a few weeks off. I rested and was feeling better so I started lifting weights again. I was cautious and slowly increased the weights. After a week and a half, my fatigue returned with a vengeance! I am now tired from doing simple tasks. I get 8 or even 9 hours of sleep a night. My eating habits are not bad. Not amazing but not terrible either! I was doing a 20 rep squat routine prior to getting ill. Prior to that I was doing a DUP (daily undulating periodization) style training focusing on the big three lifts. I always Squat when I’m at the gym. My 1RM’s are not exactly impressive for a guy my weight, but I was slowly moving along in the gym and increasing my lifts.

I do not have a GP at the moment due to a shortage of doctors in the area. I also read that doctors cannot find chronic fatigue issues with tests and often just tell you to rest. I went to a health food store and the woman suggested I take a probiotic for my IBS-D (irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea) and a vitamin B complex that’s methlyated. I’ve been doing this for a few days now. She even said to take the vitamin B, three times a day with meals. I’m really at a loss here so this is why I’m turning to you guys for sound advice.

Should I get back to the gym and slowly increase the weights again? Or should I take more time off and just focus on getting better and maybe going for short walks? I’m really worried here because I read that if you have post viral fatigue, you have to be careful that it doesn’t turn into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Frankly, that scares the crap out of me as I have another year of College left to get my diploma. I also don’t want to lose all the hard work I’ve put in over the years at the gym. Thanks and I look forward to your replies!

~S

Sorry to hear about your symptoms. This sort of fatigue can be very difficult to deal with, and can be at least as difficult to evaluate from a medical standpoint in some circumstances. Postviral syndromes like this can sometimes last weeks to months, and in rare cases longer than that.

It’d be reasonable to get a basic lab evaluation to rule out common things, but they’re likely to be normal. Some folks interpret these results with relief, while others find them frustrating because they want to find something. This can often lead down a rabbithole of further (often unnecessary) testing, treatment, and alternative medicine … and the syndrome often just improves on its own during this period of time (or improves because fatigue has a significant placebo response), leaving the person convinced that their additional testing and treatment did the trick.

Needless to say, I would recommend continued training (though you may need to start out a bit more conservatively, and potentially with a different programming approach), and be patient. I would not take extra vitamins unless you have been tested and demonstrated to be deficient in them. Finally, I noticed your comments about being very afraid of this getting worse. The more fear you have, and the more attention you give to these symptoms, they worse you’ll perceive them to be. Kind of like with pain, don’t panic, do what you can, and try to keep moving forward.

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Thanks for the advice! I’ll start back up with my weightlifting. Only this time around, I’ll keep the weights lower and ease into it a lot slower. Do you think it’d be OK to continue to do Squats, Bench & DL’s if I keep it light? Or should I stick to machines and dumbbell style training for a couple weeks?

ps: I guess my concern is that the weightlifting could make my fatigue worse. It sounds like you don’t agree with that?

I think it’s fine to squat, bench, and deadlift if you dose it conservatively.

I think your fear that it will make your fatigue worse is the bigger issue here. Fatigue is a complex phenomenon with both physiologic and psychologic inputs, so your expectations matter here.

Sounds good! Yes I do suffer from General Anxiety Disorder so that’s likely having an effect as well. I have read some info from doctors like Dr. Myhill who say fatigue has a lot to do with gut bacteria and the mitochondria. I’m thinking maybe my IBS-d might have a lot to do with this as well.