Over Training and Chronic Fatigue

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Don't neglect the emotional aspects of this syndrome. Arch Gen Psychiatry. (http://javascript%3cb%3e%3c/b%3E:AL_get(this,%20'jour',%20'Arch%20Gen%20Psychiatry.');) 2006 Nov;63(11):1258-1266 and TJ Psychosom Res. (http://javascript%3cb%3e%3c/b%3E:AL_get(this,%20'jour',%20'J%20Psychosom%20Res.');) 2006 Jun;60(6):567-73 I like this article and I have it in my collection. I don't necessarily agree with your commentary which seems to assume psychological issues drive psychiatric when often the reverse is true, meaning that neurological and/or endocrine issues are the underlying cause of psychological problems as well as physical ones.


I also don’t like classifying exercise as a coping mechanism. Exercise is a necessary component of human heath and well being, both physical and mental. However, I do agree that many turn to exercise in an attempt to correct an underlying neurological/endocrine issue or as a coping mechanism when life issues cause emotional problems.

I have a history of “CFS” and what was misdiagnosed dysthymia. Ultimately, I came to the realize that the root cause was a little more complex, and my "CFS" was really a form of seasonal affected disorder wherein I experience profound mood and physical issues in both the winter and summer. In a nutshell, I feel fine around the equinoxes and miserable around the solstices. In addition, I have HPA issues that are linked, with ample physical evidence that my body does not handle stress well. Interestingly, it was the Performance Management Chart in Cycling Peaks Software that enabled me to realize that I had a clear and obvious pattern to my physical activity that was strongly correlated to my mood.


Winter SAD is easy to treat with a light box and/or with one of several prescription medications. Wellbutrin is effective and when combined with a light box, quite effective. Summer SAD is more difficult to treat as sensitivity to heat seems to be the underlying cause and I found Wellbutrin only partially effective and not effective when temperatures are very high. Heat avoidance seems to be the only fully effective treatment – a difficult option when one likes cycling as much as I do.


I still don’t know quite how to approach my HPA problem. Certainly I must be careful of stress, but I live in a stressful city employed in a stress occupation. Fortunately, stress is easier for me to deal with during my “good” times of the year such as now – fall and spring. During these times exercise is an effective means of stress management. However, when the exercise is interrupted my mood falls, indicating the underlying neurological/endocrine are not cured.


I do agree that exercise itself can be part of the problem. Too much exercise leading to overtraining, then exercise withdrawal and crashing. However, I have a talent that my system has not allowed me to full develop and I am not about to give up. I don’t train to escape. I train because I enjoy cycling and have goals I want to reach.


To this end, I am going to focus more on the monoamine aspects of my imbalance. Next week I am going to meet with my doctor and suggest a medication switch. Give me a couple months and I will report the results.

Just as a matter of interest whats your job?
Some days/weeks I feel very CFS but as I have a heavy manual labour side to my work I have no option but to grit teeth and get on best I can.
This can lead to very uncomfortable times esp. when I get in from work then have to deal with all the other life stuff, cooking, kids/wife, D.I.Y, housework etc..

weirdly tho I feel utter crap when I start a task, once the blood flowing then I'm not bad its the time in-between when I just wanna curl up and seek oblivion:(

Have found diet helps, NEVER run out of fuel. High quality home cooked food and lots of it. Watch the weight but eat a little extra. I often don't feel hungry but munch something protein rich, low fat, medium carb and feel better 1/2 hour later.

Luck anyway.

Just as a matter of interest whats your job?

weirdly tho I feel utter crap when I start a task, once the blood flowing then I'm not bad its the time in-between when I just wanna curl up and seek oblivion:(

Have found diet helps, NEVER run out of fuel. High quality home cooked food and lots of it. Watch the weight but eat a little extra. I often don't feel hungry but munch something protein rich, low fat, medium carb and feel better 1/2 hour later.

Luck anyway.
I have a Wall Street job, but that is only recently. I come from an aerospace background and I also studied biomedical engineering. Let me say this and I will leave it -- I was utterly unprepared for the evil, back-stabbing, money hungry people that now surrounded me.

Exercise does boost mood through several channels: it increases noradrenaline and endorphin levels directly and serotonin indirectly. However, the effect is transitory and in the case of endorphins, increased exercise is required to maintain the desired effect, just like dope...

Food affects mood as well. Carbohydrate ingestion increases serotonin; caffeine increases noradrenaline, dopamine and glutamate. Alcohol produces a short-term dopamine increase and affects GABA receptors. In essence, you are what you eat. Those who crave carbohydrates have a serotonin deficiency, caffeine fiends low energy levels due to a noradrenaline deficiency and those prone to alcohol and other vices such as gambling, smoking and pornography have low dopamine levels. Of course, this explanation is highly simplified. All deficiencies can all be interrelated or as in my case with serotonin manifested at only certain times of the year, in this case low light levels. This is why Wellbutrin is only a moderately successful treatment for SAD, but highly effective when combined with light therapy.

Is there a seasonal pattern to your feelings?

I haveHave found diet helps, NEVER run out of fuel.Very, very true, aside from carbohydrate's effect on serotonin. When I get very hungry my mood crashes which can lead to unhealthy food choices.

One last comment, I believe that alcohol use and its affects on mood is vastly under-reported in nonproblem drinkers, especially in countries with a tolerant alcohol culture.

Not logged into this site for some time, and saw this old post in a list. I would like to add now that after around two years and an up and down slow route to recpvery I now consider myself to be fully ok. I am not sure I will ever fully know what happened, though am living a life now that is differnet to how it was before. I took my illness as a sign from my body that I wasnt living properly and have very slowly reconstructed. At my worst I could hardly walk down the road but decided to take up yoga to slowly rebuild myself. It is on eof the best things I have ever decided to do nad I was suprised to find it calm my mind as well as rebuild my body. I also cut out all sorts of rubbish from my diet and cut alcholo bacdk to almost nothing. As for cycling I have slowly built up over the past year to riding about 70 miles in day at most now. Where previously I did a lot of cycling alone I try to make it more of a lower intensity trip out with freinds and a lunch stop. Mega distance is a great challenge but previously I was doing it at the expense of relationships and relaxation time. Still to have the ability to cycle and enjoy the countryside taken away from me for nearly a year means now I enjoy it so much more!

That is good news what ever you are doing keep it up FWIW here is something that relates CFS to vitamin D deficiency I thought was interesting. http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vdds.shtml

Not logged into this site for some time, and saw this old post in a list. I would like to add now that after around two years and an up and down slow route to recpvery I now consider myself to be fully ok. I am not sure I will ever fully know what happened, though am living a life now that is differnet to how it was before. I took my illness as a sign from my body that I wasnt living properly and have very slowly reconstructed. At my worst I could hardly walk down the road but decided to take up yoga to slowly rebuild myself. It is on eof the best things I have ever decided to do nad I was suprised to find it calm my mind as well as rebuild my body. I also cut out all sorts of rubbish from my diet and cut alcholo bacdk to almost nothing. As for cycling I have slowly built up over the past year to riding about 70 miles in day at most now. Where previously I did a lot of cycling alone I try to make it more of a lower intensity trip out with freinds and a lunch stop. Mega distance is a great challenge but previously I was doing it at the expense of relationships and relaxation time. Still to have the ability to cycle and enjoy the countryside taken away from me for nearly a year means now I enjoy it so much more!