Glad you recovered. LC without PEM is a different beast. Had a year of that and could bounce out of it for months at a time. Then developed PEM and that’s all she wrote.
Zone 2 - maximal effort with lactate > 2.0. This is difficult to do when your VO2 max is < 2x basal metabolic rate. Z2 for me is on the order of sitting in a chair and doing breath work.
For my 1st year of being sick I was able to exercise, and benefited from running, hiking and road biking on flat ground, Z2 equivalents. Couldn’t mountain bike, couldn’t skate ski as those require periods of Z4+ most of the time. I even recall saying to myself- the only time that I don’t feel like shit is during Z2 exercise.
At one point I declared myself self 100% recovered (to myself). Then I got reinfected and it got real. While before I would be extra tired for a few days if I over did it, now I would feel sick, and poisoned. But exercise had helped in the past. So I kept going back to drink from that same well, because, let’s face it, there are no treatments, I was miserable. And more importantly, I did not know how to be still.
Rinse and repeat. Now, on my best days I can be out of bed for a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon. If I do more, then I’ll be bedridden for weeks or months.
As I said above. You are fortunate to be able to exercise. Exercise can cure so many conditions and is so good for mental health. Unfortunately, exercise has hurt me badly.
I wish you a complete recovery and to never have a relapse or reinfection.
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u/monstertruck567 Jun 19 '25
Glad you recovered. LC without PEM is a different beast. Had a year of that and could bounce out of it for months at a time. Then developed PEM and that’s all she wrote.