I'm sick in bed and depressed

August 17, 2008 2:16 PM

I am so discouraged. I have been trying for the last 5 years to exercise to lose weight. I always do well, until about 6 weeks in I become ill. Usually with a chest cold, a fever, sometimes bronchitis.

My doctors are trying to help me, but it's baffling. I just started an exercise class 4 weeks ago and sure enough, I'm sick in bed today! What's wrong with my immune system? I am about 40 pounds overweight. I used to be 30, but getting sick every few months for the last 5 years has made me frustratingly bedridden for days or weeks at a time.

My ENT says it's NOT bronchitis, but my acid reflux disease, and maybe a sinus infection. (I almost always get a fever. Sometimes up to 102, today it's 100.2) The problem is: I do what he says, and I continue to get SICK! And it's related to EXERCISE. I know it seems like I made it up, but it happens EVERY TIME. I'd be crazy to ignore this connection.

I'm on Pulmicort and Xopenex, plus Aciphex for the GERD.

ALSO: This all started when I moved. I moved inland from Santa Monica, CA to Pasadena. My ENT says that shouldn't make a difference. Again, I never had this problem until I moved here. Just so you know: We have a hepa filter on our ac/heat system. I have an air cleaner in my bedroom and I've stopped exercising outside.

I am desperate to lose weight, I have been really diligent about it, but this bullshit always lays me low for a couple weeks. I used to go back at it, but then I got bronchitis, and I have bad bronchial tubes (62% capacity from years of untreated asthma). At one point my doctor made me stop cycling because he told me every time I got bronchitis I scarred my lungs further. With 62% I can't afford to lose more.

So, what is it? What's wrong with my immune system? How can I boost it? I will be a little guinea pig, and take wheat grass juice, avoid sugar, whatever, just please help me stay healthy for more than 4 months. And, what should I be doing now to get over this as quickly as possible?

Are there tests my doctor could take to see if there is something wrong with my immune system? Is there a specialist I could see?

Why would exercise make this happen? Is it my weak lungs? I am so discouraged you can't imagine. I am going out of my mind trying to understand why this keeps happening.

Last weird thing: The cough is not in my lungs, but in my throat. It's rattly much higher up than my lungs.

posted by generic230 to health & fitness (16 comments total)

Are you sure that your health problems are directly related to exercising? Maybe you would have been sick anyway? Instead of starting up with exercise classes, try just walking or cycling a little every day, and then gradually increase it.
posted by iviken at 2:43 PM on August 17, 2008

When you start out, how hard are you pushing it?

Perhaps you could start back simply walking at a relatively low heart rate for eight weeks...make sure to eat something after you work out (carbs are your friends here) and make sure you are drinking plenty of water.

I used to have the same thing happen to me but the good news is if you can get over the hump your immune system will be much better off assuming you don't do TOO much.

One other thing, make sure you put a rest day or two into your schedule. It's important.
posted by konolia at 2:48 PM on August 17, 2008

Long shot, but adrenal problems (sometimes in combination with thyroid deficiencies) can cause this kind of reaction to exercise, which is a sort of stress. There was a time when if I rode my bike for 25 miles, I could count on being in bed for three days (this happened fairly suddenly after years of riding 20-30 miles a day with no problem). I'm treated now and past that, but it was difficult to diagnose. Apologies for applying my own filter to the problem, and I wouldn't say this except in hopes of helping.
posted by vers at 2:50 PM on August 17, 2008

Could it be that your exercising at the gym, which brings you into contact, and more intimate contact, with a lot more people's germs?

Maybe being extra careful about hand washing/cleaning equipment, and not taking packed aerobics classes with who-knows-whose-children's-preschool-bugs might help.
posted by amtho at 3:02 PM on August 17, 2008

I meant "you're", obviously. It started out as a different kind of sentence, "...that your exercising is the type that..."
posted by amtho at 3:03 PM on August 17, 2008

Is there a lower intensity of exercise that does not cause this sort of illness? Maybe walking on a treadmill, or walking in a shallow pool? Or does it make a difference if you are doing aerobic exercise (like swimming) or anaerobic exercise (like weight-lifting)?

If you can find a sustainable level of exercise, combined with a healthy but weight-loss encouraging diet, could that let you get fit enough to stop having this issue?

I don't know what your insurance situation is like, but if you can, getting some more referrals to specialists to try and nail down what the problem is would really help. You are convinced that it is exercise-induced, but I've known people who were really prone to those kinds of bronchial illnesses, and for them it happened irrespective of exercise. At least from what you've written here, I suspect that the cause of the illness is still an open question, and solving it would put you miles ahead.

Purely anecdotally, I feel healthiest when my diet has very little processed food in it — vegies, fruit, meat, whole grains, dairy, all that good stuff — and I'm getting a nice variety of physical movement every day. Nothing that comes "ready to microwave" from the frozen foods section, nothing that comes in those crinkly bags like potato chips, nothing sweet that isn't fruit, very little restaurant food, and definitely not being sedentary.

Maybe it's all in my head — I get colds every so often, no matter what I do, for example. But when I'm feeling healthy, it seems like I bounce back faster from a minor illness than when I'm feeling stodgy and house-bound.
posted by Forktine at 3:19 PM on August 17, 2008

What amtho said: are you going to a gym to do the exercising that makes you sick? (And this perhaps a different gym you went to before you moved?)
That really seems like the most likely explanation.
posted by easternblot at 3:27 PM on August 17, 2008

It's really important to recognize that most of the people who advocate lots of exercise as an immediate component of a weight loss regime are presuming that someone is basically healthy.

It could well be that you're too heavy, particularly given your underlying poor health, to take on a challenging exercise program -- to say the least of one which is (as you seem to make it) the principal component of a weight loss program.

Why don't you ask your doctors to give you a program that starts out with modest calorie restriction, and increases physical activity gradually?
posted by MattD at 3:46 PM on August 17, 2008

Many things could be responsible, but one possibility is over-exertion. To reduce that possibility, buy yourself a heart rate monitor (preferably one with audible zone alarms) and make sure your heart rate doesn't go above ~160bpm while exercising, at least until you have a few months of exercise under your belt. You might find that your exercise class is too vigorous.

With a heart rate monitor, you can also check your resting heart rate every morning (leave it beside your bed, put it on in the morning before you get up, wait five minutes for your heart rate to subside again, and then average your heart rate over the next couple minutes). If you track this, you'll be able to see your resting rate heart rise somewhat as your become more tired/sick and stop exercising, or reduce the amount you do, to reduce the chances that you become very sick.
posted by ssg at 3:55 PM on August 17, 2008

I can sympathize with illness getting in the way of your exercise and weight loss goals.

One thing to keep in mind, in addition to all the other good advice you're getting here, is that bodies that are sedentary need less fuel. So cut down on the calories while you're sick and not exercising. It may take your appetite a couple of days to realize you've slowed down your burn rate, but try to shrink your portion sizes and avoid the amount of carbohydrates you need when you're active in a full-throttle kind of way. Eat brothy healthy soups even though you're sick of them. Eat a little at a time, and wait until you get hungry before eating again. Miso is your friend.

Good luck and be well.
posted by nadise at 4:07 PM on August 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Have you been tested for allergies? If you test positive you may want to get allergy shots.

Also, what vers said, definitely check adrenal and thyroid function. Also, you may want to get checked for sleep apnea.
posted by gudrun at 4:08 PM on August 17, 2008

As to the exercise: I was doing cycling outside, and my doctor suggested I move indoors, which I did. I just started a class that does a circuit training kind of thing, and yes, it's rigorous. I was walking, but the heat drove me indoors. (It gets to 80 by about 8am here these days).

I think the idea of doing something less vigorous might be good.

I will check my resting heart rate and just see what it does over the week during the day. As to diet, I follow the Dr. Oz plan because it's the most sane, and I cook really great low fat, organic stuff. It was really effective when coupled with walking, but, as I said, the heat drove me indoors.

Walking on a treadmill bores the shit out of me. That's why I so liked this class where I'm with a group of people and we circuit train. It's really hard in places like that, to not look like an exercise avoider if you say stuff like, "I get sick if I work out too hard, so I'm going to go at it at a more moderate pace." But, what the heck, I can always just cut back and slowly build up.

I have great insurance and I would really like to find a specialist who could pin down what the problem is. I wonder if it's the house I moved into? As I said, this started after I moved inland from the ocean. What sort of specialist should I be looking for?
posted by generic230 at 4:17 PM on August 17, 2008

You are clearly out of shape and if you have never exercised in your youth you may have a lot of work to do to get fit... you should not just start cold into a full exercise class. In my experience, people overestimate what their body can do, even the healthiest and fittest of folks. Get together with a trainer, figure out what you think you can do physically, and then slash that in half. Just amp it up slowly 10%-20% every few weeks as you get fitter... Take it one month at a time, literally. You probably did not get fat overnight and you will definitely not lose it all overnight either.

Plus, remember, you are on medications; exercise puts a great stress on your body, alters your body chemistry and lowers your immune system if too intense... which could be leading to your illness or affecting your meds, who knows? Moving house can often take a stress toll as well.

I don't think there is anything wrong with your immune system... intense exercise (even if you don't think it's intense) can lower your immune system's powers and unfortunately you have bad bronchial tubes, acid reflux and, especially, excessive weight to add to your health woes so that is not helping any in fighting off opportunistic infections, you see?

If you want to get over what you have right now quickly I think you may want to look into fasting. Check this book out: Fasting and Eating for Health: A Medical Doctor's Program for Conquering Disease. It really opened my eyes about fasting, and the program helped me shed some long-time allergies and improve my health, but PLEASE consult an experienced doctor because you are not in the best of health right now and fasting may be the answer or it may not be, so talk to a professional.

To reiterate, forget about the last 5 years, get with a trainer, go extra-moderate on the exercise. Post or /msg your current diet if you want some feedback. Best of luck! Stay Positive.
posted by Theloupgarou at 4:46 PM on August 17, 2008

I wonder if you have chronic valley fever:

The disease is usually mild, with flu-like symptoms and rashes, and the Mayo Clinic estimates that half the population in some affected areas have suffered from the disease.
...
Symptomatic infection (40% of cases) usually presents as an influenza-like illness with fever, cough, headaches, rash, and myalgia (muscle pain).[4] Some patients fail to recover and develop chronic pulmonary infection or widespread disseminated infection (affecting meninges, soft tissues, joints, and bone)

I believe Pasadena lies within the area where valley fever is endemic, and this might explain why you associate the problem with moving there.

The connection with exercise would be that the increased carbon dioxide in your blood produced by exercise causes greater production of stomach acid, the acid in reflux erodes your tissues, and the fungus feeds on the damaged tissue, and the direct effects of that and your immune system's reaction make you ill.

If I were you and wanted to check this possibility out, I would go to a physician who specializes in diagnosing and treating valley fever, rather than relying on the doctor who had been treating me to this point.
posted by jamjam at 4:48 PM on August 17, 2008

It sounds like your first stop should be evaluation by an allergist, since your problems started since you've moved.
posted by canine epigram at 6:30 PM on August 17, 2008

Coming a bit late - Do you still have your tonsils? Heavy breathing that dries out the throat repeatedly can cause something like this. Suggest the idea to your doctor, and maybe talk to your ENT about it as well.

Hope you feel better soon!
posted by Citrus at 6:29 AM on August 19, 2008