When Illness Knocks You Down

Sometimes, despite your best intentions, something comes along and knocks you flat on your fanny.

The past month, I have been knocked flat on mine.

It started with stuffy nose and stuffy ears. It progressed to sinus issues. And, when I went to my doctor two weeks ago for my yearly physical, I told him about all of these these, and about the fatigue that had been plaguing me for almost a full month at that point.

He checked me over, said I seemed OK, and I was sent my merry way for blood tests, which included a thyroid check that ultimately came up negative.

I was not being a good advocate for my own health, because I let it go.

A week later, I was back--and this time I had to see the Physician's Assistant, because my doctor was booked. By this time the fatigue was worse. I was exhausted. My sinus headaches were so bad, so crushing, that advil (motrin, ibuprofen, whatever you want to call it) wasn't helping me at all. The sudafed I had been taking for two weeks was not helping me either.

Even my teeth hurt.

I was diagnosed with a bacterial sinus infection, and placed on an antibiotic. "If you aren't better in five to seven days," he said, "come back in."

It is now six days later.

I am still fighting fatigue, headaches, sinus pain and pressure, dizziness, and frustration. When I blow my nose, my sinuses actually creak. Sometimes my ears make a bubbling sound, and they are full and make popping noises all the time. I've been on sudafed for three weeks, having gone through a full box and having made some solid progress at a second, to no avail.

Clearly, the antibiotic is not working. Nor is the sudafed, for that matter.

I called the doctor, and I have an appointment to see him--not the Physicians Assistant this time--this evening at 5:15. I'm hoping he can propose a cure for this, once and for all.

So in the meantime, what have I been doing since the new year, training-wise?

Almost nothing.

Well, that's not exactly true. I was walking and running, using the treadmill on a 7-10 incline, and I even managed a 21-mile week. I even took some great "Cycleates" (Spin and Pilates mix) classes at the Y, which I enjoyed, even though they made my arms sore, apparently because of how I held myself on the bike. I'm still learning to keep "soft elbows", rather than locking them.

Right after that is when the first sinus symptoms came on, in addition to the fatigue I was already fighting, and I have been doing no training of any sort since then. Last week I didn't even take Kara to baby gymnastics, because one of the teachers is pregnant and Kara came down with her own cold. I didn't want to risk her teacher getting a virus from us--not in her 3rd trimester!

I can guarantee that, by now, any fitness gains I was making have slid away. But at this point, I frankly would rather wake up with a clear head, feeling rested and alert, and ready for the day, instead of waking up exhausted, with a headache and dizziness. All I ever want to do is sit in one place. I would almost rather lie in bed, with my eyes closed and everything quiet. All I want to do is sit absolutely still, particularly keeping my head still so that its movement doesn't compound the whirling sensations I am already fighting.

It's a sad, sad existence right now. And, with the sale of our house, I have a move to look forward to within the week--and we're doing it ourselves.

So the question is, what do you do about training when you're sick?

Do you run? Do you exercise? Or do you let well enough alone?

The Mayo Clinic advocates what I like to consider as the "rule of neck": If your symptoms are below the neck--including cough, stomach aches, muscle pain, etc., let it be. If it's all "in your head" (so to speak), fire away--so long as you don't have a fever. And, I might add, so long as you aren't dizzy. If I tried to run on a treadmill right now, I know I'd come close to falling off.

Some people have argued that running when you are sick will "sweat out toxins" and "help you fight off a cold". Not so, says Medicine.net. They argue that all you'll do is stress out your immune system further. It's got enough on its plate fighting off illness--it doesn't need to do battle with your twenty-miler as well. Imagine your body as a tired Mommy, already dealing with a hungry toddler, an annoyed pre-teen, and a husband who is avoiding the dishes. Ask that Mommy to do the laundry, go grocery shopping, cook dinner, and oh by the way get in that five-mile run, and that body of yours will go into meltdown mode.

Not that I'm projecting anything here, of course.

As you probably know, I love Runner's World magazine (and the associated website), and consider these my go-to sources for all things running. Imagine my surprise when I found the following post about sinus infections:

"But, doctors say, you still walk, or run, a fine line. Take extra caution when training with anything worse than a minor cold because it can escalate into more serious conditions affecting the lower respiratory tract and lungs. Sinus infection, or sinusitis, is an inflammation of the sinus cavity that affects 37 million Americans each year. Symptoms include runny nose, cough, headache, and facial pressure. With a full-blown sinus infection, you rarely feel like running. But if you do, consider the 72-hour rule of Jeffrey Hall Dobken, M.D.: "No running for three days," advises the allergist/immunologist and ultramarathoner in Little Silver, New Jersey. Even without the presence of a fever, says Dr. Dobken, some sinus infections, when stressed by exercise, can lead to pneumonia or, in extreme cases, respiratory failure." 
                                          -  Marc Bloom, "Should You Run When You're Sick?", August 2004.


I have got to stop feeling like a failure and a giant slug. Clearly, I'm not supposed to be running right now.

But it's hard to get past the guilt when that treadmill is sitting there, waiting for me.

I guess perhaps the fatigue part of sinus infections is God's way of telling us to SIT TIGHT. Otherwise, we might be tempted to do something that could prove disastrous in the end.

Be well!

--Karina