Barmah virus

[fitz]

Anyone had this? I got infected just after Christmas and do not seem to be able to get up and go. Normal day to day stuff is OK and I can cycle for couple of hours if I take it slow and flat but I just cannot up the ante at all.
What have your experiences been?

[Meditator]

My father had this the year before last year along with a bit of ross river virus.

He had a lot of weakness in his hands which his gp found very unusual. It takes quite a while to recover. Maybe give it six months but you gradually improve. While are you feeling weak and tired, don't push yourself. Remember you are not well.

Another thing to remember now that you've got a virus in your system. I don't know if it is actually the case with this particular virus but usually its not a good idea to let yourself get rundown when you've had a virus because you can find yourself sick again. Chances are you caught the virus when you were in less than peak condition.

When my father got it, he was working very hard on a house building project going on here and he's 75. He already was experiencing some neck pains and stuff because of all the physical exertions involved.

While you are trying to recover get plenty of rest, avoid alcohol i'd say and eat well, all things that work to good effect on your immune system.

It has been known to take longer than six months to recover from so i've been told as much as two years even. Now i wonder if it takes longer in people who struggle to look after themselves well.

[Meditator]

btw that's a very unflattering picture of you that's you.

[PawPaw]

Anyone had this? I got infected just after Christmas and do not seem to be able to get up and go. Normal day to day stuff is OK and I can cycle for couple of hours if I take it slow and flat but I just cannot up the ante at all.
What have your experiences been?

Post viral syndromes that leave you less than 100% are getting more common and as having suffered one for over 20 years, I know how frustrating they are.
Epstein Barr, Ross River, Cytomegalo, Barmah, Mononucleosis are all accepted as initiators.
However, from my most recent readings, it isn't so much the trigger but an immune response that goes awry.

Current views are there's no cure. All you can do is live in a way that allows the immune system to normalize.

Some plausible advice I've read towards this goal:
- cut your activity level back to low to moderate. no high intensity stuff, and no endurance stuff over 1-2 hours. 3-4 workouts a week.
- focus more on shorter bouts of anabolic exercise (strength work) rather than catabolic endurance, but don't do either to an extreme. It is the sense of distress that kicks the hyperreactive immune response into gear.
- eat a low gluten diet, such as Paleo (lots of vege fruit lean meats nuts, starch mostly from sweet potato and yam, minimal to no grain based starch or legumes, minimal dairy, no refined sugar). Some studies show a correlation between gut disturbances (leaky gut) and elevated low grade inflammation and auto immune disease.
- relax and drink 1-2 glasses water before meals, don't overeat.
- good sleep hygiene. some sufferers end up quite anxious and are often very driven, which results in disrupted sleep. good idea to get up early 5-6am and go t bed around 8-9p most nights. This helps re-set circadian rhythms to those we've evolved to live by. So don't stay up late at night on a computer. I've woken up in the middle of the night because of high km's in the last few days 330k, and not enough food.
- doing meditation and self introspection may get you back in touch with a deeper bodymind wisdom; the goal being to work out your long and short term life priorities and live a life resonant with them. THis will help reduce subconscious dissonance, that often drives the distress that keeps the immune and endocrine systems from rebalancing to homeostasis. In essense, there's a lot of wisdom in "for health, one needs something to do, something to love, and something to believe in".

[fitz]

Thanks for all that.
3 or 4 of us from a group got some viral infection on a bushwalk. Barmah is the most likely according to an immunologist that is involved. Still waiting for test results.The others seem much better now but I cant seem to get totally over it. I do have an auto immune condition the means I take a low level immune modulator which I'm sure is the reason behind my slow recovery.
I decided after yesterdays awful ride that I would give up riding for a few weeks at least.

[foo on patrol]

It will takes years to get it out of your system. My wife has had it for........4yrs and it just comes and goes. Just when she thinks
it as gone, bang, she has a bad period of not energy and other things.

Foo

[fitz]

- cut your activity level back to low to moderate. no high intensity stuff, and no endurance stuff over 1-2 hours. 3-4 workouts a week.
- focus more on shorter bouts of anabolic exercise (strength work) rather than catabolic endurance, but don't do either to an extreme. It is the sense of distress that kicks the hyperreactive immune response into gear.
- eat a low gluten diet, such as Paleo (lots of vege fruit lean meats nuts, starch mostly from sweet potato and yam, minimal to no grain based starch or legumes, minimal dairy, no refined sugar). Some studies show a correlation between gut disturbances (leaky gut) and elevated low grade inflammation and auto immune disease.
- relax and drink 1-2 glasses water before meals, don't overeat.

Pawpaw, any evidence for this?
Thanks again

[PawPaw]

- cut your activity level back to low to moderate. no high intensity stuff, and no endurance stuff over 1-2 hours. 3-4 workouts a week.
- focus more on shorter bouts of anabolic exercise (strength work) rather than catabolic endurance, but don't do either to an extreme. It is the sense of distress that kicks the hyperreactive immune response into gear.
- eat a low gluten diet, such as Paleo (lots of vege fruit lean meats nuts, starch mostly from sweet potato and yam, minimal to no grain based starch or legumes, minimal dairy, no refined sugar). Some studies show a correlation between gut disturbances (leaky gut) and elevated low grade inflammation and auto immune disease.
- relax and drink 1-2 glasses water before meals, don't overeat.

Pawpaw, any evidence for this?
Thanks again

What level of evidence would you like? If you want a Level I review of all Level II scientific papers, that concludes do all of the above and you have a 100% probability of getting well, then your GP would be telling you to do this stuff, and newspapers and health magazines would not recommend you do anything else.

Google Paleo Diet Robb Wolf autoimmune
Robb is a scientist and one of the most respected advocates of Paleo eating. He regularly reviews the literature and recommends the points above.

Google leaky gut starch autoimmune

BTW, I am not a blind advocate of Paleo diet, though I think it is a healthier diet than the average westerner's.

[fitz]

Thanks, will look at it.

[SuddenImpact]

This is an oldish thread, but having dealt with barmah forest virus, I thought I might offer my personal experience with this virus in relation to exercise.

Simply i would say, listen to your body. I didnt and wish I had.

At the time of initial infection I was working as a furniture removalist and strength training 3 days a week. Im stubborn when it comes to rest or any form of periodisation in my training. As a result i ran myself into the ground big time. I remember consecutive days that i literally couldnt lift my head off the pillow. I would definately NOT focus your efforts on strength training as suggested above, it is far too taxing on the CNS and you will pay. Think low volume, low intensity. Use this time to concentrate on your diet.

This is my experience with barmah forest. I didnt take it seriously and it took me years to get back to proper training. It is now 4 years later. I still suffer chronic fatigue. I manage well, but still need to watch what im doing/ eating more than most.

Your experience with the virus may be totally different. For some it can be nothing more than an inconvenience. But just take it easy. If you're feeling off dont push through it.

Ive just come off a night shift so hope that made sense