I've recently mentioned in my past posts that I haven't been feeling very well. I haven't gone into much detail because I honestly thought I just had a stomach bug or parasite that was causing my extreme nausea, lack of appetite and weight loss. Plus, I've been so sick the past few years, there was no way I was going to catch anything this year. I have been so incredibly smart with my comeback and training and this is supposed to be MY year!
These symptoms came about after the WP Hill Climb and moto race in WY so I've honestly been feeling crappy since June 18th. After three weeks of zero reprieve and an almost 10lb weight loss, I went to see my favorite docs at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. We tested everything under the sun including a full food allergy panel and nothing out of the ordinary showed up. No infection or EBV, just a high white blood cell count which showed I was fighting 'something' and low iron...pretty typical for me. I was getting terrible acid reflux so I began taking a prescription antacid hoping it would calm my stomach and allow me to start eating and drinking so I could end the vicious cycle which was making me sick and lose weight. Unfortunately that didn't help much either and I was progressively feeling crappier and crappier each day. My symptoms moved from horrendous nausea to deliriousness and faintness and I had a huge lump in my throat that almost felt like it was choking me. Ten days later, I went back to the doctors because I honestly couldn't function. I felt exactly how I did when I had Chronic Fatigue in 2010 and 2011 except for the nausea. They decided to do several other viral tests including West Nile and since the Epstein Barr Virus doesn't always show up right away, they checked that again too.
Sure enough, for the 3rd time in three years, I have re-activated the dormant EB Virus that will forever live in my body :( In hindsight, I'm glad we figured out one of causes for how awful I feel, however, we're nowhere close to the end of the war. Why does this stupid virus keep coming back each year when I finally get fit and start racing hard? Do I have another auto-immune disease that is helping trigger the relapse? What about the nausea? I never had stomach issues like I am now with the EBV and CFS before. Tears have been shed and depression is trying to take over but I'm doing everything I can to stay positive. I have a huge support group that has been the best any girl could ask for and lots of extremely bright doctors that are taking all kinds of different approaches. Between lots of auto immune disease testing, finding professionals specializing in chronic EBV and seeing a GI doc to rule out any ulcers or tummy issues, I'm hopeful that we'll get to the bottom of all these problems so I can soon ride and race my bike like I know I can!
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