Delayed exhaustion after exertion or stress?

Hi,

Does anyone else experience delayed exhaustion of about 2 days after exertion (e.g. physical exercise) or high stress? 

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Over the last decade I've noticed I have a delay that's around 2 days. On the day and the day after the exertion/stress, I feel fine. But the second day I am totally exhausted. 

The timing varies a little - it's not always 2 days.

For me, the exhaustion is all-encompassing and I feel very ill with nausea, air hunger, body aches and pains, and it has led to melt downs and shut downs when at its most intense. The whole day is usually written off.

It's making judging appropriate levels of exercise and activities difficult with the feedback being so late. I may continue to do more things on the same day or day after without realising I have delayed repercussions on the way. I've tried resting extra, just in case, but the delayed reaction still happens.

Medical professionals haven't been able to help so far. But all medical tests have happened to be on days when I'm not experiencing this issue and I'm feeling fine. Even tried to force it to happen for some tests, but I failed!

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any clues? 

Parents Reply Children
  • Haha I love that! That's a brilliant alternative to the spoon theory! I might borrow that for explaining the concept to others.

    What doesn't make sense for me (and doesn't seem to be explained with the spoon / beer theory) is that I can have genuine rest from the time of the exertion/stress until the 2 days afterward... yet it doesn't make a jot of difference. I do not feel depleted during that time in between either.

    What I experience is quite tricky to explain, especially as it isn't logical.

    Everything else in my world matches up with the spoon / beer theory, though. I am very familiar with this way of living. My energy used to be much more restricted than it is now.

    My current theory is that there must be a metabolic process in my body that takes ~2 days to complete, yet it is not functioning normally. And/or something autoimmune related.