Not Exactly Sure What To Think Right Now

[statesof]

So I find myself at a bit of a loss as to what to think about my condition right now; for the last two years I've been "exercise intolerant", basically I'll get an onset of head pain, vision/ perception problems, and general just feeling awful inside, and the next 6 days to a week in a half my brain feels awful, like I'm recovering from a concussion or something (never actually had a concussion, its just what I assume it would feel like). This reaction has occurred over and over again, with me exerting myself less and less, even walking a few blocks at a normal pace could trigger it. So today I had a stress test which I expected would trigger this same type of post-exertional reaction and I'd be in bed for a week or so. But here's the weird thing, while walking on the treadmill and waiting for these symptoms to come, they didn't, I eventually felt some minor lightheadedness but I was still able to get my bp up to the 150's which is way higher than I've probably done in the past two years, and even my legs felt like I worked them for the first time in forever. After the echo while we waited for my hr to come down (it stubornly sat at 115 for some time) I started to feel a little bit worse, having some of my post exertional symptoms coming on, but overall I'm feeling ok, not great, but nowhere near to where I typically would be. It just doesn't make sense to me that I can slowly walk a short distance and get horrible symptoms, and then actually push myself a bit and not have as bad of a reaction. Now I'm not sure what to think, because my reaction to physical exertion was and typically is so consistent for such a long time, I just don't get why today was different? Sorry for the long post.

[Katybug]

I have a couple of thoughts:

First, did you do the treadmill just flat or did they eventually increase the incline? I ask because I can walk on a flat treadmill for miles without seeming to exert myself. However, even a slight incline changes the whole game and I quickly start to experience symptoms similar to what you describe although my symptoms go away within a day (except if I trigger a migraine which could then last for days).I live on a street that most would refer to as "flat". But, if you really look it has a slight incline and on a questionable day I can't walk to the corner without major issues. Same with some other places I used to walk that I would have said were flat but now I realize there is an minor incline, but that's all it takes. Do you or a friend have a treadmill at home where you could determine if the flat vs. incline issue is the difference?

Second, could it be an adrenaline type response (not POTSie but normal adrenaline response)? I often find that when I know I HAVE to go do something, like a diagnostic test or doctor's appt or vet appt for one of my four- leggeds, my body somehow suppresses my symptoms for the event and then as I have what I assume is adrenaline letdown, I start becoming symptomatic (of course it usually waits until I've left the doc's office so they can't see the aftermath). It actually is a pattern that used to happen to me after I left work when I first got sick. I would work like a wild women for 10 hours and have no major symptoms, leave work, get in my car, sit in a traffic jam on the beltway and start having bad symptoms especially presyncope. I at first thought it was panic attacks but then I realized it felt more like my body was shutting down from adrenaline letdown (very scary in the car.) As the time went by, the symptoms started earlier and earlier until I was having to leave work quite often. But I swear my body was using adrenaline to suppress the symptoms for a really long time to get through the days at work until it just couldn't do it everyday anymore. Now I get those temporary moments but it only can muster the strength for a few hours maybe once a week or so for an appt.

[statesof]

Hey Katybug, thanks for the reply, they had an incline going the whole time and then ramped it up a bit more after the first half minute or so, so its definately more of an incline that I've been used to on any of my other bad exercise experiences. And I'm not sure about the adrenaline thing, usually I find when I go into test my hr tends to be sitting pretty high, like 105-115 just sitting there doing nothing and usually I feel like I can do less when my hr is high, or I have alot of anxiety, so this is all still a bit of a mystery to me. I'm noticing now, later in the day that I'm feeling a bit worse, and it seems laying down feels worse than sitting up, another weird one. Idk it's hard to conceptualize what is exactly going on in my body, and trying to make any sort of real sense of it.