I saw a new doctor last week to discuss my ongoing adventures with Long Covid.
During our nearly hourlong chat, she explained to me that, due to new information and a much larger patient sample, Long Covid is gradually being ushered to a space beneath the larger umbrella of CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). The two conditions share many symptoms and with a larger patient pool, it’s hoped that more attention will finally be paid by the medical establishment, which has been slow to take CFS patients seriously because they’ve mostly been middle-aged women whose cases are difficult and expensive to deal with.
What unfolded during our discussion was the fact that Long Covid and CFS are long term conditions with no cure and no meaningful treatment. Symptoms can sometimes be alleviated with physical therapy and careful pacing of energy expenditures. Sometimes, energy that I expend on one day will make me fatigued right away. Other times, the fatigue will bite me on the ass a day or two later. I can’t know which in advance, nor how long the fatigue will last.
It also means that I can’t predict when I will have enough energy to support the things I want to do on any given day.
How does this relate to my cycling?
It means that while there’s a schedule for things out in the world, my energy won’t always align with that schedule conveniently. So while the rules of the Coffeeneuring Challenge state that I’m not supposed to shift around the two days a week on which I take my Coffeeneuring rides, the reality is that there’s sometimes no other way to handle it.
So while the rain subsided and the sun came out today, I took a ride. If the Coffeeneuring panel decides that’s a violation of the rules, that’s okay. I can live with it.
Today I rode to Safeway to pick up a prescription, then to New Seasons for a few other items. They also had a thermos and tiny sample cups offering a new coffee roast, so I helped myself to a tiny cup. Delicious, not too dark, and just enough. The sun felt lovely warming my back, even with the temp in the low 50s. The leaves that haven’t yet fallen from the weekend’s storms were gleaming reds and golds, and showed up beautifully against the blue sky and swirling clouds.
The ride there and back was just enough. I could already feel my brain going fuzzy half an hour after I got home.
It’s not always like this. But these days, I can’t predict how my body will respond to the demands I place on it, especially if I’ve already done stuff around the house before I take a walk or a bike ride.
So while I continue to sort out how to live with this thing — call it Long Covid or CFS or whatever — I’ll be learning how to listen to my body more closely, and to adjust my activities accordingly rather than trying to push through.
And now, a nap.
Total: around 4 miles.
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