I'm Sick

And it's getting really old.

I’ve been working on my next couple of essays, and they still aren’t ready yet. This is because I apparently have “post-viral fatigue syndrome,”¹ which is like the baby cousin of chronic fatigue syndrome (because it hopefully will not become chronic?). And it really sucks.

I got a cold in early April — just a normal, run of the mill cold. My mom got it after me. She tested negative for COVID and the flu, and I didn’t go to the doctor, because it was just a very mild cold. Except all my cold symptoms have subsided, but I am still experiencing extreme fatigue. My mom is (thankfully!) fine.

This is not normal fatigue. This is fatigue that hits me like a wave and I can barely stand up. It is a fatigue that has caused extreme brain fog, and I’m only good for writing brief periods every day. Which is bad when you are getting paid for writing.

I’ll start to feel better for a day and do “too much,” by which I mean go out to a gentle yoga class and have dinner with friends, and then I’ll be wiped out for several more days. I’m taking two to three naps a day. I’m sleeping 10 hours at night and waking up feeling like I got six. I GO TO BED AT 10 PM Y’ALL! That has not happened since I hosted Morning Edition in 2007. I hate everything about this.

Anyway, I’m continuing to rest and starting to experiment with supplements that may or may not work — my PCP’s only advice was to try more vitamin C. But it might be another week or two before my next essay arrives in your inboxes, because words just aren’t making sense a lot of the time right now.

And if you have experience with this condition, please let me know if anything worked! I am willing to try it all. (Except the herbal immune-boosting tincture I bought at Whole Foods last night that is inexplicably 20% alcohol, which I will not be taking any more of. Imagine relapsing on that.)

1. The internet has several different names for this, and I’m going with this one, because it makes sense descriptively as to what is going on with my body.