Chronic Fatigue part 5: Epstein-Barr Virus

Epstein-Barr Virus: "Epstein-Barr Virus and Infectious Mononucleosis


DISEASE INFORMATION

Epstein-Barr virus, frequently referred to as EBV, is a member of the herpesvirus family and one of the most common human viruses. The virus occurs worldwide, and most people become infected with EBV sometime during their lives. In the United States, as many as 95% of adults between 35 and 40 years of age have been infected. Infants become susceptible to EBV as soon as maternal antibody protection (present at birth) disappears. Many children become infected with EBV, and these infections usually cause no symptoms or are indistinguishable from the other mild, brief illnesses of childhood. In the United States and in other developed countries, many persons are not infected with EBV in their childhood years. When infection with EBV occurs during adolescence or young adulthood, it causes infectious mononucleosis 35% to 50% of the time.

Symptoms of infectious mononucleosis are fever, sore throat, and swollen lymph glands. Sometimes, a swollen spleen or liver involvement may develop. Heart problems or involvement of the central nervous system occurs only rarely, and infectious mononucleosis is almost never fatal. There are no known associations between active EBV infection and problems during pregnancy, such as miscarriages or birth defects. Although the symptoms of infectious mononucleosis usually resolve in 1 or 2"

Chronic Fatigue part 3: more on Cytomegalovirus (CMV)

Cytomegalovirus (CMV): "Infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV), a member of the herpes virus family, is very common. Between 50% and 85% of people in the United States have had a CMV infection by the time they are 40 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Children typically become infected with the virus in early childhood, especially those in child-care and preschool settings. CMV infections are rarely serious in otherwise healthy children and adults; they usually cause only mild symptoms, if any. When symptoms do appear, they are similar to those seen in mononucleosis ('mono') and only last a few weeks.

CMV is mainly a problem for certain high-risk groups, including:

* unborn babies whose mothers become infected with CMV during the pregnancy
* children or adults whose immune systems have been weakened by disease or drug treatment, such as organ transplant recipients or people infected with HIV

Once a person has had a CMV infection, the virus usually lies dormant (or inactive) in the body, but it can be reactivated. The virus is more likely to be reactivated – and cause serious illness – in people who have weakened immune systems due to illness.
Symptoms of CMV Infections

The symptoms of a CMV infection vary depending upon the age and health of the person who is infecte"

Chronic Fatigue Part2

I'm calling this part two because in yesterday's post I mentioned I have been diagnosed with EBV and CMV viruses, which are the precursors to chronic fatigue syndrome , also knows as Mono.

In a friend's Blog I mentioned that in my opinion, it's nearly impossible to soft-diagnose chronic fatigue in athletes because athletes are used to pushing themselves and have a high pain threshhold, which means they often associate complaining about aches, pains and fatigue as a potential sign of weakness, something you don't want to display to the competition or else they'll eat you up whole.


Athletes are used to being tired and fatigued....that's what training is all about....so to ask them how they're feeling, how they're recovering, how they're performing and/or other subjectively geared questions leaves room for error and athletes could be sick but not know it until it's way too late.

Such was the case with me; a lot of fatigue, a decrease in my recovery time , not necessarily a decline in my performance, but certainly an increase in the time I needed to recover (which I chalked up to getting older) and decline in my desire to work out. The biggest sign was my moodiness . Looking back, I became really short with people and lost my patience on several occasions. Again, I chalked it up to just being tired and stressed out from work, life, etc.

So, the question is how to you monitor the signs that could lead to the outbreak of chronic fatigue and the answer, in my opinion, is regular blood tests and a doctor who knows what to look for. If it wasn't for Dr. Harper's holistic knowledge of the human body, mixed with listening to me about what ails me, and him putting 2 and 2 together and ordering the right blood test, I would not have been diagnosed accurately.

And now, my course of remedy is taking it easy, eating well, hydrating and sleeping it off.

I should also mention that 90+% of the population have these viruses in our bodies. The EBV and CMV viruses in particular live in a dormant state in our livers. Only during times of stress, either physical, emotional or both, do they sense that the immune system is lowered and they come out to cause havoc in the body. This circles back to taking care of yourself, resting and recovering along with proper nutrition cannot be downplayed.

Finally, these viruses are passed along very easily through saliva and other body fluids; sharing a drink, using utensils, getting body liquids in your mouth, etc. People in day-cares and schools tend to get these viruses because kids tend to urinate a lot! and some times, as sick as this may sound, the urine ends up inside their mouths. The lesson here is not to sicken you but to share that these viruses are easily passed on, that the majority of us have them in our bodies and that if your immune system is functioning properly they'll remain dormant without causing too much trouble.

Rest, eat well, and drink plenty of good water!

Thanks for reading,
Kam

"We're putting the band back together"

John Belushi from the Blues Brother.

I am going to pull this Blog out of the depths of annonimity and begin contributing again. I'm not sure if there are any readers left! But I'm going to work on this Blog again and contribute knowledge for others to gain from. It's been since last August since I posted anything. A lot has happened since then and I'll go through the relevant items in quick-time format:

1. As most of you know, my mom was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer in 2007. We decided best to move her to San Diego for us to manage her therapy. We are graetful for her health and pray for her continued recovery. Feel free to visit her Blog to find out how she's doing.
2. I took a job as VP of Marketing at IDEA Health & Fitness Association in August of 2007. IDEA has been a great experience for me and I got to work with some very passionate and dedicated people. Unfortunately I will not be continuing on with IDEA and am working on several options. More on this later.
3. We successfully put on the third of the Hoehn Motors Del Mar Criterium Series races in 2008. Although we only hosted 2 races this year (in 2006 we held 4 races, in 2007 we held 3), we believe this year to be our most successful year with over 700 racers and 2,000 spectators. Check out some of the video clips on the side of this Blog and/or visit the Del Mar Crit web site for pictures and video of the race.
4. I was recently diagnosed with a sever case of Ebstein Barr and Cytomaglo Viruses and have been recovering slowly. I simply pushed myself too hard physically and emotionally and my body gave out. I was constantly fatigued (very different than tired!!!) and not recovering from anything. All I wanted to do is sleep, but I was so distraught and stressed out with work and life that I couldn't sleep, which lent itself into a vicious cycle. Goes to show you that Chronic Fatigue can creep up on even the most knowing athletes and coaches!!!

That's it for now. More performance specific entries coming tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Kam

Never get tired of men in pink

Bicycle Tech: June 2006

Serotta Beat Cancer Team Wins RAAM 24 Hour - Sets New Record

Published Sunday, June 18, 2006 by lmw. Read | Post Comments: 0

Just an update on those dudes in pink. The Serotta sponsored Beat Cancer Team won Race Across America (RAAM) 24 hour Corporate Challenge, plus set a new record for the course. From Oceanside, CA to Flagstaff, AZ, the team rode with a time of 1.00.24, averaging 20.04 mph. The next closest team was 2 hours behind them. Congratulations.

Donations to the Breast Cancer Fund can be made at raceplan.com. The bikes, 8 Legend Ti STs, will be auctioned off there as well. Race results can be found at cyclingnews.com.

Update: Pezcyclingnews.com just released a write-up about their win. Read more.

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www.usacycling.org -- Miller continues streak of impressive results in Europe

Apeldoorn, The Netherlands (April 22, 2007)—Brooke Miller (Los Altos, Calif./Team Tibco) continued her streak of impressive results in her first-career European campaign with a sixth-place finish in the Ronde van Gelderland on Saturday.

Racing as part of a four-woman squad for USA Cycling’s Women’s National Team, Miller placed sixth behind several of the world’s top sprinters including winner and reigning world champion, Marianne Vos of the Netherlands.

A 140-kilometer 1.2-ranked UCI single-day race, the Ronde van Gelderland serves as a prep event for the fourth round of the UCI Women’s Road World Cup scheduled for Wednesday in Belgium.

The sixth-place effort from Miller was her best finish in Europe since her introduction to the European peloton earlier this month. She had already placed 14th in the Tour of Flanders World Cup and eighth at the Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo. Miller also captured the spinter’s jersey in the Internationale Novilion Damesronde van Drenthe.

Other finishes for the national team on Saturday included Alison Powers (Boulder, Colo./Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light) in 48th place, Rebecca Larson (Gainesville, Fla./Aarons) in 49th place, and Kori Seehafer (Louisville, Colo.) in 68th place. The Women’s National Team continues its first trip to Europe this season with La Fleche Wallone World Cup in Belgium on April 25, the Giro di San Marino in Italy May 4-6 and the Magi Pache Time Trial in Switzerland on May 6.

Ronde van Gelderland
The Netherlands
April 21

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On Cyclists and motorists

SignOnSanDiego News North County Logan Jenkins -- Wheels of fortune: Cyclists, motorists perilously close

Wheels of fortune: Cyclists, motorists perilously close
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UNION-TRIBUNE

April 16, 2007

“If you're not a bike rider, you may question my premise.”

So began Craig Nelson, a Solana Beach banker, in a recent e-mail.

To be honest, my idea of bike riding is a one-speed cruiser lumbering down the Mission Beach boardwalk.

Sartorially, I'd opt for baggy khaki – not skin-tight Lycra – shorts.

Still, I won't question Nelson's premise, one that hinges upon a dead body.

One month ago today, Nelson reminded me, a bicyclist pedaling from Cardiff to Solana Beach was killed by an allegedly drunk hit-and-run driver from Escondido.

In a letter to the Pterodactyl Club, his long-in-the-tooth riding group, Nelson drew a road-tested moral from the March 16 death of Jeannie Franklin, a regular Solana Beach rider.

“We have all seen it happen. A driver comes within an inch of a rider when there is plenty of space for him to move over. I have no idea how often it is that the driver is not paying attention, distracted, etc., but I know sometimes it's on purpose to scare or get back at the riders who somehow somewhere at some time” ticked him off.


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“What I am pretty sure of is that, like a teenager, none of them have actually thought through what the impact to THEM would be if they actually hit the rider. Face it, the reality is these morons are never going to be looking out for you – but if we can get them to look out for themselves, the streets will be safer for us all.”

Brian Stephen Carnes, an Escondido grocery worker with a 1998 DUI conviction, is Nelson's example, the driver who felt the impact of a few pounds of metal and a human body on his Toyota 4Runner.

Carnes' attorney called the tragedy on Highway 101 an “accident” and speculates that Franklin may have veered out of the bicycle lane and collided with Carnes' vehicle.

The prosecutor dismisses the veer theory – and has charged Carnes with murder.



It's the hairy way of the world. Bicyclists often ride at the very edge of disaster. Between them and tons of hurtling steel, inches.

That's what Nelson, 45 and whippet-lean, told me last week over early-morning coffee in Solana Beach.

He and his riding mates divide the pool of drivers into three roughly equal categories – attentives, distracteds and hostiles.

Salt-of-the-road attentives, whenever possible, move over to allow bicycles as much space as possible; cell-phone-in-ear distracteds pay no attention to the bicyclists they're perilously passing within inches; blood-in-the-eye hostiles, consciously or not, take sadistic pleasure in leaning to the right to send a bolt of fear through the spines of vulnerable bicyclists.

This isn't to say riders, especially the men, take close calls like demure angels.

“There's plenty of testosterone” underneath all that Lycra, Nelson said.

Nelson and his buddies have caught up with suspected hostiles at stoplights and accosted them. “Never a good idea,” Nelson admitted.

What's more, bicyclists can go crazy when they ride in large packs, Nelson said. Safe in brightly colored numbers, they can swarm the road like wilding bees, oblivious to traffic laws.

In addition, bicyclists can hurt themselves with reckless riding in dangerous conditions. Emergency rooms treat self-inflicted wounds regularly.

Still, the numbers support Nelson's gloomy premise.

From 1995 to 2000, an average of more than 750 bicyclists were killed each year nationwide in collisions with vehicles, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Unsafe passing accounts for a large percentage of the highly preventable deaths as well as an almost infinite number of heart-stopping near-misses.



Kendra Chiota Payne, a 21-year-old Santa Barbara triathlete, was killed a year ago when a truck hit her while passing on a narrow mountain road.

Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, took Payne's death to heart and sponsored a bill, AB 60, that requires passing cars to give bicycles an arm's length of clearance.

The legislation does not break new ground. Six states – Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Utah and Wisconsin – have passed similar laws.

To maintain the yard-long separation, cars would be allowed to cross double lines or left-hand turning lanes.

Nava's bill, if it's ever signed by the governor, may be a challenge to enforce – and honor on narrow roads – but it at least sets a basic standard that everyone can understand.

Current law requires motorists to maintain a “safe distance” from bicycles, but that's hopelessly subjective. One person's safe margin is another's panic attack.

One arm's length. Thirty-six inches. A yard.

“This legislation is not about us – it's not about my daughter, it's not about my wife, it's not about me,” Payne's father said recently. “Motorists must realize that cyclists are not simply objects that slow them down on their way to a destination. Cyclists are human beings, with families and friends who love them.”

Bicyclists are not universal angels, but in an environmental sense at least, they're doing the Lord's workout.

Along with their helmets, they should sport a colorful 3-foot halo.

Logan Jenkins can be reached at (760) 737-7555 or by e-mail at logan.jenkins@uniontrib.com.

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