veganpower

Hey guys!
I'm gonna try to keep this short. In November 2013 I started getting really really tired, I was struggling to just get out of bed. I started getting some headaches which I've never had before in my life. I went to the doctor and took a bunch of blood tests but everything was normal. It has pretty much been like this for the last 10 months with no end in sight. Some days/weeks I feel awesome and some days I feel like ****. I've had a bunch of different injuries and weird random pains that come and go. I've had sciatica in both legs since january, I've had multiple injuries in the front of my right knee, I've had pains in the back of my right knee, I've had pain in my right achilles tendon, I still have pain in the area around my left shoulder blade, I have pain in my right big toe and the same kind of pain in my left pinky finger.
Overall I just don't feel like the same person anymore, sometimes I'm struggling to just walk to the bus stop.
I also have a bit of OCD (self diagnosed) which has gotten worse during this period. I sometimes have no sexual drive and sometimes my sexual drive is stronger than ever.. In school (I'm 18) I have a hard time concentrating and absorbing information which is a big problem.
What is up? Could I have overtraining syndrome? How do I treat it? I've tried taking 2 weeks of at one point and at a few points I've taken week of but that doesn't do anything. Am I totally ****ed or is there a way to fix this?

Thanks!

wolfchild

There is no such thing as overtraining for an average recreational rider...Overtraining usually happens to professional athletes who train hard 2 times per day 7 days per week...Are you a vegan ??...If you are then there is your problem. You need to make changes to your diet. The reason you're having all these aches/pains and low energy levels is because your body may not be getting enough nutrients from vegan diet...Majority of people who think that they suffering from overtraining are in fact getting all those negative symptoms from unbalanced diet.

chasm54

Personally I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to make a diagnosis over the internet, even were I a physician - which I'm not.

You haven't told us what makes you think this has anything to do with overtraining?

beatlebee 

Seriously, think about your diet. Athletes are often deficient in some nutrients/minerals.

NealH

Do you have a job? If not then get one. Men can get depressed when only focusing on themselves.

And start eating a normal diet.

ThermionicScott 

Getting enough B12? Okay, that's the extent that I'll tease about being vegan.

Anyways, a wise lifting coach once said "there is no such thing as overtraining, just under-eating and under-sleeping." I think that's about 90-95% correct.

JerrySTL

Your user name implies that you are a vegan. My daughter had to give up being a vegetarian while racing in college. In her case is was iron that was the biggest problem and taking supplements and eating things like spinach didn't help.

Of course you stated that they did blood tests. Hopefully they checked out your iron level.

Pain in the big toe and pinky finger? Ding! Ding! Ding! Bells are going off in my head. Gout might be the problem. Things that can set off a gout attack include beans and legumes. If you are a vegan, I bet your diet is high in them. I love peas and lima beans but avoid them due to my gout. Fortunately for you red meats and shell fish are much bigger problems with gout. You are still better off eating beans and legumes instead of meat in this case. Oh - alcohol can really set off a gout attack. So can being dehydrated. You are drinking enough fluids when exercising, aren't you. IF gout is a possible problem, there's a very simple blood test that proves it. Suggest that to your doctor the next time your big toe hurts.

RR3

Eat meat.

Dirt Road

@veganpower, I think I'd try another doctor. You've suffered enough already. Get checked for Lymes disease and similar bugs. They can cause aches and pains of a diffuse nature.
@JerrySTL - My gout is almost gone from taking Allopurinol. I've watched my uric acid levels slowly fall for the last three years, and it's finally in the normal range.

Machka 

First of all, you haven't said a word in here about how much cycling and other exercise you were doing prior to November 2013.

Second, what changed in November 2013? Is that when you adopted the vegan diet? Were there any other life changes?

Third, what does your vegan diet include?

veganpower

Yeah they tested for iron and b12 but it was all good, besides I do supplement with both. I don't really eat beans or legumes, maybe once every few weeks or so but not a daily basis, not do I drink alcohol and I do make sure I'm hydrated.

veganpower

Prior do november 2013 I trained like an idiot, around 600k a week and this just a year after I started riding. I also under ate a lot during that time in order to loose weight, stupid. Once time, 1 month before my fatigue started, I even water fasted for 3 days and this right after I had come back from a cold. I also did a lot of hill work. The funny thing is that the extreme fatigue hit me after just being vegan for 10 hours, so I have a hard time to think that my diet has anything to do with it. Heck, most people just eat oatmeal in the morning witch means that they have been vegan for around 17 hours once lunch arrives.
My vegan diet includes a lot of fruit and a lot of rice. But of course I try to eat enough greens as well. And no, I am definitely not undereating, I try to stay around 4000 calories a day, more if I train a lot.
From all the people that I have talked to they've all gain energy and felt better on a vegan diet, so being vegan shouldn't change things much.

veganpower

I supplement with b12 on a daily basis and according to my blood tests my b12 levels are in the normal range. Thanks for not bashing my diet

chasm54

OK, you've answered the question. 600k per week while undereating is insane, the stress on your system must have been huge.

Whether that has triggered your current problems I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. Have any of your physicians talked to you about chronic fatigue syndrome? Exhaustion, random muscle and joint pain without inflammation, sound familiar? The bad news is,it's very poorly understood. But people do get better.

veganpower

I'm aware of chronic fatigue, yes. It might be that I have overtraining induced chronic fatigue, that's possible.

JerrySTL

Still don't discount the possibility of gout. If you have serious pain in any of your toes or finger for no known reason like a sprain, have it checked out for gout.

Dunbar

OP might want to check the racing forum on this site. I can't tell if you have this is a mental or physical problem but over-training is a very real problem with amateur racers. If you dig a big enough hole it takes months to recover.

1748357

I'm curious, what are you eating to get to 4,000 calories and above per day?

LMaster

Is riding THAT different from running?

It's quite common in runners to have overtraining problems, either from trying to run easy days too fast in conjunction with tough workouts, or from increasing workload too fast. I know running has impact/stress issues that cycling doesn't, but it's hard to imagine you can't overtrain if you make a nice jump in training volume and are consistently going hard.

chasm54

Yes, you can certainly overtrain. people make a distinction between overreaching - too big a sudden increase in workload - and overtraining, which stems from doing too much over a longish period. If the OP was doing 600k per week, as he says, then overtraining is certainly a possibility.

veganpower

Rice, fruit, veggies and fruit juice.

Machka 

4000 calories would be a massive amount of rice, fruit veggies and fruit juice. Have you looked at how much protein you're consuming? You don't need to eat meat for protein, but you should be including legumes, nuts, soy, etc.

Machka 

I would highly recommend going back to the Dr and getting a full set of blood tests done again ... now that it has been 10 months since the last time you had bloodwork done .... and now that you've been on the vegan diet for 10 months.

Especially have all your vitamin and mineral levels checked. You've been on a very restrictive vegan diet for the whole 10 months you've been feeling bad, so you may discover that you are malnourished in certain areas.


Also ... you're 18 years old. Are you still growing? All these mysterious pains could possibly be chalked up to good ol' growing pains.

wolfchild

Where is your proteins and fats coming from ??...How much complete protein and fat are you getting in your diet ??

1748357

That is an insane amount of carbs, especially in the form of simple sugars. Where do you get your fat from? If you're eating 4,000 calories and above, you're probably getting enough protein.