Feeling tired/unwell a week after a hike

[rich]

My partner and I completed our walk of the SCT last week (yeah!) and we had plenty of food on track (breakfast, snacks, lunch, snacks, dinner etc). Despite that, we both lost a bit of weight as expected, 5kg and 3kg respectively - I’m now 78 and she is 55. My question, and what concerns me is we are now back in the big smoke at our desk jobs and neither of us have much of an appetite 1.5 weeks later, and in fact some meals (pasta, meat etc) make us both feel unwell with upset stomachs and other unpleasant side effects. I’m not sure if it’s the change in diet or quantity of food per meal, but regardless we are both noticeably tired and I haven’t put any weight back on, in fact feels like I’m going backwards. During the walk I didn’t treat the water at all, so I’m wondering if we picked up a bug down there and what other symptoms there might be. Thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Hallu]

Well we can't really help you, just go see a doctor, especially if you feel tired and/or have a fever. Check your skin for bites or marks, but the doctor will probably do that anyway. The fact that you're both feeling a loss of appetite evidently makes it more likely to be some bug you caught from the water, rather than some insect bite.

[Strider]

Still working and walking at 78?! Geez mate you have some energy compared to most guys your age. Keep it up

Could certainly be something picked up from the water. In all honesty, you're probably better getting a diagnosis from the quack than seeking advice here.

[Hallu]

I think it's his weight lol.

[wayno]

that much ecercise strips your body of nutrients , minerals are a big issue, not just necessarily salt, theres a lot of attention paid to vitamins but little to minerals
which minerals? your guess is as good as mine, i've mentioned before about finding someone to get a hair mineral analysis, some rubbish the technology
make suer what youre eating has enough minerals. whole food, avoid white bread, and pasta. you want breads with whole meal in it, if you eat rice then brown rice, spuds with their skins on them baked not boiled. boiling food removes a lot of the minerals. use the boil water for soup making
some vitamins can help but dont go mad with them, too many b vitamins act like diuretics, take antioxidants regularly.
vitamin c is important when you exercise
appetite can be linked to zinc levels, some chemists have tests for low zinc levels.
could be iron, but you need a blood ferritin test to be sure, you can have low iron levels and teh level of iron in blood tests isnt an accurate reflector, as the blood is the last place in the body to run low in iron..
avoid low fat diets, have a regular intake of saturated fat , its needed to absorb minerals properly.
coconut oil is a good source of saturated fat.
avoid food and drink with refined sugar.

[Strider]

I think it's his weight lol.

That would make sense!

[wayno]

might need to be checked for internal parasites as well.

[Davo1]

Well I'm a bit gobsmacked like some of the others and I'm sure plenty that haven't said so..... 78 and still walking and working, a hearty congratulations to you both.
I think like another comment that help in this matter should be gained from your doctor- hopefully.
I say hopefully because my wife suffers from what you are experiencing on a regular basis and has so for the past 10-12 years and to this day the medical proffession has not been able to help her.
In normal day to day living she eats like a horse and has to continuously graze. Blessed she is because she doesn't gain weight as a result - to those women out there that want her secret, you honestly don't.
When we walk she has to take copious amounts of nibblies because if she doesn't she gets exactly what you are describing. The more she exercises the less she has to or can eat. The same feeling as yourselves, has trouble consuming food after a long walk, and it doesn't have to be the SCT. Over the years we have learnt to cope and now realise that after these extended exercise periods it can take a long period of time to recover with the recovery process being a gradual buildup over time , yes it can be weeks.
I sincerely hope it is not the same as after 10 years of tests and hospital visits it becomes a bit monotonous, I would get yourself to your local GP asap and hope that is is simply bug that can be remedied with relative ease.
Good luck with it and keep up the walking.

As an afterthought - maybe withdrawals and you need to get back out of that office

[rich]

You young whippersnappers We are early 30s in age fwiw, although I'm pretty sure there are plenty of mature walkers getting out and about in the woods somewhere.

Thanks all for the suggestions for those ideas to follow up. I've only started taking multi-vit, zinc & fishoil these last few days, and hopefully the Dr can tell us more about it. We've been putting off a Dr's visit in the hope it will resolve itself, but that seems unlikely now after a week and a bit.

Davo1, I hope its not too serious either, we were both super tired last week for a few days afterwards, but now it seems to have plateaued a bit so a few weeks to recover could be a possibility. Was actually quite depressing to return back to the normal suburban and working life where 99% the goings on is irrelevant to anything but itself. Lucklily I started planning the next trip during the walk

[Moondog55]

You are NOT tired, you are suffering Post Walk Depression, a not uncommon syndrome amongst those who cherish the outdoors. I prescribe a long evening walk followed by a steak dinner, lots of fresh vegetables with fresh strawberries and bananas and icecream for sweets followed by a 2 or 3 hour session planning your nest trip
your Doctater has spoken

[wayno]

moondog, i need you to speak to my girlfriend, she doesnt believe me when i tell her any of that.....

[wayno]

if you're having trouble digesting meat, try fish its easier to digest, could try something like lentils as well for protein...
i'm not a fan of soy for protein, a lot of its not that easy to digest.

[Taurë-rana]

I felt fine after my Overland Trip other than post trip blues, but had no appetite for red meat, and still don't as much as I did previously. Maybe the body gets into new habits.
I know I did a 10km run once without doing any training and I felt sick for a week after - just pushed my body way too hard. I think Wayno may possible be onto something too, getting the levels of vitamins and minerals and things back right. Have you tried the odd rehydration drink? and Sustagen is another good one for energy.

[north-north-west]

Sounds like standard symptoms of a water-borne bug. I'd start being a bit more careful about water if I were you.

[taswegian]

I'd second NNW.
Seeing both feeling similar.
Still be off to the doctor if in doubt.
Not suggesting it is but things like Giardia are not very pleasant.

Moondogs - what is 'followed by a 2 or 3 hour session planning your nest trip'?
Several things spring to mind.

[Onestepmore]

I hope you don't get a slack doctor who takes the easy way out and tells you to rest and take some vitamins. Get them to run some screening blood tests, vitamin levels, thyroid (T4) test, likey faecal culture esp as you were drinking untreated water (why?), and some viral tests for hepatitis etc, poss serology for Lyme disease etc. If they can take the easy way out they will. Go there informed and they are less likely to fob you off.
Like any profession, there are good ones who will go to extra effort, and lazy ones. (I am a veterinarian and am often surprised (dismayed) at how basic services and standards offered by some individuals are, when there is so much that can be done - the medicos (GP's) are the same)

And PS - I too thought you were 78 and 55 years of age!
PPS I do like Moondogs's advice, except I think the 2 hour planning session would be best in a hot bubbly spa with a bottle of wine

[DanShell]

I’m now 78 and she is 55.

You dirty old man

[wayno]

i wouldnt take multi vitamins every day, most have massive doses of b vitamins in tehm which become diuretics and flush a lot of minerals out of your body, antioxidant supplemetns are good though
i'd only be taking a multi vitamin once a week

[rich]

Quick update, we both went to a dr's today (before checking in here), surprise surprise we are having different tests taken after seeing diff dr's, but hopefully something comes of it. I have had guardia and other bugs before when traveling more than a few times dammit, know the symptoms all too well and this feels neither here nor there which makes it confusing. It feels more like the period of a few days after the bugs have been obliterated and your body is attempting to recover, but still feels like the proverbial, and the outcome isn't yet certain. Not sure if it's the right thing but I've been eating some yoghurt and taking pro-biotic last couple of days, if nothing else to provoke a reaction. I'll update with test results which should be mid next week.

[wayno]

take anti oxidants to boost your immune system

[Hallu]

Or in a more civilized way, just eat some fruit lol.

[wayno]

depends on the fruit, cold storage destroys vitamin c, its possible to get oranges without vitamin c in them..... if you're sick i'd be looking at taking
antioxidant supplements to start with to help fight off any bugs
i've experiemented with megadosing vitamin c when i'm sick, i tested excretion in the urine, normally taking half a gram of vitamin c would result in a lot of it being excreted, if i had the flu i could take 80 grams of vitamin c in a day and have far less excreted in the urine...

[Hallu]

Well for vitamin C, just eat parsley and capsicums, it's got tons of it. In other words : just make yourself a good chili con carne lol. I was quite amazed coming to Australia how many people eat supplements... Omega 3, fish oil, vitamins... That makes for some very expensive urine.

[rich]

Thanks Wayno, I'm all over it now. And we have an overgrown parsley plant that needs a trim, hmm.

[matagi]

I hope you don't get a slack doctor who takes the easy way out and tells you to rest and take some vitamins. Get them to run some screening blood tests, vitamin levels, thyroid (T4) test, likey faecal culture esp as you were drinking untreated water (why?), and some viral tests for hepatitis etc, poss serology for Lyme disease etc. If they can take the easy way out they will. Go there informed and they are less likely to fob you off.
Like any profession, there are good ones who will go to extra effort, and lazy ones. (I am a veterinarian and am often surprised (dismayed) at how basic services and standards offered by some individuals are, when there is so much that can be done - the medicos (GP's) are the same)

And PS - I too thought you were 78 and 55 years of age!
PPS I do like Moondogs's advice, except I think the 2 hour planning session would be best in a hot bubbly spa with a bottle of wine

Well, if they came to me asking for a T4 with that story I would be refusing. Top of my list of suspects given the temporal relationship to the walk would be infective followed by toxic (something in the water or food - heavy metals, pesticides/herbicides, etc)

[corvus]

Has any one else who has recently done the SCT in Tasmania and drank the water experienced an adverse reaction from it like this ?? and whilst not being medically informed I doubt that there is a plethora of toxic chemicals in the water sources so perhaps it was food induced ??
Be interested in the Medical test results.
corvus

[Strider]

That makes for some very expensive urine.

You could at least give Sheldon some acknowledgement for this one!

[Moondog55]

I've sometimes felt like this after a long walk when I lost weight.
One theory [ I'm a partial believer] is that when you loose weight and start to metabolise body fat any heavy meatals and organic poisons stored in the bodies reserves are brought to the liver for the detox process.
The other theory is that the body had a predetermined "Like" for a certain amount of stored fat and when you loose a lot of body fat quickly the body strives to replace the missing reserves.
Another possibility is that you did a little too much, too quickly and it may just have been post exercise tiredness, my last winter I needed a week to recover after 2 weeks up.

[wayno]

some of the metabolites that result from burning fat are toxic and can make you feel unwell...
exercise makes the body chemistry acidic which also contributes to feeling under the weather... the older you are the harder it becomes to keep the metabolism where it should be... you dont digest food as well and replace lost nutrients as fast...

[Strider]

I've experienced extreme unwell feeling twice from what I suspect to be toxins released into the bloodstream.

First time was after a chiropractor appointment - it felt like I was going into shock. I started shaking and sweating profusely while driving home.

Second time was on a walk down the Zig-Zag Track. I was feeling positively great when I left, but 15 minutes later I was laying on the side of the track feeling like I was about to die - just like the first experience above.

Bit scary!