Athlete's Overtraining Syndrome vs. MG
 

I just wanted to write my experience here with you to share in the hope it may help others and as a way of thanks for all your kind support on this forum.

I just spent 3 days as an inpatient, the outcome of which has been a provisional diagnosis of Athlete's Overtraining Syndrome. I understand this to come under the heading of a 'functional' disorder. From what I have since read I understand that this may also be described as a neuro-endocrine condition leading to autonomic failure and hypoglycemia. This seems to resonate strongly with my situation and to a large extent, explain my symptoms. For those interested, this is a good link:

http://www.ausport.gov.au/sportscoac...ining_syndrome

The main point I want to make is that to all intents and purposes, about 85% of my symptoms closely resemble MG. However, I am convinced that that is not the case. Let me give you some examples.

Neuro exam:

slurred speech that worsens on activity, inability to smile due to muscular weakness
difficulty holding arms out in front, leading to tremor, very slurred speech and falling off of chair (this tremor has been called 'distractable')
complete inability to walk on heels or toes due to not being able to contract calf muscles
positive Trendleberg's sign (left leg collapsing at the knee), however, I was then able to stand up
convergence spasm on eye movements when looking hard left, right and upwards

Other general features:

weakness in neck muscles, leading to head dropping forward
difficult breathing, chewing and swallowing
rapidly weakening muscles on exertion
slowing of muscular activity on repetitive physical tasks
weakness exacerbated by heat
carpal spasm on blood pressure monitor inflation

I am told that my muscle weakness is 'inconsistent' and that this cannot be explained by muscle fatiguability. I was not given a scientific explanation for this so if anyone has had a similar experience I would really appreciate some help in understanding exactly what this means.

If you are somebody who is having trouble getting a diagnosis and have, as I have, historically been very disciplined and active, and perhaps at times not eaten quite enough to meet your calorific output, perhaps you should consider AOS as a possibility. I would add I don't consider myself to be an athlete.

Of course, as always, I am very interested for your thoughts and reactions.

Hi. Thanks a lot for sharing this with us! We are always looking for more clues.

I have a lot of questions, but I don't want to overwhelm you. Do you have any sort of light-headedness along with the symptoms you list below? I had the impression (but I don't really know) that feeling faint is the hallmark of hypoglycemia.

Is AOS expected to improve when the patient stops over-training?

Abby

I would suggest that you join the ranks of people like me that are too lazy to train and see if that helps. :)

Absolutely! I feel extremely faint, especially 10 minutes after eating anything containing even a remote amount of sugar, including fruit. I faint often, even when I'm sitting down!

When I asked what the prognosis is, the strange answer came:

1/3 of people stay the same.
1/3 of people get better.
1/3 of people get worse.

That's funny I thought, that sounds strangely familiar...:)

This is a little bit off the wall, but are you using any sugar free gum or other stuff with artificial sweetners in it?

Xylitol is a sugar substitute that is in a lot of gums and other stuff. It is supposed to be safe in humans; however, in dogs, it fools the pancreas into thinking that they actually ate a big bunch of sugar. As a result, the dog puts out a bunch of insulin. The dog's blood sugar drops so low that he dies.

I don't use artificial sweetners because if they can kill dogs, I don't think that they are safe for humans. I knew a person that had severe low blood sugar problems. She constantly chewed sugarless gum. She quit and it got better.

This is probably not your problem, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

"Signs of toxicity can be seen as quickly as 30 minutes after xylitol ingestion in dogs. The xylitol causes a rapid release of the hormone insulin, causing a sudden decrease in blood glucose. This in turn may cause the following symptoms:

Vomiting
Weakness
Ataxia (uncoordinated movements)
Depression
Hypokalemia (decreased potassium)
Seizures
Coma
Liver dysfunction and/or failure"

http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/toxi...ylitol_tox.htm

That's what my neuro-muscular Dr told me about Prednisone when I could barely walk. After a 40mg reduction (over a period of time) my legs returned to almost normal.
Mike

Good thought! Fortunately I've been steering clear of all processed food and sweeteners since I had the seizure in mid Dec.

However, I really am in quite a quandry over my diet. I'm going to arrange to see a nutritionist in the coming days, but my goodness I just don't know what I'm meant to eat.

I have been following the Paleo diet but having approx 25g carb every three days, which was working pretty good, except I felt very tired all the time (much more so than usual) and found I had even less muscle capacity.

However, I understand AOS is caused by low carb diet...so now I tried to reintroduce it and wallop! Nasty great agitated, slurry mess!

I'm getting a fasting blood test on Monday to see what the score is but I really hope I can work something out soon. At the moment my option is:

- no carb and more weak and tired (preferable)
- or carb and majorly worsened symptoms with risk of another seizure, which, since trying to re-introduce carbs, has felt almost imminent.

I know which one I'm choosing :(

Have you tried eating some high protein stuff? I feel much better after eating a couple of eggs. I also eat some whole wheat toast with butter to go with the eggs. (I have my own chickens and they keep me in fresh eggs.)

Thank you for your suggestion. Yes, I have been on a high protein diet for the last month and it seems to help a lot. However, any kind of regular carb for me, even if wholegrain, seems to result in a big worsening of symptoms 10-15 minutes after eating. This is difficult when the last thing I'm supposedly meant to do with AOS is go on a low carb diet...ho hum.

wild_cat, Do you overtrain? Are you anorexic?

I'm a bit speechless. Were these doctors objective while evaluating you or had they already made up their minds that nothing was wrong?

Read this, particularly Type II and V.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/119777-overview

I hope you do get answers, ones that are logical and make sense. And then I hope you get whatever treatment is appropriate. Like a big hug.

Annie