I'm better now, almost my normal. But it was a long 10 weeks.
Traveling to spend Christmas with family, I returned home not feeling well. I didn't think much of it, other than a seasonal bug of some kind. At the time, I was 10 weeks into a 20 week structured training plan for another self-supported, solo race at the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. I built some down time into that schedule, so I suspended training to get healthy.
However, a week off the bike did not improve anything. Not one bit. Now, I was stumped. I considered covid, but did not have some common symptoms such as high fever, massive headaches, dry cough, or metallic taste of food. I just felt tired all the time, didn't feel like doing much of anything (including riding or writing), and felt short of breath very easily. I took off another week.
Nothing. For several more weeks, I continued to struggle with unusual fatigue, utter lack of motivation, and shortness of breath and never did return to my training plan, or anything remotely approaching it. More time passed. What to do? With the weekend race but a small part of a planned 18 day road trip, I decided to go for it and work through it. The road trip turned out great. The race did not. See, 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo (2025).
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Back out there. Rolling across the prairie on gravel and dirt. |
When I returned home in late February, not much changed. After a couple more weeks of uggh, I took to the internet to search possibilities. Almost immediately, I learned about something called Long Covid, with primary symptoms listed as chronic fatigue (feeling tired all the time), malaise (not feeling like doing anything), shortness of breath (short of breath very easy), and "exertional fatigue," defined as feeling significantly greater fatigue than normal at a given level of exertion (every lap at 24 HOP). Reportedly, the symptoms can last for weeks, months, and even years for some people.
Hey. That's a start. I read about various treatment options, including Ivermectin, both alone and together with other over the counter pills. One study showed promising results for Long Covid with a dosage of 12 mg per day for 5 days. Perhaps not coincidentally, I found in our medicine cabinet a single blister card of Ivermectin, left over from the recent past. Yes, exactly 10 pills of 6 mg.
I decided to take one 6 mg pill every 12 hours, which would be 12 mg/day for 5 days.
After taking the first pill at about 9 pm on a Sunday evening, I awoke the next morning after my best sleep since Christmas. Surprisingly, I did not feel that pesky generalized fatigue. More significantly, the oppressive malaise was completely gone. It was as if bright sunshine had burst through heavy cloud cover to burn off a long lingering fog.
Since completing that 5 day protocol, I am back on the bike, with vigor, and back on the blog, with acuity. I am again studying maps and venturing out into the Black Hills to scout more back roads, improve existing routes, and create new ones. I even rolled out of town onto prairie gravel for over 3 hours, my longest single ride in six months. The winter fog is gone.
This is my experience with a 10 week, undiagnosed ailment. I really don't know what it was or how it's gone. I don't even care if it's all a placebo effect. It doesn't matter.
This is what happened to me.
And I'm back.