Hello Ld!
In a message to Les Parker  Ld Walker wrote:
LW> Les, I sent a message to Bob Lantrip mistakenly, thinking he had mentione
LW> severe fatigue associated with PPS, then found it was in one of your
LW> messages I had seen the reference to fatigue.....I'm still a novice on th
LW> echo and couldn't locate your message readily...am learning more now.
LW> Anyway, you mentioned that you seemed to rest apparently from one night's
LW> sleep.  I seem to require two to three days of rest if I really overdo
LW> something, whether physical activity or just standing a very long time.
Fatigue mostly manifested with difficulty in breathing for me.
After a night's rest using a respirator, I could usually function
the next day, but if fatiguing conditions were allowed to
continue for several days, I found it difficult not to lie around
for several days recouping my reserves.
I also found that it didn't have to be physical exertion alone to
exhaust me. I worked as a programmer for several years. Since I'm
not a natural born programmer and do no really enjoy programming,
whenever I was working on a project, I would find myself having
difficulty breathing after six or eight hours of programming.
LW> also have a very hard time waking after getting fatigued, doesthis happen
LW> to you?  I still am able at this point to work full time as an electronic
LW> technician for the railroad.  The job does require some degree of moderat
LW> physical activity, climbing up the dumps to get to equipment cabins, carr
LW> equipment, quite a bit of stooping and getting back up.  Some days wear m
LW> out, my work is not all done at a bench as some tech jobs.
I had a very serious case of pneumonia two years ago, and I've
been on disability ever since. From what I know of PPS, if you
are allowed to take it easy and give your body a chance to truly
rest up, often the PPS symptons will disappear, at least until
you over-exert yourself again. There doesn't seem to be any
permanent damage from PPS as far as I know, but I don't think
that issue has been resolved yet. I read an article several years
ago that claimed over-use of some muscles could result in
permanent loss of function. Polio damages or destroys bundles of
motor nerves on the spine, called "horns" if I recall correctly;
the article claimed that the more stress that was put on the
remaining nerves, the more likely the chance of damaging them. If
this is true--and parhaps PPS is related to this?--we've not been
helping ourselves all these years by forcing our bodies to do
what they are reluctant to do. Mind you, I'm not an expert in
anatomy and physiology, I'm just passing along what I've read.
There are even those who insist that PPS is not a real,
distinctive phenomenon. But it seems to me we Polioers are the
last ones who want to accept or admit that our condition is
deteriorating, and if we are doing so and seeking help, there
must be something real going on. The syndrome was diagnosed from
reports, not vice versa.
Anyway, time to back away from the podium and return to the topic
at hand. I've found frequent fatigue to be one of the real
determining factors of my life in recent years, but I've found it
can be mitigated with the right behavior. I've found if I don't
push my activities too far that I can avoid some of the fatigue,
for example by taking a real break from what I'm doing, something
like getting completely away from the task at hand after a few
hours work. Maybe lie down, watch TV, read a book, sit in the
sun, anything to take the stress off the system. This is one of
the ways I've found to make surviving easier and more pleasant.
It seems to me that stress plays a large part in PPS.
I hope this helps and answers some of your questions.
Take care,
Les
 * WCE 2.0/2360 * When Nietzsche lost his mind, he lost his soul.
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