Starting the Research Study Meds

Today is my ninth day on the study meds with the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome research study I signed up for.  (For details on the study see: http://thesynergytrial.org/)

The first day I couldn't tell much difference. The next four days I had a background headache of a different kind than I usually have. It went away a little bit when I napped but sometimes got quite bad in the evening and I really couldn't do much of anything those days. (At least the Olympics were on). 

In the afternoon of the 6th day (Tuesday) the headache went away and I suddenly felt pretty good. Not like I had more energy necessarily, but I had a lot less "malaise" or less of the "I feel like I have the flu" feeling that I otherwise have had all the time.

The next day (Wednesday this week) I had three things scheduled -- Elyse and the boys coming by (I had that scheduled for awhile and could have cancelled but didn't want to), visiting teachers (only day they could come) and the annual mammogram (I just didn't want to have to reschedule it). I usually try to avoid having more than one thing on a given day, and the instructions for the research study say not to increase your level of activity significantly until you have been on them a couple months, but since I was feeling a slight improvement, I thought it would be interesting to see how I did on, and after, a day with multiple things scheduled. 

I did okay during the day Wednesday, but the real test for me is how I do the following days. Yesterday (Thursday) I was very tired and not up to doing anything but I wasn't as bad as I would have expected. Today (Friday) I'm not back to where I was Tuesday afternoon, but I am, again, I'm better than I would have expected.

So that is a very good sign. This is the first time I have taken a medication for CFS that seemed like it made me feel better and not worse, so I am really encouraged.

Now that I have tested the limits I will try to be good and not increase my activity level too much. But at least maybe I will get eventually to where I can do useful things on the computer instead of watching PBS kids :)