Apart from the obvious ‘constantly complaining about it’ …what does the flu do to you?

 

Well, I’m not a doctor and I don’t even know what virus I had recently, only that it was a persistent bugger and I’m still somewhat congested from it. Whatever it was, I hated it.

 

What I didn’t really realise was that the physical exhaustion I was feeling a) still exists but b) really impacted on me longer term.

 

What The Flu Does To You

 

I walked up a small hill in my lunch break at work yesterday. It’s a hill I love to hate. In summer, I can barely make it up it. When it’s cooler (or even just cloudy) I walk up it and barely notice it.

 

 

Yesterday, I struggled badly to make it back up the hill. I figured I had lost some kind of fitness since I last walked it a few months ago. I made it all the way up with a brief pause.

 

But I couldn’t recover. I was pretty much shaking and wobbly and struggling to breathe for a long time. A long time was only a few minutes, but I don’t think I have ever felt as unfit as that in my life. It’s a long time when you don’t know how unfit you got while being sick.

 

For the rest of the day my legs ached and if they were just a few cms from the ground/not all weight on them – like when you sit down and get comfy in your chair… well they shook. My muscles were tired and protesting.

 

As I write this later on Thursday evening, I’m still feeling it a bit tired. I went into Ben’s study to give him a hug after reading Gayel’s news and as I bent down my legs were still shaking.

 

From walking up a hill that I’ve walked up plenty of times before. Now, I suck at exercise. I wasn’t the fittest person before this. But I could walk up hills and stairs!

 

I guess I didn’t know exactly how sick I was..?

 

Have you ever had sickness impact on your physical fitness?