Does anyone else get a runny nose, sneezing, coughing etc during PEM?

V

V.R.T.

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I have always gotten a runny nose, sneezing and sometimes coughing fits when I am having the kind of PEM that feels seriously viral.

It happens far too often to be explained by catching colds. It is part of the reason I thought my immune system had been weakened by my triggering strep infection when I was mild. I thought I was catching a cold twice a month.

It feels viral enough that I always question it when it starts. The runny nose is always streaming clear fluid.

I have heard PEM described as viral malaise without the runny nose, sneezing etc so it puzzles me that I often get those symptoms. The cough I think is triggered by acid reflux, but that's the only bit I can explain.
 
V.R.T. said:
I have always gotten a runny nose, sneezing and sometimes coughing fits when I am having the kind of PEM that feels seriously viral.

It happens far too often to be explained by catching colds. It is part of the reason I thought my immune system had been weakened by my triggering strep infection when I was mild. I thought I was catching a cold twice a month.

It feels viral enough that I always question it when it starts. The runny nose is always streaming clear fluid.
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Yes, same. I go through boxes and boxes of tissues. Including having to put tissues under my face when I sleep otherwise I wake up with a wet pillow.
 
Sometimes. Runny nose, sometimes eyes, definite airway iffiness. Maybe more allergy like than ill like?

Like I think you imply, there are different PEMs. Some more me are much more dry mouth/nose/etc. Or maybe different phases, balances of symptoms or severities or something. But yes, what you describe is one of them or part of it for me.
 
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I sometimes get URT symptoms (particularly in the morning in winter especially if I get physically cold on days beforehand) as part of a cycle of bad and less bad days as part of my ME. This cycle is independent of PEM but PEM can be caused by modest activity all the time and when it coincides with a bad patch it is more severe.

That fact that other viruses I have provably recur leads me to believe the bad patches are part of a cycle of chronic viral recurrence caused by immune dysfunction.

The same logic applies to URT viruses as any other virus so I conclude I get URT episodes during a bad episode when a URT virus is recurring and my immune system is more active fighting this virus.

When one virus is active it seems to preclude other viruses, possibly due to some kind of systemic immune activation.
 
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V.R.T. said:
I have always gotten a runny nose, sneezing and sometimes coughing fits when I am having the kind of PEM that feels seriously viral.

It happens far too often to be explained by catching colds. It is part of the reason I thought my immune system had been weakened by my triggering strep infection when I was mild. I thought I was catching a cold twice a month.

It feels viral enough that I always question it when it starts. The runny nose is always streaming clear fluid.

I have heard PEM described as viral malaise without the runny nose, sneezing etc so it puzzles me that I often get those symptoms. The cough I think is triggered by acid reflux, but that's the only bit I can explain.
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Yes. I get green goop coming out of my nose. Lots of tissues needed.
 
Yep. The only way I can tell it's not a cold starting is when the cough and runny nose don't keep escalating the way they usually would, and although my neck glands are very swollen, my throat isn't as painful as it would be with a sore throat-type cold.
 
Kitty said:
Yep. The only way I can tell it's not a cold starting is when the cough and runny nose don't keep escalating the way they usually would, and although my neck glands are very swollen, my throat isn't as painful as it would be with a sore throat-type cold.
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Symptoms are less severe than a cold for me too, just lots of sneezing, mucus and wet tissues / kitchen roll, sometimes alleviating during the day but repeating in the morning for a few days in a row.

PS green goop comes at the end of a bad episode for me and is usually indicative of immune activity. Since covid, this often precedes a bad head day which also comes at the very end of immune activity.
 
I didn’t used to but a few weeks ago I triggered a bad PEM episode by mis-timing a supplement that usually helps me avoid PEM and getting caught in the middle of an errand away from home. So much phlegm that I had to sleep propped upright otherwise I couldn’t breathe. Coughing and snotty nose galore, I’m sure I got on the nerves of my neighbors in the units above and below.

And it lasted for several days after the other symptoms went away. It was worse PEM overall than I’d ever experienced too, so I’ve been wondering if the coughing/sneezing/runny nose are somehow concentration-dependent on whatever biological phenomenon is underlying PEM.
 
Yes! This is new; I have suddenly (last 6mths) started to feel like I am getting a cold when PEM -ish, but it never comes to anything.

I have had chronic, awful rhinitis ever since my ME got worse almost a decade ago. Like someone else said, I go through boxes and boxes of tissues and tin after tin of saline spray as am either blocked or streaming.

Also itchy eyes and throat a lot - even out of hayfever season. I was starting to wonder if my inhaler wasn't working..(it is, it is currently just the added joy of hayfever making everything worse)
 
I wonder if it is common for the runny nose/snot/wet cough symptoms to correlate with the severity of the PEM episode. That would certainly be the case for me—though perhaps it is only a distinction I can make being mild and lucky enough to have had some PEM episodes that were milder than an average cold.

The times I’ve gotten the upper respiratory symptoms, I also felt absolutely steamrolled by PEM even moreso than usual.

Question for others—if you only sometimes experience these upper respiratory symptoms, does it tend to occur when the other symptoms of PEM are also relatively worse?
 
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