7 hours ago, Troy021079 said:

This is still hanging on, symptoms are higher than before for the last 5 or 6 weeks. Is this normal? If this is a wave it's the longest I've had since the accute phase, I just don't know where to go with this 😬😔

Sorry to read Troy, it is completely normal sadly. Acceptance is the only way to go. We have to let go and know we can't control this. Time will sort this, we just have to keep out of the road whilst is does it thing mate. Hope this eases sooner rather than later for you.

2 minutes ago, Chippy said:

Sorry to read Troy, it is completely normal sadly. Acceptance is the only way to go. We have to let go and know we can't control this. Time will sort this, we just have to keep out of the road whilst is does it thing mate. Hope this eases sooner rather than later for you.

Thanks again mate, it's so confusing and frustrating. I hope the window will come sooner rather than later. It's hard not to think you've gone backwards.

28 minutes ago, Troy021079 said:

It's hard not to think you've gone backwards.

so true, everyone feels postive and optimistc on the good days and not on the bad, and I mean EVERYONE!

Hi again peeps,

As some of you know, I love the gym and for most of my withdrawal I've been able to tolerate training reasonably well. I've definitely had a few overshoots along the way that I've paid for and learnt from.

Lately though, something seems to have changed. Even doing around a quarter of what I'd normally do — and at a much lower intensity than I trained pre-withdrawal — seems to activate my symptoms and potentially trigger a flare. I'm honestly devastated by it and also really confused, because I don't understand why my tolerance seems to have suddenly dropped so much when I was previously able to train.

I know the sensible thing at the moment is to pull back rather than keep pushing and testing it, but I'd really appreciate any insight from anyone who's experienced something similar. Did your exercise tolerance suddenly change during withdrawal, and if so, did it eventually improve again? 🙏

Hey @Troy021079 sorry to hear. I know many who can't exercise in WD. I know also this is very important to you so makes it harder to accept.

Unfortunately things can and almost always do fluctuate in WD. So we have no idea of how this will progress for you. We do know like all WD symptoms they go eventually. As the body adjusts and heals.

Main thing, listen to your body, do what it tells you to do. Try to learn to accept and not fight. My advice, do the little Gym work you can manage, then learn some new interests and work on taking this one day at a time, accepting the situation rather than being frustrated by it.

Here for you mate.

Chippy

24 minutes ago, Chippy said:

Hey @Troy021079 sorry to hear. I know many who can't exercise in WD. I know also this is very important to you so makes it harder to accept.

Unfortunately things can and almost always do fluctuate in WD. So we have no idea of how this will progress for you. We do know like all WD symptoms they go eventually. As the body adjusts and heals.

Main thing, listen to your body, do what it tells you to do. Try to learn to accept and not fight. My advice, do the little Gym work you can manage, then learn some new interests and work on taking this one day at a time, accepting the situation rather than being frustrated by it.

Here for you mate.

Chippy

Thanks @Chippy once again. That's the funny thing, my body is telling me to exercise then puts me in a flare when I do 🤷🤦 I wish I knew the answer. Maybe I will rest and see where it leads me which will be hard.

7 minutes ago, Troy021079 said:

Thanks @Chippy once again. That's the funny thing, my body is telling me to exercise then puts me in a flare when I do 🤷🤦 I wish I knew the answer. Maybe I will rest and see where it leads me which will be hard.

Perhaps it wants to exercise, just not as much. If it puts you into a flare I would say that is it telling you that was too much. Hope a rest helps ease things for you.

I am really struggling with accepting this, it is actually making me depressed not being able to do what I'd normally do, even scaled back. I just just don't know what to do right now!!

4 hours ago, Troy021079 said:

I am really struggling with accepting this, it is actually making me depressed not being able to do what I'd normally do, even scaled back. I just just don't know what to do right now!!

Acceptance is so difficult especially at first. Keep working at it. Eventually you realise that fighting only hurts you, surrendering and letting the body do what it needs is not something that comes naturally to us, always gotta be go getters and fix, we have so little control of this. So accepting is making a concious choice let the body heal, it's not lazy or giving up, its understanding the problem and adjusting our approach. I truly believe in WD we learn skills that will help us after. One of them is being more present and acceptant of the now. We get so caught up with the past and over thinking the future. Peace is found in this key mindset technique. You can do it. We all have it in us.

On 10/11/2026 at 6:24 PM, Chippy said:

Acceptance is so difficult especially at first. Keep working at it. Eventually you realise that fighting only hurts you, surrendering and letting the body do what it needs is not something that comes naturally to us, always gotta be go getters and fix, we have so little control of this. So accepting is making a concious choice let the body heal, it's not lazy or giving up, its understanding the problem and adjusting our approach. I truly believe in WD we learn skills that will help us after. One of them is being more present and acceptant of the now. We get so caught up with the past and over thinking the future. Peace is found in this key mindset technique. You can do it. We all have it in us.

I guess one of the hardest things for me is looking in the mirror and seeing my physique disappearing, it really hurts. The gym was also my go to for stress and my mental health. I'm trying to tell myself it's not permanent but it's the not knowing for how long that gets me.

5 hours ago, Troy021079 said:

I'm trying to tell myself it's not permanent but it's the not knowing for how long that gets me.

Keep telling yourself this. We all feel this hurt, I had such a good life before all of this. So very happy, this has taken it from me, but I know its all here waiting once I am over this. Use that hope to keep you going. Acceptance really is everything mate, trust me.

@Chippy I guess what is also confusing me is how I was tolerating exercise mostly and now even a small workout flares me. It feels like I'm going backwards. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this?

2 hours ago, Troy021079 said:

@Chippy I guess what is also confusing me is how I was tolerating exercise mostly and now even a small workout flares me. It feels like I'm going backwards. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this?

Unfortunately this can happen, as the body heals and stablises we can cycle through symptoms. Sleep can be fine then not, exercise intolerance can be fine then not. Same with all symptoms. This is VERY common. It feels like backwards for sure. We all feel that, just in different ways. Its not though. Each day is a day closer.

35 minutes ago, Chippy said:

Unfortunately this can happen, as the body heals and stablises we can cycle through symptoms. Sleep can be fine then not, exercise intolerance can be fine then not. Same with all symptoms. This is VERY common. It feels like backwards for sure. We all feel that, just in different ways. Its not though. Each day is a day closer.

Thanks again mate. I guess all I can do is ride it and hope I can get back to the gym soon even if not perfect. I hope you're OK, mate.

Edited Wednesday at 08:51 AM4 days by Troy021079

26 minutes ago, Troy021079 said:

Thanks again mate. I guess all I can do is ride it and hope I can get back to the gym soon even if not perfect. I hope you're OK, mate.

That’s the way! This won’t be forever and there will be better days as you go. I think you’ll find you can start to get back to it. Hopefully sooner rather than later.