Even after they’ve recovered from a nasty bout of the flu, some people are left feeling down in the dumps or seriously low on energy, and they don’t understand why they haven’t bounced back. It may not be just because they lost days or weeks of their regularly scheduled lives due to the illness. It may be that they have a little-known phenomenon called post-viral depression or post-viral fatigue syndrome.
“Post-viral fatigue and weakness seem to be happening more this year than in previous years, especially among people in their 50s and 60s who’ve had a bad viral infection, including the flu,” notes infectious disease specialist Dr. David Goldberg, an assistant professor of medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. “We’re also seeing reactive depression because they’re not feeling as well as they’d like to and they want to get back to their regular routines.”
[See: 10 Cold and Flu Myths Debunked.]
While they probably date back centuries, the links between viral illnesses and depression have only become more widely recognized and understood in recent decades. In fact, a study in a 2016 issue of the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity found that people who suffered a recent influenza infection (in the previous 30 to 180 days) had a 57 percent higher risk of new onset depression, compared to those who dodged the flu. Meanwhile, a review of the medical literature on the subject, published in a 2014 issue of Scientific Reports, found associations between depression and the Borna disease virus, herpes simplex virus 1, varicella-zoster virus and the Epstein-Barr virus, which can cause mononucleosis among other illnesses.
Exactly how a virus might trigger depression isn’t fully understood, but there are theories. “A lot of these infections can lead to an inflammatory response in the body — cytokines [small proteins secreted by cells in the immune system] and other [inflammatory] chemicals are elevated to fight the infection,” explains Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, director of the Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “There are a proportion of people who will experience fatigue, lethargy, psychomotor slowing, difficulty concentrating and sleep changes with this inflammatory response. It is the body’s way of making them slow down,” he explains.
[Read: Are We Prepared for the Next Flu Pandemic?]
Some people are more susceptible to post-viral symptoms of depression and fatigue than others. “People who are prone to depression or who’ve had it in the past are more likely to have these symptoms than those who aren’t prone to depression,” Trivedi notes. In these folks, even the flu shot can trigger these symptoms: A study conducted by Trivedi and his colleagues, published in the September 2017 issue of General Hospital Psychiatry, found that while adults who were given the influenza vaccine all experienced a downturn in their moods a day or two later, the negative mood effect was three times more pronounced among those with depression or anxiety.
The good news is most cases of post-viral depression and fatigue resolve naturally in a matter of days or weeks. To facilitate recovery in the meantime, it’s important to get plenty of rest and sleep (seven to nine hours per night), Goldberg says. Engage in mild exercise during the day — “you may find that your stamina may not be what it used to be,” he adds. And stick with a nutritious diet that contains lots of antioxidant-rich, anti-inflammatory foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, fish and seafood (which contain omega-3 fatty acids).
[See: The Most Common Patient Complaints.]
A 1990 study in the journal Acta Neurologica Scandinavia examined the effects of taking high doses of essential fatty acids containing linoleic, gamma-linolenic, eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids on post-viral fatigue syndrome in 63 adults who had been ill for one to three years with a viral infection. The researchers found that among those who took eight 500-gram capsules per day, 85 percent reported that their symptoms of fatigue, dizziness, muscle pain, poor concentration and depression had improved after three months, while only 17 percent of those on the placebo treatment felt better. (Check with your doctor to see if you might benefit from taking these supplements.)
If your symptoms of depression or fatigue “go on for more than a few weeks [after a viral illness], go to your doctor and get a blood test to make sure nothing else is going on,” Goldberg advises. If you get a clean bill of health on the physical front and it turns out that the illness has triggered an episode of major depression, medication and/or therapy may help you reclaim a better state of mind and energy.
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Flu Got You Down Even After You’ve Recovered? originally appeared on usnews.com
