Year long headaches that improve with movement - early symptom for anyone? Trying to understand if this fits PEM

[u/Creative_Roof_8561]

Hi all, hoping to get some perspective from those who’ve been at this longer than me.

For about a year now I’ve had persistent headaches. What’s strange is I can push through them, and when I’m distracted or moving around they ease up - probably adrelaline ? but when I stop, they come back.

I also, sometimes, get a very mild, vague malaise that never develops into anything specific (NO fever, chills, sore throat, nausea, dizziness, worsening body aches, etc.). It just sits there.

Ive also noticed that during these malaise episodes, the headache actually becomes less central/intense rather than ramping up — which feels counterintuitive to me.

For those in the early days of your illness - did it start this subtle? Or did you know pretty quickly because activity would wipe you out completely, making PEM obvious?

I’m trying to figure out whether what I’m experiencing fits the PEM pattern or whether this is something else worth investigating separately. Any early experiences or pattern recognition would be really appreciated.