Part II: 9 Ways Stealth Infections Hurt Your Athletic Performance
Read time: 7-8 minutes
At a glance:
● Athletes may be healthier than the average person in some ways, but oftentimes lifestyle factors actually predispose athletes and put them at a higher risk of stealth infections
● Factors that can predispose athletes to stealth infections include overtraining, poor diet, partying, sexual promiscuity, and more
● Stealth infections can secretly ruin your athletic performance. Bringing down pathogen load is one of my favorite tools for safe “performance enhancement”
● Stealth infections decrease athletic performance by increasing risk of injuries like sprains, tears, and fractures, causing widespread inflammation, damaging vital organs, wrecking your mental state, and impairing cardiovascular capacity.
● Even elite professional athletes who have the latest recovery tools at their disposal experience loss of performance due to stealth infections (see exactly who below)
Top 9 Risk factors predisposing athletes to stealth infections
The average athlete may assume they are healthier and better protected than the people around them due to their level of physical fitness. While athletes may pay more attention to their physical health, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are less likely to experience stealth infections.
In fact, here are 9 reasons why athletes may be MORE susceptible to experiencing the damages of stealth infections:
1. Overtraining: This is the number one way athletes can almost guarantee they will eventually suffer from a stealth infection. Overtraining depletes the body of essential nutrients for immune function, doesn’t allow adequate time for repair and remodeling of bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and organs, impairs digestion, creates inflammation and inflammatory byproducts, and increases sustained output of stress hormones, which suppresses immune system function.
Overtraining damages the mitochondria, which have two modes: energy generation as the powerhouse of your cell, or the immune-signaling beacon when the body is under distress. The mitochondria end up failing at both of their jobs–energy production and immune signaling–when they become too depleted from overtraining. Symptoms like fatigue, weakness, brain fog, and increased recovery time requirements will begin to occur.
2. Attributing signs and symptoms of stealth infections to overtraining: Not only are athletes more likely to experience the negative effects of overtraining, but they are also more likely to attribute symptoms of chronic stealth infections to overtraining. That fatigue, brain fog, and decrease in performance we mentioned before don’t go away with rest and nutrition once stealth infections set in. Overtraining may have been the original cause of stealth infection overgrowth, but when rest and recovery don’t cut it, the next place you should look to is stealth infections.
3. Poor nutrition and nutritional deficiencies: While many athletes eat consciously and healthfully, many do not. Between sugary sports drinks, processed snacks, and late-night dinners at fast food restaurants after away games, it can be very hard to avoid.
Add that to using up nutrients when exercising and sweating, and you have a recipe for stealth infection infiltration. Specifically, minerals like magnesium, potassium, zinc, selenium, iodine, and others may be used up faster. Increased sodium and potassium intake via sea salt and coconut water–a mixture known as an “adrenal cocktail”–may be needed if sweating heavily and often. Toxic food and nutrient deficiencies hurt the immune system, setting the stage for stealth infections.
4. Frequent national and international travel: Athletes are even more likely to travel far and frequently, compared to the average person. Traveling can be stressful on the body and weaken the immune system. At the same time, you are being introduced to new, foreign pathogens that can cause health symptoms and disease. This occurs especially with international travel.
5. Athletes spend more time outdoors: Being adventurous and going off the beaten path doesn’t always pay off. Athletes have a higher likelihood of spending time outdoors during high-risk seasons whether for sports, leisure, or work. Because of this, those who spend more time outdoors for work or pleasure are at an inherently higher risk of being exposed to these pathogenic organisms. Hiking, climbing, mountain biking, trail running, golfing, and more are considered “higher-risk” activities. That said, even skiers and CrossFitters can experience stealth infections too.
6. Toxic aspects of the “Professional Athlete Lifestyle”: Partying, staying up late after night-time away games, not sleeping well on the road or allowing adequate time for recovery between training, jetlag, drinking, and other factors can greatly disrupt the Circadian rhythm (your internal clock) and immune system, setting the stage for stealth infections.
7. Antibiotic overuse: Massive amounts of antibiotics are taken by athletes in an attempt to get back on the field faster. This destroys the mitochondria and gut microbiome, important branches of your immune system, as well as energy production. Beneficial microbes are meant to crowd out pathogens and keep them in check, which is not possible if beneficial microbes are missing due to antibiotic overuse. Pathogens may begin forming resistance to antibiotics as well. Antibiotics only kill bacteria, which may allow opportunistic fungus to overgrow and cause conditions like athlete’s foot or jock itch. Antibiotics themselves may lead to an “increased risk of tendon injuries, cardiac arrhythmia, and decreased performance”. [1]
8. Sexual promiscuity: It is no secret that athletes are often very promiscuous and sometimes risky in their “activities”. Sexually transmitted diseases are caused by transference of pathogenic microbes–and they run rampant in the athletic community, especially professional sports. For example, Olympic athletes have received free condoms from Olympic organizers since the 1988 Calgary Winter Games in Canada, and over 6,000 condoms were provided to the Olympic Village for the 1988 Seoul Summer Games [2].
STDs are even common among high school athletes, with 93% of those infected being asymptomatic and thus more likely to spread it further. [3] A study conducted on Brazilian female athletes found a much higher incidence of STDs in athletes than the general public. One theory they proposed was frequent, intense exercise may lead to immune system imbalance (Th2 dominance), allowing infections to more easily occur. [4]
Unfortunately, conventional medicine only tests for a handful of pathogenic organisms when testing for STDs. More research is needed, but emerging theories claim that Lyme and other stealth infections may be transmitted in sexual fluids. Any additional infections the body is fighting make it more susceptible to stealth infections. Either way, play it safe—your athletic career could depend on it!
9. Mental and emotional stress (especially around competing): High-stress situations promote activation and subsequent reactivation of stealth infections, even after a person has undergone treatment. Constant high levels of stress hormones can tank the immune system over time. Stealth infections are also known to negatively impact the brain and cause symptoms like anxiety and depression. Competing is stressful, but feeling too unwell to compete creates a brand new kind of mental, financial, and existential distress–making it hard for athletes to break free from this cycle!
How do Stealth Infections Hurt Athletic Performance?
Stealth infections can affect nearly all structures and functions of the body and cause issues in your athletic performance such as:
Musculoskeletal problems: When these issues don’t improve with standard treatment, it is one of the first indicators for most athletes that eventually leads them to a stealth infection diagnosis. Some of the most common musculoskeletal issues include joint pain, unexplained swelling, muscle pain, stiffness, and weakness. Over time, stealth infections like Lyme disease can commonly lead to diagnoses of inflammatory arthritis [5]. The joints of the knees and shoulders are the most commonly affected areas in athletes with stealth infections. Simply put, you can’t perform your best you’re when in pain and your body isn’t running at peak capacity. When other treatments don’t work, it is important to consider stealth infections like Lyme disease and co-infections.
Increased risk of injuries and recovery time: In practice, I have frequently seen sport-related injuries tied to stealth infections. Specifically, Bartonella increasing the chance of soft tissue muscle tears, while Babesia appears to cause shortness of breath and lowered RBC capacity. In addition to both aforementioned infections, Borrelia is also linked to cardiovascular problems like heart palpitations and in more serious cases, heart attacks.
Chronic inflammation from stealth infections can lead to an increased risk of injury. Some infections like Lyme disease cause an increase in inflammatory chemicals like IL-6, which can cause an increased risk for strains and bone fractures. Bone fractures occur more easily because IL-6 increases osteoclast activity. Osteoclasts are the little workers that break down your bone to remodel it and are usually balanced out by their counterparts, the bone-building osteoblasts.
Case studies show Lyme can cause tendinopathy in overhead lifters, even during adolescence. [6,7] Athletes also noticed that it takes them longer to heal from muscle soreness and sport- related injuries when battling stealth infections. These issues rarely resolve with rest alone. Increased catabolism due to active infections: Elite athletes are generally already in a “catabolic” state meaning their bodies are breaking down at a faster rate than they are building up. Normally, catabolic (break down) and anabolic (build up) should be balanced, but this can be difficult for athletes who overtrain. Being in a catabolic state does not support immune system function, making it more likely for stealth infections to “activate” or reactivate. When the body is breaking down, it is focused on repair rather than immunity. Active infections cause further catabolism in the body and performance decreases as a result. It is a known fact that extreme endurance training causes temporary “immunodepression” and increases the risk of infection [7]. For life-long endurance athletes, overtraining could spell disaster.
Extreme fatigue you can’t push through anymore: Depleting, poisoning, or keeping the mitochondria in the immune-signaling phase instead of the energy phase can cause extreme, unrelenting fatigue. Large muscles and vital organs have high concentrations of mitochondria because they do more work, so when the energy is going toward exercising and fighting off pathogens, you’re at a net negative by the end of the day–constantly racking up debt in terms of burning through energy reserves. Eventually, you may lose the ability to push through the fatigue and that is when your performance takes the biggest hit. Who wants to feel fatigued while training or competing?
Negative impacts on vital organ function: Stealth infections can damage vital organs and thus ultimately lead to illness and decreased performance over time. These include the heart and blood vessels, lungs, brain, adrenals, liver, and more. Some stealth infections like Borrelia and certain species of Strep can cause autoimmune reactions–that continue even long after the organism is “eradicated” with treatment, see Part III. Damage and inflammation from the organisms themselves–as well as your own immune response to combat them–negatively impacts organs and lowers output capacity like oxygen capacity of the lungs or detoxification capacity of the liver. Bartonella, Babesia, and Borrelia are particularly bad for the cardiovascular system including the heart, blood vessels, red blood cells, and blood pressure regulation.
Decreased lymphatic system function and flow: Stealth infections are bad for the lymphatic system, which is an essential part of your immune system. The lymph nodes help filter out and combat inflammation-causing infections. When lymph fluid is stagnant and the filters are “clogged”, not only does your immune system take a hit, but you may also experience muscle stiffness and weakness, especially upon waking in the morning. Symptoms of lymphatic stagnation include heavy feeling limbs, morning stiffness, creaky joints, head congestion, malaise, poor immunity and frequently feeling “under the weather”. Stealth infections like Epstein-Barr Virus attack the lymph nodes specifically. Stiff, weak muscles are not going to give you a competitive edge!
Worsening mental and emotional stress: How do can expect to have your head in the game when you feel like crap? Not performing well due to physical issues can lead to further mental distress and cause anxiety or depression. The negative impact illness may have on your career, finances, relationships, and even your outlook on life can be devastating. Stealth infections can also disrupt the Gut-Braix Axis–the bi-directional communication system between your healthy gut microbes and your brain–which regulates mood and mental stress.
Debilitating neurological issues: We already know stealth infections negatively impact the brain. What most people don’t realize about stealth infections is that they can also cause damage to your nerves. Nerves are essential for conducting signals back and forth from the brain to the rest of the body. This controls movement, coordination, your senses, and even your perception of pain. When nerves are inflamed and under attack, symptoms such as tingling, numbness, or pain may occur. Symptoms athletes might experience include weakness in the arms, legs, or hand, a lack of coordination, feeling slightly off-balance or “off-kilter” and needing to make constant micro-corrections while doing things that require balance, such as cycling. These symptoms may not seem too serious at first. But as they progress untreated, they may develop into some of the most devastating late-stage neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s.
Senses such as vision may progressively worsen which is especially problematic for sports that require hand-eye coordination. Other signs of disease progression include worsening numbness or tingling, shortness of breath, muscle twitching or cramping, and blood pressure problems. One example of a stealth infection that causes severe nerve pain is the Chicken Pocks virus after it enters your nervous system and lies dormant for decades before reactivating as “Shingles” in older adults if the conditions are right. Thankfully, nerve damage is reversible in many cases when caught promptly and addressed with targeted protocols and functional chiropractic.
By now it should be clear, stealth infections can hurt, or even ruin, your athletic performance. Considering all of the things you could potentially lose including future work opportunities and sponsorships, your health and quality of life, the satisfaction of reaching new PRs, and even possibly your self-esteem…can you really afford not to address symptoms of stealth infections?
Vagus Clinic successfully works with these kinds of cases on a daily basis–and we can help you before it gets to a critical point.
11 Famous Athletes Who Have Experienced Lyme Disease & Other Stealth Infections
1. 6-time PGA Winner Golf Pro Jimmy Walker (2016) and his wife, Erin, suffered from Lyme, cytomegalovirus, mycoplasma, Epstein-Barr virus
2. Ironman Top 10 Finisher Triathlete Angela Naeth (2017)
3. Elite Mid-Distance Runner Robby Andrews (2018)
4. Olympic halfpipe skier Angeli Vanlaanen (Tick bite around 1993, symptom onset 2009)
5. Crossfit champion Mallory O’Brien (Tick bites around 2009, symptom onset 2019)
6. Montreal Canadiens Assistant Coach and Retired NHL player Kirk Muller (2017)
7. Swedish hockey star Lukas Bengtsson (2016)
8. WNBA player Elena Delle Donne (2008 onset)
9. Former baseball star Tom Seaver (died of Late stage Lyme and dementia in 2020)
10. Captain of U.S. Women’s Olympic Soccer Christie Rampone (2010)
11. Australian Pro Rugby player Ryan Stig (2012)
Some of the top athletes of all different sports have suffered from stealth infections too. If you are experiencing symptoms, don’t ignore them anymore. It could be as simple as addressing chronic stealth infections with our practitioners at the Vagus Clinic to get you back to peak performance.
Takeaways from Stealth Infections Part II
Unless properly balanced, an athlete’s lifestyle may predispose them to a higher risk for stealth infections, despite thinking they are healthier than the average population. Stealth infections can negatively impact athletic performance in a number of ways listed above. You can even see that the seemingly fittest, wealthiest pro athletes are not immune to stealth pathogens. It is up to each individual to treat their body right and assess symptoms as they arise.
Now that we know what stealth infections are and why we want to avoid them—especially as athletes—let’s move on to Part III of our series and explore all the options for prevention, testing, and treatment of stealth infections.
Want to work with functional medicine practitioners who have extensive experience with stealth infections? Call or text the clinic at (416) 649-6489, or schedule your free 20-minute discovery call with one of our Health Coaches here!
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