Category Archives: ME/CFS

10 Things to Know After Diagnosis of ME/CFS

Recently I received a comment from someone who has just been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. They asked me “Is there anything that you would recommend for someone in the early stages of ME? Is there anything you wish you had known in the beginning that would have helped in the long run?” Thank you for your questions Venture Beneath The Skies. Here are my top 10 things to know in the early stages of ME/CFS:

  1. Give yourself time – ME/CFS takes time to heal. It does not just appear out of nowhere. Ill health has built up gradually over time due to poor diet, unresolved emotional traumas and many other lifestyle factors. It requires time to peel away the layers of the past that brought you to this dis-ease and regain your health.
  2. Get support – it is a good idea to get some support from your family who can care for you while you are ill and give you emotional and financial support. You may have to move back home to live with your parents. You could apply for disability living allowance.
  3. Don’t rely on doctors – doctors do not understand the holistic nature of ME/CFS which is an illness of body/mind/emotions/soul. They will give you drugs which will suppress the symptoms but will not treat the root cause of the illness. You need to spend time doing the inner healing work.
  4. Visit a nutritionist – there are often gut problems such as Candida overgrowth in ME/CFS which can cause the brain fog. Nutritionists can do food intolerance tests and will give you a diet plan to support your health as well as a supplement plan to get rid of the infection.
  5. Glandular fever – most ME/CFS begins by catching glandular fever/Epstein-Barr/mononucleosis virus. It is likely that your immune system was already weak due to stress and unresolved past emotional traumas, then you caught the virus and your body is finding it hard to fight it off. This is often the cause of the fatigue. You can look to an immune-boosting diet or supplements such as grape seed extract to remove the virus.
  6. Triggers – it is important to find out what your stress triggers are and avoid them as much as possible. It may be loud noise, light, travel, conflict, gluten etc. Take good care of yourself and create a peaceful environment in which to heal yourself.
  7. ME/CFS is curable! – don’t believe any person or website who tells you otherwise. I have recovered and I know many other people who have and are living normal lives. Your life will be completely different to the life you had before you got ill. Health will be your number 1 priority, you will stick to boundaries, respect yourself, speak up for yourself and live a life following your passions.
  8. Take control of your health – spend time reading about healing methods that you are drawn to and try them out. You have the power to heal yourself.
  9. Reconnect with nature – when I was first ill I used to sit in the conservatory and watch the birds in the garden. It was so relaxing and helped me to connect to the present moment. If you can get outside in the garden and enjoy the beauty of nature. It has many health benefits such as reducing stress and will uplift your mood. Bare foot grounding is amazing for healing the body.
  10. Be kind to yourself – healing take time so don’t beat yourself up for being ill. Thank yourself for the gradual progress you are making. Take good care of yourself and get lots of rest.

I hope these tips have helped you as you begin your journey back to health! Best wishes for your recovery!

Triggers to CFS

There are many triggers to CFS, not just one cause. Recently I have been studying disease triggers on my nutrition course and thought back to when I first got ill in 2008 as to what triggered my CFS. Below is the list of my triggers as well as the factors that were driving my symptoms.

My Triggers to CFS

Triggers

Drivers

Symptoms

Abuse

Suppressed memories

PTSD

Antibiotics

High sugar diet

Candida/Thrush

Gluten

High wheat diet

Fatigue/Bloating

Glandular Fever

Cytomegalovirus

Low immune system

Fatigue

Mercury exposure

Working with chemicals

High tuna diet

Fatigue/Toxic

Pesticides/

Food Additives/Aspartame

Non-organic,

processed foods

Fatigue/Toxic

WiFi/TV/Computer/

Geopathic stress

Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR)

Insomnia

Moving home/New job/Working full time and studying/Stress

Lack of emotional support/

Poor diet/Poor sleep

Exhaustion/Adrenal fatigue

 

I would love to hear what were the triggers to your CFS. It is something that is worth thinking about so that you can avoid the triggers and symptoms in future and live a more peaceful, happy and healthy life.

What is ME/CFS?

ME/CFS (Myalgia Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) is a chronic debilitating illness characterised by fatigue that does not go away with rest. The newest name for the illness is SEID (Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease).

There are many symptoms including:

  • Fatigue not eased on resting
  • Flu-like symptoms
  • Brain fog
  • Poor concentration
  • Dizziness
  • Low blood pressure
  • Palpitations
  • Sensitivity to light and sound
  • Headaches
  • Fatigue on exertion
  • Muscle weakness
  • Muscle spasms and twitches
  • Abdominal pain
  • Bloating
  • Constipation
  • Food intolerances
  • Insomnia
  • Adrenal fatigue
  • Anxiety
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

With Fibromyalgia there are additional symptoms of:

  • Systemic pain

CFS is diagnosed by elimination after various NHS tests such as blood tests, endoscopy, ECG, postural tests, MRI scan etc. If all their test results come back negative then they may diagnose you with CFS.

Often people with ME/CFS are housebound or even bedbound. The illness can last for a few months to several years. I had CFS for 3 years and after making diet and lifestyle changes was able to function in society again.

I hope this information has helped you to better understand ME/CFS/SEID.

Personality of People with ME/CFS

People who are ill with ME/CFS tend to be workaholics and overachievers. They think their self-worth is determined by how much they do and what they achieve. That mentality means you neglect your needs such as food, water, sleep and time to relax and leads to burn out and chronic fatigue. This is what happened with me.

ME/CFS sufferers are often keen to get back to work as soon as possible and are not keen to take the time needed to rest and heal. All their lives they have worked hard to prove to themselves that they are good enough. They were brainwashed at school that they are only as good as their grades. They often had workaholic parent or parents who criticised them a lot so they worked hard to get their approval by being overachievers. This behaviour continued into adulthood. They are perfectionists who never feel good enough, despite achieving more that most people.

I know that I am a workaholic who finds it hard to relax. I have to make time in my busy schedule for relaxation including meditation, yoga and walking in nature on a daily basis in order to stay healthy.

Ways to relax include:

  • Sleeping
  • Taking a nap
  • Meditation
  • Reading a book
  • Walking outside in nature
  • Sitting and watching the sky
  • Mindfulness
  • Epsom salt bath
  • Massage
  • Listening to relaxation music
  • Patting a pet
  • Aromatherapy
  • Sitting in the sunshine
  • Focusing on the breath

I only started to heal when I accepted I could no longer work and do as much as I used to do. When I let go of validating myself by societies high standards and just be myself. It is enough to just be.

The information in this post is my opinion and stems from my experiences with ME/CFS. I know many other people with ME/CFS who also had this tendency to push themselves too hard before they got ill.

Therapies to Heal ME – Part 3

Here is part 3 of Therapies to Heal ME which includes all the therapies that I tried out in 2013 to the present day in an effort to cure my ME, including dates, and my experiences with them:

2013

January

  • Yoga classes – I started attending a local yoga class on a weekly basis as I felt it was more in line with my spirituality than ballroom and latin dancing! It really helped me to relax, stretch out tension and strengthen my muscles. I took classes for a year, then stopped and now I do a short yoga routine every morning to stretch!

February

  • Emotional Scale – I discovered the emotional scale in the book ‘Ask and it is Given’ by Esther and Jerry Hicks. It explains that there is a scale of emotions at different vibrational frequencies. For instance the emotions of grief and anger are low vibrational and appreciation, love and joy are high vibrational. It taught me how to work out which emotional level I am currently feeling and step by step move up through the emotions to the highest level.

April

  • Earthing – Sit in the garden with your bare feet touching the P1000016earth and the connection will drain away the positive electrical charge that has build up in your body from being in close contact with computers, mobile phones, TVs etc. After 30 minutes of earthing I feel so much better and more calm.

July

  • Sprouting – my boyfriend at the time gave me some of his sprouting jars and taught me how to sprouts legumes such as chickpeas. You put the legumes in a sprouting jar and soak them in filtered water overnight to remove the phytates that are hard to digest. Change the water at least once. Then you drain the legumes and leave them to dry. Left on the window sill they will start to sprout and as they do release more nutrients.

September

  • Juicing – my boyfriend let me borrow his juicer and I learned how to juice vegetables. The juice is highly concentrated in nutrients and it gives you a burst of energy!

December

  • Ayurvedic Diet – in Ayurvedic medicine there are 3 doshas or body types called vata, pitta and kapha. I am a vata and have weak digestion so need easily digestible cooked and blended foods to nourish my body. Vatas do well on sweet and sour foods. Pittas have very strong digestion and do well on bitter foods. Kaphas gain weigh easily and do well on raw foods. Eating for your type will give you more energy.

2014

January

  • Inner child healing – involves reconnecting with the child inside of you who wants to play and be loved. When it is ignored and we don’t take time to play, we get depressed. So loving and respecting that little child, we will feel happier and feel more joy in our lives! When I see my inner child she is a baby inside my abdomen who is crying and reaches out to hold my finger for support.

March

  • Daily meditation – I started to meditate every morning for 15 minutes after being inspired by the Abraham Hicks meditation process. This transformed my life and kept me feeling balanced and calm all day. You can read about how to do my light meditation here.

May

  • Epsom Salt Baths – during a consultation at the student clinic, the student nutritionist advised that I take regular Epsom salt baths for relaxation as I was prone to anxiety. I used 1 tbsp of high grade Epsom salt in a bath tub of hot filtered water for 10 minutes twice a week. The magnesium in the salts absorbs through the skin and relaxes the muscles leaving you feeling completely relaxed. It is difficult to get out the bath afterwards!

July

  • Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) – also known as tapping, it is a process of gently tapping specific acupressure points on your face to clear your energy meridians. The process starts with you thinking of a traumatic memory and feeling the intense emotional pain. Then you say the affirmation “Even though I have this feeling, I deeply and completely accept myself” as you tap the specific pressure points. It is a very powerful process as it release blockages in your meridians and leaves you feeling calm and relieved. You can watch a video on The Tapping Solution to show you where the tapping points are located.

September

  • Butekyo Breathing Method – involves using your abdomen to take a small breath in, then a small breath out and holding your breath for a minimum of 5 seconds. This gives your red blood cells time to transport oxygen to all areas of your body. The theory behind this is that we over breath which expels too much carbon dioxide from our body which is the very things that is required to aid oxygen transport around the body. As we build up the amount time between breathes, we experience healing effects such as detoxification as our bodies finally get the oxygen they need to function optimally. I use this technique to calm down my breathing when I get stressed and start to hyperventilate. It is very effective.

October

  • Plastic purge – I came across an article online that said that storing food and drink in plastic containers is harmful as plastic contains endocrine distrupters that leach into the food and reek havoc with our hormones and cause higher levels of oestrogen in the body. Up until then I had been drinking water out of plastic bottles! I immediately threw away the plastic bottles and started drinking filtered water from the tap which is much safer. Cans are lined with plastic and so canned foods also contain the endocrine disrupters! So now I buy bags of dry beans and legumes, soak them, then boil them. Using glass and steel containers instead of plastic is better for the environment as plastic is made from petroleum oil which is meant to be used for lubricating the Earth’s tectonic plates.
  • Adrenal Fatigue Diet – avoiding high sugar foods such as sweet fruits, dates, raisins, bananas and sweeteners keeps you blood sugar level stable and prevents dips during the day which put stress on your adrenals. Other lifestyle factors for adrenal fatigue include reducing exposure to stressful situations, meditation, yoga and walking in nature.

I am still learning and trying new techniques to improve my health today! Currently I am fascinated by Buteyko breathing!

If you have ME/CFS, I hope that these therapy reviews give you some ideas of healing methods you can try out. Everybody is different and what works for one person may not work for someone else. Still in my opinion it is worth trying everything that you feel may help until you find the one that works for you.

Anniversary of My CFS

Today is the 2nd December 2014, exactly 6 years since I had my health collapse. I will never forget that day.

It was a cold winter’s morning and I walked for half an hour to my industrial placement through the snow. When I got to work I sat in the office like a zombie for about 2 hours unable to think or do anything. Eventually they realised I was not well and my work colleague drove me home to the shared house I was living in in High Wycombe. I scrambled out of the car, and when I got through the door I collapsed on the floor. I managed to drag my body up the stairs and my legs were weak and unable to move. I crawled onto my bed. I was so weak, tired and dizzy. The room was spinning and I couldn’t think straight. After a while I managed to stand up but kept bumping into the furniture and bruising myself as I had no coordination. Eventually I called my parents and asked for help. My Dad drove down to pick me up.

When I got home to their house I collapsed on the living room floor and lay there. Not knowing what was going on, why my body couldn’t move.

That was the day my body said enough and I stopped being able to function in everyday life.

It too me 6 months of being bedbound at home to accept that I was ill and was not going back to work. It wasn’t until a year later in December 2009 that I got a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and my healing journey began…

The Most Important Areas to Address in Healing ME/CFS

This post just flowed out of me from nowhere today. Hope it helps you in some way. These lifestyle changes made a huge difference in my life. I now have so much energy and get tired normally at the end of the day. I cured my ME/CFS with these methods among others.

  • Environment – what you surround yourself with in your home is a reflection of what is going on inside your mind and body. If you surround yourself with items from the past which serve no present purpose, you are living in the past. If your house is messy and cluttered, it reflects a cluttered and confused mind. Clear out your clutter and you will find clarity in your life.
  • Diet – the food you eat and its quality are transformed into the cells in your body. If you eat lifeless, processed food devoid of nutrients, your body will become lifeless. If you eat genetically modified food, you will produce modified DNA. If you eat meat filled with the energy of fear and suffering at slaughter, them you will create fear and suffering in your mind. People need to understand that everything has a vibration, some things have high vibrational energies of love, joy, appreciation, freedom and other things contain low vibrational energies of violence, fear, death, suffering and pain. And what we come in contact with has a direct effect on our vibration. And low vibration creates chronic illness.
  • Relationships – are you living in an environment with people who criticise you and put you down? Do people in your life take advantage of you and drain your energy? If so you need to address your relationships with the people in your life, be it family, friends or coworkers. If you are in a negative environment at work where you are bullied leave the job. People do not change however much you try to help them. You can be tolerant, loving and accepting of that person, but if they continue to harm you and affect your health, leave the situation. And when you do work on yourself and learn the lesson so that you do not attract people like that into your life again. Learn assertiveness skills and boundaries.
  • Creativity – finding a creative outlet is vital in any chronic illness as a way to deal with the traumatic emotions you are going through. You may want to write your feelings down, start a blog to express yourself and connect with others in a similar situation to yourself. Create jewellery – you could even start an Etsy shop online to earn a bit of money while you are ill! Draw pictures, paint, sing, play an instrument, anything that lights up your heart. You will feel so much better.
  • Get out in nature – reconnecting to nature is so important as being among trees and plants calms us down and the energies heal and nurture you. Humans have lived with nature for thousands of year until recently we have separated ourselves, living isolated lives indoors in the house or working in an office. We are part of nature and we need nature to survive! The summer is a good time to sit in the garden in the sunlight getting some much needed vitamin D to boost the immune system. If you can, go for a short walk. Seeing the beauty of the flowers, trees and the blue sky will fill you with a sense of appreciation to be alive.
  • The Mind – the mind is a powerful tool that we can use to manifest our dreams or we can create our worries depending on what we focus upon. If you find that your mind is racing with negative thoughts, try focusing on your breath. Count the number of breaths as you inhale and exhale. By concentrating on counting, your mind will stop chattering. This is a form of meditation and the break in your thoughts or lack of resistance to your good will allow good things to flow into your life.         Mindfulness is another way to silence the mind. By watching your mind, also known as your EGO, you are aware that you are separate from your mind and it cannot control you. This is explained in the book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.         Alternatively you can try positive affirmations to replace the negative thoughts. If you keep repeating a positive statement out loud or in your mind, eventually it becomes a belief. You can say ‘I have perfect health’ ‘I am abundant’ ‘My cells are vibrating in perfect synchronisation’ ‘I can heal myself’.

These lifestyle changes can help to make a positive difference in the quality of your life. They take time to learn and put into practice like any new skill, but once mastered they can be useful tools for life.

Therapies to Heal ME – Part 2

Here is part 2 of Therapies to Heal ME which includes all the therapies that I tried out in 2011 and 2012 in an effort to cure my ME, including dates, and my experiences with them:

2011

February

  • Massage – I started having massage at a beauty clinic using essential oils which warmed and relaxed my tense and aching muscles and left me feeling so peaceful and calm. It is a shame the effects wear off after a day!

October – Started volunteering to get back into society

December – Started working in a full-time job

2012

April

  • Reiki – I went to an MBS Fayre and had a taster reiki session. I lay on a table and she placed her hands above each of my chakras. Over my throat chakra I started swallowing uncontrollable and she said I had a blockage in this chakra and there was something I needed to say. Overall it was very relaxing and I’m sure it had a healing effect.

May

  • Chakra cleansing – During a reading at the MBS fayre, the psychic recommended that I use crystals to cleanse my chakras and rebalance my system. I bought a set of seven crystals, one for each chakra, and lay down, placing each crystal on the chakra and relaxing for 10 minutes before removing them. Afterwards I feel deeply relaxed, centered and peaceful. I try to do this regularly.

June

  • Lifestyle changes –  I found working full-time to demanding on my body. I would come home, cook dinner, eat and go to bed and repeat this cycle everyday. At the weekend I was too exhausted to do anything but rest. So I asked to change my hours to part-time. They let me reduce my hours to working 3 full days a week which gave me two days off to rest in the week. This gave me more time for self-development and spending time in nature which raised my spirit. I was much happier, had more energy and felt less anxious.

August

  • Mindfulness – After reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, I learned the powerful effect of watching the mind for silencing it. Listening to the chattering mind also known as the ego will not bring you peace and when you observe it, it stops and you can hear the quiet voice of your higher self in the peaceful silence giving you inspiration and guidance.
  • Blood type diet – I bought a blood testing kit and tested my blood which is blood type A-. According to this diet people with my blood type do well on a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. I feel that my body likes grains and everyone’s body is different and may have different food intolerances. I did not stay on this diet for long.

September

  • Detox the Pineal Gland – After watching videos by Free Spirit on YouTube I learnt that the toxins fluorine, chlorine and mercury sit in the pineal gland preventing it from functioning properly. The pineal gland secretes melatonin which regulates the circadian rhythm and sleep, and is also the physical manifestation of the third eye allowing one to see clairvoyantly. Mercury is present in all fish which is another reason to go vegetarian!
  • Fluoride-free toothpaste – Fluorine is in toothpaste and actually decays the teeth instead of the opposite it is advertised to do. Kingfisher do an excellent range of fluoride-free toothpastes.
  • Shower filter – Chlorine and fluorine are present in tap water which is why getting a water filter as well as a shower filter fitted is important. Chlorine gas is easily absorbed through the skin in the shower.
  • Vegetarian Diet – Free Spirit explained that foods have different vibrations. Meat has a vibration of fear and death and dairy has a vibration of suffering. If it is true that You Are What You Eat then these are not things you want to put into your body! Honour your body. And honour animals who should be cared for, not tortured and murdered!

November

  • Zeolite Powder – Zeolite binds to toxins in the colon and excretesP1000334 them from the body. The colon detox helped to remove some toxins from my body.
  • Smoothies – After reading Free Spirit’s book, I contained a recipe for a green smoothie to detox the body. So I started making green smoothies on a daily basis. I felt much more alert and energised after drinking the smoothie. I still continue to drink smoothies regularly today to rehydrate my body and give it a boost of nutrients from fresh fruit and vegetables.
  • Raw Vegan diet – I tried out the raw vegan diet to detox my body as I had a lot of toxins in my body from all the junk food, pharmaceutical drugs, pesticides and hormones from dairy that I had ingested in the past. Winter is not the ideal time to go raw vegan and I found it difficult to get enough calories. I did not know about the importance of protein then. I felt good not eating and animal produce and it raised my vibration and detox my body.
  • Organic food – I started eating only organic food when I discovered how much toxic pesticides they spray on non-organic food. It may be slightly more expensive, but it tastes a lot better and often has a higher amount of nutrients that non-organic food.

If you have ME/CFS, I hope that these therapy reviews give you some ideas of healing methods you can try out. Everybody is different and what works for one person may not work for someone else. Still in my opinion it is worth trying everything that you feel may help until you find the one that works for you.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of Therapies to Heal ME which includes the therapies that I tried from 2013 to the present day.

My Story featured on Natural Matters website

P1000763My story has been featured on the Natural Matters website – the UK’s Natural Life Directory. The article titled My Transition from Junk Food to Healthy Food to Heal ME includes a combination of two of my blog entries My Story: How I Became Ill With ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and My Transition from Junk Food to Healthy Food.

I would like to thank the PR department of the College of Naturopathic Medicine, where I am currently in my second year of studying nutrition, for introducing me to the editor of Natural Matters. The editor contacted CNM as she thought my story was very inspiring and would be very interesting for her readership.

I genuinely hope that it inspires the readers of Natural Matters to improve their diet. The editor of Natural Matters has said that she hopes to use some of my recipes herself! It is important to me to spread my message, especially to ME/CFS sufferers and to give them hope that they can recover from this chronic, debilitating illness!

ME Question & Answer Session 2

I have had more questions from ME sufferers, so I have decided to create a second ME Question & Answer Session post, as the answers may be helpful for other people with ME who read my blog.

Q: Are ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome the same?

ME stands for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.  Mya = muscle, algic = pain, encephalo = brain, myelos = marrow, itis = inflammation. So overall ME means muscle pain and inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a group of symptoms including fatigue which after months of testing have no other diagnosis. I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome after a year of tests. I did not have muscle pain, which can also be diagnosed as Fibromyalgia, nor did I have inflammation of the brain and spinal cord which were checked after a CT scan.

However the terms can be used interchangeably.

Q: How bad were your symptoms at your worst?

At my worst I had severe fatigue, brain fog, poor concentration, dizziness, muscle weakness, sudden collapsing, sensitivity to light and sound, extreme fatigue on light exertion and insomnia.

Q: Other than a vegan diet have you found any other useful changes that have helped you improve?

Yes having a more relaxed lifestyle. Working part-time so I have time to meditate, do yoga and be creative. I have learned that people with ME/CFS often hyperventilate and are stressed out easily. They need to learn to slow down and slow their breathing down. Buteyko breathing is helpful. Counselling is also helpful and they may have an unresolved emotional trauma from the past which is draining their energy and needs to be faced and released.

Q: Do you take any supplements of any sorts or any other form of medication?

I take a liquid multi vitamin and digestive enzymes. I also take a probiotic supplement to support the good bacteria in the gut. I don’t take any medication.

If you have any questions about ME/CFS please do not hesitate to contact me as I will be happy to help!