Regaining your energy from chronic fatigue conditions is real and absolutely possible.
I know that this statement can be tough to hear if you’ve been struggling with chronic fatigue for any length of time, especially if you feel as though you’ve tried everything.
I’d like to share Emily’s recovery journey with you (I’ve changed her name for confidentiality purposes and have her permission to share her story with you).
Putting a number on how you feel
When we first started out work together, Emily had a diagnosis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.), which had been given 5 years earlier.
At the start of our work together, I asked Emily to complete a Symptoms Impact Questionnaire (SIQ). This is a short set of questions asking you to rate how easy or difficult you find doing everyday things like brushing your hair or walking. Developed within the NHS, the SIQ is a way of putting a number on how you feel at that particular moment. Emily's score was 46.8.
7 months later. Emily completed the SIQ again in her last session and it came out with a score of 6. That's a whopping 87% difference. To put this into context, within the NHS any change over 14% is considered clinically meaningful.
I think it's fair to say that Emily’s change was VERY meaningful!
In reality, we didn't really need the SIQ score to tell us how much Emily’s health had improved – she looked bright, bubbly and alive. The difference from our first meeting was HUGE! I know Emily won't mind me saying that when we first met she looked how she felt - exhausted, strained and very "flat".
A change of life
At our first meeting, Emily explained that life for her was tough. Being mum to a busy, active 8 year old was exhausting, family life was complicated and she was also trying to hold down a part time job to bring money in.
Emily spent most afternoons asleep, anything from an hour to 2 hours a day. She needed to do this to have enough energy to do the school run and look after her family in the evening. Emma regularly crashed into bed at 8pm, totally wiped out.
Emily's recovery journey has been amazing. She now walks her much loved dog for 1.5 hours in the afternoons instead of sleeping. She has enough energy to do the school pick up and enjoy her evenings with the family. Emily has shifted her bedtime to around 10pm and has even had a couple of nights out!
When we finished our work together, it’s fair to say that Emily had reached about 90% recovery. I am pleased to say that Emily is now fully recovered and her energy levels are stable. She is able to do the things she loves, when she wants to do them without worrying about paying the consequences afterwards.
The work we did together enabled her to complete her recovery on her own. It wasn’t instantaneous, the last 10% took place over about a year or so but Emily has been fatigue free for the last 2.5 years.
The key areas of focus
Emily achieved that last 10% of recovery by keeping a wary eye out for touch points that caused her health to dip. We’d been able to identify the underlying causes of these touch points during our work together. Once found, we had either addressed them or put in place plans to manage them. Knowing what to look out for and how to deal with it, if it happened, made a huge difference to Emily’s recovery.
Having clarity around what "being well" meant to Emily was another key area of focus. I know it sounds too simple, but honestly, if you aren't clear around how you will look, feel and be when you are "well", how on earth are you going to know when you have achieved it?
Our final area of recovery was to work with kinesiology therapy to get into the subconscious and release the emotional and physical stresses that were impacting Emily’s energy. Thoughts, feelings, emotions, beliefs, and mindset all have a massive impact on physical health and wellbeing. Many of these different aspects are hidden within the subconscious mind and come from all the different experiences we’ve had whilst growing up. Kinesiology is a great tool to help shift what’s going on so that you can regain your energy levels.
You can read more about this here.
The future in recovery…
Emily now has her life back. She put into place all the things she knew would be helpful to her to recover her energy and calm her body.
It’s really exciting to know that Emily is living the life she wants to live, rather than having to struggle with the restrictions of chronic fatigue.
Whilst the roots of chronic fatigue are unique to each person, the steps to regaining your energy are now well established and proven.
Regaining your energy from chronic fatigue really is possible.
If you, or someone you love, are struggling with a chronic fatigue condition such as M.E, CFS, Fibromyalgia or Long Covid, get in touch - details are below.
Book a 15 minute call to find out more about recovery - click HERE. There’s no charge for this call and no obligation to do anything further.
Send me an email - click HERE
Or simply give me a call – 07973 305093
I want to re-assure you that what you are going through is just for now, not forever. It is 100% possible to recover from chronic fatigue conditions.
Together we can get your life back.
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Status is online Suzanne Smith Chronic Fatigue Specialist | Kinesiologist | Traumatic Incident Reduction Specialist | Tea & Cake Lover | I talk (a lot) about recovery from chronic fatigue because it really IS possible to #getyourlifeback. So if you, or someone you love, are struggling with #chronicfatigue#fibromyalgia#me or #cfs then share this article with them. Share