What if you are able to sleep, but wake up utterly exhausted, where the smallest activity leaves you bludgeoned and heading back to bed? Chronic Fatigue, ME (myalgic encephalopathy), fibromyalgia – these are all conditions that wreck your sleep and your life. At its worst, it’s impossible to get out of bed. You’re exhausted but not sleeping, in constant pain and over-sensitive to sound and light. I know this first-hand.
When I was 15 I got a glandular, viral thing. Being at boarding school, the nurses wouldn’t entertain the idea of time off, so I just carried on with a raging temperature. That was the point at which something changed. Although I recovered from the illness, afterwards my energy levels were shot and I felt sleepy all the time. A few years later, whilst at medical school, I suffered a breakdown and had a huge relapse.
This time it was diagnosed as fibromyalgia. I went home that summer and headed straight for bed.
It took me 6 months to get me out of it. I couldn’t sit up, listen to the radio or answer the door. I would have to mentally prepare for my biggest effort of the day – having a shower – knowing that it would leave me broken for the rest of the day. After 6 months I found that Chinese Medicine helped me deal with the worst of the symptoms, and leaving university for a year gave me the space to heal.
Then after having my first child I had a severe 6 month relapse. But this time I wasn’t going to just ‘put up with it’ – aside from the fact that I had to get up and care for my small (insanely energetic) son, I was tired of being fobbed off by GPs and specialists. Whilst some suggested I was suffering from post-natal depression, I totally disagreed that this condition was psychological – yes it made me feel depressed (but wouldn’t anyone feel that way if you took their life away?), but that wasn’t the root cause. The hopelessness of the diagnosis made me depressed, but the condition itself surely could be treated. In fact a crucial difference between depression and CFS is this: exercise alleviates depression, whereas it leaves you feeling much worse if you have chronic fatigue. I firmly believe that it’s a physical manifestation of a viral trauma to the brain, combined with an autoimmune response to a compromised gut.
Meaning that, as Hippocrates put it: let thy food be thy medicine.
I refused to believe that this condition was incurable, so set about engineering my recovery. After reading every book, blog and article I could lay my hands on, and trying supplements and alternative therapies for 10 years, I finally made a breakthrough – a low-oxalate diet, suggested by a doctor in the UK who also had fibro. Three weeks later, my pain levels were down from a constant 7 to a 2, I was sleeping better, and was tapering down on the painkillers that to that point had been my lifeline. Since then I’ve continued my research and journey to heal, and have found a way to reduce inflammation and consistently get stage 3, REM sleep. That, as we know, is the holygrail.
How will I help you?
Once I have completed in-depth blood work I will put you on a dietary plan (no, not gluten-free/paleo/vegan), suggested tailored supplements to target brain inflammation and work on a graded exercise routine to get your body moving again. I will help with any long-standing insomnia issues that may have their grip on you, and most importantly, I will give you hope.
Do get in touch.