Stepping up and letting you all know some views on the root causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is something I’ve been called to do for a while now. Although this post is not for the faint-hearted, I feel as though I’ve been biting my tongue quite a lot, so putting this out there is quite a big step for me.
Below is a list of numerous suggested root or emotional causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/M.E.). Some of these are what I believe to be true based on my own experience of illness and consequential healing, while others are based on what I’ve read from numerous books and articles, many of which are featured here.
My intention is not to upset or offend anyone, but to make you think about your illness from a different perspective. I also don’t want you to think that you brought this on yourself or that you are to blame. I know that there are lots of different circumstances and environments in which people become ill with CFS, and medical research is vital in moving forward with this illness. It’s not simply as easy as writing down the root causes and getting on with it. If anyone had put this in front me when I was very sick, there’s no way I would’ve been ready to hear it. So please, use your intuition here. If you start reading this list and it feels unbearably uncomfortable, maybe save it for another day. If it doesn’t feel so terrible, then please read on.
Click here to read my story and here to read my personal theories as to why I became ill if you’d like to know a little bit more about how I came to heal myself from CFS.
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS / M.E.)
( * = a root cause that I know to be true for me)
- resisting life and wanting to hide away
- resisting change and flow in life *
- feeling stuck and not feeling able to pull yourself out of it *
- not being able to stand up for your own needs in life and/or say ‘no’ *
- a belief that life is constantly going against you and that it is a heavy, unpleasant struggle
- a feeling that to get anywhere in life, you have struggle and work your fingers to the bone to get there *
- constantly having to do what you don’t want to do, but not being able to vocalise it (or feeling as if you don’t have permission to speak up) *
- always pushing yourself past your limits when all you want to do to pull back (hello type-As!) *
- ignoring your body, needs, creativity and goals completely (putting yourself last) *
- giving away your power to someone else (believing that they’re always right and that you’re wrong, or you’re not allowed to have a voice) *
- not seeing life as a gift
- feeling powerless and resentful *
Please let me know in the comments below if any of these ring true for you. Obviously, it’s not as easy as knowing the root cause and then getting back to your normal life, but I’ll never forget how I felt after reading about these patterns in my life. I truly felt as though my healing started in earnest afterwards.
Love and honesty,
Katie xxx
Click here to read my disclaimer
Truly, truly, truly you are absolutely right on each and every of your twelve root causes. I’ve always had the suspicion that my crash was the only way to say, “NO!” For years I’ve felt inadequate and that I could never ever do enough – hey wait! I felt the same when I HAD energy!. I have been ashamed of being tired and hid it from most everyone I know. I am finally, since my most recent crash, embracing that I deserve to actually care about myself, heal, and be happy. I cannot thank you enough for this site that I found just an hour ago.
Blessings,
Linda
Hell yes :/ I can relate to most of the ones you’ve *
have a joy filled week! xo
Still learning to be kind to myself but feel like I’m heading in the right direction now. There is something new to learn everyday and learning to let go of old negative beliefs as well as discovering where those beliefs came from is helping me move forward.
Love & appreciate you Katie
Absolutely love this – it rings so true with me. I am slowly recovering from fibromyalgia, which came on after a few very difficult years that had me feeling all of the above. I still have these feelings and thought patterns sometimes and with them I feel the weight of my symptoms wear me down. Thankyou for this, you are an inspiration. Much love to you. XXX
Thank you Mandy- recognising thought patterns is a huge step towards getting on the right path- xx
I write this having spent the third full day in bed. I have goals (perhaps too many, too big) that I want to accomplish. Every single one of them requires huge and lasting change in my life, and ultimately I am scared that I can’t do it. Last week before the crash i knew I was doing to much but i felt I needed to put myself out there. I thought I could just ride the discomfort and come out the other side a changed woman but then something (I have no diagnosis other than PCOS) has laid me flat and put me in my place. I know that it’s fear. But I also can’t see anyway past it right now, my internal story is saying that all the people that have overcome it must just be better than me.
Jamillah, I know how you must be feeling- it’s incredibly demoralising and frustrating. I think people have who overcome this type of fatigue fall down a million times before they even get some idea and strength about what works for them and the changes they need to make- I know that’s what happened for me!
Thinking of you my lovely- xx
You hit the nail on the head.
I too believe that CFS has spiritual roots. I am one of the lucky ones in the fact that my CFS is quite mild, however I’ve met people who are practically bed ridden with the same affliction.
I have found that aside from our symptoms, we share another thing in common – our personality type.
I tend to be an excessive worrier and I am also in a psychologically abusive relationship where I feel trapped.
Every time that I tend to have a flare, it seems to follow an excessively stressful incident such as a bad argument with my partner. The last time it happened, I also lost large clumps of my hair (they are growing back fortunately, but the new hairs are all short and frizzy so it looks funny).
Sending you lots of love my darling. Prioritising yourself will always put you right in the end- xx
These are all so true. I’m so discouraged because at 40 years old, I’ve been experiencing these feelings and physical symptoms since I can remember. I have great days and terrible days and have tried everything with no lasting results. I just am too tired to stick with anything.
Sending you lots of love, missmoon. I hope this article helped in some way- xx
It’s a great list but billions of people do all of the above and don’t develop Chronic Fatigue. Thousands of people address this list (like me) and still don’t heal from it…any ideas for people like me?
This is very, very true- thank you for commenting Kiwi. Sometimes, as result of a prolonged period of time doing the things above, it can really impact our immune system and our ability to recover gets compromised. A pattern I’ve noticed among those with CFS is that they don’t take the proper time out to relax or look after themselves as much as some others would. Maybe there’s something in that?
It’s not as cut-and-dry as I’m making it appear above, but there is a delicate balance of factors that make us sick and by the same token, make us better- xx
Every one on the list I can relate to , having been diagnosed in March 2010 with Fibromyalgia I did have chronic fatigue but nothing like I am going through at the moment ..no energy, head hurts with pain and feeling like I am going to faint if I don’t rest straight away ..I am very spiritual but started to doubt myself and have always worked with crystals for a number of years …thank you for bringing all the above to my attention …Barbara Wales UK xxx
Hi Barbara- sending you lots of love my darling. I remember that faint feeling very well. Stay strong- your spirituality will pull you through- xx
Hi, my new friend! Oh boy oh boy … I am now 51 years old, and have been ill since I was 25 … when I was in my very early 20s, I took one of those tests where you got points for various things that were stressful – the idea being, if you got close to 300, you needed to change your life because you were headed for a serious illness! Well … I scored over 500 and had no idea how I was going to change things that yes were affecting me, but I had no control over them (i.e. for one example, a teenage marriage to a cockroach followed by a prolonged divorce) … that was when I first knew about the mind-body connection: I realized it///lived it out, several years later, when I did get sick … today, 26 years later, there are still mind-body things going on – the specifics in your list I personally identify with are: wanting to hide away; feeling powerless (disempowered, is more how I describe) and resentful; a feeling that to get anywhere in life, you have struggle; feeling stuck and not feeling able to pull yourself out of it … I definitely look forward to reading more!!!
Thank you Jeannee- it’s so good to have you here! I agree- ‘disempowered’ is a better description of the state I mentioned. Welcome- Katie xx
The list really resonates with me. This is the first place I’ve seen anything like this. In working with a health psychologist, I learned how much my past affected my health and helped me to see the mind/body connection. Now that I know this, it has been challenging to know how to make change when I feel that I have so much responsibility on my plate. I look forward to reading more.
Thank you Beth- it’s so good to have you here- xx
Hello, I’ve just stumbled across this… I have a little idea myself of the type of person chronic fatigue effects. I’ve been ill for 7 years.. Over this time i’ve met a lot of women who have been effected by this (mainly mothers). I started to notice something familiar about all of these people. It seems to me that this illness is drawn to caring, sensitive (not in a wimpy way), creative emotional people who go through life reacting to situations through emotional instinct rather than thought instinct. It seems like it prays on those who spend their lives trying to look after everybody else. I’m on a healing journey at the moment but have just had yet another relapse. Maybe this is where fight or flight takes its hold, if we are reacting to life on a primitive level(sorry if that sounds insulting) maybe we are just reacting to subconsious rubbish, that would have been useful thousands of years ago. Your list is familiar to me
Please find time to read this book… it’s by a doctor Peter Grunewald, my partner met him through working in Steiner education. I have been thinking of going to see him but I don’t have much money. I’ve ordered the book though and i have a lot of faith in his work. Anthroposophic Medicine was brought to us my Rudolph Steiner who claimed to have connections to the spiritual world, he created a whole system of medicine and health, education, farming (biodynamics), eurythmy , the list goes on. I think he must be a very special man to have influenced so many fields of work. Dr Peter Grunewald has developed his own ways of detecting serious illnesses using his Heart Spheres approach- http://www.londonintegratedhealth.co.uk/the_heartspheres_approach.html I’m thinking of going to see him- I just thought I would share this here 
The book: The Quiet Heart – Putting Stress in Its Place. I hope this helps love x
Sam, thank you so much for sharing this link. Peter’s name has been mentioned a few times recently, so I’ll definitely look him up. I wrote an article here on ‘Type A’ personalities which might interest you- it talks a lot about general trends in the type of person who might become ill with CFS.
Thank you for being here- look after yourself my lovely- x
Sam, I really appreciate your thoughts. I think you are right on. I have a daughter who is wired like I am and I already see her suffering some of the same health issues I have. It helps to know that there are others out there “on the journey”. I’ll look up the resource you referenced as well.
So you feel there’s no biological or environmental basis to CFS – just personality traits and beliefs? That seems a little limited and not really supported by a lot of the evidence. Also, there’s a lot of evidence that people who have been abused/traumatised develop CFS – those people might not just “feel like they can’t speak out” but have literally been prevented from doing so, or risk serious injury/death. In that case it crosses over from belief into unavoidable circumstance. I think a post like this which makes very bold claims about causes should draw on more current research and address the full range of potential root causes. For many people it’s not often simply down to their beliefs/attitudes/behaviours and there are many people who don’t have the above characteristics, or who no longer do, and their CFS persists.
Lauren, you make some very good points. I haven’t really drilled down into this on the blog yet, but of course there are also biological and environmental causes which can cause CFS. This article is a very superficial look at why I believe I had the illness deep, deep down- I can only speak from my own experiences. I didn’t value myself enough to take time off to look after myself (I basically had flu after flu for two years and kept going, ignoring it completely), which lead to my body giving me a huge wake-up call. My immune system was absolutely shot to bits, so there was definitely a biological element to my illness.
It’s definitely not as black and white as it appears to be here- I know there’s more to it than meets the eye! Thanks for you comments, Lauren- xx
I think it would be useful to moderate the claims you make in this post, then, if you aren’t familiar with the research – when you say “the root causes of chronic fatigue”, then you may mislead people when that’s not your intention. People with ME /CFS often lack the energy or mental clarity to sort through the conflicting information about the illness out there and it would be terrible to put them on the wrong path by not clearly stating that this is your personal experience, and isn’t scientifically based.
Just to follow on – while your account above may be true for you and for some others, it also makes the person completely responsible for their illness, and exonerates other potential causes – doctors, chemical interactions, biological causes, abuse, societal problems. Making the illness the “fault” of the person who has it means that other toxic influences get let off the hook and allowed to keep causing damage to people’s bodies. Especially since it’s unlikely that there is one single CFS – but a number of misunderstood disorders currently treated under one umbrella – claiming that there’s one cause for one illness and you know what it is while myriad doctors and researchers don’t know, is frankly very risky.
I definitely hear what you’re saying, Lauren and I’m going to go back and have a look at the wording of my article. Obviously, it’s not the individual’s fault and I didn’t mean to imply this in my article, or imply that I know more than the incredible researchers and doctors who are specialists in this field. I also acknowledge that it’s not as easy as boiling it down to the root causes either.
Thank you Lauren- will definitely revise my article and make it clearer!
Love, Katie xx
Inspires me thanks i also suffer cfs. Been 12 years very complex.
Directed to Lauren good work. Years myself of opinions wear’s thin. Very stressful situation and bad information can really mislead
Thanks Ben- I definitely wasn’t as clear as I could have been here, so I revised it based on Lauren’s comments.
No worries Ben- thanks for visiting! x
I just want to offer my support Katie, I understand what you are saying but expect you will get some negative responses based on peoples own misunderstanding, it’s ironic actually because this fight back response is very damaging to the fighter although I totally understand why they do it, they need to come to an understanding of why it is not in their best interests to respond like this and trust me I know how difficult that can be, they have my sympathies.
Anyhow the fact is that not everybody is ready to hear what you have to say but thanks for putting it out there for those that are.
Awww, thank you my darling. I completely understand that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Thank you for your kind words- xxx
I identify with all your listed root causes except – not seeing life as a gift.
My difference is though I see them all as consequences rather than causes although they are very close to the actual root cause for me than I have read/heard before, there are many layers of consequences, each gets further away from the actual cause(ultimate truth), mostly what I hear about causes is a very long way from actual cause, it is nice too see something so true and close to the ultimate cause for a change.
The further you go down the layers of consequences the more the wild goose chase it becomes. Unfortunately mainstream thinking on this set of health condition consequences they call cfs is a long, long way from the truth.
Please nobody misunderstand this as disagreeing or devaluing in any way what Katie has said, what she has said is true for me too and very much appreciated, thanks again Katie.
Just reading some of the comments again make me want to offer my support again Katie, please continue to tell the truth as you see it, those of so called mainstream thinking already have more than enough voice, it’s voices like yours that need to be heard more, oh boy is this hitting close to home.
Thank you so much my love- this means so much to me.
Lots of love, Katie xx
Hi! I have ME and have been sick for 7 years. I’m constantly looking for something to help me and seeing that you have healed your self I’m only asking to understand what you are saying better. I try to be really openminded about anything, and I’m willing to try everything to get healthy again.
but I just don’t understand how you view this illness.The reason I got ill was because I had mono. none of your causes above resonates with me. I start to wonder if we even have the same illness (maybe there are different types of ME/CFS)?
I really just want to understand this better. I hope to hear back from you! I’m so happy you are better – sending lots of love
Hi Miriam- thanks for your comment. For a long time, I didn’t understand why this illness has come to me, but over the years, I started to piece it together. As you might have read from my story, I dishonoured myself quite a lot before I got very sick and didn’t take any time out at all to heal from colds and flu, which probably compromised my immune system. The root causes that I’ve outlined here are true for me based on what I’ve intuitively realised over the years.
As I mention here, I’m not a medically trained doctor, and I’m not sure if there are different types of M.E./CFS (maybe this will come through in research over the next few years), but environmental factors also form part of the reason why many people become ill, as I mention in the post. I had mono a few years after getting sick, and I’m not sure why that came when it did.
All I can say (and this may be of no help at all!) is that getting quiet and listening to your body are two great ways of really tuning in with yourself. I can only speak from my own personal experience, but after I did this, these root causes came to light. My healing journey might be very different to yours, so your lessons will probably be different to mine.
Sending you lots of love Miriam- thank you for visiting the blog.
Love, Katie xx
YES YES YES. And I always wanted to help myself and work out how to feel better/more in my flow but that just meant trying harder and harder and pushing things away. Thank you for publishing a positive and inspirational blog, it reeeally helps with the hope for recovery. Xx
I’m so glad this post resonates with you, Hazel- it’s great to have you here! xx
Every single one of these I learned from being put through public school.
I’m working with Ayahuasca shamanism to undo this deep-set damage and it has been going spectacularly so far.
Hhhhm, this sounds really interested, Alex. So glad you’ve found something that works for you- xx
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I am also struggling with the “last 15%” and your list just confirms what is left for me. Thank you so much xoxo
My pleasure Andriana- the last 15% is very frustrating, but it’s probably also the most interesting! xx
Your list certainly had me nodding….. I am an A-type personality, with a never ending drive for perfection that I am striving to teach to accept imperfection! A difficult journey, a challenging journey and for someone who demanded a high level of control this is certainly ‘character building’. …. I was diagnosed with CFS ten months ago after many months of back and forth to my GP and expensive specialists. I was convinced I was going mad when these so-called medical experts kept telling me all of the test results were ‘unremarkable’. In only four months I had gone from working full time, studying part time, being fit, reliable etc to a pyjama-clad zombie who lay on the couch most of the day as even standing up was exhausting. It took me many months and many tears – and one recent major relapse – to finally accept what is happening to me. Fighting it was adding to my exhaustion. …..I have since found a new GP and he collaborates with my naturopath (bless them both !). My psychologist and remedial massage therapist are also key members of my health team. I no longer poo poo anyone’s beliefs or practices in their self care. ….. Everyone is different and we each have our own journey.
Lara, it sounds like you have the dream team behind you! Everyone is different, but it took me a while to realise that what I was doing to recover was ok and not to compare myself to what everyone else was doing.
‘Unremarkable’ test results, ey?! What a beautiful choice of words!
Take good care of yourself lovely one- xxx
I can honestly say yes to 10 out of 12.
Hi Katie, I also had CFS , for 14 years, and recovered. I feel that most of the root causes you describe are things that make people sick, period, though not particularly with CFS. I think the aspect of life being hard, having to work hard, is probably specific to CFS, and the inability to flow form one state to another. To me CFS is mostly about the mind and body being disconnected, being unable to listen to one’s body and also feeling like society is forbidding you from being intuitive or demanding you have a rational reason or a goal for everything… to me this is the main thing.
So glad you got well, it’s a horrible illness.
Francesca, I absolutely love what you say about not following your body’s natural wisdom- I think this might’ve been true for me too.
So glad you made a full recovery- thank you my love- xx
100% true what you are writing. I never realised how much I was resisting my life und how ungrateful I was. Thank you for your wonderful blog!
Hi Vincent- I’m so glad this helped you. Thank you for being here!
Katie x
I don’t feel as alone reading this article, so glad you posted it Katie.. I’ve had so many really emotional, exhausting and painful hurdles in my life that has really impacted on my emotional and now my physical well being (PTSD and now CFS). The CFS is ultimately i because i am so disempowered, I do resist change (PTSD doesn’t help) and I’m in such a hole I am finding it hard to climb out without burying myself in deeper. I try not to discuss what I’m going through with anyone, the doctors don’t recognise CFS their answer was to go home and create a busy lifestyle that I am so distracted by how I am feeling. I’m burnt out, I have no coping mechanism to deal with every day life let alone a hectic life. You just want people to understand why you feel so down and exhausted and not constantly tell you all they want is for you to be happy and expect you to do everything they can. I feel so angry with my body that I am so stuffed constantly. It’s like being an over tired baby, you just want cry and someone to tell you it’s all okay. I look forward to reading how you got yourself out of it.
Nicole- thanks so much for your comment, my love. I know exactly how you must be feeling, but please remember that you’ve done nothing wrong- this isn’t your fault.
This article and this audio might be of some help, and you might like to read more about my full recovery story in my book, ‘Finding M.E.’.
Thank you, my love- take good care of yourself- xx
I am extremely interested in learning how I can help my husband. You describe him to the T!! Every symptom. How can I pray for him?
Paula, you’re so beautiful. I think everyone has their own way of praying and prayer is often very personal, so just go with whatever calls out to you. Sometimes actions can be prayers too, and being there for your husband is probably the most beautiful prayer of all.
Love, Katie xx
Hi Katie, I have had CFS for 20+yrs. I was ill from 1992 to 1998 then I was able to return to work full time gradually & successfully maintaining a job until I had a car accident in 2011 where I quickly deteriorated and resulted in the current relapse of CFS plus Fybromyalgia for the past 3 years.
There is alot of research now that links whiplash as a strong likelihood to develop fybromyalgia.
The other part that has been essential for me is the testing for MTHFR gene mutation & Pyroluria Disorder. They are finding that many people with Chronic Fatigue also have these same factors contributing
http://www.mthfrsupport.com.au/what-is-mthfr/
Basically a gene mutation that means you cannot absorb Folate normally and require a preactivated form to enable your body to absorb it.
a compounding chemist is able to help with this medication. It is genetically passed on – so probably others in your family will have this.
http://www.drkaslow.com/html/pyroluria.html
Many type A personalities actually have too many pyrolles in their system which means that they cannot stop, anxiety issues, plus a whole host of things that seem unrelated are actually caused by this disorder – check out the symptom list – these people often develop CFS.
My GP is treating me through blood tests that show where I am depleted – MTHFR medication, I had too high copper so this is counterracted by high zinc & Trace minerals both are depleted by the Pyrolles disorder. I have daily Magnesium baths & try to have 1-2 tsp of Magnesium orally daily – this treats the Fybromyalgia pain & also they have started me a small dose of antidepressant that works on the brain management of pain. I am about to start on
I have had a good result from attending the Fatigue Centre in Camperdown Sydney (attached to University of NSW). Ive been seeing them for 12 months nearly with a steady improvement, but having ups n downs impacted by colds & flu & thinking I am well enough to start 1.5 days week Diploma in Art – my body has crashed so now I have to resume close pacing and then I can resume the same track.
http://www.fatiguecentre.com.au/
They have discovered good results through graded activity program. This looks at your thresholds and teaches you how to pace according to your body’s limits to be able to flatline your crashes then slowly increase your threshholds over time. Activity = both cognitive & physical & emotional.
EG going for a 5 min walk each day. then adding a minute each week. Being very strict about keeping to time.
Measuring step count helps to monitor how much activity you are doing without realising it – I started out at 2000-3000 steps & am at about 4000 – 5000 – I had a bad cold which has sent me back to 2-3000 steps a day but I now know how to build up again. And I am discovering that recovery time is quicker.
Learning to understand what activities cause more depletion than others. I have discovered that Cognitive activity causes more fatigue onset then physical activity. So does emotional. Each area we must define our threshold that is just prior to the fatigue onset. Then we keep to that until we aren’t crashing, then you add increments of time eg 5 mins for a period then increase slowly.
* Computer time, Reading Emails & Facebook is only able to be absorbed briefly – the scrolling of FB does something to my eyes & inability to focus well. I find passing scenery when driving also drains me.
* Driving must also be included – I can manage maximum 30 minutes return trip. This has increased from 10 minutes over time
* People time (including phone calls) is in short spans with rest breaks inbetween – eg chat time 30min 10min break chat time 30 min then finish. I have to be strict with this. But over 6 months period I have got upto 60 mins then a break then 60 mins – so this is showing my threshholds increasing.
* I keep emotional impacts to a minimum – so I have to monitor what people I allow into my life, TV shows I watch have limited emotional impact.
* Gardening – I had to do pruning 15 min, 5 min break, 15 min stop to start with
* Housework – I have help for the big jobs but I approach washing up as an activity, Cooking dinner is another activity – we need to do these in blocks of time with breaks.
I am now feeling well enough to start dealing with the trauma of the car accident & an exboyfriend Stalker which both triggered the relapse. This is a key to my healing I believe.
Abuse & stress prolonged depletes the Adrenal Gland & attacks the immune system. So Type A personalities & people who can’t say no & people who are rescuers often succumb here because of these factors. But all of these personality types have the same emotional stressors so this links us back to the strain on the adrenal gland.
Initially this was triggered by years of bad school bullying & sibling abuse so I crashed in 1992 with Glandular Fever which lasted 8 weeks then onset Chronic Fatigue for 8 years. I believe my first time recovery was linked to counselling for that trauma plus forgiveness plus physical treatment of acupuncture & Hemoglobllin injections. The 2nd time recovery is completely different.
Hope this info helps.
Jemimah
I forgot to add that High doses of Omega 3 & omega 6 (evening Primrose oil or Borage Oil) is essential to dealing with brain fog & general wellbeing. Omega 3 is essential in the repair of diseased cells – it softens the cell walls and helps the disease to get out & good stuff to get into the Cells. I find that I take 8000mg (8×1000 capsules) of omega 3 really helps clear the fog.
Hiya. I agree that these traits and beliefs are a significant part of the puzzle, certainly for me they are. I grew up in a family that did not value (or even acknoledge) emotions, which i think was a big part of my CFS.
I think not being able to express emotions or feeling as though we have to suppress them is a part of a lot of people’s lives.
Thanks for commenting, Lucy- x
Hi Katie,
I had been mildly but progressively getting worse with M. E. for several years but have had relative success with gluten free/dairy free/sugar free diet B12 injections and “Course in Miracles”. My nutritionist reckons there’s a link (for me ) with an overgrowth of bad bacteria in my gut. I have had numerous tests that seem to confirm this. It has been a very long journey though!
Hello, Katie. I have been doing inner healing & transformation for more than 30 years (thebloginthefog.com). Layer upon layer God has delivered me, and I pass it on. Recently, I realized that rather than having low energy, I had simply been the “victim” of CFS all my life. I always first look for spiritual roots, then seek the emotional/physical manifestation. I deeply appreciated your insights on this as a confirmation — good stuff! I’ve written a 246-page book on overcoming bipolar disorder, another fear-based “disease.” This man cried to the Lord, & God delivered him from all fear (Psa 34).
Yes for every one. Being fatigued to the point of collapse is the only way some of us can get some space for ourselves
Hope you’re doing as well as possible, Elle- xx
Wow, l read your pages and wanted to cry, l was sitting in a hotel room with a colleague so l didn’t …..you say so much truth in relation to CFS. Thank you. I am 80% better from this. I have days when l am exhausted and know l need quiet days regularly. I struggle with dealing with people (empathic) and feel being more alone works for me. I got many allergic reactions and sensitivites when l was ill, including sensitivity to emf and electricity, l read Roger Coghills books and they greatly helped, l rearranged my home and switched most things off most of the time electrically. I still cannot sleep near wifi or electrical sockets whilst on. Weird huh? I learned to be honest with myself even if others were surprised at my choices, a lesson l am still learning from now. When l don’t listen to myself l seem to relapse….Louise Hay affirmatiins and positive thoughts have helped me immensely also.
Soooo lovely to have found a tribe
Thank you sweet soul for sharing so much xxxx
Thank you so much for writing, Nic- it seems as though you’re learning a lot about yourself in a short space of time. I don’t think it’s weird that you have a sensitivity to Wifi and electricity- I’m sure lots of people with CFS/M.E. are exactly the same as you. You’re not alone!
You might have already seen them, but I wrote two posts on Louise Hay’s affirmations, which can be found here and here.
Take care, lovely one- xx
Yes yes and yes about then pushibg past my limits and not wanting to say no. Working to take care of myself and be loyal to myself and moving past guilt when I have to cancel plans. Hope this helps me to heal!