How Long Does Post
Recovery from post-viral fatigue varies from person to person, and theres no clear timeline. Some recover to the point where they can return to all of their daily activities after a month or two, while others continue to have symptoms for years.
According to a small 2017 study in Norway, getting an early diagnosis may improve recovery. A better prognosis is often associated with people who have had the condition for a longer period of time.
If you think you might have post-viral fatigue, try to see a doctor as soon as possible. If you have limited access to healthcare and live in the United States, you can find free or low-cost health centers here.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms
While the term chronic fatigue is fairly descriptive of this crippling illness, it doesnt tell the entire story. Chronic fatigue often starts suddenly, with flu-like symptoms. But unlike the flu, it can last a lifetime.
In addition to the profound fatigue experienced, other serious symptoms often accompany CFS, such as:
- joint pain that moves from one spot to another
- muscle pain
- night sweats
- digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome .
Sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome also experience significant alterations in levels of irritability, mood swings, panic attacks, anxiety and depression. According to a study published in Family Practice, 36 percent of individuals with CFS were clinically depressed and 22 percent had seriously considered suicide in the past year.
Simply, the emotional and mental side effects of CFS cannot be overlooked, and treatment must include the mind, body and spirit.
Vera Dramatic Me/cfs Recovery Using Ayurveda
Dan: After six weeks?
Dan: Oh, ten days!
Vera: I went from bedbound to out in the world in, like, ten days.
Dan: Wow! Okay! Sorry, I thought you said from the beginning of January, did you say?
Vera: Yes, it started in January, and ended up in February, so it was 16 days altogether of this treatment.
Dan: Wow! You must have been like, This is so weird.
Vera: Yeah. Like, my anxiety was through the roof being out in the world. All the people, all the noises, all the visual stimuli, but my energy was there. I didnt have any muscles. I was super skinny and felt see-through, but I didnt feel fatigued, so I actually got a little pain in my legs because I suddenly started walking so much, and I had to pace myself. My energy was there, but my body hadnt caught up, and this all comes down to digestion.
Dan: So, I mean, youre out of the house, but thats a long way from being healthy and normal again, so I imagine the story didnt end after ten days.
Vera: No.
Dan: Where does it go from there? What percentage functioning do you think you were? I mean, obviously, huge lets not discount it. I mean, from bedbound to being able to get on the bus, thats huge. Were going virtually from zero percent functioning one percent functioning or whatever you want to call it, five percent functioning to
Vera: Minus 20.
Dan: Yeah, minus 20 to maybe what? 20 or 30 percent functioning? Is that what you would say?
Dan: Yeah.
Vera: Yeah, living life.
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Organize Your Medical Information
Having a handle on your medical information will make you a more powerful advocate for yourself.
I am a congenitally disorganized person. So, after years of papers flying all over the place, a friend helped me create a physical notebook, with tabs for Articles, Notes from Medical Appointments, Medical History, Current Medications, and Lab Results.
I had all of my lab results sent to me, and I alphabetized them with tabs, like Lupus, Lyme, Parvovirus, and Parasites. That made every appointment more productive for me and my providers.
The Neurological And Other Me/cfs Symptoms Leading Up To Vera Becoming Bedbound With Severe Me/cfs
Vera: Yes, my skin problems also worsened around the time my digestion worsened which makes a lot of sense. I also felt a lot of brain fog. I couldnt focus. I remember I would just read the same lines over and over again in my textbooks. It didnt stick.
Dan: You couldnt understand.
Vera: I couldnt process it or understand, yeah.
I also felt hot like, hot flashes a little dizzy, not a lot, but just like this low-grade dizziness. It was like I didnt feel grounded and in my body.
Dan: Did the symptoms keep growing and changing over those first three years before you become bedbound? Was there fatigue from the very beginning? Or did it just grow? How was that?
Vera: I feel like these symptoms that I just mentioned were pretty constant until, like, three years. And then, it just rapidly grew worse. I would say I felt a lot more hot, I was sweating all the time even when it was cold. I felt more dizzy, and the fatigue, I feel like it came over a summer, but nothing, like, special happened. I think it was more, like, since I had been in this state for so long, I had reached a new state of depletion and deterioration.
Dan: Its pretty tough going when youre feeling that sick.
Vera: Yeah.
Dan: It takes it out of you, doesnt it?
So, did you get a diagnosis then of CFS or ME at any stage?
Vera: Yes, but two years into being bedbound was when I got the diagnosis.
Vera: They werent really saying anything, actually. It was more like, We cant find anything.
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Adhere To A Sound Diet
Eating small meals throughout the day can encourage a healthy appetite and help combat insomnia. Avoid consuming too many fluids with meals to discourage bloating. Eating mild foods can help relieve gastrointestinal issues. Water is the ideal beverage. Infuse water with cucumbers and citrus fruits to improve taste and electrolytes. Alcohol and too much caffeine can worsen chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms. Patients with heart disease may need to closely monitor their salt intake.
Recovery From Cfids: What Worked For Me Part 1
I became ill with CFIDS in the summer of 1997. My symptoms worsened over the first few months I was ill. During that period I gradually reduced my time at work to 15 hours a week, then stopped working entirely. I functioned at about 25% of my pre-illness level.
Today, five years later, I consider myself to be recovered. I no longer experience symptoms of CFIDS and have an activity level comparable to that of other people of my age. My improvement has been gradual but steady, about one or two percent a month. I don’t know whether my recovery will last, but I am encouraged by the fact that my progress has been reasonably even with no major setbacks.
The path I followed was an unusual one. Believing that there was little that either conventional and alternative medicine had to offer me, I decided to forego the search for a medical cure, instead focusing on what I could do myself to feel better. I write this account of my use of self-help and lifestyle change as a treatment for CFIDS in the hope that others might find encouragement from my experience.
Second, my life circumstances helped promote improvement. I was in my early 50’s when I got sick, old enough to have created a financial cushion for myself. I was not stressed by the financial pressures that many CFIDS patients face. Having financial reserves allowed me to quit working and focus on getting better.
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S To Overcoming Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Naturally
Getting well requires undoing the things that contributed to your misery in the first place. Once you minimize or eliminate the root causes , amazing things happen. Cells are reenergized. Normal communication pathways become re-established. Immune system functions rebound. Adrenal and thyroid functions normalize. Nerves and neurotransmitters calm, and the brain starts functioning again.
Healing can take place, and symptoms, including fatigue, gradually resolve.
But to get well, you must want to be well more deeply than anything you have ever wanted. Ultimately, becoming well is your responsibility, and you alone must put the effort forward to make your recovery happen. This doesnt exclude having positive relationships with healthcare providers, family, and friends, which are all much to your benefit. But when you leave behind a total dependence on others to rescue you from misery, and take a stand to regain wellness that is rightfully yours to enjoy, you become a new person with a renewed purpose in life. That renewed purpose will carry you back to wellness and beyond.
Even with renewed spirit, however, youll need a plan to follow. The following guidelines provide the basic outline for the strategy I used personally to recover wellness, and that Ive since shared to successfully help thousands of others. You can follow in their footsteps.
Vera Explains The Procedure Of Panchakarma Treatment For Me/cfs With The Help Of Her Ayurvedic Practitioner
Vera: Yeah, and you are, like, lacking fats and moisture and insulation in your nervous system. Its so simple, but so genius, but it feels hard to see. Like, I noticed little changes like, my skin became better but the fatigue was still very strong, but I actually found an Ayurvedic practitioner in my city, in the middle of nowhere, Norway, that had just moved here two years ago.
She came to my house. On the first consultation, she told me not that long ago that she remembers that, and I was having trouble sitting up and looking at her. My eyes couldnt focus. I was just, like, swaying and my eyes were, like, blurry, but she came to my house together with this Indian doctor which we Skyped with who is a doctor in Western medicine and Ayurveda. Designed treatment for me.
Dan: What was that treatment?
Vera: Its called Panchakarma. That means five actions in Sanskrit. They have five major treatments and tools to choose from, depending on the case. So, I didnt do all the five. I did three. Also, herbs. So, yeah, Ill start from the beginning.
Panchakarma is a very gentle and mild kind of a cleanse. There might be a little bit of fasting in there, but not like the fast that we know in the west now where theres five days. An Ayurvedic fast will look more like two days of eating soup with spices. Its gentle.
Dan: So, where did you go to sweat?
Dan: Literally only rice and lentils?
Vera: Yes, with spices.
Dan: At least it would taste of something with the spices.
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Increase Your Vitamin B Intake
According to a study published in the Journal of Royal Society of Medicine, researchers found a direct link between reduced vitamin B levels and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Vitamin B6
The study focused on B-6, riboflavin and thiamine, and researchers believe that B6 is particularly important. Vitamin B6 rich foods include wild tuna and salmon, bananas, grass-fed beef, sweet potatoes, turkey, hazelnuts, garlic and cooked spinach.
Vitamin B6 helps to prevent and relieve fatigue, and it supports a healthy immune system. As stated above, some researchers believe that certain viruses play a role in CFS, therefore increasing B6 levels can be a helpful treatment. B6 helps supports T-cell functioning, allowing them to more adeptly fight infections.
Importance of Methylation
Methylation is the term given to the process in the body where methyl compounds are used in the critical functions of the body immune function, energy production, mood, inflammation, nerve function, detoxification, and even DNA all of which are challenges in chronic fatigue syndrome patients.
Methylation helps you process toxins, make hormones, and even helps in the production of neurotransmitters such as melatonin. How well your body can methylate effects all of these important areas. Poor methylation can lead to a variety of chronic conditions including certain types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, allergies, digestive upset, mood and psychiatric disorders, and chronic fatigue.
Vitamin B12
Recovered But With Lingering Symptoms
Some of the young adults rated their health as good, while the amount of activity they could perform was minimal. They had become so used to their performance level, they accepted it as their new normal. Unfortunately, many of them, while they described their health as good, they were unable to work full time or carry on other duties.
Almost all our patients reported symptom fluctuation, including daily, weekly or monthly periods. This, together with our other findings, suggests that symptoms often improve or worsen without altering the overall severity of the illness.
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S To Recover From Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Amy Myers, MD
Amy Myers, M.D. is a functional medicine physician, trained and certified by The Institute of Functional Medicine. Dr. Myers earned her Doctor of Medicine at the LSU Health Science Center, and completed her Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Dr. Myers retired from her functional medicine clinic, Austin UltraHealth, where she served thousands of patients, to empower those who were failed by conventional medicine. Shes a 2x New York Times bestselling author, and the founder and CEO of the health & lifestyle e-commerce brand, Amy Myers MD®.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome affects up to 2.5 million Americans and for most is a very debilitating illness. Conventional medicine is just now coming around to recognizing CFS as a real syndrome, and it is generally only as a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning they ruled out other diseases and did not find any reason for the fatigue. Symptoms of CFS can be very broad and vague and often include extreme exhaustion, memory loss, headache, muscle fatigue, weakness, and pain lasting at least six months.
Conventional medicines only treatment for CFS is prescription drugs to manage symptoms, including pain medications, sleep aids, and antidepressants.
Baseline Demographics Medical And Psychological Characteristics Of Cohort
Demographics
A total of 784 young people with mean age of onset of ME/CFS 14.8 years and M:F ratio of 1:3, were diagnosed with ME/CFS. The mean duration of illness prior to being diagnosed was 13.6 months . Socioeconomic status reflected the population based on Socioeconomic Index for Areas data compared with census data across two census periods . The rural/urban mix was proportionate to the population of Victoria however the ethnic mix was neither representative of the population of the state nor of the clientele of the hospital. Despite Victoria having successive immigration waves from over 200 countries, 80% of CFS patients had an Anglo-Celtic background , but predominantly Scottish/Irish descent, and another 11% were of northern European descent . Middle Eastern, African and young people of Asian descent were significantly underrepresented.
History Information
From 489 baseline history and psychological questionnaires distributed, 418 provided baseline history information. Fifty five were also given concurrent DePaul Pediatric questionnaires , of which 35 were returned .
Onset
The peak onset was during winter with lower frequency at the beginning and end of the school year during summer and spring. Only 59% of the cohort had evidence of previous exposure to EBV and 35% of those tested had positive IgG for CMV. There was no difference in the prevalence of positive serology for either CMV or EBV between the groups with and without documented baseline information.
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How Will Me/cfs Affect My Quality Of Life
Not everyone will experience the same symptoms so itâs important not to compare people with ME/CFS. People with ME/CFS can have very different experiences of the condition and how long their symptoms last.
The impact of symptoms can be:
- mild
As symptoms change over time so does the impact they have on peopleâs lives.
Veras Dreams For Life After Severe Me/cfs & Complex Ptsd
Dan: Yeah, thank you for sharing. That is such an awesome experience and story.
Let me ask you two things. The first thing is what does the future hold for Vera?
Vera: Well, long-term, my dream is to be an Ayurvedic practitioner which I forgot to say this past year, I have studied Ayurveda on the weekends. Im finished with my first year.
Dan: Well done.
Vera: But I have three more left. Thank you. So, thats my long-term dream.
Before that, I would love to coach recovery from psychological abuse and building up your identity and finding who you are and strengthening your inner voice. Thats kind of what Im working on now.
Dan: Fantastic.
Vera: I would love to write books and make workbooks with journaling prompts that kind of take you through the process that Ive been through. Yeah, thats my dream.
Dan: Fantastic.
Vera: I would also love to get a cat.
Dan: I love how you placed those two things together. Thats awesome.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much for sharing your awesome, inspiring story. Well make sure we put a link underneath so people can find your YouTube channel and your website. I wish you all the best with your studies and your new life!
Vera: Thank you so much for having me!
Dan: Yeah.
Vera: Yes, Im sending everyone who watches this so much love, hope, strength, inspiration, and just remember that there are very tiny answers along the way that build like a snowball. Just plant good seeds and give it time. Follow your instinct.
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Identify Safe Healing Spaces
Patients who are able to venture outside of home should do so with the understanding that there are safe spaces available to them in the event they need to rest. Identify these spaces ahead of time inside the homes of friends and family members, at work, at community centers, and in places of worship. Retreat spaces in the patients home should be designated so that patients are assured privacy and peace. These spaces can be used for a number of relaxation rituals that include listening to music and engaging in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.
