Gday! My name is Mel, I live in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia – and I am a recovered Chronic Fatigue sufferer and this is a bit of my story.
Before Ross River and Chronic Fatigue, I was living a fun and busy life – working hard, playing hard and enjoying the great outdoors. I had a pretty active social life, to say the least, and getting sick changed my life around completely.
How Chronic Fatigue slipped into my life
I had been working in the environment industry for 12 years, when I was contracted the Ross River Virus, early 2009. This was bad enough. It was debilitating and it dragged on.
I struggled along, with lots of time off work and attempts to return to work on a part-time basis. After about a year and a half I had somewhat conquered it – back working full-time and eventually back to my old tricks of partying up, not eating properly and doing way too much with little regard for rest!
Around mid 2010 I crashed, but this time there was no leeway. I was out for the count.
My diagnosis
Having had Ross River was an advantage for me. Doctors could see the test results and put my symptoms down to that. But this felt very different to the Ross River. It was much deeper level of fatigue. No doctor could tell me that this was Chronic Fatigue though. I discovered this myself from lots of online research and my naturopath confirmed it.
Early Days
The initial months were terrifying and very emotionally draining. I expected it would lift within a week, or at least within the month, but when it didn’t, I had to face the reality that I really didn’t know how long I would be sick for. It was especially distressing when I read that many people don’t recover from Chronic Fatigue!
I tried to go back to work a couple of days a week for four hours a day, but I would get foggy, dizzy and anxious and eventually I just gave up.
Moving towards acceptance
A natural therapist / GP advised me to take six months off work. That was probably my first step towards acceptance, although at the time I was horrified and cried a lot. I had a mortgage and had just started a new job. I was on my own and really couldn’t see how I could survive without working.
Eventually I was able to come to terms with the fact that I was too ill to work and that worrying about it was not going to fix me.
Financially it was a battle. It took months before the government allowed me to get sickness benefits. My mum helped me a little where she could, and somehow, I got by.
When I learnt to free myself of the mental burdens about work and finances, I was able to concentrate on my recovery.
The Recovery Process
I read a lot about Chronic Fatigue and how to recover and tried many different things. I also taught myself a bit about website development and blogging to pass the time, thus the development of this site!
At first, I was only able to read small amounts in bed, just picture books actually. I’d borrow things like books on architecture and landscaping etc and just look at the pictures. But slowly that become more and more and eventually I was able to read at my computer.
I tried many things and eventually settled into a routine around what worked for me. The things I did religiously included:
- Ensure good sleep
- Pacing myself by not doing too much at any one time, listening to my body
- Graded exercise
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Take a good multivitamin and various other supplements
- Juice vegetables regularly in the morning
- Try to get protein in each meal (5-6 times per day)
- Try to keep sugar and flour to a minimum
- Keep stress at bay
- Keep a positive outlook and have faith that it’s all being looked after for me
They are the main things.
I found it important to stay focused on the hope for recovery, as with hope I took positive steps and also felt much better emotionally.
So thus, the focus of this site has always been to inspire hope for recovery.
When things started to improve
I started to feel a lot better around early 2012 and noticed how I was able to do things that I couldn’t previously have done, but I was still very fragile, anxious and worried about doing too much and going backwards.
I dipped my toes back into work, by working from home part-time and exploring business ideas.
I continued to do a lot of work around self-care and using naturopathic supplements.
It was a slow and steady improvement. I was able to slowly start to enjoy things like socialising, seeing live music, dancing and regular exercise. But always I give priority to my health and energy levels.
I don’t suffer from the symptoms anymore
I don’t get post-exhertional malaise or the dizziness anymore, but my brain still thinks it is a possibility, so I am vigilant with supplements and rest, if I feel I’m getting run down.
I still keep a close eye on my body’s energy levels and keep up good food and rest and avoid toxic situations and substances.
I’m now living a full life
I’m now living a full life, but it is quite different to what my life looked like pre-Ross River and Chronic Fatigue.
I don’t drink or drug anymore and parties are few and far between. I do a lot to maintain my health and I’m always working on doing more / finding more balance etc.
I’ve always been a driven, Type A, personality so I’ve always got some project or job I’m working on.
I love my pets, they have made my world much more tolerable while suffering with Chronic Fatigue, but also post Chronic Fatigue. My current pet is Sammy, a Miniature Pinscher. I love him dearly.
Work
What I do for income has changed a lot over the past 10 years. Eventually dabbling in business ideas evolved into a social media marketing business, which I ran and built for 5 years. I closed that down as I was finding it too stressful.
I’ve now been in the Finance Industry for just over 2 years and I’m just getting my Mortgage Broker accreditations. I know… I’ve jumped around a bit. But the evolution has felt right. Now I work for a large real estate agency, but under my own ABN, so I can work from home (hang with my dog), have some influence over my financial fate, while also having the support of a large organisation. I’ll let you know how it all goes.
What now, with Green Girl Fights Fatigue
I stopped blogging around 2014, as all my energy was going into my new business and keeping a balanced life. I continued to respond to comments and messages, which has been a gift, to keep me grateful for my recovery and connected with this community. I think it is important to stay connected and feel part of a community, especially when you are cut-off from the world due to illness and battling to keep your head above water.
For many years I’ve thought about what I could do to help more people suffering with Chronic Fatigue to cope, and of course inspire them with hope for recovery.
Now, in 2021, I am embarking on setting up an online community for people who are in various stages of Chronic Fatigue Recovery.
I am also working on an online CFS Recovery Course, which I will be launching before the end of the year, to share what I’ve learnt and support others with their recovery.
Sign up to my newsletter to stay informed about the CFS Recovery Community and the Course coming soon.
Mel
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