Any ideas to cure my Chronic Fatigue?

[Annonymous]

I have chronic fatigue, sinus issues, gastrointestinal reflux, high blood pressure, stress 24/7, rhynalds in both my hands in feet( a condition that during stress or cold temperatures blood flow gets cut off, so for an example my feet or my hands blood flow is cut off for that time), constipation/diarrhea quite a bit, bloated once in awhile. It makes it very difficult to really get anything done due to having chronic fatigue, and as the day goes by the chronic fatigue gets even worse. To fight the chronic fatigue I consume caffeine every day , but if I am not careful my finger for an example will start twitching, I even will have muscle spasms.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Annonymous

[outlandish]

Get your iron levels checked out.

What's your diet like?

[Annonymous]

I drink like 2-3 cans of mountain dew a day, tv dinners such as Michelina's and Banquet. Chicken Alfredo Brocolli, mash potatoes, meatloaf, broccoli rice and cheese mix, spinach once in awhile, Mac and Cheese, Pizza Snack rolls, fish sticks, mozzarella sticks, Chicken, Salisbury steak with gravy. Mazzios Pizza once every 2 weeks.

[Annonymous]

On pills and supplements, I take Ibuprofen quite a bit due to sinus and head aches along with that my gums are slightly inflamed. Started taking Ginseng, Ginkgo Biolba, Papaya Enzyme, a week ago and been taking multivitamins almost everyday.

[outlandish]

Cut out the mountain dew, cut out the factory food like TV dinners, pizza rolls, mac n cheese, packaged foods, etc., and cook for yourself from whole ingredients. Try to not take Ibuprophen. Pay attention if Gingko is actually helping you, it makes me feel like shit. And get some bloodwork done from your doc, including looking at iron.

[sidaz10]

try keto diet

[Michael569]

Thank you for sharing your story. I think there is a lot that can be done here and with some good adjustments to diet, you may start seeing decent improvements. It may be worth considering to work with a nutritional therapist in a long term to help you polish your diet, add some recipes and recommend private testing if needed. 

First of It would be advisable go see your doctor, to get a full picture of what is happening on the inside. Ask for full blood count including ferritin(iron) and get your cholesterol and thyroid checked by them as well. 

Some dietary tips: 

Note: if you see yourself getting bloated from these new adjustments, there is definitely something going on in your small intestine and will need to be investigated by your doctor or a nutritionist. 

1. Very slowly start reducing the amounts of ibuprofen you take. While it does fight inflammation, it also suppresses the natural production of mucus that protects your stomach and your gut lining which may result in ulcers and malabsorption. Analgesics also deplete a large variety of nutrients in your body. Dental inflammation might be caused by a lack of flossing or excessive sugar intake. Definitely see a dentist for this. There are some herbal mouthwashes that help fight dental plague without obliterating your oral beneficial microbiota. 
2. Out with mountain dew. That stuff is 30% sugar and sugar is highly pro-inflammatory. It will also give you put you in insulin rollercoaster of spiking your blood sugar levels several times a day which often results in severe hypoglycaemia and need for more sugar. If you can't go cold turkey,  start slowly by reducing daily consumption by one third every week. Ideally, you are aiming to drink only water and herbal teas eventually 
3. Try to up your fibre to help with the bowel movements. 30 grams per day is a good start. 50 if you can. Cronometer.com can help you track this. See if that helps but I suspect the diarrhoea/constipation is related to something else either digestive or endocrine. 
4. Start introducing fruits into your diet. Gradually aim for 5-10 pieces a day of large variety. Think less bananas and more berries, peaches, plums, kiwis, pears, oranges...variety is the key here. Fruit is a potent regulator of blood pressure and inflammation and can be helpful in your case. 
5. Up your intake of vegetables to at least 1-2 cups of chopped mixed vegetables with every meal. The darker colours are more powerful with higher antioxidant content. Play around with different colours, the larger colour variety the better. 
6. Increase your dark leafy green vegetables to at least 1-2 cups per day. These are kale, spinach, rocket, baby greens, mustard greens, collard greens, green cabbage. 
7. Introduce more plant protein sources: beans, lentils, chickpeas, edamame, tofu. 
8. It would be wise to cut down the intake of animal products by more than half of the current intake. These will be increasing your blood pressure not to mention that a lot of them are loaded with salt which is contributing to hypertension. Stuff like mac'n cheese, meatloaf, and mozzarella sticks needs to be reduced if the blood profile is to improve. There are nowadays plant-based mac n cheese recipes, recipes involving cauliflower that resemble cheese taste, plan-based meatloaf from quinoa is quite popular. A good cookbook will have plenty of plant-based recipes. 
9. Try adding whole grains: these also improve blood pressure: quinoa, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, brown rice, wild rice. To replace mashed potatoes and white rice. Sweet potatoes are good substitution as well. 
10. if you can, replace any milk you drink with plant-based milk. These are amazing additions for breakfast such as oatmeals, smoothies or chia puddings. 
11. For Reynaud's: there isn't much evidence on dietary impact but I'd try adding foods and herbs that improve circulation and vascular relaxation. Ginger teas, cayenne pepper, other spices, rosemary, beet, turmeric. Also, Omega 3 rich diet has been shown to help (oily fish e.g. salmon, mackerel, ground flax seeds, walnuts). Exercise may definitely help with improving circulation. Or light yoga if you struggle with energy levels. Sauna is also great for increasing circulation. Daily walks combined with some light stretching movements (when nobody is watching ) If you have a sedentary job, make time to stand up and go for a walk outside every now and then. Add a lot of finger stretching and basic finger movement exercises to drive the blood in these areas. 
12. For reflux: definitely reducing intake of high fat animal products for this one (mostly cheese and high fat meats such as steaks) These foods weaken the oesophageal sphincter on the top of your stomach that may be causing the reflux (heartburn). 
13. For Bloating & constipation/diarrhoea: if this prevails even after you up your fibre, consider getting investigated for IBS and SIBO by your doctor. If they don't want to, consider private testing. If you test positive on either (or both) a low FODMAP diet will need to be done to balance your gut bacterial overgtowth. 

Try implementing these changes with weeks to come not all at once. Gradually add new foods in favour of the previous and I bet you will start feeling better and more energised in no time

 

Private Testing: 
Later on (4-6 weeks) if the energy levels are not picking up, I would also consider adrenal testing. Adrenal Glands are small pair of glands sitting on top of your kidneys that produce adrenaline, cortisol and few other hormones that keep your energy levels stable and your alertness durign the day. If adrenals are weakened you may struggle with low energy, foul mood and lot of inflammation. There is private salivary cortisol testing as well as Adrenal Stress Test by companies such as Genova (link). But I would wait for this only if nothing else helps as these tests are expensive. Definitely try dietary adjustments first and any testing that your doctor will do for free especially iron. 

Good luck !!! Shout with any questions

 

Edited October 11, 2019 by Michael569

[tastefullyoverdone]

I have narcolepsy, which is claimed to be incurable, and I've noticed that since I started spiritual development that my symptoms have improved so dramatically that I believe I will overcome it entirely. I was taking 10mg of Ritalin every 2 hours, 8 times a day. Today, I'm MAYBE taking one or two and there's days when I don't take any at all. Before, I absolutely could not get through the first hour of my day without taking medication.

I had my awakening by accident. I hit the bottom, thought I would kill myself and instead found myself in counselling to chip away at the mess that was my mental state. Depression is commonly linked to narcolepsy and my counsellor said that it can mirror bipolar at times so I really felt there was a shit outlook on tackling it, not to mention the crippling anxiety and baggage from a traumatic childhood. I thought I would be a mess forever.

In the past 15 months, I've done a lot of spiritual purification (I just thought I was taking better care of myself) and that also was by accident. I didn't know I had, had an awakening and no one that I knew could understand what I was going through so I scoured the internet for every "10 ways to change your life" list that I could find and applied everything.

The most powerful things that I applied to my life which changed my state of affairs are the following:
- positive affirmations. I wrote them on little cards and put them up on my mirror. They are very fine tuned to the life that I want to be living and include things like "I am healthy.",  "I am embracing happiness.", "I love taking care of myself." I have about 20 cards that I read to myself, with great feeling, as many times as I see them. I also recorded my own voice saying them and play it on a loop sometimes while I'm sleeping. In the beginning I downloaded some of them from youtube and would keep headphones on throughout the day to interrupt the habit of negative thinking. Since I'd been shit talking myself for so long I needed to hear nice things about myself ALL THE TIME until the voice in my head started cheering me on. And it will. Feel the emotion when you read the cards. Believe that the Universe is on your side.
- hypnosis. This was critical to go in there and reprogram the deep emotional damage that was causing all of the mental chaos. I hated myself. I mean, I thought I was awesome sometimes, but mostly, I thought I was a loser who wouldn't accomplish anything and you know what? At that time, I hadn't. There's lots on youtube and many are specific to your own ordeals, sometimes they're called guided meditations. I've done hundreds of them. Sometimes I'd spend the whole day listening to them.
- visualization. I started seeing myself as my future self. My true essence of the Creator. She's there healthy, happy and abundant. And when I'm lost, I see her and she says to me "We are one. I am you and you are me. Come to me." She's the only person I listen to.
- keeping to myself. I stopped keeping in touch with people who I had always told all my problems to. When I wasn't outpouring my stressed out status quo to anyone who would listen then I stopped cursing my life with it.

There are about 10 other things that I have incorporated into my life but they came as byproducts of the progress these other things put into action. I've lost 40 pounds in this time and I quit: smoking, sugar, fatty foods, binge eating, binge drinking, putting myself at risk, reckless partying, party drugs, shopping for shit I don't need, negative thinking, toxic relationships, doing things out of obligation, telling people my problems, wasting time on the internet, procrastination, hoarding...etc. All of this was relatively effortless, I never had to crack the whip. Some things where challenging, and I slipped a few times but in the long run, I've accomplished them all by believing that I can do anything I put my mind to.

Counselling can only take you so far. I had to break up with her so I could believe in my own health plan rather than her always trying to drag me back into the box of narcolepsy, depression, bipolar...blah blah blah. I've been off antidepressants for 2 months now and I can't believe I was ever on them. The problem was in my mind.

Also epigenetics research claims that the power of the mind can heal the body and that really influenced my willingness to believe I could do it.

Good luck! Love you!

[Nickyy]

On 11/10/2019 at 10:39 AM, Michael569 said:

Thank you for sharing your story. I think there is a lot that can be done here and with some good adjustments to diet, you may start seeing decent improvements. It may be worth considering to work with a nutritional therapist in a long term to help you polish your diet, add some recipes and recommend private testing if needed. 

First of It would be advisable go see your doctor, to get a full picture of what is happening on the inside. Ask for full blood count including ferritin(iron) and get your cholesterol and thyroid checked by them as well. 

Some dietary tips: 

Note: if you see yourself getting bloated from these new adjustments, there is definitely something going on in your small intestine and will need to be investigated by your doctor or a nutritionist. 

1. Very slowly start reducing the amounts of ibuprofen you take. While it does fight inflammation, it also suppresses the natural production of mucus that protects your stomach and your gut lining which may result in ulcers and malabsorption. Analgesics also deplete a large variety of nutrients in your body. Dental inflammation might be caused by a lack of flossing or excessive sugar intake. Definitely see a dentist for this. There are some herbal mouthwashes that help fight dental plague without obliterating your oral beneficial microbiota. 
2. Out with mountain dew. That stuff is 30% sugar and sugar is highly pro-inflammatory. It will also give you put you in insulin rollercoaster of spiking your blood sugar levels several times a day which often results in severe hypoglycaemia and need for more sugar. If you can't go cold turkey,  start slowly by reducing daily consumption by one third every week. Ideally, you are aiming to drink only water and herbal teas eventually 
3. Try to up your fibre to help with the bowel movements. 30 grams per day is a good start. 50 if you can. Cronometer.com can help you track this. See if that helps but I suspect the diarrhoea/constipation is related to something else either digestive or endocrine. 
4. Start introducing fruits into your diet. Gradually aim for 5-10 pieces a day of large variety. Think less bananas and more berries, peaches, plums, kiwis, pears, oranges...variety is the key here. Fruit is a potent regulator of blood pressure and inflammation and can be helpful in your case. 
5. Up your intake of vegetables to at least 1-2 cups of chopped mixed vegetables with every meal. The darker colours are more powerful with higher antioxidant content. Play around with different colours, the larger colour variety the better. 
6. Increase your dark leafy green vegetables to at least 1-2 cups per day. These are kale, spinach, rocket, baby greens, mustard greens, collard greens, green cabbage. 
7. Introduce more plant protein sources: beans, lentils, chickpeas, edamame, tofu. 
8. It would be wise to cut down the intake of animal products by more than half of the current intake. These will be increasing your blood pressure not to mention that a lot of them are loaded with salt which is contributing to hypertension. Stuff like mac'n cheese, meatloaf, and mozzarella sticks needs to be reduced if the blood profile is to improve. There are nowadays plant-based mac n cheese recipes, recipes involving cauliflower that resemble cheese taste, plan-based meatloaf from quinoa is quite popular. A good cookbook will have plenty of plant-based recipes. 
9. Try adding whole grains: these also improve blood pressure: quinoa, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, brown rice, wild rice. To replace mashed potatoes and white rice. Sweet potatoes are good substitution as well. 
10. if you can, replace any milk you drink with plant-based milk. These are amazing additions for breakfast such as oatmeals, smoothies or chia puddings. 
11. For Reynaud's: there isn't much evidence on dietary impact but I'd try adding foods and herbs that improve circulation and vascular relaxation. Ginger teas, cayenne pepper, other spices, rosemary, beet, turmeric. Also, Omega 3 rich diet has been shown to help (oily fish e.g. salmon, mackerel, ground flax seeds, walnuts). Exercise may definitely help with improving circulation. Or light yoga if you struggle with energy levels. Sauna is also great for increasing circulation. Daily walks combined with some light stretching movements (when nobody is watching ) If you have a sedentary job, make time to stand up and go for a walk outside every now and then. Add a lot of finger stretching and basic finger movement exercises to drive the blood in these areas. 
12. For reflux: definitely reducing intake of high fat animal products for this one (mostly cheese and high fat meats such as steaks) These foods weaken the oesophageal sphincter on the top of your stomach that may be causing the reflux (heartburn). 
13. For Bloating & constipation/diarrhoea: if this prevails even after you up your fibre, consider getting investigated for IBS and SIBO by your doctor. If they don't want to, consider private testing. If you test positive on either (or both) a low FODMAP diet will need to be done to balance your gut bacterial overgtowth. 

Try implementing these changes with weeks to come not all at once. Gradually add new foods in favour of the previous and I bet you will start feeling better and more energised in no time

 

Private Testing: 
Later on (4-6 weeks) if the energy levels are not picking up, I would also consider adrenal testing. Adrenal Glands are small pair of glands sitting on top of your kidneys that produce adrenaline, cortisol and few other hormones that keep your energy levels stable and your alertness durign the day. If adrenals are weakened you may struggle with low energy, foul mood and lot of inflammation. There is private salivary cortisol testing as well as Adrenal Stress Test by companies such as Genova (link). But I would wait for this only if nothing else helps as these tests are expensive. Definitely try dietary adjustments first and any testing that your doctor will do for free especially iron. 

Good luck !!! Shout with any questions

 

Can't argue with that ! 

[Rigel]

You need to seriously check out your diet. To be quite honest most of the things you listed are straight up poison for you. Get your diet together and you'll see improvements for sure. Organic and fresh fruits/vegetables above everything but you'll need to pace yourself during the transition if you don't want your intestines rebel against you. 

With proper diet you should be able to ditch coffee and all medication that you are taking. @Michael569 you got great advice from this guy up there.