Health and Fitness
Lucy Defeated Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with Ten Practical Steps
Her unbearable fatigue looked like a metaphorical onion with multiple layers.
Addressing each layer with the help of medical specialists and a psychotherapist identified underlying causes and solved Lucy’s chronic fatigue syndrome holistically. Then, she re-experienced an abundance of energy.
2023 update
You may check the attached article to understand the symptoms, causes, and treatment methods of chronic fatigue syndrome.
Why Lucy Felt So Tired All the Time
Lucy always felt tired and sluggish in her mid-twenties.
When she was younger, Lucy was a passionate musician and opera singer. She spent hours learning to learn, playing new instruments, and improving her unique mezzo-soprano voice.
After completing her post-graduate degree in music, Lucy lost her motivation to perform even though she still loved playing the piano and singing arias.
Her body was stopping and forcing her to sit and sleep all day. She lost her mental clarity, showing symptoms of brain fog.
Her family doctor couldn’t find any obvious reasons. Her blood tests showed a standard range of the population. She finally convinced her physician to refer her to specialists for further investigation.
Each specialist in a different area depicted a new perspective. Lucy’s chronic fatigue was like an onion with multiple layers. Addressing each layer holistically solved the problem.
Her psychotherapist, beloved Janine, confirmed that chronic fatigue syndrome was common. She helped her solve the problem layer by layer with input from multiple specialists. Janine focused on the underlying causes and created necessary therapies to address them.
“Chronic fatigue syndrome is a complicated disorder characterized by extreme fatigue that lasts for at least six months and that can’t be fully explained by an underlying medical condition. The fatigue worsens with physical or mental activity but doesn’t improve with rest.”
As reported by Statista:
“Americans are tired most of the week”, 45% of Americans sleeping seven to eight hours a night said feeling tired or fatigued up to three times a week. Besides, 27% of people woke up exhausted four or more days per week.
As pointed out in this systematic review:
“Fatigue, a commonly reported symptom, is defined as an overwhelming, debilitating, and sustained sense of exhaustion that decreases the ability to function and carry out daily activities.” Fatigue might be caused by many health conditions such as anemia, liver disease, kidney problems, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders, and other complex health issues.
We all get tired naturally. Daily biological, psychological, and environmental factors cause energy blockage. However, chronic fatigue syndrome is beyond tiredness. It is a health condition.
Even though we might look healthy from the outset, we might have underlying factors affecting our energy levels. Some people use unnatural ways to boost energy.
However, those solutions are not sustainable.
My purpose in this article is to share ten steps that helped Lucy address her chronic fatigue syndrome with the help of several medical specialists, including a psychotherapist.
Each person’s fatigue can be different. I hope this holistic approach can provide valuable insights into understanding this condition and seek advice from qualified healthcare professionals.
Awareness is critical to solving problems, and so is taking personal responsibility.
1 — Improved Sleep Quality
When she was younger, Lucy used to sleep like a baby. However, in her adult years, she experienced sleep deprivation. She couldn’t sleep at night but felt sleepy all day long.
Sometimes she fell asleep while sitting at concerts and watching her favorite musical shows on television. Her solution was to drink more coffee and other caffeinated drinks to stay awake.
Sleep deprivation causes fatigue and lethargy. As mentioned in this NIH source, “everyone feels tired now and then. But, after a good night’s sleep, most people feel refreshed and ready to face a new day.
On the other hand, sleep-deprived people usually experience low energy and lack the motivation to complete daily chores.”
Lucy’s psychotherapist paid particular attention to her sleep hygiene. Lucy learned to monitor her sleep and followed the advice provided by a sleep specialist.
Her mindfulness practices significantly contributed to solving her sleep issues. When she managed to have high-quality sleep, her energy levels increased, fatigue reduced, and brain fog disappeared, as happened to Jennifer.
2 — Fixed Nutritional Deficiencies
Lucy did not have weight issues, but she never felt fully satisfied with her diet. Her food caused digestive problems such as upset stomach and heartburn.
Her nutritional deficiencies were detected by various tests the functional medicine doctor referred to. A personalized diet by a dietician with a few supplements fixed her dietary deficiencies.
She had to supplement vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, and magnesium.
When her diet improved, she had to stop iron but continued the other three. She had a daily mineral tablet, including essential trace minerals.
Lucy’s diet was mainly plant-based. She did not enjoy eating meat much. She occasionally ate red meat and poultry. However, she loved to eat seafood, especially fish.
The dietician recommended she consume fresh and fatty salmon several days a week. Eating fish contributed to having high-quality protein and essential omega-three fats, reducing her inflammation and optimizing her blood glucose.
Cutting dairy and eggs from her diet made a massive impact in solving her digestive issues.
3 — Enhanced Fitness with Joyful Workouts
When feeling fatigued, Lucy did not get the urge to exercise. She couldn’t even walk or do daily chores. Instead, her body was forcing her to sit or lie down at all times. She knew movement was essential, but she just couldn’t move. She had to start very slowly and take frequent breaks.
We can mobilize and balance energy via regular exercise. Thus, a periodic motion is essential for eliminating harmful materials such as toxins from the body.
In addition, exercise activates the lymphatic system and causes bacterial toxins and unhealthy cells to be removed from the body.
Therefore, Lucy found gently jumping on the trampoline very helpful. She started very slowly without exerting pressure on her body.
Lucy found out that enhancing her fitness was an antidote to beating fatigue. Her fitness coach designed a personalized workout regimen that suited her lifestyle and body composition.
Her favorite workouts were walking on the beach, swimming, dancing, jumping on the trampoline, calisthenics, and isometric training such as planks. She did not need to go to the gym to stay fit.
4 — Reduced Chronic and Emotional Stress
The primary culprit for Lucy’s fatigue was cumulative stress in physical, mental, and emotional forms.
She learned that acute stress was good for her growth, but chronic stress could cause energy blockage and severe health issues, including metabolic diseases and cancers.
Lucy’s psychotherapist, Janine, created an action plan to reduce her stress levels. She learned to recognize stressors in her life and respond to stressful situations mindfully.
In addition to recreational reading, expressive writing, listening to music, and practicing yoga, she also started daily meditation for 20 minutes, ten minutes in the morning, and ten minutes before going to bed.
The best approach her psychotherapist taught Lucy was to work in a flow state. Her mindfulness practices helped her remain in the flow state in the daily tasks she performed.
She felt energized and motivated to work more and produce better when she was in a flow state. As a result, she significantly improved her emotional maturity.
5 — Reduced Toxins, Allergens, and Heavy Metals
The body of knowledge confirms that toxins, heavy metals, allergens, bad bacteria, and pathogens can adversely affect our physical and mental health.
Eliminating her body's toxins, heavy metals, and pathogens significantly improved Lucy’s energy levels.
Toxins in her gut cause discomfort and fatigue. Her functional medicine doctor focused on her gut issues. She was also treated with supportive probiotics and prebiotics, apart from a customized elimination diet.
By using activated charcoal with medical supervision, heavy metals from her gut were removed.
Lucy learned that environmental factors could cause autoimmune conditions, allergies, bloating, and reduced energy levels. Her holistic approach to health motivated her to invest in cleaning room air, drinking water, and food.
To reduce the effects of environmental toxins, she invested in air and water cleaners in her home.
Besides, initiating autophagy via various methods contributed to detoxing her body naturally.
6 — Stopped Bloating and Allergies
Even though Lucy consumed healthy and nutritious food most of the time, she felt bloated and experienced some allergies after eating particular food groups.
She did not know what they were. Later, she learned that bloating might contribute to experiencing lethargy. When she was bloated and distended, she felt sluggish.
Her allergist identified a few food groups in her diet. Three major food types, such as nuts, dairy, and eggs, were causing allergies.
A personalized elimination diet helped identify each food. After removing the offending food, her digestive discomfort, bloating, and allergies disappeared.
Similar to Lucy, I also experienced food intolerance and bloating. Some food groups were creating an autoimmune response in my body.
Lucy did not have this problem, but I was also intolerant to carbs like Eliza, whom I introduced in this story.
7 — Reduced Inflammation and Pain
As mentioned in previous items, reducing toxins, allergens, and heavy metals reduced her bloating and allergies and contributed to reducing inflammation.
To Lucy’s satisfaction, her chronic inflammation disappeared when allergies and bloating were gone, as noticed in her blood markers, which significantly reduced C reactive protein.
Her functional medical doctor informed her that inflammation was one of the hidden causes of her chronic fatigue syndrome. When her body was inflamed, most of her energy went into recovery.
One of the best contributors to beating chronic inflammation was consuming noninflammatory food groups selected by her dietician.
Increasing omega-three fatty acids in her diet was one of the contributors to reducing inflammation. She also reduced high-impact workouts, such as extreme running, affecting her joints.
8 — Fixed Anemia and Optimized Hormones
As confirmed by her hematologist, vitamin B12 and iron deficiencies were the primary causes of her mild anemia.
However, after her first shot of vitamin B12, she felt terrific. Her energy levels significantly increased.
Like vitamins, hormones and neurotransmitters also play a critical role in fixing energy deficiency. Optimizing her metabolic and sex hormones was a game-changer in increasing her energy and beating chronic fatigue syndrome.
Some of her fatigue issues were caused by fluctuating hormones for various reasons.
Her endocrinologist helped her optimize her metabolic and sex hormones, especially estrogen, cortisol, insulin, leptin, and growth hormones.
She did not need bioidentical hormones similar to Alberto. All she needed was simple lifestyle changes mentioned in previous points.
9 — Improved Mitochondria
When she was down at multiple levels, Lucy’s life did not mean much. Learning about the importance of mitochondria and taking necessary actions to improve them addressed her issue in a critical layer that increased her energy.
Mitochondria is the energy powerhouse of our cells. Mitochondria generate our cellular energy. When our mitochondria malfunction, we feel sluggish and even exhausted.
As a result, we experience low energy mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
Our cells need mitochondria to create ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) via cellular respiration by breaking nutrients and creating energy molecules for cells.
It is important to note that with the denser mitochondria in our cells, we experience more energy. Here are the 12 tips to get denser mitochondria for joyful energy.
10 — Connected with Nature Meaningfully
Lucy did not know the importance of sunshine playing an essential role in maintaining energy levels.
Then, she learned that vitamin D was a vital micro-nutrient for her health and the mood-boosting and circadian rhythm, balancing effects of sunlight.
Vitamin D, as a steroid hormone, affects both physical and psychological functions. This article pointed out that vitamin D is essential for calcium, phosphorus, and bone metabolism.
As pointed out in this scientific paper, “various studies demonstrate low vitamin D levels in non-specific neuromuscular pain disorders and chronic fatigue syndrome.
This observation was supported by significantly improving these disorders following Vitamin D supplementation. Several studies demonstrate low serum vitamin D levels in healthy adult Ethiopians, despite the availability of abundant sunlight”.
Looking at the sun for a few minutes in the morning boosted Lucy’s energy and removed her lethargic feelings. Likewise, walking on bare feet on green grass or sandy beaches on sunny days increased her energy and motivation.
Conclusions and Takeaways
We all experience fatigue and feel lazy sometimes. It is natural as the body needs rest to recover from stressors.
However, chronic fatigue syndrome needs to be addressed with the help of medical professionals and resolve to have a joyful and satisfying life.
It is impossible to live without energy. When our energy sources are blocked, life means nothing. By addressing the causes of fatigue and eliminating symptoms, we can increase our energy and improve our life satisfaction.
We cannot constantly run with total energy. The body and brain need rest. However, as Lucy did and proved, most healthy people can experience abundant energy by implementing healthy lifestyle habits.
Awareness of chronic fatigue syndrome is a good start.
The next step is to seek help methodically. Our blood markers can give valuable insights into our health conditions.
I introduced several approaches to monitoring our health in this article: Desire to Stay Young and Fit? Try These Health Tests.
From my observations, many healthy people experience a lack of energy. Underlying root causes can be complex and different for each individual.
For some people, it is sleep deprivation, a sedentary lifestyle, and nutritional deficiencies for others. When these three fundamental factors are combined, we can feel severe energy shortage and fatigue.
There are myriads of known and unknown causes of fatigue. For example, underlying health conditions, including hormonal imbalance, genetic factors, stressors, toxins, and medication side effects, can also cause fatigue.
Therefore, a holistic approach to beating fatigue is essential. I hope Lucy’s story can give you valuable insights and contribute to your research and action plans. Let’s keep in mind that health is all about maintaining homeostasis.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a happy and healthy life.
I’d love to obtain your feedback on how you deal with fatigue and maintain your energy daily.
If you enjoyed this story, you might also check several other personal stories profiling people in my social circles and giving perspectives on solving their life challenges.
Here’s How I Got Healthier and Smoother Skin via 5 Lifestyle and Holistic Health Methods.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
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