Abigail tells how she managed to reverse long-term Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS after 20+ years
Even after a few years, we wonder how we can reverse long-term fibromyalgia or ME/CFS. That’s why I am excited to be able to bring my first audio interview of someone that managed to recover from long-term Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and what an amazing and inspirational story it is.
Abigail shares not just what she did to recover and how she did it and the emotional rollercoaster of it all.
Even though I am already recovered for many years myself, I found her to be very inspirational as Abigail had been ill ALL of her adult life and suffered from this illness for over 20 years before she recovered.
Despite living a full life now and working full-time, she sees herself as partially recovered (85%), but I can’t help but wonder how difficult it must be to truly measure her degree of recovery given that she has not had a frame of reference for the normal ups and downs of the average ‘healthy’ adult.
I have my own views, as does Abigail, but regardless of what you think in terms of whether she is fully or partially recovered, I hope you will all see the value in her amazing story of recovery to get her health back and to get her life back.
I feel Abigail is a great inspiration and brave to share her story.
Please leave a comment at the bottom of the page!
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This was great to hear – thanks to Abigail and Dan and particularly for making this available in audio as reading is very difficult for me at the moment. It seems the message of taking personal responsibility to get well is key and also taking a multi-disciplinary approach and maintaining the sense of determination even through the setbacks.
It is hugely refreshing and encouraging to hear a recovery story from someone who was ill for so long – it would be great to hear more like this and from people who are more severely effected as so many stories tend to make you wonder whether they really had ‘CFS’ or not.
One thing that came up struck me as being potentially very powerful, was some kind of ‘buddy’ system where people who don’t have the support of family/friends could work with other PECFS who are focused on recovery, to support each other through the recovery phase.
Thanks for the positive feedback. I hope you see that ABigail was severely effected!
I agree about other ‘stories of recovery’ from fibro of CFS/ME, often people had chronic fatigue, not chronic fatigue SYNDROME – completely different things!
The more I am working with other people, the more I realise that the ‘buddy’ system is important. However, I think a coaching relationship is much better. People supporting each other when neither is confident of success can only have limited benefit.
Glad you enjoyed the story!
Thanks Alex! It sure feels great to be healthy these days.
A buddy system is great idea… unfortunately the only people I knew with CFS or Fibro were as sick as I was… and didn’t really know how to get better.
It was when I invested in my health and saw a holistic practitioner twice a month that I made progress with my health much faster. My guide had seen it all and was confidant anything was possible for me; this is just what I needed to stick to the new holistic lifestyle I was choosing.
I’m wishing for you the support you need to feel better fast!
Infinite Love and Gratitude,
Abigail (of the above interview)
Hi,
Love to hear of recovery from this. I am glad that you are starting to enjoy life. Thank you for sharing and my wish is that you continue on your way.
Following are some of my thoughts and a brief potted history of my fibro-fight.
All sorts of phrases spring to mind; ‘We’re here to smell the roses’ etc. but being more specific has helped me. Tell yourself simply to Have Fun, smile even when you don’t want to. Recent research proves that if you physically change your body, your physiology follows and vice versa. So now I practice having fun every day. I have my power pose (think Wonder Woman), I smile as broadly as I can, I do the gratidudette dance (find it on YouTube – gratidude dance, however I am a woman hence gratidudette) , and I hold thoughts that make me feel good for as long as I can. I can often manage to do at least 2 minutes a day!! Seriously take having fun as a serious business and do as much of it as you can. Feed your soul. Some of my thoughts are, the look and beaming smile on my daughter’s face as she told me she had passed her driving test; the way I felt on a swaying boat, in the sunshine, watching dolphins; being pushed out of the water and flying aloft for a few seconds by dolphins; you know what I mean. Make a list and remember each one whilst you are practising smiling. Start at 2 minutes and stretch it.
All the doctors I saw told me that there was no recovery. My history was quite different in many ways but had similar features. Everything I tried worked – and believe me I tried everything I found ! But then after a short while each thing worked no longer. I knew of healing crises but experiencing all the set-backs is not the same as knowing about them!! I came to a conclusion some years ago that my body had been under stress and illness for so long it had re-set my health to ‘bad’, ie my homeostasis was off balance. So then I started to do everything again but in diluted form to ‘creep up’ on my body before it woke up to the fact that I was trying to make it healthy. I felt a bit like Lara Croft at times, as It was like fighting with invisible ninjas ! All this time money was a great problem, so I didn’t concentrate on getting healthy as much as perhaps I should. Then I read a self development book aimed at making money and being generally successful, which inspired me to write to the author – not the first time I had written to authors let me tell you. I explained all my difficulties. His reply was different to all the others. He did not exhort me to take action and think differently or follow his instructions in the book to the letter, he told me that before I did anything else, indeed before I could do anything else, I needed to sort out my health. He told me that he ‘juiced’ (of course I had already tried this), and suggested a book I might find helpful. Being a very different reply I got hold of the book and juiced, my diet was quite good but I was often too tired to eat frequently or well enough. But with the sudden mass of easily digested nutrition there was a vast improvement. This encouraged me to continue.
However, what I know now is that CFS/ME/Fibro, is a multi-system breakdown, so that once my nutrition was sorted other systems came to the fore begging for attention. Then just recently I started to find out about other people who had recovered and they had all taken a multi-system approach to their healing.
About the depression? I defy anyone to have as many things wrong with them, try hard to sort them out, and when this all fails time after time, and year after year, and have all the medics say you will have to find a way to live with it; not to be depressed !!
I was clinically depressed, and I still do get down, but the main feeling for me is the frustration and irritation at not being able to do what I used to be able to do. The fibro fog and exhaustion is also a real killer for me. If I can’t think straight for more than five seconds how on earth can I expect to deal with sorting out my health?
Drugs I take now are for high blood pressure and pain only. A few years ago I realised that I was rattling with the amount of medication I was taking. And when I stopped taking it all and told my doctor, (three months later), he faked a slap on my head! I manage pain with subliminal audios, meditation and Jin Shin Gytsu and when I cannot stand it any longer then I will succumb to pain killers. Of course the medication was vastly affecting my ability to concentrate and think straight in addition to the problems with Fibromyalgia. So for a long time I wasn’t able to help myself.
What the author of the book did for me was, in a way, give me permission to look after myself rather than continuously search for ways of financially supporting myself. After doing this for a year or so I then started to receive and notice information on the multi-system failure approach from more than one source. I tackled the fibro-fog by finding out about smart drugs and approaching my doctor, who did a lot of research about them but took time doing so. During that time I asked my herbalist and she suggested other things for me to take. Immediately I started to take what she had suggested my mind cleared enough for me to do more research. With more research came more enlightenment.
So now I feel I am on my way to recovery. I still get very frustrated with set backs and slow progress, but maybe these are some of my problems that caused me to be ill in the first place.
My family back ground is such that I suppressed all feelings, physical and emotional at a very early age. Having studied psychology I now consider that I was lucky to have coped this way rather than develop multiple personalities. The crushing levels of stress have remained high all my life, but of course not being able to experience the actual feelings meant I was not able to deal with each problem as it arose.
Now that I am 61 I am hoping to have some life, not become a bag lady, and travel and regain some of my lost time, energy, and most of all have all the fun I have missed out on !! Yes I suppose I am a hedonist.!!
Thank you once again for your sharing, it is always a pleasure to hear that someone has found their way back to living once again.
Love light and fun to you all
Thanks for your comments, glad you have your eyes on the prize – keep going! 🙂
This was very interesting, and made a lot of sense. I would like to know what treatment approaches she used to deal with the candida and the parasites, since so many People with CFS cannot tolerate
Drugs….did she use natural approaches or the very strong ( and hard on the liver) antifungals and anti parasitic drugs?
Alot of this is about her persistence, which is really important, but more of the practical story would be helpful too. Did the kinesiologist prescribe homeopathic remedies for instance?
Thanks again!
Hi, thank you very much for sharing your story. Its been some years now, and I wonder how you are going? I have been very ill with CFS, FMS and PTSD for many years, 30 about. I have tried many things, but feel that because of the complexity of all these put together, I seem to not be able to put in the time that is so obviously needed. I get a set back, and my world falls apart. I would so love to be able to say that I am even 50% better… but unfortunately, it has gotten worse over the years. I am now 46. So happy for you tho! It gives me a bit of a good feeling for a change, that I may be still able to get a better quality of life.
Hi Tanya
Sorry to hear you are not well, but hopefully these and the other recovery interviews inspire you. If you haven’t already seen it, check out the video explanation series in the resources section. You should have a link to this in your last email update if you are on the mailing list. 🙂
Very encouraging !