Cfs/depression???????? Help

Hi Bambi
Relax and relax again and more.

Take this self improvement, holistic living, emotional freedom easy for now. It can become a trap in itself.
Perhaps just forget about all that is wrong and what you have to put right. It does seem that most of your attention is invested in keeping or trying to keep on top of things. That is sapping more energy than the problem itself.
Your focus is on how tired the body feels then it feels a bit more tired and then you notice it a bit more...the circle gets bigger. just take a break from noticing.

It seems like a you are aware of the holistic stuff maybe just become ignorant again and stick two fingers to all of this knowlege.
Body has its own rythms and seasons it perks itself up. It goes up and down. Don't get too involved. Create a distance the body does what it does, you can choose to stay aloof to a certain extent. Digging for 'root cause' can be a mighty concept.

Stop the affirmations. They take a lot of focus which is energy. Just live. Just be loose and natural. At the moment you are like strings on a violin, let go, loose up.
That alone will bring some balance. Too much effort! for what? It is having the reverse effect! Living does not need such intense involvement. Relax into your being that is ever at ease. There is nothing to achieve health, wealth, peace, freedom nothing! It is all a trap.
yet all flows freely in your loose and natural state

Did any of those blood tests check for your vitamin D status? Do you have metal fillings? Have you a history of antibiotic use or regular vaccinations, or other medications? Other significant health events at all, eg illness or injury? Do you eat a variety of fresh unprocessed foods? Are your bowels moving every day?

Aaah Bambi,

So sorry to hear you are struggling so with so many issues. Not nice at all. It strikes me that your hormones and immune system are struggling to find equilibrium and the tiredness and depression are all showing you that things need sorting, plus gut dysbiosis will be an issue. There is just too much going on to give adequate advice here.

You say you have been on a gluten-free diet and it helps - was this under the direction of a nutritional therapist or done on your own?

My serious recommendation is to see a [url]qualified nutritional therapist [/url]who will do a full assessment of your whole history and sort out this jigsaw with targeted supplements and diet plans for you putting in place the physical building blocks your body needs to help it recover and to help eliminate toxins. There are a number of colleagues I could suggest (if this is allowed - by PM), but you do not indicate your whereabouts. There is so much that can be done to help!

My other suggestion is Emotional Freedom Technique which has some amazing results - not always immediate but can sort many issues quite quickly - see . There is a free [url]downloadable basic [/url]information.

Using qualified therapists will make a lot of difference if you can follow their advice. There are likely to be some structural assistance needed too.

kvdp and Ava will offer their suggestions too, I'm sure.

Wishing you all the best - Love, Light and Healing too, if it helps.

I used to be on fluoxetine myself for about a year.
I'm not saying come off your meds or even that it is your meds, but
"It has got to a point recently where I am falling asleep at work, which is not good as Im actually a reflexologist. I cant keep my eyes open. I get serious brain fog and find it so hard to connect to my clients sometimes. I get dazed in the supermarket and sometimes feel like I shouldnt be driving. My memory is poor and I sometimes cant find the words I want to use."
That is exactly the same as how I felt while on the same medication. It was because of the tiredness (I was an out patiant & I was actually falling asleep while at the hospital!!!) I changed to Venlafaxine which I was on for 4/5 years until about 6 months ago.
I personally found that while on fluoxetine I never slept properly. I would get plenty of sleep but I had THE most vivid nightmares & dreams....I would wake up SO many times during the night because of dreaming. It was like I wasn't getting that really deep sleep we all need each night. I had the quantity but not the quality.
Once I changed medication, my sleep improved & I became more "with it".

Maybe you're experiencing the same & need to talk to your doctor about it? Sometimes a change in dosage, as little as 5/10 mg can make all the difference with some anti-depressants.
I recommend going back to your doctor & really enforcing how the tiredness is effecting you. Maybe take a friend/family member with you to help support you & back you up on how much it's effecting your day to day life.
I've found GPs tend to brush you off a lot if you have mental health problems, having someone else there should help them to see you're not exaggerating or whatever it is they think....I've always found they take me seriously when I have back up!

Whatever it is that's knocking you for six, I hope it eases off & you're feeling better soon!
Take care of yourself
xxx

Hi Bambi,
Some more 'advice' to further confuse you!
If it was me, I'd take on board everything in the previous posts and also asap consult a registered homeopath.
You would have at least an hour to describe exactly how you feel, physically, mentally and emotionally, at the consultation. The homeopath would probably not say-or do a great deal other than listen and make notes and wouldn't give a medical diagnosis but would prescribe a (natural) remedy for you to take in the form of one or several pills (alongside medicine that you already take if necessary). The medicine would 'work' by addressing the obvious energy imbalance that you have (and if you're a reflexologist you will understand the energy concept) and you should expect to see changes in your health within one or two (monthly) consultations. Using homeopathy there is every chance that you can really get on the road to a full recovery. I hope you feel better soon. Hom

Hey Bambi, many of your symptoms are likely from adrenal gland dysfunction such as the food allergies, depression, fatigue, sugar addiction which occurs due to the adrenals not regulating blood sugar properly, hormonal issues and so on.

Work on building up your adrenal glands via adaptogenic herbs, vitamin C & vitamin b5 from natural sources. Magnesium can also help which you may be low in, go with an acidified type such as citrate or even better malate which will help with ATP function and energy.

Thank you. Im going to the doctor tonight to see what he thinks. xx

Hi Hom, thank you for your reply.
I have tried hoemopathy and naturopathy in the past. Im currently taking a few supplements which help the digestive symptoms but like I said the tiredness and depression are tough. Exercise helps but right now its the last thing I feel like doing! xxxx

Hi kvdp. Thanks for your reply. I do have a couple of metal fillings. No history of antibiotic use just anti-depressants on and off. I do eat a healthy balanced diet and my bowels move very well daily. No history of illness or injury.
Bambi xx

Well I would say consider getting those fillings checked and/or removed, avoid vaccination (further heavy metal load), avoid the antidepressants if you can (apparently B vitamins and a good night's sleep may be every bit as beneficial - or more, because they deal with cause), avoid stress and see a professional nutritional therapist to check all the nooks and crannies of your lifestyle for problems eg deficiencies. And if there's a huge stress in your life, eg work, spouse, sick relative, then you need to consider how to manage that in a way you can sustain.

I wish you well Bambi :nature-smiley-008:

Hi Bambi

You make no mention of your sleeping patterns in your post. Assuming that your having no significant problems either getting to sleep or staying asleep, many of the symptoms you describe can be explained using Chinese medicine. Firstly, depression is almost always a symptom of physiological disorder, as CM never separates Mind and Body (that Decartes has a lot to answer for!) When coupled with physical and emotional tiredness, CM tends to look towards the digestive system; simply, if the body is tired, the energy we get from food is not being absorbed adequately, or not circulated to the tissues. The main pathological factors that affect digestion are unregulated diet, cold foods, dairy foods and greasy, spicy foods. Additionally, emotional factors such as worry, overthinking and frustration can all affect digestive ability long term.

Bear with me on this explanation; long term PMT symptoms are thought of in CM as being related to frustration and anger, which has a kind of "bottling up" process. The "internal pressure" (referred to as Qi stagnation in CM) eventually has to find an outlet by looking for an escape route. For some it flows upwards as Heat, in CM terms meaning migraines etc. For others, especially those with a digestion that's been weakened by an unregulated diet (I see you mentioned OA) or by worry and overthinking, the stagnation can affect the body's ability to transform foodstuffs, often creating IBS type symptoms,with cramps and bloating, and a tendency to loose stools.

Once the body is no longer able to transform food, an internal pathogenic factor (called "Phlegm" in CM) forms in the body. This has a tendency to block the pathways in which Qi circulates; when this affects the upper body and head it leads to a stuffy chest and the feeling like the head is in a bag, with cloudy concentration and tiredness, and when it affects the Heart (in CM it's the centre for our emotions) it can lead to feelings of depression and aimlessness.

Unfortunately, western style "diet" foods are seen as harmful to the body by CM. Excessive salads, cold foods etc are thought to be difficult to digest, causing further taxation on an already weakened system. Also childbirth is thought of as a time when the woman's body is especially weak (in China women traditionally stay in bed for a month to recover). In our culture women tend to rush back to everyday life without having fully recovered from the process, leading to higher rates of post-natal problems. This might also include a weaker digestion and a tendency to weight gain.

A good TCM practitioner should be able to help you with your problems using acupuncture and/or herbs. The British Acupuncture Council keeps a list of well trained practitioners (there are also a few well trained non-registered ones, before anyone spits their dummy!) Best thing to do is phone around first. Medical acupuncturist, eg physiotherapists etc are unlikely to be able to help much, as usually they use a different language to decribe the body.

Best wishes
David

Wow! Thank you David. It's so difficult! I've spent months on a program with Maryon Stewart - author of various books incuding No More PMS and No More IBS. I changed my diet to gluten, wheat & dairy free and take various supplements that she recommended. She also recommended that I eat 3 oily fish per week, 3 veg per day, 3 fruit and a salad everyday!! So I've gone from eating no salad whatsoever to making myself have one everyday!! I am a cold person as it is, I always feel cold and get reynaulds too.
It is difficult when you have one person saying one thing and somebody else saying something else isnt it.
Kindest, Bambi

Hi Bambi

Without prejudice, I'd say that if you've spent months following one or other programme without significant results, it might be time to ask yourself whether its the right one for you. All programmes are likely to benefit some people, but of course, not all people are the same! This is one of the nice things about Chinese medicine, in that it treats each patient as an individual (making it somewhat difficult to measure results in Western terms!).

In terms of diet, CM sees digestion as a kind of "cooking" process, in which food is heated by the body in order to separate the useful from the less useful. Cold foods, raw foods and icy drinks weaken the process; in a normally healthy individual of course, occasional salads etc are not normally an issue, but someone with significant health problems such as yours may well have a weaker digestion, and find it difficult to gain much energy from these food sources. Traditionally, in Chinese culture vegetables are lightly cooked, often steamed or stir fried (actually another steaming process when done correctly) as heat adds energy to the food making it easier to transform into the qi-energy used for metabolic function. You mention Reynauds- this is essentially a qi deficiency in CM, as there is insufficient qi in the system to push heat and blood to the extremities. The loose stools you mention are also another indication of qi deficiency, as there may be insufficient qi to complete the digestion process. A TCM practitioner would take a view of all these problems, and try to frame them in a way that gives a starting point for a treatment programme based on the needs of the individual. Remember that chinese medicine is based on ideas that have been continuously refined over 2000 years, and are based on observation of real people in real situations; even if the language used to describe the problems seem a little leftfield, the ideas remain valid.

One of the best books I've come accross is by Angela Hicks- "77 ways to improve your well being". This book is for the interested layperson rather than practitioner, and offers useful advice on self-care from a TCM perspective. There is a saying in CM- to seek treatment once illness arises is like trying to dig a well when already thirsty. Much of CM is based on self care, as its much easier to maintain the body so that good health remains, rather than trying to regain it when it leaves. In a time when there was no surgery, antibiotics or scanners, CM came up with useful ways of taking care of oneself on a daily or seasonal basis- unfortunately we in the west have lost much of this common wisdom, to our detriment.

Best wishes in your journey to better health.
David

If you are cold all the time its likely your hypothyroid, have you tested your basal body temperature first thing in the morning?

It will likely be secondary hypothyroidism due to your adrenal gland dysfunction symptoms.

Hi Bambi, sounds a really difficult situation. Seems like your whole system is sluggish. Do you do any exercise? Studies have found it the best treatment for depression. I recently started doing Kundalini Yoga from a Maya Fiennes DVD and found it really uplifting - emotionally, mentally and physically. I think it would help if you could try something to get your system moving again.

hi bambi,

Sorry to hear you're suffering. I agree with David - Chinese Medicine could really help you, in terms of acupuncture or diet. Also, have you considered tai chi or qi gong. They are both great for regulating and strengthening the system.

Dear Bambi,

On the path I follow we believe in ruthless honesty (vs wanting to be liked).

Is it not possible that you are indulging in feeling victimised and hard-done-by? Only you can know but to me it sounds like you actually know what to do. You have done enough work on yourself over the years, no? What you describe is a person with no self-respect. No treatment can change that. And harsh as it may sound, if you don't respect yourself, you also don't respect anyone or anything else. I'm not saying this to be deliberately harsh. But you know, lacking self-respect sounds for most people "not all that bad". Only once they realise the impact on the world around them does it start to feel unpleasant. And then of course the defensiveness comes up. But that's ok. These are all stages of learning to see things more clearly.

I don't think you need more treatments, programmes or affirmations, but people who are prepared to make themselves unpopular by "whacking" you out of your victimhood and into finding your strength. 😉