hi all, I'm new here and just wondering if you could help.
I was diagnosed with swine flu 2 months ago, I had a course of tami flu, and rested in bed for 2 weeks. The flu like syptoms have gone, but I am really tired all the time, struggling to sleep properly (at night), and feel really weak, and I feel dizzy in the mornings.
I have had various blood tests done, but they have all come back clear. The doctor says that it could possibly be post viral fatigue, along with a few other possibilities. They also recommended taking more time off work, I have had 3 weeks off work to rest, but I still dont feel any different, and its starting to get me down.
I have always been a very active person, i go the gym 5 nites a week, and i work doing a manual labouring job, and I go out every friday and saturday night. Even though over the past few years my immune system hasnt been that good, I still have never felt like this.
I will admit that the few months before I was diagnosed with swine flu, I was taking tablet steriods (stupid I know), and stopped taking them when I became ill. I dont know if they have any part to play on how I'm feeling.
Even though I feel so weak all the time, I am just managing to stay at work (which is good as I dont get sick pay), so I'm not as bad as many of the cases I have read about.
I hope you can help, as I feel like I'm constantly in the dark about what it is thats wrong with me, with no one knowing what it is.
thank you,
james
Hi James
Welcome to HP
Though i have never suffered from post viral fatigue I know two people quite close to me who have suffered quite badly with it over the years.
From what I have been told you need to be quite careful and listen to how your body is feeling, if you feel tired rest. It can change from day to day, so you need to respond to it on that basis. Don't push yourself too hard, 5 nights at the gym sounds quite a lot to me, in addition to doing
a physically demanding job.
You could try having acupuncture, shiatsu or reflexology to get your energy flowing smoothly. I can recommend acupuncture as I found it very helpful.:)
Love Binah
xx
My daughter has recently been diagnosed with it.
For any exertion you do you need to rest - you need to build in rest periods through out your day and you need to a little every day!
It took us 6 months to find out what was wrong with her, we were then told for a child it should only be 3 and an adult 4 months.
There are clinics and help available through the nhs and locally.
You need to find a way that works for you whilst you get over it.
Good luck!
Sorry I couldnt reply sooner, I had my internet cut off, thank you both for the advice, I will try them both, I am still no better, but I am resting alot more
I still havent managed to recover from the post viral fatigue, nor does it matter how much rest I have, i still have very little energy. I have read up on something called the lightening process? its a 3 day course with a 95% sucess rate, but the only problem is it cost a thousand pounds! But with the way Im feeling at the moment I would pay anything to feel better again!
I was just wondering if anybody on here has heard anything good come from it, or if anybody has actually taken the course? Your input would be much appreciated,
james
Hi James
I absolutely sympathise with you over your condition, having been there myself for a number of years. In fact I had just about given up hope of ever getting better, but much to my delight discovered help from both Nutritional Therapy and Emotional Freedom Technique and I was so impressed I retrained in both these therapies.
I have have heard impressive claims from the Lightening process but have not met anyone who has done it - so can't really comment on it. Because we are all individually diverse and what may work for one person may not work for another, it is a matter of finding what helps you I'm afraid. It may be any of the complementary therapies.
7 months seems so long to be feeling so ill, and I do hope you find the answers soon. Please read through the posts here for ME/CFS which are very similar and give lots more information which may be helpful.
Yes its been too long, that is why I am looking at this as a 'quick fix' to my problem, as alot of the other things I have tried have been long drawn with no sucess.
I will maybe try some of the therapys you suggested before shelling out such a vast amount on this course, thank you for your time
james
Hi James
I am currently helping two women with ME / CFS using Bowen Technique. It is early days but both seem to be getting some worthwhile changes to energy levels / pain / headaches.
This is a very gentle technique which I beleive is certainly worth trying - but then I am biased !
Best wishes for your recovery
JJ
thank you very much, I will also look into this aswell, much appreciated!
james
I still havent managed to recover from the post viral fatigue, nor does it matter how much rest I have, i still have very little energy. I have read up on something called the lightening process? its a 3 day course with a 95% sucess rate, but the only problem is it cost a thousand pounds! But with the way Im feeling at the moment I would pay anything to feel better again!
Hi there James
I'm interested to hear whether you ended up trying the lightening process? And if so, how it went.
Ava x
There is an interesting report from the ME Association [DLMURL="http://www.meassociation.org.uk/images/stories/2010_survey_report_lo-res.pdf"]here[/DLMURL]. There were over 4200 respondents to their questionnaire and it is interesting to see what sufferers thought helpful and those they found unhelpful.
The Lightning process seems to help about 44% and of that only 25% found it very helpful (chart p 9), far less than I had been told - and it's not cheap!
Have a careful read!
There is an interesting report from the ME Association [DLMURL="http://www.meassociation.org.uk/images/stories/2010_survey_report_lo-res.pdf"]here[/DLMURL]. There were over 4200 respondents to their questionnaire and it is interesting to see what sufferers thought helpful and those they found unhelpful.
The Lightning process seems to help about 44% and of that only 25% found it very helpful (chart p 9), far less than I had been told - and it's not cheap!
Have a careful read!
Hi Caroline - is that reply directed to me? If so, I'm not wanting to take it - I was just curious to hear whether James took it, and if so what he thought of it.
Regarding price - no therapy is cheap!
Ava x
Hi Caroline - is that reply directed to me? If so, I'm not wanting to take it - I was just curious to hear whether James took it, and if so what he thought of it.
Regarding price - no therapy is cheap!
Ava x
Hi Ava - no, the information was for general consumption and for James87uk (23.3.10) who was asking. It's quite a quite a long report but interesting to see what people found helpful. I was under the impression it was about £1000 for a weekend's treatment.
I was under the impression it was about £1000 for a weekend's treatment.
Hi Caroline,
I went to the LP website and looked up the prices. For LP practitioners in Edinburgh the hourly rate for the 3 half-days is cheaper than the hourly rate I pay for my nutritionist. And it is almost half the hourly rate of what I paid for a homeopathy treatment. No therapy is cheap!
Anyway, I'm interested to hear how James went.
Ava x
LT
Hi, re LT. a friend that had MECFS for 8 years did LT last year, she has gone from being in bed a lot of the time to undertaking a study course and is active most days. Prior to doing LT she was also have accunpuncture and using Chinese herbs. Although she says LT was a miracle cure, she is still have accunpunture and chinese herbs....
She didn't pay for her treatment as someone she knew was looking for a guinea pig as a case study as they were training in LT, but the person doing it said she would be charging about £500-800 for the treatment depending on location, etc as to how far she had to travel.
My friend still gets bad days when she can't do anything but she's not in bed a lot of the time like she used to be
Thank atlanticpearl for sharing your friend's experience of the LP.
It's a bit of a strange one, in my opinion. One of my pals gave me a detailed description of what LP entails (I'll not betray her confidence and say any more) - so I am now more familiar with it than when I made my last post. Given that I know what's involved I'm not totally sure how or why it should work better than counselling, NLP, hypnotherapy - or similar. When you look at the trainers (LP is a workshop/training, not a therapy) they all seem to have had similar fabulous results as your friend had. So, evidently it really does work for some people, and very well indeed. Caroline mentioned that it's not as effective as the LP website makes out. My pal fits in that camp: someone who got some improvement but nothing that greatly improved her quality of life.
CFS/ME/Fibromyalgia are horrible things to endure. So, it is very good to hear that someone has managed to become well. I love TCM (and am doing some light study in it) - so it's great to hear that she is getting help from acupuncture and Chinese herbs!
Ava x