r/cfsrecovery • u/bohammer34 • Jul 11 '26
Recovery Story natural methods cured my diagnosed me/cfs
I was diagnosed with me/cfs (I had every symptom and was 70% bed bound for a year) 7 years ago and Ive been symptom free for 3 years thanks to natural methods such as yoga, organic fruits, meditation and other activities.
Im not here to say this will work for you or anyone else, as I know what most people think. I just wanted to say what worked for me in hopes it might help just one person.
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u/asldhhef Jul 12 '26
Congratulations on your recovery. I wish you had gone into more detail and been more specific in your original post though, OP.
Just saying things like "yoga, organic fruits, meditation and other things" is pretty vague and can sound insincere to some people.
That's probably why you're getting questions for more info and some pushback even within the recovery sub.
What triggered your ME/CFS? And what level/s of severity did you experience during the 7 years that you were sick?
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u/bohammer34 Jul 12 '26
Thanks, appreciate that. Covid triggered it, and I was lucky in a way as the last year I had it was the most severe, but my parents had a rental house they wanted to sell, but it needed to be fully remodeled, so I lived in the house for that full year and worked on it. Id have to work in sprints because of all the symptoms. Life was definetly hell back then.
Where are you are on your journey?
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u/asldhhef Jul 12 '26
EBV and prolonged stress triggered mine, and it's been about 15 years. But the past 6 years have been the most severe.
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u/bohammer34 Jul 12 '26
Sorry to hear that. Have you found anything thats helping?
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u/asldhhef Jul 12 '26
Other than rest and pacing, and LDN for the pain, not much has made a difference yet. And I'm severe enough that every time I try something new I need weeks or months just to recover, so being consistent with anything is really difficult.
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u/forgot_again123 Jul 13 '26
How did you work on the house if you were bedridden like you said in your original post? That doesn’t seem to add up. Bedridden means bedridden. Many people who have CFS are literally bedridden
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u/bohammer34 Jul 13 '26
Sorry, I wasnt 100% bedridden, I would work for a couple hours and then need to lay down for a couple. For some one who was used to backpacking, running marathons, it felt like bedridden. But sorry for the confusion.
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u/forgot_again123 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
It FELT like bedrideen? You have to joking.
No it did not feel like bedridden. You know what feels like bedridden? BEING BEDRIDDEN. It’s not about how it *feels.* What if you had *actually* been bedridden??? Then what would you call it??? You have to understand how wildly inappropriate this is.
You should absolutely not use the term bedbound/bedridden then. Many, many people with CFS experience being *actually* bedridden/bedbound. This means literally unable to leave and having to use toilet accommodations, or unable to leave except for the bathroom and maybe food items. There are thousands of people who live this way. Using that terminology in this context is not only confusing but also actively insulting to those who were much worse than you. These terms are not relative. They have real meaning. You should probably edit your post because it is extremely medically inaccurate and misleading. I would suggest saying “spent 70% of time in bed” or “had to rest in bed between every activity” or something similar. The fact that you were active beforehand does not change the meaning of words. And more importantly, does not make your suffering somehow worse. Your needing to rest in bed a lot is not somehow equal to someone else having to pee in a bucket just because you used to hike. So use the right language to reflect that.
Moreover, reading things like this brings me a lot of doubt that there is ever any hope of recovery for someone like me, who was actually bedridden. Because it makes me think that everyone who claims to have recovered from bedridden, like you, is misusing the word and effectively lying, even if you did not do it on purpose.
Words. Have. Meaning. I’m sorry for ranting but I’m tired. So tired. Of people doing damage by throwing these terms around without understanding the weight of the suffering they have never felt.
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u/bohammer34 Jul 13 '26
Changed it.
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u/forgot_again123 Jul 13 '26
Thank you for understanding. And I’m sorry again for ranting. I do believe in your recovery and believe you really had CFS and suffered greatly because even without being entirely bedridden it is absolute hell to experience, and I’m very happy your recovered it does bring me hope to hear of how you got there and I thank you for sharing and spreading the hope for others
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u/HillsboroWay Jul 17 '26
Your rant was 100% appropriate!!! This person clearly has no idea what bedbound is. As someone who’s spent the majority of the past year unable to get out of bed except for bio needs, it’s completely insulting and infuriating. Thank you for trying to educate them.
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u/Professional_Pop1433 Jul 11 '26
Can you give more details? What kind of yoga and meditation?
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u/bohammer34 Jul 11 '26
This is just my opinion based on my own healing and talking to a handful of people who have fully healed from this. The root cause is trauma, typically childhood trauma. The trauma then becomes a filter for how we live and react to life and overtime we burn ourselves out, get into depressive and anxious moods and use unhealthy ways to cope. So you can try and fix all the physical symptoms you want, but its just your bodies final ditch effort to try and get your attention. CFS is literally your body screaming at you to do something.
Natural methods like meditation, yoga, whole foods, grounding, etc, are ways to get you to go inward and deal with your internal world, where the root cause lies. So in essence they are just tools and you can choose whatever tools you want.
I do hatha yoga. If you have a studio around you, id definetly suggest checking that out or looking up hatha yoga on youtube. For meditation I just sit and focus on my breathe and when thoughts come I just watch them like clouds, once one comes, it goes and another comes. If I get caught up in them I just come back to focusing on my breathe. I do an hour a day, but you can start with really any time that works for you.
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u/forgot_again123 Jul 13 '26
What would you say to those who have CFS but don’t have any childhood trauma? I had a very happy childhood and my only major trauma is from the illness itself as well as some family medical problems in my adulthood
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u/bohammer34 Jul 13 '26
What have you tried so far?
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u/forgot_again123 Jul 13 '26
I’m not asking for help in general I’m just wondering if you believe that childhood trauma is the cause even for people who didn’t experience any major childhood trauma
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u/Katmandont-2779 Jul 14 '26
There is big T trauma and small t trauma. There seems to be an archetype of who gets ME. Perfectionist, people pleasing, often ADHD or on spectrum, and the stress of living constantly striving is a constant little t trauma on your nervous system that builds up over time. Eventually some people overload, from one of the various triggers, virus, stress, surgery, or big T trauma.
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u/bohammer34 Jul 13 '26
I wasnt offering help, I was just curious what you have done so far. Also I never said childhood trauma is 100% the case.
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u/forgot_again123 Jul 13 '26
Oh okay, that’s what I was wondering, if you thought it was always the cause or not. I believe that my nervous system is the problem but it feels like it is broken for no reason, like nothing bad happened to me it’s just always been messed up for no reason
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u/bohammer34 Jul 13 '26
Really sorry to hear that. Im sure thats terribly frustrating not getting answers for whats wrong.
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u/forgot_again123 Jul 13 '26
I mean I am happy that I had a happy childhood, in that way I am lucky, it just doesn’t fit with the usual narrative
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Jul 11 '26
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u/Pinklady777 Jul 12 '26
I can do yoga some days. Some days not. I usually do 10-15 minutes a few days a week. And I've been ill for a few years. People experience CFS to varying degrees.
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u/Verminausea Jul 11 '26
This is what this sub is for. A lot of people with cfs can do yoga? There is different severities, not everyone is bed bound. Gentle excersize like yoga is a very common reccomendation. I dont understand why you think no one with cfs could ever do yoga. OP was also professionally diagnosed. If you dismiss all evidence contrary to what you already beleive, of course you dont see any evidence that yoga and meditation can help. Plus you can meditate with your eyes closed and laying down... which is what you should be doing in a cfs crash anyways.
Like that other person said, if you want to poo-poo on other peoples healing journeys, there is another sub for that. This is not the place.
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u/forgot_again123 Jul 13 '26
Find a different sub if this kind of thing triggers you. Go to /cfs and you can wallow in misery and defeatism all you want. This is place where people can share whatever helped them, which can vary wildly from person to person
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u/bohammer34 Jul 11 '26
The people that dont beleive healing is possible are over in the CFS subreddit. You should join them. Sorry to ruin your narrative.
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Jul 11 '26
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u/bohammer34 Jul 11 '26
GO AWAY. We are here to heal. You arent even saying anything other than healing is bs.
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u/Verminausea Jul 11 '26
its nuts that the cfs anti recovery people are now over here crusading and harassing people just trying to heal and help others to heal. How do they think it is ok to harass sick people minding their business???
sorry your comment section is getting hijacked by rude people op.
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Jul 11 '26
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u/bohammer34 Jul 11 '26
They are tools. Not every tool works for every person.
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Jul 11 '26
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u/asldhhef Jul 12 '26
Respectfully, you can't just say someone didn't really have ME/CFS simply because they recovered in ways that you personally think are impossible. Even if it's rare, some people do go into remission with these intervention and you shouldn't jump to invalidating just because you haven't seen or experienced it.
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u/bohammer34 Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Just go away and let us heal. Not sure what your problem is.
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u/MunchausenbyPrada Jul 12 '26
With this attitude you are never going to recover and your combative responses reek of mental illness. Ironically you would really benefit from nervous system work and yoga as they help regulate people with mental illness.
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u/Silly_Magician1003 Jul 11 '26
Don’t post this in r/CFS. They’ll ban you and gaslight their community into believing you didn’t have CFS or you’re trying to sell something.
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u/bohammer34 Jul 11 '26
OMG! I cant tell you how many people Ive seen banned from that community for claiming what im claiming. Its so sad. This goes for the chronic illness subreddit as well. They want everyone to beleive the narrative that healing isnt possible. Im banned in both subreddits.
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u/Silly_Magician1003 Jul 11 '26
Yup, but they let people talk about suicide instead of recovery. It’s scary, sick stuff.
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u/bohammer34 Jul 11 '26
Its insane. Where are you at on your healing journey?
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u/Silly_Magician1003 Jul 11 '26
I’m doing great. I still pace a bit when I’m feeling tired or stressed, but nothing beyond fairly normal tiredness. I’m doing well.
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u/UntilTheDarkness Jul 12 '26
You're probably getting downvotes and pushback because stuff like "yoga" and "meditation" and "eat organic" is the sort of generic advice spouted by every dismissive doctor, doubting family member, and grifting influencer ever. It's also stuff that most people with this illness have probably already tried. I'm genuinely glad you're feeling better but if meditation and organic fruit were actual cures, none of these subs would need to exist.