My first weekend away in a while...

I'm really doing a lot better these days.

I went away this weekend to A's farm for the first time in a long while. I was more active than I expected to be.

I went for a short horse ride, a few short walks, and drove the four-wheel motorbike around to feed the sheep and explore my favourite part of the farm. I expected to spend the whole time indoors; I surprised myself.

Now I feel like how most people who don't know anything about CFS expect me to feel - most of my symptoms have toned down; fatigue and tiring easily are my main symptoms now. I still ache more than a normal person should after even light exhertion, but I find it wears off quicker now (in a day, as opposed to in a week).

It's amazing how much my quality of life has improved, simply from being able to stand for longer periods of time, and walk greater distances.

My fourth appointment with Dr S

I'm doing well.

I caught a cold or virus or something this week, so that's been a slight setback, but I think it's going away.

I've started the next phase of my treatment plan, which is treatment for parasites. I'm taking anti-candida medication as well still.

The clinic is closed for the month of September (they warned us a while ago that it would be closed), so my treatments and appointments will resume in October. I've been booked in for another MORA treatment, and three lympathic drainage therapies, and another appointment with the doctor in mid-October.

All in all, apart from the virus, it's still going well and I am improving, so that's good.

Apparently I'm one of the clinic's sicker patients; I never knew how "bad" I was until lately - even with so much improvement, there's still some way to go. But at least I'm moving along.

My seventh MORA treatment

I've had a good week.

My aches and pains are still on and off; but the good news is that they're more off than on these days.

I'm sleeping better.

My mind is clearer (I read the book Voyage of the Dawn Treader in one day! Granted, it's not a very challenging book, but still, you'd be hard-pressed finding another person with CFS who can finish a book in a day).

Also, I'm walking well around the house. I noticed that it's easier for me to get up from a chair these days. Because it used to take so much effort for me to get up from my seat, I used to plan what I was going to do every time I got up: I'd plan to go to the toilet, get a drink, pick up a remote, get a pen from the table... and invariably I'd forget to do one of those things, and it was a giant pain in the ass to have to get up again. Now I find it's not as big a deal if I forget something, because I can just get up again, with less difficulty than before.

Of course, I still have limits. If I had to get up from my seat five times in fives minutes, I'd probably tire myself out. My stamina is still poor, and I still suffer from sensory overload (ie. not being able to think with too many people talking at once).

But the nurse I've been seeing said I have to patient: I've been sick for a long time, so it's going to take a long time for me to get better. She said it's exciting that I'm improving already, and that I should remember not to push myself too much.

Third appointment with Dr S

My third appointment with Dr S lasted for an hour.

Dr S and I discussed my nausea and vomitting, and he's taken me off some of the pills that might be causing those symptoms. In particular, Dr S is putting me back on the brand of vitamin D pills I was on before last week (last week when I stocked-up my pills at the clinic, I had to buy a different brand than usual because they were out of the pills I'd been on before).

I'm into the next phase of Dr S's treatment plan now. I'll be taking some medication that will give my colon a spring clean (so I anticipate spending a lot of time on the dunny over the next few days). Also, I'll be taking some medication that will deal with my candida overgrowth. As far as I know, candida is a kind of yeast living in our bowels, and when we have an overgrowth, it's a bad thing.

Also, I should mention that since having a laser acupuncture treatment, my mood has improved. Apparently that's mainly what the acupuncture was for. I've always wondered if acupuncture works; I haven't taken any of my pills in the last two days, and I've been feeling unwell because of my nausea; yet despite all that, my mood has improved, so I'm inclined to believe that acupuncture does work.

From Fatigued to Fantastic! book

For the people who read my personal blog: sorry about the double post, but I'm posting this here too because it's CFS-related, and it might be useful to anyone with CFS who stumbles across this blog.

From Fatigued to Fantastic! is the name of a book I just finished reading. It's written by Jacob Teitelbaum, who is a doctor who had CFS and recovered from it. Now, he's the national (American) medical director of the Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centres in the US.

If you read only one book about CFS, this should be it. It's comprehensive, yet easy to read.

In the book, Dr Teitelbaum talks about his methods in treating CFS. I was interested to find that Dr Teitelbaum's methods in dealing with CFS are very similar to my new doctor's methods. At a basic level, both doctors do the following:

· Treat pain and sleep disturbances
· Help mitochondria through nutrition
· Balance hormones
· Treat underlying infections

Also, Dr Teitelbaum and my doctor both recommend both prescription and natural medication (although my doctor prefers the latter).

So if anyone has any doubts about my doctor's methods, this would be a good book to read, because even though the two doctors don't know each other (to my knowledge), both of them seem to think that the most successful way to treat CFS is by using a wholistic approach.

Even the smaller chapters of this book are useful. There's a chapter on finding an appropriate physician, and chapter on disability insurance which would be very useful for US residents.

All in all, From Fatigued to Fantastic! was well-worth the read; and because it explains aspects of the condition in detail, it helped me understand my own doctor's methods better.

Second MORA treatment

My second MORA treatment was pretty much the same as the first. Except, I think we used the normal MORA machine this week, not the MORA Super (the gentler machine).

When the MORA machine finished doing its thing, I felt a bit drained. I still feel a bit drained and achy now, a few hours later. And I suspect it'll be an early night for me tonight. But I think that's a normal initial reaction to the treatment. I'll probably feel better tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Last week, I didn't feel too good the morning after my MORA treatment. The next day, I was fine though. The nurse said it was a slight reaction to the treatment, which is quite normal. I felt pretty good for the rest of the week, so I think it's working.

I think I mentioned this before, but the MORA treatments are one part of a bigger treatment plan. I'm also on a strict diet, I'm doing light exercise, and I'm taking a lot of supplements.

It's making a difference, even though it's only been a few short weeks since I started seeing this new doctor!

My first consultation with Dr S

I had my first consultation with Dr S yesterday, and it went well.

He has a different approach to treating CFS, compared with my other doctor, Dr D.

My consultation with Dr S was two hours long. The whole thing was like a biology lecture, and it'd be very difficult to condense it into one post. I'll post the basics of what we found out in this post, and if there's anything that needs explaining in more detail, I'll do it in other posts later on.

So, like I said, the consultation was two hours long. I had to fill in a form listing my symptoms, past illnesses, current medication, and things like that. (The clinic mailed the form to me a week before my consultation.)

Dr S looked at what I'd written down on my form, discussed it with me, then did a physical examination.

He came to the conclusion that I have CFS, and in my case, it involves mitochondrial problems, a magnesium deficiency, a vitamin D deficiency, lymphatic congestion, and he'll find out more when the blood tests come back.

For now, he's given me a bunch of pills to take, and I have to avoid certain foods that'll worsen my condition.

Later on, I'll probably need lymphatic drainage and MORA therapy. The standard program is 10 weeks long, although each patient is different, so the length of my program (or the amount of time it'll take to treat me) depends on my blood test results.