STUFF I TRIED

Ok, so here is a list of all the things I tried in an attempt to recover from CFS...it's sort of in chronological order...so here goes:

Rest, rest, and more rest...I thought if I got enough rest I would get better! Wrong, no matter
how much time I spent trying to nap, sleep, sit, put my feet up, I did not feel better...

Celtic sea salt ...1 tsp a day in water

Magnesium injections-I had already started those when I began to experience heart
palpitations several years earlier

Food allergy testing (expensive!!), and adjusting my diet to exclude various foods

Eating a high protein, low sugar diet (eating protein every 2 hours did help me to feel
better-it stabilized my blood sugar)

Removing Caffeine from my diet

Copious amounts of water and gatorade in an attempt to stop the severe dizziness I was having

Meditating-increasing my meditation time to 1 hour per day, and experimenting with various
brain wave meditations

Breathing exercises ("adrenal breathing" prescribed by Dr. Lam ) no different from anything
I had learned from yoga

Acupuncture

High doses of Vitamin C
Various Adaptogenic Herbs including Rhodiola-this was a disaster for me...Rhodiola was so stimulating that I didn't sleep for 3 nights-literally-after the third sleepless night I went to my doctor
and she performed acupuncture, had me dial down the Rhodiola and I finally slept
Pantothenic Acid-a form of Vitamin B that I still take today..."rebuilds" adrenal glands

Dr. Wilson's Supplements for Adrenal Fatigue-another disaster as these made my system even
more wired-I was too far gone to tolerate anything that was energizing or stimulating...so they made me worse...

Energy healing-various forms of distance energy healing...someday I will find my list of names of
healers I contacted...they were all very helpful-but only provided momentary relief--as in a few days
of feeling somewhat better

EFT
Hypnosis
Past Life Regression (twice)

Resources:

Dr. Wilson: his book about Adrenal Fatigue
Dr Lam: cool and complicated website-informative but confusing and not entirely helpful-several
phone consultations with him!
Curezone.Com: lots of good "information" and lots of people's experiences
Recovery From CFS 50 Personal Stories by Alexandra Barton: this was the MOST helpful book because it had stories of people who had achieved some level of recovery from CFS-and this is
the book that helped me to finally find an effective treatment for CFS...Highly Recommend!

MOST surprising thing about CFS/Adrenal Fatigue-number of "sufferers" who insist there is no
effective treatment/cure and remain ill for years/decades/lifetimes/...this blows my mind...you
CAN recover....

More things I tried:
Affirmations
Visualizations
Prayer
The Science of Mind: VERY helpful in terms of Mind Over Matter-Clare Ponder wrote
several books on the Science Of Mind-I found them interesting and helpful!

Things that I would still be sick today if I HAD tried:
I was tempted to try steroids: My doctor tested (and still tests) my Cortisol levels and when  I was sick I was producing
next to NO cortisol-my cortisol levels were so low that I hardly had a blood pressure-and that is why I was so dizzy all of the time...this was actually quite dangerous, and I can't believe how I still tried to run/exercise in this state-I could have literally run myself to death....Some people do try steroids and
get some temporary relief, but in the end it only makes things worse they mask the symptoms so you
can be more functional, only to create even more imbalances, and more severe symptoms-the side effects are horrendous....but you can get caught on the "steroid merry-go -round.

Conventional Medical Treatments which only treat the symptoms and don't offer a cure...
Extensive Testing and Work Ups-if you dig enough, almost EVERYONE has something that a doctor could consider an illness/give you a diagnosis, and medicate and tell you that you have something
for which there is no cure...

Medical Treatment I did get from my own physician who I have known for most of my life
and trust implicitly....blood tests, acupuncture, vitamins and supplements, and food allergy testing
all of which I did find helpful, but experienced no lasting cure...

I was also tempted to try various functional medicine clinics-but my own doctor is a functional
medicine doctor and you can get caught in the functional medicine clinic merry go round
of massage, acupuncture, supplements, nutrition, food allergy, chiropractic adjustments, etc-
so that taking care of your health becomes a full time job, but also a very expensive full time job!

I am also glad that I didn't pursue tons of different medical tests because then you end up forming
opinions about your health and about yourself that JUST AREN"T TRUE, but become self-fulfilling prophecies...an example is a person I know who says her adrenals are "shot" from growing up
in a violent household-so she does have some level of dysfunction which her functional medicine/
alternative doctor says can't be overcome...SO she takes his supplements and still suffers....and proudly wears the badge of victim of circumstances, ill health, and the hero doctor who takes care of her...


Ok: More Stuff I tried

The Gupta Amygdala Retraining Program...interesting and somewhat helpful, and now that I am more
familiar with the science behind CFS/Adrenal Fatigue...I get why this can be a helpful tool in recovering
your health. That is the last thing I tried before I found a treatment-which again, I found thanks to
Alexandra Barton's book -Recovery From CFS 50 Personal Stories