Chronic Fatigue - my story, what worked what didnt.

I spent a large part of my adolescence being what you may call a somewhat sickly child, a good many days off school curled up in bed with a hotwater bottle and a good book and a good many more sick notes from my mother excusing me from PE in the days I did turn up for school. After an unexpected bout of good health betweek 16 and 18 I fell prey to glandular fever (mononucleisis) and spent the majority of my 20's cycling systematically through fatigue, low level illness and periods of feeling ok with some depression thrown in while I was at university for good measure.

Before going backpacking in Asia for 18 months I spent several month paying a Chinese herbalist in London hundreds of pounds to severally cure some adult acne and my fatigue. The toxic herbs and pellets she gave me, aside from costing a small fortune, served to do not much more than make my tongue turn a surprising number of colours and make me very sick with awful congestion, fatigue and weird tingling/burning sensations in my muscles. I discovered that vitamin b5 cured my skin so gave up and headed off to India with my girlfriend, somewhat hopeful that the simple living of the backpacker would sort out my fatigue.

In a sense it did, though budget backpacking in developing counties isnt a very healthy way to live so i lost a lot of bodyweight, it took moving to Japan for another 18 months to make me really sick. Its a very allergic country and it was there I got CFS proper. Stomach problems, diarhhoea, flatulence, fibromyalgia, allergies, awful fatigue , sneezing fits that went on for at least 10 minutes at a time - but I was very happy there with my job and my friends so it didnt seem to bad and i was very sad to go.

Returning to London I tried an aggressive anti/fatigue candida diet for several months (no alcohol, nothing fermented no caffeine, nothing processed no fat no sugar etc etc) - which worked pretty well but wasnt sustainable. I tried Threelac against candida afterwards which was alright and fine for ones gut. But still in the end I was fighting to stay awake at work, dragging myself through life with aching arms and legs, itchy eyes, no sleep, too much sleep, interrupted sleep, no mental or physical energy at all and catchinf every single cold and flu going around.

So I head off to my doctor in a last ditch attempt and she recommends PAROXETINE and Im really sceptical cos Ive had it before for depression and it was fine for that but Im not depressed but she says take it anyway because having cfs is quite depressing and you cant separate the symptoms so I say OK but Im not keen because its hard to drink on Paroxetine and I really like to drink.

So Ive been taking it for 3 weeks now and I feel like A NEW MAN. The fibromyalgia has totally gone, my sleep is almost normal - im still tireder than I should be but Im getting a lot better all the time and have started to look at my weights and my running shoes sitting in the corner of the room again. So its a big thumbs up to PAROXETINE from me (even though I read it makes rats brain cells turn into corkscrews - nb this was unreferenced). Really though its an amazing turn around so if youve tried everything else then give it a try, im still only taking half a tab a day but I think ill up the dose, and it hasnt even cut into my drinkin that much.

Thanks for listening, oh Id like to dedicate this to my friend Ken who was best man at my wedding because hes had a headache for 4 years. Thanks.

Been about a month since my last post. Still doing well. Improvements slowed down a bit from the initial rapid gains but the worst of the symptoms are abating still. Im still coming down with everything that goes round work though so Im still not exactly bursting with health but Im hoping that as my overall health improves Ill be less prone to this stuff. The fibromyalgic symptoms I was experiencing before are 95% gone.

I would be interested to know if anyone else is using this medication.

CFS/Fibro is a giant pain in the backside. I cant believe how many people suffer from maladies like it to some extent these days as well as a whole host of other things with no clear pathological cause, like depression IBS, an exponential growth in asthma and food allergies. What the hell is wrong with us? From my travels in Asia it seems like we westerners are becoming disproportianately prone to this sort of stuff and none of our health professionals seem to know why, or care much.

 

I guess as the anti dep worked for me most doctors will assume my symptoms are psychosomatic and caused by depression, but I dont wholly believe that.

Normal size imo, try sitting further away from the screen.