If you’re someone who has gone to doctor after doctor trying to figure out what happened to your energy, you’ve probably been told that you can’t cure chronic fatigue. You’ve been told a lie.

 

Several years ago, I could barely get out of bed. I had no idea what a restful night’s sleep would be like – it had been so long since I had one. Some days, I would literally collapse from exhaustion right where I was standing. I would fall asleep the moment I sat on the couch. Once, I actually fell asleep leaning against the wall waiting for a public restroom.

 

I absolutely craved a normal life.

 

I would see people playing with their children or running for a bus and wonder how they did it. It hadn’t always been that way. I had plenty of energy as a child, and had several years of running around on playgrounds with my children, going for bike rides, hiking, dancing, but then something happened. All the energy just drained out of me like someone pulled a plug.

 

I went to doctor after doctor looking for help, and at first they all just kind of shrugged and said there wasn’t much I could do about it. But, I wasn’t willing to accept that, so I started reading. I started looking for alternative care practitioners. I took bits and pieces of what I was learning and put together a plan.

 

What I Did to Cure Chronic Fatigue

 

Whole Foods

Out went the chemically-laden, nutritionally weak processed foods. If it came with packaging that has more than one or two ingredients, it wasn’t going into my body. Read more about the benefits of whole foods.

 

Sugar-Free

Sugar is an energy zapper. It might give you a boost at first, but it’s not worth the crash that follows. Daily intake of cookies, ice cream and starchy breads kept me from seeing that pattern, but once it was out of my body I could really feel the difference.

 

Infrared Sauna

It became clear that my body wasn’t processing everyday exposure to toxins on its own. It needed help, so I bought a package of several sauna sessions. I started going about three times a week, slowly at first with short sessions at low heat and started to build the time and temperature. It made such a difference that I eventually bought one. Years later, I still use the sauna several days a week to stay energized.

 

Healthy Cleaners

I started looking around my house, reading labels of cleaning products and researching online. I was shocked to realize what I was exposing my family and myself to every day. Now, if something doesn’t have an A or B rating on Environmental Working Group’s Healthy Cleaning database, it’s not in my house. I also make my own.

 

Healthy Personal Care Products

I went through a similar process with our soaps, deodorants, lotions, you name it. Out with the chemicals, in with the clean. This is a must if you want to cure chronic fatigue. Get my free guide to buying or making personal care products.

 

Taking it Easy

Perhaps the most difficult part of healing my chronic fatigue was learning to stop exerting myself when I was feeling good. I love to garden and hated that my yard was a mess. I would feel a surge of energy, go work until I couldn’t possibly work anymore, then spend the next few days lying in bed mad at myself. That taught me the tough lesson that I had to make myself stop while I still felt good – even if I only worked for 10 minutes – so that I could go back out the next day. Gradually, I was able to increase my time.

 

Sleep Hygiene

When you have chronic fatigue, it feels like no effort you put into sleeping soundly is worthwhile, but it is. Having a bedtime routine and a consistent sleep schedule is the foundation that I built from and what keeps me on track.

 

Every once in a while, I still get ahead of myself and have to remember to slow down. I may have been able to cure chronic fatigue, but it’s always sort of lurking around the corner. Healing can be a very lengthy process and takes a lot of patience, but the appreciation for every day that I now have has make it all worth it.