Six simple steps to immediately begin healing from chronic fatigue and other complex chronic illnesseS:

By Cara Lan, N.D.

Have you ever felt like the only way to get out of bed is to have someone roll you out of it? Do you rely on coffee just to open your eyes? Do you find yourself unable to function without a nap? Perhaps you’re unable to function at all, needing to spend the majority of your day in bed because any exertion at all causes chronic and long lasting fatigue and a multitude of other symptoms. Do you find yourself completely depleted, sometimes for days on end, after a grocery store run? If you walk around the block are you quite ill for the next week?

If you’ve ever experienced any of the above symptoms of severe fatigue you may be suffering from chronic fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Healing from chronic fatigue is involved and takes time, however, here are six simple steps you can take today to begin to turn the ship around and begin to recover your strength and vitality.

1.      Accept where you are today

 Radical acceptance of your body’s capacity at this moment means accepting that today you may have little to no ability to function, but please know that does NOT mean your body will always feel this way. Acceptance of where you are in this moment does not mean you are completely throwing in the towel; it simply means you’re not going to fight what is today. Total and complete turnaround from chronic fatigue and CFS is completely possible, and the very first step is to feel compassion for your body. Your body is truly doing everything it can to heal you and keep you safe. It is working day and night in your favor, doing its best to cope and heal. Begin to cultivate compassion and reverence for your body as it is working every day, in every moment, to heal you.

2.      Keep a consistent bedtime and wake time

 Our bodies tend to function much better when we keep a consistent sleep and wake cycle[1] and if you can match this sleep-wake cycle with the dark-light cycles of the day and night[2], even better. Keeping a consistent sleep-wake cycle allows your body to support you in feeling more awake in the morning and in falling asleep easily (and staying asleep) at bedtime. Do your best to go to bed at the same time every night and wake at the same time every morning. Setting a consistent alarm for both bedtime and wake-up time can be very helpful here.

3.      Get sunlight on your skin in the morning and throughout the day wherever possible

 Our skin cells contain circadian rhythm “clock genes” that are affected by UVB sunlight. While we don’t know a lot about these genes we do know that some are “turned on” by sunlight exposure, with the possible conclusion that sunlight on our skin during the daytime supports our ability to keep a normal circadian rhythm[3]. Indirect sunlight in the eyes also allows for correct regulation of circadian rhythm[4].

 Aside from supporting our sleep-wake cycles, UVB rays from sunlight allow our bodies to produce vitamin D, which is crucial to every organ system, and optimal levels are absolutely necessary for healing from any type of fatigue or chronic illness.

So once you’re out of bed, do your best to get some sunlight on your skin (and indirectly in your eyes) during the day and similarly, keep lighting in your house very low in the evenings. (If you burn easily, focus on getting sunlight on your skin in the mornings and evenings)

4.      Increase your water intake

This is an especially important for those of us living in the desert, but even if you live in a more humid environment, getting enough water is crucial for your health. More than half of our body mass is water alone. Indeed our brain and heart are mostly composed of water. You’d think that would be enough to last us a lifetime but our cells depend upon being adequately hydrated for proper functioning. Each day we lose 2-3 liters of water due to sweating, breathing and going to the bathroom.

 Most metabolic pathways in our body requires water to function. Water hydrates all the joints in our bodies and nourishes our brain and spinal cord. It allows too for proper detoxification of chemicals, which is essential in this day and age when chemicals are ubiquitous in our environment. Dehydration affects your energy and ability to concentrate which is why maintaining adequate hydration is so crucial for your health.  

Aim to drink one-half your body weight in ounces of water per day. If you don’t like the taste of plain water, you can add in fruits or herbs to help flavor the water and also provide helpful electrolytes. Some examples include freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice, cucumbers, mint, hibiscus flowers or any other herbal (not green or black) tea, berries, etc. If your urine is light colored, you know you’re adequately hydrating. If it’s dark in color, you very likely need more water. Don’t forget that you can get water from foods as well such as watermelon, cucumbers, lettuce, celery, tomatoes, oranges, and pineapple.

5.      Clear out the chemicals in your environment

 Never before in history have humans had to contend with so many different types and combinations of chemicals in their environment. These chemicals are found nearly everywhere we look: in food (i.e. pesticides and herbacides), water, air, household furniture, carpets, paints, particle board, cleaning products, plastic containers and plastic wraps, personal care products (i.e. shampoos, lotions and make-up, etc.). Suffice it to say, we are all the subjects of the informal (i.e. unconsciously conducted) study: ‘Health effects of thousands of synthetic chemicals and their interaction with the human body’ whether we like it or not. We are only beginning to understand the effects of these chemicals (and their combinations) on the human body. Despite all the current research, we are still a far cry from fully understanding the widespread effects these chemicals have on our bodies or what implications they may have in chronic health conditions and indeed future generations. Despite our lack of knowledge, we are beginning to understand that these chemicals do indeed affect us and they may play a minor or major role in why we are sick.

We do know that many of these chemicals disrupt DNA repair[5], and effect our endocrine[6], immune[7] and nervous[8] systems. There are many scientific articles and books written on this topic alone and we can only get into this topic briefly here.

The easiest ways to begin to decrease the chemicals in your environment are to:

• Eat organically as much as possible. See EWG’s (Environmental Working Group) list of the Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen Foods: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/clean-fifteen.php.

• Use biodegradable and natural cleaning products as much as possible. There are many online resources for this. In most areas of my home I use a mixture water, a small amount of rubbing alcohol and essential oils. Vinegar also works well for many types of cleaning.

• Drink from glass or stainless steel; avoid plastic water bottles altogether, especially single use plastic water bottles.

• Throw away air fresheners. Buy an essential oil diffuser and use pure essential oils to scent your home.

• Stop smoking. Do not allow anyone to smoke in your home.

• When driving on the highway/freeway, make sure your windows are all the way up and air recycling mechanism is on.

• Make sure your home has a carbon monoxide (CO) detector.

• Use non-toxic and natural personal care products. You can search on EWG’s ‘Skin Deep Database’ to see how your products rate for toxicity: https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/.

6.     See a holistic practitioner who has expertise in chronic fatigue

While all practitioners in the medical field may be superficially familiar with chronic fatigue and CFS, many are not well versed in its causes and effects. Many have never experienced what this kind of illness is like and often times a diagnosis of CFS is given with a referral to a psychiatrist in the hope that an anti-depressant will cure the illness. Most of the time it will not.

 It’s crucial to find a provider who will listen with compassion and care, consider your case from a holistic perspective, and give you doable and effective recommendations. There are many, many holistic practitioners who are highly skilled in this area.

 They can be a lifesaver, sometimes quite literally.

Resources:

[1] Jagannath, A., Taylor, L., Wakaf, Z., Vasudevan, S., and Foster, R. (2017). The genetics of circadian rhythms, sleep and health. Human Molecular Genetics, 26(R2): R128-R138. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddx240.

[2] Cho, Y., Ryu, S., Lee, B., Kim, K., Lee, E., and Choi, J. (2015). Effects of artificial light at night on human health: A literature review of observational and experimental studies applied to exposure assessment. Chronobiology International, 32(9): 1294-310. doi: 10.3109/07420528.2015.1073158.

[3] Kawara, S., Mydlarski, R., Shivji, G., Bjarnason, G., Jordan, R., and Sauder, D. (2002). Low-dose ultraviolet B rays alter the mRNA expression of the circadian clock genes in cultured human keratinocytes. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 119(6): 1220-1223. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1747.2002.19619.x.

[4] Besharse, J., and McMahon, D. (2016). The retina and other light-sensitive ocular clocks. Journal of Biological Rhythms, 31(3): 223-43. doi: 10.1177/0748730416642657. Epub 2016 Apr 19.

[5] Jalal, N., Surendranath, A., Pathak, J., Yu, S., and Chung, C. (2017). Bisphenol A (BPA) the mighty and the mutagenic. Toxicology Reports, 5: 76-84. doi: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2017.12.013. eCollection 2018.

[6] Nowak, K., Ratajczak-Wrona, W., Gorska, M., and Jablonska, E. (2018). Parabens and their effects on the endocrine system. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 474: 238-251. doi: 10.1016/j.mce.2018.03.014.

[7] Bansal, A., Henao-Mejia, J., and Simmons, R. (2018). Immune system: An emerging player in mediating effects of endocrine disruptors on metabolic health. Endocrinology, 159(1): 32-45. doi: 10.1210/en.2017-00882.

[8] Preciados, M., Yoo, C., and Roy, D. (2016). Estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals influencing NRF1 regulated gene networks in the development of complex human brain diseases. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 17(12): 2086. doi: 10.3390/ijms17122086.