How it went
Did it last?
- 14 of 90 said the benefit wore off (including the 4 who relapsed).
- 5 of 90 needed to keep doing it to stay well.
Read from what people wrote. A story that ends without a follow-up counts as lasting, so treat these as minimums.
| Outcome described | Accounts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Full recovery | 27 | 30% |
| Near-full | 10 | 11% |
| Substantial | 19 | 21% |
| Partial | 30 | 33% |
| Relapsed | 4 | 4% |
| No benefit | 0 | 0% |
By how ill people were
| Severity at worst | How it went | n | Recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mild | 2 | 50% | |
| Moderate | 12 | 25% | |
| Severe | 47 | 53% | |
| Very severe | 15 | 33% |
14 accounts don’t say how ill the person was.
Who published these accounts
31% of these accounts are on pages that sell this treatment or a program around it. Those pages publish their successes; compare the independent row.
Specific treatments in these accounts
- TreatmentHow it wentRecoveredFaded
- Pacing and the energy envelope89 accounts
40% 16%
- Meditation, yoga, breathwork17 accounts
71% 18%
- CBT and psychotherapy14 accounts
71% 14%
- Brain retraining programs (DNRS, Gupta, ANS Rewire, Primal Trust)10 accounts
40% 0%
- Low-dose naltrexone8 accounts
25% 38%
- Graded exercise / graded activity8 accounts
50% 12%
- Radical rest7 accounts
14% 14%
- Vagus nerve stimulation6 accounts
50% 0%
- Salt, fluids and compression5 accounts
60% 40%
- B12 injections and methylation5 accounts
40% 40%
- NAC and glutathione5 accounts
20% 20%
- Elimination and ketogenic diets5 accounts
60% 20%
Within the accounts on this page. Grey numbers rest on fewer than 10 accounts.
All 90 accounts
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Australian Women's Weekly: For six years, Lily couldn't leave her bed
Credits pacing and family support. Lily was ill 6y with severe ME/CFS and reports a partial improvement. Bedbound at 16; now works part-time, still much reduced.
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A Day in The Life with Long COVID
Credits pacing and environment. Sage was ill 3y with severe long COVID and reports a partial improvement. Improved versus 2024 baseline but still a wheelchair user.
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On the road to recovery from Long Covid
Lauren combined nicotine patches at one-eighth of a patch daily through December with a broad daily supplement regimen, including CoQ10 100mg, Ionic Fulvic Acid 1ml three times a day, Hawthorn Leaves 5ml, and products like Adrenal Complex, Adreno Active,…
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18/6 intermittent fasting has benefitted me greatly (Mary)
After about two months on a 7am to 5pm eating window, this poster reports a noticeably increased energy envelope and stamina, and that her white blood cell count came back normal for the first time in twenty years. She frames it as meaningful but ongoing…
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41% lower risk - and other long COVID findings
Credits pacing. Susan was ill 2.5y with severe long COVID and is described as fully recovered. 69-year-old profiled within a research-roundup newsletter.
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2025: the year I recovered from long COVID
Credits brain retraining, CBT or psychological work and pacing. Amy was ill 5y with severe long COVID and is described as almost fully recovered. Went from 75% to 95% recovered via a coaching program.
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Karen Wright's Story
Karen started with a low-histamine diet that brought overnight improvement, then moved to a broader anti-inflammatory diet, alongside pacing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy through the NHS Long COVID service, breathwork, meditation, yoga, counselling and…
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Russ Seigenberg's Recovery Story
Used self-directed pacing, graduated aerobic exercise (walk/jog intervals), diet changes, meditation, yoga and faith rather than any named program or drug. He crashed with post-viral fatigue/ME/CFS at 25 after a bout of mono/EBV, at his worst spending much…
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Treatments. Yes, they do exist.
In this follow-up post, Encephalogirl (Michelle) lists an expanded regimen: low-dose naltrexone, low-dose Abilify, guanfacine, about nine months of tenofovir as part of a planned minimum one-year antiviral course, six weeks of low-dose rapamycin at 1mg once…
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Hope Rooted in Biology: What Helped Us Recover from ME/CFS and Long Covid
Credits pacing, somatic tracking and yoga. Kate was ill 13 years with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Roundup post profiling 20 people; entry 1 of 20.
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Long Covid Healing Resources
Followed a 10-point Mayo Clinic-informed protocol: a TruVaga vagus-nerve-stimulation device for 2 minutes three times a day, guanfacine at 0.5mg twice daily (with room to increase to 1mg twice daily), L-arginine 2000mg twice daily, vitamin C 500mg twice…
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Mark Shares His Inspiring Long Covid Recovery Story
Credits pacing and trauma and somatic work. Mark was ill 2y with severe long COVID and is described as fully recovered. Primary-school teacher; now retraining as a play therapist.
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Recovery from Long COVID Shouldn't be This Exhausting
In this post, Zeest Khan describes using a beta-agonist or steroid inhaler along with unspecified pills, injections for allergic triggers, and steroids — no drug names, doses, or durations are given. In 2021 she was bedbound, unable to stand without nearly…
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Overcoming Long Covid: Sue's Story
Sue's approach centered on daily Yoga Nidra practice, breathwork classes, and a community program called Rest Repair Recover built around gentle structure, rest and nervous system care, alongside lifestyle changes like setting boundaries and no longer…
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Six Years Healthy - CFS Free
Credits CBT or psychological work, pacing and CFS Health program. Susie was ill 4.5y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Six years healthy and counting.
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ME/CFS Recovery Story: How Pacing and CBT Led to Lynne's Success
Credits pacing and CBT or psychological work. Lynne was ill 6y with severe ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Quit online ME forums; took a cruise post-recovery.
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Jackie Baxter's Story
Credits breathing retraining and pacing. Jackie was ill 3y with severe long COVID and is described as fully recovered. Runs The Long Covid Podcast; cold-water swimming.
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Svenja's Success Story
Credits brain retraining and pacing. Svenja was ill 2y with long COVID and reports a substantial improvement. Overtriggered nervous system framing.
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Melody's ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia and Long COVID Recovery Story
Melody was infected early in the pandemic, hospitalised with double pneumonia, then bedbound for six months and homebound on supplemental oxygen for two and a half years despite thirteen prescription drugs and multiple specialists. She credits a combination…
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An overview of my recovery from Long Covid
Credits brain retraining, diet, vagus nerve stimulation and pacing. Nicole had long COVID and is described as fully recovered. Foundational recovery-overview post.
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Jennifer's Story
Jennifer followed an anti-inflammatory diet based on Andrew Weil and Patrick Holford's principles, alongside regular massage therapy, acupuncture, deep relaxation and meditation practices, and a custom-designed graded walk-training program, after early…
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We need to talk about Long Covid
Credits radical rest, pacing and time alone. Peter Geoghegan was ill 6mo with severe long COVID and is described as fully recovered. Journalist; subsisted on soup and Simpsons reruns while resting.
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Erfolgsgeschichte von Serafina, 33, Schweiz (Long Covid)
Credits brain retraining, diet and pacing. Serafina was ill 2.5y with very-severe long COVID and reports a substantial improvement. Bed-to-sofa only; now hikes and hits 15k steps a day.
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Ten Months of Long COVID
Marie Sanchez Nelson describes taking cetirizine, an antihistamine that calms her nervous system "in minutes," and had started nattokinase just three days before this post, which she hypothesizes may help repair blood vessels; no doses or durations are given…
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My Recovery Journey from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
Mediterranean diet was adopted as one strand of a broad, multi-modal recovery program that also included intermittent fasting, low-dose naltrexone, structured pacing and vagus nerve stimulation, with no separate dose or duration given for the diet itself. He…
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"Recovery" from Long Covid
Credits pacing. Kate had moderate long COVID and reports a partial improvement. Questions whether pacing counts as recovery or adaptation.
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Has anyone recovered from CFS or been able to radically improve? (Ananda1)
Credits pacing and acceptance. Ananda1 had ME/CFS and reports a partial improvement. Paid clinics and DNRS failed her; light cycling and acceptance helped.
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Charlotte's ME/CFS Story
Credits diet, functional medicine and pacing. Charlotte was ill 17y with very-severe ME/CFS and reports a partial improvement. Functional medicine and antimicrobials; still not fully well.
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Lucie's Surprisingly Simple Road to Recovery
Lucie had ME/CFS for over a decade, ill enough to cut back to part-time work and give up cycling. Under Dr Rowe's care she combined naproxen taken with salt water, compression stockings and pacing. She reports full recovery with no restrictions, while noting…
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Lucie's Surprisingly Simple Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Recovery Story
Lucie became ill with relatively mild but disabling ME/CFS around 2011, unable to exercise and with her work and social life sharply curtailed. Following pacing advice and an orthostatic-intolerance protocol of high salt and 2.5 litres of water daily, she…
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Full remission after 7 years of ME/CFS - What worked for me
Followed the Golder Autoimmune Protocol for about three months (roughly 3 liters of water and 650g of raw cruciferous and leafy greens daily, plus chia or flax seed, iodine and B12, on about 1500 calories a day), then added low-dose Abilify at 0.75mg daily…
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Over 2 Years of Long COVID
Credits pacing and radical rest. Felicity was ill 2y with very-severe long COVID and reports a partial improvement. Physiotherapist; 20+ hours bedbound daily.
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Robyn Dale
Robyn's treatment combined short courses of propranolol, zopiclone and diazepam early on with medium-term amitriptyline for insomnia, mood and muscle spasms, alongside daily walking, yoga, meditation and graded activity. She crashed severely in December 2021…
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Robyn Dale
Robyn was prescribed short-term propranolol for heart arrhythmia and palpitations, at doses that were increased despite her objections, short-term zopiclone and diazepam to help her rest, and medium-term amitriptyline for insomnia, mood, and to stop cluster…
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Returning to Work with Long Covid - A Reluctant Pioneer
Credits pacing and vocational rehab. Nicole was ill 26mo with severe long COVID and reports a partial improvement. Third phased return-to-work attempt.
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Surviving ME/CFS by Russell Fleming - Part 2
Credits time alone, pacing and radical rest. Russell was ill 23y with severe ME/CFS and reports a partial improvement. ME Association piece stresses stabilisation not cure.
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories (page 4-5 discussion)
unicorn7 used a De Meirleir-style multi-part protocol (SIBO antibiotics, LDN, B12, subcutaneous immunoglobulin, mesalazine, plus strict pacing) to move from moderate to mild ME/CFS, and reported repeating that same moderate-to-mild recovery a second time…
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Sarah's Story
Sarah tried an extensive list of treatments without full success: many hyperbaric oxygen sessions (costing "thousands" and giving only temporary relief before triggering relapses), acupuncture, kinesiology, diet changes, breathing exercises with osteopaths,…
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I have learnt with this condition people get better from hope, kindness and love, not fear and catastrophe
Credits cognitive retraining developed with an unnamed psychology PhD candidate from Norway who had herself recovered from post-viral fatigue syndrome, after months in a self-organised online pacing support group and a referral to an NHS CFS/ME specialist…
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Bring It On!
Helen manages her long COVID with about 8 unnamed tablets each morning plus more through the day, along with increased fluid and salt intake, supine exercises, and heart rate monitoring for POTS — no specific drug names or doses are given. She had a mild…
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I had long Covid. I have fully recovered
In May, Rachel Whitfield did a three-day Lightning Process training course for long COVID that began with a mild case testing positive in December, followed by boom-bust cycles of "crippling fatigue, covid toes, covid strangle throat, burning back, anxiety,…
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World Physiotherapy Day
Credits pacing. Darren was ill 18mo with severe long COVID and reports a partial improvement. Advocates pacing over graded exercise; still ill.
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Video: Phil Murray's ME/CFS full recovery story and call for more research
Credits pacing and radical rest. Phil Murray had severe ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. "I got better when I gave in"; hosted by paid coaching site.
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Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Credits pacing and occupational health. Helen was ill 1y with severe long COVID and reports a partial improvement. Occupational therapist unable to return to work.
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Patient Spotlight: I Promise to Love Myself for the Long Haul
Credits trauma and somatic work and pacing. Lauren was ill 9mo with moderate long COVID and reports a partial improvement. Body Politic member; psychological shift, body still limited.
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CBT for CFS: Luke Shares His Experience and Recovery
Luke combined self-directed CBT (working through his own negative thought patterns rather than with a therapist) with a methylation protocol developed by Rich Von Konynenburg (B vitamins plus folic acid), guidance from two books -- Kristina Downing-Orr's…
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Cristina's Story
Credits pacing and time alone. Cristina was ill 4mo with moderate long COVID and reports a partial improvement. ICU nurse; wants two symptom-free weeks before resuming shifts.
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Recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: One Person's Story
Credits pacing, CBT or psychological work and energy envelope. Bruce was ill 4y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Psychologist; energy-envelope pacing; 20+ years sustained.
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Sirin Gnadeberg Shares How She Cured Her ME/CFS and POTS
Sirin Gnadeberg added salt to her drinking water starting in April 2016, which significantly improved her POTS symptoms, then took 16 weeks of antibiotics after a Lyme specialist found elevated antibodies to Bartonella, Chlamydia and Mycoplasma (despite…
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Easy Does It For Nathalie: A Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Improvement Story
Tried Low Dose Naltrexone (immediate but partial relief from stiffness), a six-week high-dose course of Famvir that gave no benefit, and three years on Valcyte (valganciclovir), which brought her "back to life" out of a bedridden state within weeks but left…
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M.E., My Mold, and I: A Story of ME/CFS and Toxic Mold
Over nearly seven years of ME/CFS beginning in late summer 2010, she tried pacing with a heart-rate monitor and many supplements, including herbal antivirals, for about a year, then added neurotransmitter support (dopamine, GABA), an ATP Fuel supplement,…
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Dr Park's 90% Recovery Protocol (LD-IVIG / IV Saline / ART / Nutrition) - What can we learn?
Strict Aggressive Rest Therapy -- total silence, no TV or music, complete physical and mental rest -- from a completely bedbound baseline produced full remission lasting 2-3 years: "it was completely gone... I was able to do everything I previously was…
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Anyone had remission/significant improvement from exceptional pacing?
Months of strict pacing reduced this poster's bad days and brought a run of 20 headache-free days in autumn, but he says overall activity capacity kept declining even as day-to-day symptom load eased - summed up by saying pacing "doesn't lead to remission,"…
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Anyone had remission/significant improvement from exceptional pacing?
About two years into an aggressive-rest and strict-pacing regimen, this poster reports a three-month crash-free stretch followed by repeated relapses whenever life stress or testing intervened, calling the pattern "very fragile" and "a roller coaster" rather…
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I just "graduated" from a GET/CBT therapy at the Mayo Clinic. Ask me anything!
Completed a 3-week, daily 8am-5pm CBT/GET program at the Mayo Clinic combining graded light resistance work, aerobic pacing and forced sensory exposure. Came out able to walk again and "moderately prepared" to think about returning to work, crediting part of…
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Desmopressin Does it For ME/CFS/POTS patient
An unnamed patient with severe ME/CFS and POTS was mostly homebound for several years before starting oral desmopressin under Dr Lucinda Bateman's care, alongside pacing and treatment of sleep, pain and anxiety. Within a year the patient reported complete…
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Taking back control
Credits pacing and CBT or psychological work. Diane was ill 18y with moderate ME/CFS and reports a partial improvement. Self-management course shifted mindset more than symptoms.
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Aggressive Rest Therapy (taniaaust1)
Taniaaust1 enforced roughly two hours of rest per fifteen minutes of activity plus fixed afternoon sleep, which she believes brought on a period of remission. She summarises it as the more rest she has, the better she can sleep.
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Aggressive Rest Therapy (TiredSam)
TiredSam, a self-described mild case, schedules twenty-five-minute lie-downs three times a day and caps chores and errands at twenty minutes. Over two years he reports ending up with more time where he is fairly symptom free than his prior pattern of being…
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Aggressive Rest Therapy: My Experience
Cheesus started Aggressive Rest Therapy about a year into a mild-to-moderate case and saw rapid improvement over roughly five months, then overdid it and drove himself into a horrendous two-year crash. By this post he was severe again and using low-dose…
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Renee Can't Exercise But Otherwise Has A Normal Life
Renee, too weak for moderate exercise and nauseated within months of a December 2002 onset, had her cognitive symptoms resolve within weeks of starting Valtrex, then added Valcyte after 9 months. By 2010 she had reached 8/10 energy and near-normal life,…
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9 Years With ME - Finally Transformed Against All Odds
Credits pacing, diet, CBT or psychological work and sleep hygiene. James was ill 9y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Multilateral lifestyle overhaul: sleep, diet, posture, mindset.
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Mike Dessin's Amazing Recovery Story
Mike Dessin was a healthy, athletic college student who developed ME/CFS after a severe flu in 1994 and worsened over 14 years, at his most severe isolated in a dark room unable to tolerate light, sound or touch and about 15% functional. An alternative…
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From the Bedside to the Outdoors: Green Girl Goes Green Again
An outdoorsy environmental scientist who blogs as Green Girl contracted Ross River virus in 2009 and relapsed severely in 2010, becoming mostly bedbound with fatigue and brain fog so severe she could only read small amounts. She used pacing, graded exercise,…
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Louise Finds One Thing That Turns Life Around
Louise, who had a prior history of anxiety and depression, developed post-viral fatigue after stress-induced poor sleep escalated into flu-like symptoms, severe muscle and joint pain and a sore throat that left her unable to work. Amitriptyline, rest,…
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Diet, Supplements and Pacing Work for Professional Footballer
This page again profiles footballer Alastair Lynch, who developed ME/CFS following a car crash and a family bereavement. His recovery involved strict dietary changes, nutritional and antioxidant supplementation and a doctor-supervised paced exercise program.…
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Deanna Gets Better the Lerner Way: A Valcyte ME/CFS Success Story
Deanna was a physically fit 39-year-old when progressive ME/CFS left her mostly homebound, sleeping 12-15 hours a day and needing to crawl up stairs. Under Dr Martin Lerner she used Valcyte with stress reduction, pacing and steroids, and is described as…
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Dr. Smith Does It Again: University Student Returns to Health by Pacing
Heather, a university student, became severely ill in the early-to-mid 1990s and was eventually lying in bed 23 hours a day. Under Dr David Smith's meticulous pacing protocol, which initially limited any activity to ten minutes, plus very low doses of…
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From hospitalization to recovery: Leah's Dr. Lerner ME/CFS Recovery Story
Leah, mostly bedbound and repeatedly hospitalized (weight fell from 115 to 89 lbs) after onset in 1996, was put on Valtrex by Dr. Lerner and recovered to near-normal function for seven years before relapsing and needing a second course. On the second course…
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On the Path: Dan Moricoli's Remarkable Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Recovery Story
Dan Moricoli, 71 at the time, had been severely ill since May 2006, at his worst largely housebound with myoclonic seizures, speech difficulty and comatose-like crashes lasting hours. He credits a carefully graded, heart-rate-based exercise program built…
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what has worked for you
Starting from only managing to get dressed once a week, she used an unspecified herbal list, a strict pacing protocol and twice-weekly oxygen therapy at an MS therapy centre. She now works 2.5 days a week doing "easy office stuff," presented as a sustained…
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what has worked for you
Using hot baths for muscle soreness, pacing, and very light aerobic exercise, she reports post-exertional malaise is "not a problem" for her now and puts current functioning at 50%, without giving a prior baseline or duration for comparison.
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Tips and techniques of how I completely recovered from CFS / ME!
Credits pacing, graded exercise and CBT or psychological work. Emily was ill 2y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Full-time gym plus strict pacing; called it mind-over-matter.
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Mind-body Work and Alternative Treatments Kisses 15 Years of ME/CFS Good-Bye
The unnamed subject first fell ill after measles at age 12 and was severely disabled by 1979, losing his balance, unable to stand, with headaches and muscle pain, eventually working part-time before retiring at 50. Over 15 years he pursued self-hypnosis,…
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Heart Rate Monitor Based Exercise Program Improves Heart Functioning in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
A 28-year-old woman with ME/CFS, caught in a push-crash cycle and no longer able to work, used a heart-rate monitor set to beep whenever she exceeded her anaerobic threshold as a cue to sit or lie down, combined with gentle flexibility work, lying-down…
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Pat Gurnick Learned How to Get Well from CFS
Pat Gurnick's main treatment was the Guaifenesin Protocol (developed by Dr. Paul St. Amand), followed for 1.2 years, alongside the antiviral Kutapressin and pacing and self-regulation techniques from Dr. William Collinge's CFS book, plus staying within her…
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has anyone stuck religiously to Dr Myhill's protocol and hadsignificant improvements?
Following Dr Myhill's protocol for over a year, though not "religiously" due to sensitivities and being vegetarian, this poster reports magnesium clearing cramps and restless legs, vitamin D3 helping cognition, and overall "significant improvements" that…
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Anyone improve from bed/housebound to high level of functionality?
With no medication, just strict pacing and aggressive bed rest whenever a crash threatened, she recovered very slowly over roughly 3-5 years from total bedridden severity (about 9 months unable to stand, with periods of unconsciousness) plus fibromyalgia,…
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What treatments have CURED people?
After 13 years of severe illness, combined pacing with the antiviral/immunomodulator Isoprinosine (dose not given) and reached what she calls "100% remission" that lasted more than 16 months. The remission ended when she cut back the medication under stress,…
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How to take d-ribose for energy - it really works!
Has taken d-ribose for about 3 years; the initial energy boost wore off over that time, so she switched to a smaller, more frequent dosing schedule (1/2 tsp six times daily, working toward 15g/day). Ten days into the new regimen she reports overall energy…
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My complete protocol - recovering well from bad 7 years+ CFS
Ran a broad two-year self-built protocol - high-dose B vitamins, vitamin D3, D-ribose, CoQ10, acetyl-L-carnitine, a sublingual/nasal B12-folate methylation stack, amino acids, Buteyko breathing, infrared sauna and transdermal magnesium - layered onto months…
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Charlotte's full recovery story from CFS & the true meaning of rest
Credits pacing and rest. Charlotte had ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered.
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Learning to really, truly slow down
Credits pacing and radical rest. Helen had moderate long COVID and reports a partial improvement. Former slow-living Instagrammer forced into real slowness.
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Long Covid, CFS and Fibromyalgia Diagnosis - How Brent Is Recovering
Credits brain retraining and pacing. Brent was ill 2.5y with severe long COVID and reports a substantial improvement. Cut from 20-plus medications and supplements down to 8.
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Starting Running After Covid Pneumonia
Credits pacing, graded exercise and physiotherapy. natswright was ill 4.5mo with very-severe long COVID and reports a partial improvement. Hospitalised a month, relearned to walk.
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Running and Long Covid
Credits pacing, graded exercise and physiotherapy. Gthants was ill 2.5y with severe long COVID and reports a partial improvement. Couch-to-5K thread; a replier reports full recovery.
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Cedar Brown's Story
She recovered from ME/CFS, alongside POTS, mold illness, IBS and anxiety, using a combination of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN), the Edison Effect Program by Anj Garneri, Trauma Healing Accelerated and somatics work, pacing, IFS parts work and mold remediation,…
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Dr. Smith Does It Again: University Student Returns to Health by Pacing
Credits pacing. An unnamed patient had ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Pacing-attributed recovery.
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Diet, Supplements and Pacing Work for Professional Footballer
Credits diet, supplements and pacing. An unnamed patient had ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Possibly same footballer as another entry.
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Chronic Fatigue Survivor's Blog
Credits pacing, brain retraining and sleep apnea tx. Graham had ME/CFS and reports a partial improvement. Sydney blogger since 2009; now frames CFS as undiagnosed sleep apnea.