Victory Over ME/CFS: David Staunton's Full Recovery
- Condition
- ME/CFS
- At worst
- Severe (mostly bedbound)
- Ill before improving
- Not stated
- Published
- No date given
In their words
- Condition: ME/CFS
my CFS Journey started around four years ago
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - At worst: Severe
about as sick as you probably can be whilst still be sort of semi functioning not really functioning
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - Now: Recovered
three and a half years later I was running a marathon and like it was no problem
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - Began after: another virus
I had actually a shingles Outbreak on my scalp my face my eye
Summary
David Staunton developed ME/CFS at 38 after shingles and could barely move, crawling to do laundry. He credits a 5-day water fast and ketogenic diet, which lifted his brain fog, and daily graded walking with nervous-system retraining, which took him back to work after about seven months. A half marathon brought on a two-day crash. About three and a half years after onset he was running marathons with no problem.
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What they tried
What they credit
Also tried
Their words about each treatment
- antiviral medication for shingles · Not said
you're kind of out of the window of the antiviral medication working probably
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - 5-day water fast · Helped
the first actual thing I did was a 5-day water fast
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - ketogenic diet · Helped
the first big intervention that I that I looked at was the ketogenic diet
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - supplement protocols (unnamed) · No change
I found that none of them really helped at all
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - walking, then running (half marathons) · Helped a lot
I started with um just trying to walk as far as I could
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - heart-rate stop limit on walks · Helped
I set myself the limit that if my heart rate went above 130 um I would stop
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - retraining the nervous system (self-directed) · Helped
I spent a huge amount of time trying to retrain my body that things were okay
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - sleep protection and daily routine · Helped
I sorted out my sleep I had a great morning routine
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - daily shoulder stretching · Helped
for two months every morning I got up and I just stretched my shoulder
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - leaving his job for a year of travel in forests across Scandinavia · Not said
then that involved leaving my job uh I went and with my partner my now wife we went and uh went on a trip for a year
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions
Approaches: Brain retraining · Diet · Physiotherapy and rehab
Their path
How ill they were on the ME/CFS severity scale, estimated from what they describe at each point, with time counted from when the illness began. Hover or tap a point. The chart starts 1 month after onset: the story doesn’t say how ill they were before that. 1 step has no time and sits in story order between the steps around it. 2 steps say too little to place on the scale and are only in the table. What the levels mean.
Show as a table
| When | What happened | Where they were | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christmas Eve, about four years before the interview | Severe shingles outbreak on scalp, face, eye and earon Christmas Eve I ended up going to hospitalWatch the video ↗From the video’s captions | Not stated | |
| a month after the shingles | Collapsed after the medication wore off; could barely move or think, crawled to do laundryI was much worse at the end of the month than I was at the beginning of the monthWatch the video ↗From the video’s captions | Severe | |
| early in the illness | Brain fog began to lift about ten days after a 5-day water fast and starting ketosisafter I would say around a week and a half that was the first moment where the brain fog started to liftWatch the video ↗From the video’s captions | Severe | Extended water fasting (3+ days) |
| after about seven months | Walking up to an hour after slowly building up; went back to a reduced workloadafter about 7 months I could walk for up to an hourWatch the video ↗From the video’s captions | Mild | Graded rehab and self-made programmes |
| about a year in | Well enough to work and fitter than most people, with gut and musculoskeletal problems remainingI knew my body wasn't healthy still but it was healthy enoughWatch the video ↗From the video’s captions | Near normal | |
| about two and a half years in | In bed for two days with PEM and brain fog after the Copenhagen half marathonI was in bed for 2 days afterwardsWatch the video ↗From the video’s captions | Not stated | |
| three and a half years in | Ran 65 half marathons in 65 weeks and the Copenhagen Marathonthree and a half years later I was running a marathon and like it was no problemWatch the video ↗From the video’s captions | Recovered |
Adverse events
- “I was in bed for 2 days afterwards” Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions Made symptoms worse
Symptoms mentioned
Their words about their symptoms
- Post-exertional malaise
post exertional Malay I'd felt really fatigued
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - Brain fog
the brain fog started to lift
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - Heart symptoms & palpitations
lots of problems with my heart at the time
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - Neuropathy & tingling
10 of 10 nerve pain
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - Vision problems
lots of problems with my eye my you know Vision
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - Gut problems
lots of problems with my gut
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - Anxiety & low mood
there were many many days of just real despair
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - Pain & fibromyalgia
still I had a lot of muscular skeletal problems
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions - POTS & dysautonomia
if my my heart rate went above 130 I went blue and passed out
Watch the video ↗From the video’s captions
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