Buchinger fasting
- Condition
- ME/CFS
- At worst
- Severe (mostly bedbound)
- Ill for
- 10 years
- Published
- 2025
Summary
Ten years into post-infectious ME/CFS so severe that cleaning their flat or studying was "unthinkable," ilivewithcfs ran themself through repeated unsupervised Buchinger-style fasts of about 200-250 kcal/day from juice and broth (later a 2-day prep, 7-day fast, 4-day refeed cycle), acknowledging they were doing it alone for financial reasons even though it "feels like torture and can probably be dangerous" without medical supervision. Each fasting day they were extremely hungry, weak, dizzy and mostly bedridden, and the first round left their chronic sinusitis gone and brain fog lighter but with new laxative-dependent constipation, later resolved by switching to Epsom salts. By the third round, months later, fatigue and brain fog were "almost gone," they avoided PEM after a doctor's visit for the first time in a decade, and could manage chores and errands without crashing, though anhedonia and PEM from harder exertion persisted. They describe the gains as holding and substantial rather than a full recovery, and kept planning further rounds.
What they credit
Credits Diet, Trauma & somatic work, Extended water fasting (3+ days).
Symptoms mentioned
Symptoms: Brain fog, Gut problems, Post-exertional malaise.
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