Please tell me your number one health tip

[neepsntatties]

Just that really. Am scrounging for ideas as I am fed up with feeling awful.

I am 45 and I do have a CFS which manifests mainly as chronic pain so there are some things that I can't do now that used to help me lots - running for example. But I move every day in small ways, yoga mostly, want to add in weight training but will need to do this in very slow and small stages but I understand it's important.

I think I eat pretty well but lack energy a lot of the time so maybe need to experiment a bit with my nutrition.

Try to keep good sleep habits, not always successful as I get a lot of tired but wired but I do prioritise it.

Don't drink, the CFS made me allergic - fun!

Interested in what people have found that has really made a difference to how they feel.

Drinking water!

You do not need to drink 2 litres of water a day. There's lots in what you already eat and drink and your body tells when you need more.

On the other hand, exercise that strengthens your quads will stand you in good stead as you age.

If you can't run any more, try slow jogging:E

Sorry. I should have said these are not my health tips, they were given to me by my rheumatologist.

Last one: every pound overweight is three pounds of pressure on the knees.

I haven't had CFS but do weights training in 30-minute sessions, with 10 minutes slow jogging, building up. It's very doable for someone who used to be fit, but had to start again at 67 after a newly-acquired heart condition, and lockdown-induced lack of condition, plus general loss of muscle mass as one ages. Life, eh?

Is it possible to find a reputable trainer who works with CFS? It's money, I know.

@LaJoconde - wow, well done! I do feel if I could just stop everything for a while I would get better. I have two kids though and I have to work. I am a lot better than I was in the beginning, I have reached a kind of functional stage which means I can manage things but I feel awful most of the time.

I don't need to lose any weight, fortunately, definitely need to work on strength though.

I have wondered if I should try a nutritionist. I have terrible IBS. Nothing I do seems to settle it.

May I suggest you do see a nutritionist, but not one who suggests a whole food grains and legumes diet.
if you have IBS you need to reduce your fibre for a while.

i went on a carnivore diet for three months and completely cleared my IBS. I had been eating “healthy” food with high fibre, but it was actually really irritating.

eating a high fat highish protein diet seems to be the best one for me, so don’t just follow the nutritionalists advice blindly.
you have IBS and CFS so cant just up your whole foods, and eat more raw vegetables and beans, that can really kick off the IBS.

laying off the healthy smoothies with spinach and greens like broccoli also helped tremendously as I was getting kidney stones from all the oxalate, and dreadful IBS with bloating and diarrhoea from all the salads, and pain in my joints from the uric acid.

maybe there are things you and your kids can do together, while you lie down...

best advice to me was, never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down! Take time for yourself and rest when you can. Schedule your restorative baths into your day.

you can get better!

Oh and absolutely no exercise for a while. Use any energy you have to heal.

please don’t engage a trainer.. science shows that staged exercise is actually damaging to recovery from CFS. Maybe those who have advised exercise don’t know that fact.

rest, rest, and rest again. NO exercise.

Two things for me:

• drink more water than you think you should (I aim for 4l a day which all my friends think is excessive but anything less for more than 24h and I start to feel grotty - I slowly increased it over time and my bladder has got used to it)

• fresh air everyday

At what point did you begin to exercise again?

4l! Wow. That is a lot of water.

Drink as much water through the day as you can
Keep a bottle close by and it's easy to sip
I put a splash of Vimto in
My skin is so much better and I find it helps concentration too

@neepsntatties yeah it is an awful lot but I don't really drink any other drinks atm (am pregnant and fussy) and can really feel it when I don't!

Look after your mental health as much as physical.
Make time for yourself, be kind to yourself, spend time with your friends, make time for exercise or whatever you need to give you headspace, don’t put all enjoyable things off for when you have more time

I find iron and folic acid supplements make the biggest difference to me. I’ve hit complete exhaustion a few times and had them prescribed. I don’t take them all the time, but now I can spot the signs of getting low sooner and can restart on the supplements to prevent it getting too bad. Early signs of low levels for me are dizziness, gradual slump in mood and motivation, difficulty focusing on tasks, and lack of energy.

I also have a chronic pain/fatigue condition and have found that the single most important thing I can do that impacts on my quality of life is what I eat. When I eat crap, I feel crap. My joints hurt more, my fatigue is worse and I get belly ache. When I eat healthy I feel better. For me this means virtually no starchy stodgy carbs, lots of veg, moderate protein and moderate fats. Minimal processed food, just real, simple food. It's not even hard work to prep, just veg, eggs, cheese, simple meat (a whole chicken in the slow cooker feeds us for several meals and is not labour intensive) and resist the urge to 'indulge' in sweet treats etc.

I do exercise, like you gentle stuff like yoga, dog walking, gardening, no big cardio, but it's the food that really impacts on my functionality.

At 45 you likely don't have CFS but are perimenopausal. Take yourself to a menopause specialist if you haven't already, GP and many docs are clueless.
I'm in a menopause group of 40k members and many many myself included were diagnosed with CFS instead of menopause.
Start HRT all the pains and exhaustion gone.
Other than that B12 injections are really good for pains and energy level s

A lot of good ideas on here but just to say if you have CFS you need to manage your activity levels. You can't exercise yourself better. If you do too much you will make yourself worse. My teen with ME/CFS is doing so much better since we got to grips with this and started really keeping on top of it. It's hard because almost anyone else would benefit from doing more exercise so it is counter intuitive to limit it but it really helps.

No sugar. No alcohol. HRT.

I have CFS. The biggest thing that works for me is QiGong or YoQi.

Very gentle, very effective.

Presume you have ruled out everything else like Crohns, Lyme disease etc?

And coeliac?

Find a class that suits you. I hate circuits and all the jumping. I do a body conditioning class with weights bands and it’s very slow and controlled. My back and posture have never felt better. Good luck

HRT. It's highly likely that the symptoms you're describing are due to peri menopause. Look up Louise newson and find her menopause symptoms checklist.
I was amazed to find that my joint pain, headaches, brain fog, pins and needles and other symptoms were all hormone related. I was still having regular periods.
My friend had pain in the soles of her feet, constipation, back pain, anxiety, insomnia, constant exhaustion and mood swings. All resolved after a couple of months of hrt.

@LaJoconde

Can you eat salad now?

What did you eat on your carnivores diet?

I hadn't thought about menopause. I was diagnosed with CFS nine years ago though. But possibly it's being made worse at the moment because of that. God. If it's not one thing it's another!

I am going to keep a food diary for a bit actually, I do think my eating is pretty good but some days are clearly better than others so there may be a pattern. Going to order some iron too.

Before I got sick I did so much! Running, circuit training, I loved all of that stuff and I miss that feeling of fitness. I do wonder about my mental health also as I just feel so down about the constant pain and restrictions. It's like trying to solve a puzzle.

Great thread!

Try to work on soothing your central nervous system...

Get out in nature as much as you can
Avoid eating processed foods - eat mostly fish, veg & good fats like nuts/ avo/ olives
Swim / walk/ yoga / garden as much as you can
HRT
Star flower or algae oil
Vit D
Magnesium
Get a massage if you can afford one a month
Don't drink alcohol
Drink lots of water - herb teas count so swap out some of your caffeinated ones

Listen to a podcast if you cant sleep at night op, they a fab. Or audible.