How the Primal Blueprint Helped Me End My Struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!
In 2000, after an exhaustive round of tests, I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Basically, I had deep and never-ending fatigue with no identifiable cause. Not knowing I had any other choice, I resigned myself to a life limited by my illness. I had to weigh each activity against how long it would take me to recover from it. Something seemingly simple, like taking a hike, could result in days of recovery time. I went from a highly active person who loved hiking and tennis to someone who had to take a nap after weeding for a half hour. In a nutshell, it sucked.
For nine years I let myself accept that my life would have to suck. Then, in 2009, I came across information from a doctor in the UK who specializes in treating CFS. She had a detailed supplement plan…and she also highly recommended eating Primally to feed our mitochondria. Everything she said made perfect sense to me, so I set about following her plan. I started taking the numerous supplements, and I gave Primal eating a try. Unfortunately, I didn’t educate myself properly about how to eat Primally, so I just gave up the bad stuff and didn’t replace it with the good stuff I was missing. Needless to say, my Primal eating ended quickly. I had crazy cravings for bread, and because I hadn’t paid attention to how my new way of eating was making me feel, I simply gave up the Primal eating. I did keep on the supplements, though, and they helped enormously! I went from not knowing if I could get out of bed in the morning to at least being able to get up without wondering if I was really sick or just having CFS issues.
Jump forward almost three years – this past March. I embarked on a food elimination plan for 28 days, just to see what would happen. After about two and a half weeks, I noticed a HUGE difference in how I felt. I actually had - gasp! – ENERGY. The brain-fog vanished. I could concentrate on tasks for long periods of time. When I got home from work, I didn’t collapse into a puddle of exhaustion on the couch. What could possibly be in my diet to have caused me to suffer from chronic fatigue for so many years?
When I started the food-testing part of the plan, I got my answer: gluten and sugar. My reaction to them was almost instant, with the return of the brain-fog, sore muscles, headaches, and fatigue. There was no way to argue with my experiment: gluten and sugar had to go! So I started researching Primal eating again. Thank goodness, this time I found sites like MDA and Balanced Bites…resources to help me understand where I went wrong the first time and how to do it properly this time.
Since March, I’ve lost about 15 pounds – mostly inflammation weight, according to my doctor – and have gone from wearing size 10/12 to size 4/6…and some of those size 6s are starting to feel big now, too!
But the best part?? ENERGY! I genuinely had forgotten what it felt like to not be in a fog of exhaustion all the time. Pre-Primal, I could manage to work a full day and *maybe* run an errand after work (I generally made excuses for myself about why I could skip the errand, though). Now? Well, here’s an example of what I did one day last week: worked all day, ran two errands, came home and took care of my cats, mowed my lawn, fixed dinner, and put together breakfast and lunch for the next day! That would have been utterly unthinkable for me 6 or so months ago. Now, it’s normal.
Going Primal has absolutely given me my life back! When I was first diagnosed, I never would have thought that my diet was to blame. Such a simple fix to make my life worth living! I do wish I’d been successful going Primal three years ago, but I am so very grateful that I finally discovered my cure. Thank you, Mark, for all you do to help people like me make amazing changes in their lives! Now that I understand what Primal can do for me, I’ll never look back.
Amy
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
I wish I could convince so many people in my life to give this a try!
Seems like there’s an after picture that’s missing?
I really want to convince my aunt to go primal/paleo. She is 300+ pounds, has sleep apnea and fibromyalgia. I am pretty sure all of her problems would go away if she switched to primal. It is only a matter of time before she gets diabetes. My other aunt who had diabetes already died in her sixties so I know it runs in the family.
I have an aunt like this, too. It has been really hard to try to convince her to switch, every time I try talking to her about I get scoffed at, laughed at, or looked at like I’m crazy. How she ( or my other quite large aunt) don’t have diabetes yet is beyond me. Hope my success shows them the way. Good luck !
What a great story, Amy! Regarding the after picture, I could view it by right clicking on the horizontal line near “Since March…” then doing a “Save As.” She looks great – and so happy!
Seems to be fixed now. A happy, primal Amy is on view!
So happy for your recovery, Amy!!
Wow, that is great that primal eating gave you your life back. I have a lot more energy after going primal and no longer need caffeine to get me through the day, but your transformation is incredible. Every time I read one of these stories about how primal eating fixed huge life ruining problems, I am amazed that standard American diet can do so much damage.
Kick ass. Nice work.
Amy! I have had periods of this and know exactly what you’re talking about – the waking up in the morning not knowing how you’re going to feel and how much you’ll be able to do is debilitating in and of itself. Making the connection between food and how we feel isn’t an instinctive one (or it’s been conditioned out of us) and is very common. How wonderful you were able to see the light. You have your whole life before you to be soaked up with relish. Congratulations!
Congrats on your success! Way to kick some ass!
All that change in 2 1/2 weeks? And just since March?? I’m so happy for you, Amy. Congrats on your success and thanks for sharing your story!
Amy – What a great success for you. I have a freind who also suffers from chronic fatigue. I’ve talked to him about switching to primal and although he’s open minded, he hasn’t committed yet. I’ll send him your story today. Maybe it will be the nudge he needs.
I hope he’ll give it a try! But make sure he knows that it might not work so well for him – as people below have noted, CFS can be caused by a number of different things. I do hope going Primal will help him, though!
I look forward to these every week. Kudos and great job.
Just wanted to give a last minute headsup to all you Primal peeps who love their VIBRAM 5 FINGERS – FOR THE NEXT 21 HOURS YOU CAN GET THEM FOR UP TO 55% OFF!! Go to this link anhttp://www.zulily.com/invite/jjohnson16258 and search vibram it will take you to the selection they have – they still have a decent selection left. I got free shipping too!!
P.S. If you are unsure about sizing – get a tape measure and go to the Vibram site, they have the conversions, this is an awesome deal!
Thanks for posting this!!!! I just went and bought a pair – what a steal!!
genuine vibram’s at a discount!?!? Unheard of! Probably need new ones, love trail running too much in them!
I tried the link – it took me to a site called Zulily for little kids. It wanted me to join and would not go anywhere until I did (which I didn’t). Is that indeed the site? Do I really need to “join” to find the vibrams?
That is a good deal. I just got a pair for $30 on clearance at a local store though. Thanks for posting.
Very nice marketing by the way. Hope you enjoy your $20 from each of us.
Thanks for the info, Jennifer, that is a good deal. Joshua, you say that as if she cheated someone out of their money or something. If I buy a pair, I truly hope Jennifer enjoys whatever commission she might get from the sale.
Amy, would you mind telling me what kind of supplements you took? I know someone with very bad autoimmune issues.
Thanks and congrats!
Awesome story Amy. I know people without CFS who get more energy from feeling this way. I can’t imagine how good that boost must if felt for you!
Amy, I’m so happy you found your way out of CFS with something as simple as cutting gluten and sugar! What a great story!
I think this was the testimony I was waiting for. Thank you.
Awesome story! So glad you found something that helps. Congrats!! I’m fairly new to Primal eating and I’m finding it’s helping tremendously with regaining energy. I didn’t realize how little energy I had until it started to return!
“Then, in 2009, I came across information from a doctor in the UK who specializes in treating CFS. She had a detailed supplement plan…and she also highly recommended eating Primally to feed our mitochondria.”
So pleased that you have gotten your energy back, Amy! Having a sister who had bad CFS symptoms for about 15 years, I know how much it means when they subside. She still has to manage her energy levels, in spite of being grain-free and fairly primal for the last 16 months.
Could you post the name or website of the UK doctor? I’m sure my sister would love to get the information on supplements. As far as I know, none of her doctors (at major university medical centers in the US) has recommended nutritional supplements (other than some discussion of potassium and magnesium, as I recall). And now her diet has been restricted by having to limit/avoid FODMAPs (no more kale! how can she live?) to manage digestive problems.
Thanks in advance!
Dr. Myhill is the UK doc specializing in CFS or ME Myalgic Encelphelomyaliits as it is known over there. She advocates a Paleo diet rather than Primal and is the first place I heard of it.
http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/
I have a fairly severe case of CFS and have been Primal for a year now with some minor improvement in my symptoms so it isn’t a cure for everyone but certainly helps.
A doc here in the US that advocates Paleo for mitchondrial health is Dr. Wahls.
http://www.terrywahls.com/
The causes for CFS (as in, the stressors that push people into chronic fatigue) can be quite different from one person to another, and in most cases are probably plural. Amy was one of the fortunate few who was still able to hold down a job with CFS, so obviously was not one of the worst cases. Which in no way detracts from her wonderful results. I have gotten a certain measure of help from Dr. Myhill’s supplementation program, a certain amount from eating primally, and another amount from correcting my iron deficiency. I am still not able to hold down a job. But the benefits of primal eating are great enough that I have no intention of stopping.
But I do thank you, Amy, for making me think of the possibility of trying an elimination diet to see if there are other things bothering me beyond the grains and sugars. And for encouraging me to take up the full supplementation again. I was going through the “it gets worse before it gets better” stage for quite a while, and backed off just for the relief.
Yes, I have definitely been lucky in the level of my CFS – no doubt about that.
Have you tried B12 supplementation? As in, very large doses? That was the one deficiency they found in my blood work, and taking B12 definitely helped! I was taking 2500 mcg/day of cyanocobalamin, but recently switched to 1000 mcg/day of methylcobalamin, the form that’s more easily absorbed.
I wish you the best of luck in trying an elimination diet to see if something else might be adding to your CFS – I will hope you find something that will render results as magical as I did!
Yes, Dr. Myhill in the UK is the one I was referring to. She’s come under attack by the UK medical society, but I still believe her research is valid. Yous sister can download her book for free, and it includes the supplement list.
Dr. Wahls is doing great work here in the US, though again, medical society refuses to take her seriously.
Thanks for all the experience-based replies. I will send my sister the link for Dr. Myhill’s site. I already knew about Dr. Wahls’ approach, although I hadn’t really thought of it for CFS. I live in Québec, so I was also aware of Dr. Jacqueline Lagacé’s book (jacquelinelagace.net/bio/) and her approach based on Dr. Jean Seignalet’s work (www.seignalet.fr/).
My sister is doing soooo much better than she was 20 years ago, when she would be curled up in bed in the fetal position in pain many days and unable to eat. She did stop working for years, then went back to work when her symptoms subsided somewhat, and was able to do a lot of great things. But she still crashes if she overdoes it, so she is careful. Supplementation might help her get that final bit of vitality back.
I have CFS. It is very bad now. I first got it 5 1/2 years ago – May 5, 2007 – after a crazy flu just hit me like a brick. Housebound now. But I went Primal three years ago – fully recovered and then some – but stopped eating Primal and dove back into work for National Geographic and had bad, bad relapse in February, 2010. I fear now I will never get better but I have all faith – from experience – that Primal eating helps immensely. I guess I just wanted to thank you for spoonful of inspiration.
Kudos to the doctor for recommending Primal eating!! Doctors like that are few and far between. And congratulations on getting your life back!!! I know you must feel amazing (:
Wow. Absolutely wow.
Just like me! Good Job!
Still no after picture.
Lively Amy! What a wonderful testimonial. I’m so glad you have your life back. You seem like far too much fun to be dragged down by dumb gluten and sugar. I’m sharing this with a friend who has CFS.
Congrats Amy! I know just how you feel! I have Multiple Sclerosis and within 1 week of giving up gluten, my horrible MS fatigue lifted and I was able to live a fairly normal life. Just one week! It can happen so fast. It makes me so sad to know so many people with conditions like Chronic Fatigue, fibromyalgia, MS, and other ones could be helped but they are so reluctant to try dietary therapy. Stories like yours can encourage people to just try it. Thanks for sharing!
I’m so thrilled for you Amy. You look great, but more importantly, you feel great again.
Nice work! And thanks for sharing your story.
Great story but still can’t see the pics
Great job Amy and awesome testimonial!
To see the after picture, right click on horizontal line near “Since March, I’ve lost about 15 pounds” and do a save-as to your desktop.
She looks great!
Congrats! also just what I needed… last couple of days of hurricane mess have had me eating worse, and I’m getting hit with not being able to get out of bed until 12 (like when an alarm goes I just can’t get conscious enough to even be deciding whether to get up or not!), feeling sore and like I just want to go back to bed most of the day… trying to get back into eating enough animal fats at the very least!
Does anyone have any more information on what Amy refers to as “inflammation weight?” Just curious. The amount/speed of weight loss sounds similar to my own case as well.
I don’t know if this is what you’re after, but the idea is that grains and processed foods actually produce tissue inflammation, so when you go off them entirely and stay off, you’ll lose the inflammation and thus the weight it was causing. Hope that helps!
I also hope your power is back on and that you’ve been able to get back to eating well and feeling better!
Thanks Amy! That makes sense. I suppose that inflamed tissue weighs more… fluid?
yep got power to make steak now
Way to go Amy,
When will health professionals finally join the dots? So glad you have found your way.
To all those in the path of the hurricane, you are in our thoughts. The news here in Oz has showed some incredible footage, and we wish you a speedy return to normal,
Cheers
Beaming with vibrancy. On ya mate. : )
I also have fibromyalgia and have benefited from eating primal. Could you list what supplements you use that you feel have been helpful?
Hi, Gayle!
Further up, someone posted about Drs Myhill (UK) and Wahls (US). Both their sites have great info on supplements. I honestly can’t remember by whole regimen and dosing, so I can give you a list when I return from Down Under, but now all I’d be able to produce is a guesstimate.
I think you’d find a lot to help you on Dr Myhill’s site in particular.
I’m an ex-pat American living in Britain… I need to know who the UK doctor is!!! I haven’t found any relief from the NHS and I have been trying to “see” a doctor from the USA, but the distance limits what we can do.
As mentioned by someone else above, the UK doctor is Dr. Sarah Myhill. Unfortunately, she’s been under attack by the NHS for the last 2 years or so, and they have removed her license to practice. But check on her site – that may have been overturned or expired since I last checked! In any case, her website is extremely useful, so give that a look, too.
Best of luck to you – I hope you find someone/something who can help you!
Dr. Myhill is working again. NHS lifted the ban last year. Here is her contact page.
http://drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/How_to_contact_us
Great story! Thanks for sharing! (Both pics are visible in Firefox even though the after pic was not visible in IE.)
Good for you for taking control of your health!!
Hi,
This article really struck a chord with me as my mum has suffered with CFS for over 20 years. She has just sat down with me and read your article, and we are really interested in the changes that you saw with your elimination diet. I am already transitioning into the primal diet myself and loving the changes in my energy levels, but for my mum, I think it would be good to try an elimination diet and supplement plan under the guidance of a specialist in Chronic Fatigue Syndrom. Please could you tell me the name of the UK specialist doctor that you saw? We are UK-based too. Any help is much appreciated! Great article!
Best Wishes,
Laura Spoor