Our brains are physical and they play a big part in how we react to viruses and diseases
When I was suffering with CFS/ME I had never heard of anyone recovering. I eventually did find stories from people who had got their lives back it filled me with hope, plus a reasonable amount of scepticism! Each time someone’s journey is told it could help other people have faith that recovery is possible.
It was a great revelation and relief to discover that I had the power to heal myself
I tested positive for Covid 19 at the beginning of June 2022. The previous day I had completed an 11-hour hike through the mountains so my level of fitness and general health was fine prior to being infected. I had been vaccinated and boosted not long before and did not experience intense symptoms or need medical treatment during the initial infection.
I knew that one of the things that was keeping me sick was my constant focus on my illness
In February 2020, I was a fit, active, healthy 40 something working as a freelance marketing manager, looking after my son and living a normal life. Then in March 2020, Covid struck and everything in my life changed.
I had to retrain the body that it is safe to recover, that I didn’t need protecting or to be put into survival mode
After 10 years pushing through with post viral fatigue, I went to bed with a runny nose and just didn’t wake up. I slept for weeks and eventually woke up to realise I was bedridden, unable to move, except to crawl to the toilet.
I am back to myself – fun with family and friends, working in a full-time job that I love!
Here is the story of the most bizarre thing that I have ever experienced ― 12 months of Long Covid.
Instead of feeling guilty and tired out, I feel confident to live my life – I know how to manage my emotions better
Hi – It’s Kate here, from the UK. I have always been a trier. I tried hard at school, at Uni, at work, at losing weight, at baking the best cakes, at being a good friend, at going above and beyond… you get the picture! I was always wired, always on the go, never having time and always stressed about it! When all this trying eventually caught up with me, I was working three jobs and volunteering on four teams at my church.
After one year and 10 days I realized that I was done with COVID! The mind-body connection was the final piece in my healing
Life was great! I was super active: working out three times a week, fishing and hiking with my husband and dogs, camping and traveling on the weekends. My stained-glass business was going strong and my newest passion for teaching meditation was flourishing: I had just taught a meditation class for Microsoft.
Then, WHAM!
I have learnt with this condition people get better from hope, kindness and love, not fear and catastrophe
I am an English medical doctor and professor of epidemiology. I became known in media across the world as one of the first people who told their stories of long covid. I went on a roller coaster of symptoms and uncertainty for several months until I learnt some life-changing lessons that helped me recover. I want to share them.
A farewell letter to chronic fatigue
As I’m sitting here, writing this letter, I feel incredibly grateful. I hope my story can serve as an inspiration to others.
At the CFS/ME centre they were shocked to see how ill I was. Today I could not be happier with my life
From August 2017 until December 2018, I was bedridden and completely dependent on care. I was unable to stand upright or eat by myself. How did I get there?
I had to work incredibly hard to avoid reverting to the pattern of exhaustion I had been stuck in
It is like a zipper that you draw up slowly, tooth by tooth, until it is whole once more. This is a process one must learn and practice as one goes forward. You must create new experiences through success. This has nothing to do with ‘thinking yourself well again’, but rather understanding yourself well.
My brain maintained my condition by pondering questions such as: ‘How am I doing today, which symptoms are the hardest, and consequently; what will I be doing today?’
I am writing this to those of you who are ill and have lost hope that you will get well again. I write because I want the health services to be more knowledgeable in the way they meet us. It was tough having to go through this on my own, and I would have wished there had been a team of psychologists, physiotherapists, and doctors who would not focus on my symptoms but on my rehabilitation, but first and foremost that could have provided a fair explanation of what might have happened. This is an essential key for people to get the courage to rehabilitate.
I think insight and help to find strategies made all the difference for my daughter
Hi, my name is Mette and I am the mother of a wonderful girl who now is 22 years old.
My daughter fell ill when she was 13.
I am no longer afraid of symptoms, or a few days of tiredness, because I know it will pass!
The fear of symptoms makes them much worse, stronger, they last longer and steal all the focus. At least that was how it was for me. I got more tired because the fear stole all my focus, and I felt anxious all the time while I was waiting to feel better. The fear aggravated my symptoms.
I had long Covid. I have fully recovered
It may seem like a miracle, as I went from being barely able to walk to the end of my street to running my usual 5k running route and 10 mile cycling route in the space of a week. I’m not as fit as I used to be, but confident I will now get back to where I was. (Just to put this into context) I was about to do the Edinburgh marathon when Covid hit, and had just finished a 60 mile bike ride when I caught Covid).
I realized there was nothing spectacularly wrong with my body. My fear of never getting better had kept me from getting better!
I got sick in March 2020. I was exhausted and couldn’t do anything but lie down. I went to see the doctor because it didn’t feel like normal fatigue. Blood was drawn, but the tests came back normal.
If you are also suffering with chronic pain hang in there, hopefully you can see from my story that you can make a full recovery
By offloading my thoughts and emotions I learnt so much about myself and the resentment, anger, sadness and frustration that I had been holding inside my body for so long that originated from two major challenges that I had in my life.
I was an ME patient for 23 years. I was in care. Today I can do anything I want, and I enjoy living my life
I was ill for a whole chapter of my life, which I simply cannot bear to describe. But today I am well.
It is incredible to see how the mind and body is connected
Author: Woman Gradually my body ground to a halt, and I could feel the strength just seeping out of me. I was twenty and studying higher education. I was also an active athlete and wanted to focus fully on my … Continued
Our daughter was one of the sickest in the country, but now our worst nightmare is over
What do we do when we go through a living nightmare? When the people we love the most; our own children, fall seriously ill? If anybody had looked into the future and told me what my child would be going through, I would have said “I will never be able to deal with that”.
Eight years of sickness is history. My son once again has a mother, my husband has a wife, and I’ve got a life!
My name is Lotte, and I am 35 years old. I climb high mountains, I swim in the sea no matter the weather, I play with my son, I work, I hang out with friends, I sing, go to the movies and to concerts, to late-night dinners, and I love cooking and having guests over. I LIVE!
Frozen: Why couldn’t I move my arm?
It had been a horrible night suffering through the worst migraine of my life. My migraines had been out of control, but like many medical professionals, I minimized my symptoms and pushed on through so that I could take care of other people.
Our daughter was 10 years old, and every week mom had to carry her to her GP for help
In the spring of 2017, our daughter came down with a fever, sore ears and was so weak she was unable to attend school.
From a nursing patient to a mountain climber: For four years I lay completely helpless and motionless in bed
My despair was overwhelming. The doctors gave me no hope of being able to recover from ME. On the contrary I remember a specialist saying: “You must lie down and rest, maybe for the rest of your life.”
The best thing I have done is to say: no way will I accept that my daughter will just lie there and suffer indefinitely, without us being able to do anything
Anxiety. Fear of the future. Sorrow. Insecurity. About three years ago, I did not know much about what these words could mean. We went to Greece on autumn vacation as a regular family of five in September 2017. A week later we were no longer a regular family, we just did not know it ourselves yet.
Beating ME: Interview with Sophie Helbig on The Puzzle of Healing
In this episode of her very inspiring Youtube and podcast series The Puzzle of Healing, Sophie Helbig interviews May Elin Game and Torill Sorkmo about their recovery from ME/CFS and Recovery Norway.
To anyone struggling with ME, I want to say that you can get well!
The hardest thing for me was that I had no idea how long I would be sick. Maybe the rest of my life. I wish that Google, the information I received and what patients were generally told could to a greater extent convey that one can actually get well.
You can recover completely!
At Haukeland Hospital, I was told that I had contracted a serious neurological disease, for which there was no cure.
I made many mistakes and I did some things right. I had bad luck as well as good luck, but it turned out well in the end
This is my story as a mother of a sick child. She had Borrelia and meningitis. Then ME, but she recovered.
I had whiplash, neck pains and low energy after a car accident. Today I have energy enough to do what I want
My life today involves very little pain and I have lots of energy. I am very energetic and can do more than just work. Energy to look after the people around me. I love my life and do what I want to.
I was always running to the toilet and always tired. It is pretty cool to see how you can improve your life this way
Me a couple of months ago: I am signing my resignation from work because of a long-lasting sickness. I appreciate the economic support I get from the Norwegian welfare system, but time is running out.
My whole world and understanding of things had been turned upside down, in the best way possible
The basic summary of the cause of my illness is a familiar one. As far as I believe, the cause was burnout, plus the trigger of a nasty flu bug at the same time. From this I never properly recovered, and things quickly spiralled out of control. However, looking back at my life with hindsight, it is easy to see that there was already a foundation of issues which were affecting my health, and paving the way for a future illness.
I was a mother with ME and two children sick with ME – There is hope!
I wish someone would have given me the knowledge that I have today, that someone would have normalised my condition 13 years ago and said: “You’ll be fine. We have a support network that will help you get back on your feet.” Instead, I was left alone, left to stumble through an overwhelming amount of advice on what to do when you’re a CFS/ME sufferer. It cost me 13 years of my life and my children missed out on their teenage years. At this conference organised by Catosenteret rehabilitation centre, Anette tells her story. It’s a story that touched many people.
Now our daughter will go out and experience happiness and sorrow – just like other teenagers. She has got her life back
Author: Mother of a 12-year-old daughter I just got home from work. Our daughter is in school, at an activity day (!), and the house is quiet. Now is a good time for me to tell our story. It is … Continued
Since my recovery, I have completed medical school and worked as a doctor – full-time
Since I got well again I have completed my medical studies within the normal timeframe and then worked as a doctor, full time, including night shifts of 19 hours, with no more fatigue than any of my colleagues, before making the decisive choice that life is too short to carry on with the hectic lifestyle that I was used to.
My daughter was ill for eight years, lying in the dark, being fed through a tube. Today she is well
If your own brain, that part of the brain which you can’t access, is convinced that a bit of movement is very dangerous, what chance do you have without the right tools?
At last, there was somebody who understood. This is why I was on the phone, crying because of the kindness of these strangers
It is January 2015. The youngest boy in the family is 12 years old. Following a slightly unsettled period after the children and I moved from Oslo to Mo i Rana, our son has settled down and made new friends that he likes.
My life was a painful hell, but now this back that was unable to stand upright can deadlift 130 kgs
My name is Michael and I am now 47 years old. A few years ago I was severely ill primarily due to back pains.
From having to sit in a wheelchair, I can now be active again and go training
I have always been a girl who enjoyed being active. I went to the US for a year after high school and worked as an au pair. When I came back home in the summer of 2016 it only took me a couple of weeks before I started working again. For almost three months I even had two jobs.
I now had the knowledge to understand, the will to accept, and the tools to adjust
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalopathy (CFS/ME) is a major health problem which is often seen as a rather puzzling and mysterious illness, for which there is no cure or treatment. However, having suffered from ME for 17 years, I found myself recovered to full health in just four days, at a treatment course run by Dr. Bjarte Stubhaug at the Clinic of Stress Medicine. This is my story.
Never, never give up hope that you can make progress towards your goal of recovery
Prior to getting sick, I worked for housing trust supporting men with mental health problems. It was a really interesting job and I enjoyed working with the residents.
No magic was involved, no pills or medical stuff. Just my inner power and the power of my brain
The story starts at the end of 2014 when I came back to Russia after several years of living, studying, and working abroad. The first year of being back to Russia was kind of hard emotionally and it is hard to say why exactly.
I was 13 years, and had no energy at all, but now I live my life the way I want to
I first became ill at the age of 13 with severe Glandular Fever. The lymph nodes on my neck were severely inflamed and I was hospitalised due to an abscess developing on one.
My message to all ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia and POTS sufferers is ‘don’t lose hope!
We all expect to get well when we first become sick, but as more and more questions are left unanswered, as weeks of illness turn into months and as months turn into years, it’s quite normal to lose hope that you will get your life back.
That’s what it was like for me.
I had a shower stool and a wheelchair, but today I am proud and extremely happy to say that I have recovered
In the first part of 2016 I was a social and active 20-year-old girl. I really enjoyed working as a personal trainer, I had a boyfriend, was frequently working out and generally happy about my life.
My daughter’s ME recovery story
As parents, we are eternally grateful to the friend who made us dare believe it’s possible to recover from ME!
It has been important for me to feel ownership to my own process. I’ve been my own coach all the way
I got ill in 2008 and got the ME diagnosis in 2009. At the time, I was 39 years old, divorced, had two children and was working full time. I lived an active life before this. I sat on boards, was parental contact, trained at both the fitness center and with active cycling.
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When school started after the summer holiday, it was as if he’d never been ill
Life changed completely for our 10-year-old son in January 2018. He had always been a lively and happy boy who loved physical activity, a boy who loved playing football and hanging out with his friends.
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Much of what made me ill, was probably the expectation that I would get ill
I was 23 in 2013. I was travelling at least once a month; I was a student with three part-time jobs and had taken on various other duties. I was also working out and was very active.
Background
An organization consisting of people who have recovered is unique and original on an international level, and might also seem a bit strange. However, the establishment of Recovery Norway is important and takes place in a time where a lot … Continued
Milestones
History of Recovery Norway January 22nd 2017: the first member of Recovery Norway is recruited by founder Henrik Vogt (Thomas Overvik, who had been very ill with an ME/CFS diagnosis). Henrik, who is also a medial doctor with a PhD … Continued
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A membership implies no specific obligations and there is no payment for membership. One can be a passive member, or one can share one´s story anonymously, semi-anonymously or with full name. One can contribute as one wishes. We need members, the … Continued
The symptoms often made me feel stressed and worried, as I saw them as a sign that something was wrong with my body
It is almost six years since I first detected that something was wrong with my body. My life was stable and generally happy back then; I had a partner, my studies, and a network of good people. For years, I had enjoyed working out and exercising, as it gave me a boost of energy and put me in a good mood, but now suddenly I seemed to get some sort of ‘hangover’ when I’d been exercising; feeling exhausted, getting a slight ‘brain fog’ and generally feeling irritable for up to a week after a training session.
If I had believed all the negative things I read on the net, I would not have recovered
The Lightning Process (LP) is a disputed topic, and most of what you read about it, is negative. I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) myself. If I had believed all the negative things I read on the net, I would not have recovered.
Luckily I am stubborn, and so I decided to disprove the idea that you just have to live with this diagnosis
When I was 16 years old, I lived a very normal life. I went to school, enjoyed working out and spent a lot of time with friends. After my 17th birthday, though, my life was anything but normal.
Our daughter learnt how to shift her focus away from the illness, and to replace ‘sickness thoughts’ with ‘healthy thoughts’
Celina became ill in the autumn of 2017 at the age of 12. Until then she had been a very active young girl with lots of friends at school and at home. She was a keen footballer and active on the running track. Celina was always cheerful and happy with an infectious laugh.
I was once one of the most severely ill people in Norway: How I recovered from ME
I was once one of the most severely sick people in Norway diagnosed with ME in the period between 2006 and 2009. I will give a brief account of my story, how I fell ill and how I got better and also what I think about it all today because that is actually the most interesting aspect; what I have understood today.
Documentary: An undeniable truth – a contribution to living free of ME/CFS
Sometimes we do not believe things before we can watch them unfold with our own eyes. In this unique documentary we follow Thomas Overvik step by step through his full recovery from being a severely ill, bedridden ME/CFS patient in a dark-room. The documentary is made by Randi Størseth, whose daughter also has recovered from ME/CFS.
I created a situation where the evidence for what I was worried about, was created by the worries themselves
I was in my early teens when I began to lose a lot of energy. From once being an active girl, I became a lot more passive. It took me more than ten years of struggles, illness and despair, but at last, at an age of 26, I can finally say that not only am I completely well again, but I have gained from the whole experience.
It is hard to put aside principles you have set up because you so desperately want to be believed
I fell ill after having had mononucleosis at upper secondary school – without knowing it. I noticed symptoms, but did not understand what was happening to me as I celebrated the end of school. This was in 2014.
If I had let my symptoms stop me, I would never have been able to continue
I got sick in the summer of 2014. I was healthy and in great physical shape, and then suddenly I was just lying there. My body had collapsed. I couldn’t for the life of me understand what was going on.
Emil learnt to control his focus by himself, and then things improved very quickly
Today Emil is a happy 18-year-old. He is in his last year of upper secondary school and is active in sports, which also includes coaching younger athletes. He has passed his driving licence and found a girlfriend, and as for what we, his parents, say and think, he cares just about as much as he ought to. This hasn’t always been the situation, however.
I had to move in with my mother to get care, but now I define myself as recovered
I here choose to write my story wishing that others may benefit from it, that it may provide hope of recovery for them. I am presently 54 years old, married and I have four adult children. I work as a therapist for students.
Step by step I took my life back. My life’s big turnaround, I call it
It was 2008. I was 31 years old and heading full speed out into the world. I had got a job at the United Nations (UN), and prior to that I had gone at top speed most of the time. I had been in three continents in just as many months, participated in research meetings, conferences and also a high-level international choir singing competition. And now the road lead to Africa and what I had long thought of as the dream job.
My journey into ME
I’ve noticed a significant relationship between circumstances in my life, especially things that happened in my childhood, and my health.
I tricked my body into believing I would get well
This is my story about how I got ME/CFS and how I managed to recover from it.
Burned out. A journey in and out of exile from life
“The only way to make ends meet is to burn the candle at both ends!”
(Written on the 20th of October 2016, but I do not publish it until I am a long way into recovery, so that no one thinks of it as a flash in the pan.)
I was one of the most severe cases of ME, but recovered completely
Hi, my name is Hanne and now in 2019 I am 27 years old. Hoping that my story will bring courage and help to others, I would like to share it here. From 2006 to 2008, I was one of the most severe cases of ME/CFS in Norway. However, after two and a half years of illness, I actually recovered completely. What happened to me?
Body and head, yes, thank you, I`ll choose both
I first attended Lightning course as a relative and was generally very interested in the human mind and the human being on a whole. Body and head, yes, thank you, I`ll choose both.
The illness experience, and the tools I learnt, made me an Olympic athlete
I’m Tina Røe Skaar, I’m 24 years old, and I am living a life slightly outside the norm.
What is ME? A spiral down into unwellness
My perception of the condition we refer to as ME is that there are various causes for what is then given one diagnosis. It is a process, a spiral down into unwellness from various beginning events, which is ultimately diagnosed as ME.
If I could sleep for a hundred years…
I will tell you what happened when I fell ill with CFS/ME and then recovered.
When I read my story today about my illness period, I can hardly believe how bad it was
My history starts in the fall of 2015, when I have headaches every single day. I have had extreme headache attacks in the past, but now it is constant and I need to take painkillers every day.
For me it became vital to think that I was well, to say I was well
This is to you, you who stood by me when I was so very ill with ME. We have not spoken since. However, you, and many others, made such a difference in my life and I never really got to thank you.
The key was realising that my illness and relapses had all happened during times when I didn’t have any work to do, usually after a period of stress
It was December 2000, near the end of a two-week Christmas break that my illness began. It started off with typical flu-like symptoms – sneezing and runny nose, with the fever symptoms of feeling cold and aches and pains all over my body.
For me it was about realising that the mind and body is connected, and learn that I could influence my health through cognitive tools
After many years of working long days and putting my body through a lot of physical and mental stress as a management consultant and athlete, I was diagnosed with Mononucleosis in December 2013.
So, here I am, never better!
Camilla tried everything. After seven years of serious illness, she finally discovered a way to recover completely.
I was transferred to a nursing home, laid out in darkness, not leaving bed for 15 months. But then my world view changed radically
I developed ME after a bout of mononucleosis in the spring of 2003. This happened at a time where all events in my life were pointing upwards.
The doctors could neither explain why I was ill, nor help me. But I did get well
Many years have passed, I now have several children and work as a psychologist. If there is one thing I see more and more clearly, it is how much our emotions, thoughts and relationships affect our health.
To me ME is no great mystery
A lot of people associate me with football and the fact that I was considered one of Norway´s greatest talents. However, the most interesting thing about me today is that, because of my experiences, I am among those who are most knowledgeable about ME, chronic fatigue syndrome. This condition is often viewed as deeply mysterious. It’s not a great mystery at all to me.
It is awfully demanding when you are seriously ill, but it is well worth the effort!
One day in February 2010 I felt ill, properly knocked out. I thought it was the flu and I might be off work for a few days. I got better and returned to work. But a few days later I was ill again, and this time I didn’t recover.
Our daughter felt that she was more in control over her own situation, that she could now play an active part in her own recovery
Our daughter contracted ME when she was only ten years old. We vividly remember the despair we felt as parents; that her life was put on hold for one year; the worst-case scenario that she would become just another number in the queue at the national welfare center; a bedridden teenager hibernating behind blackout curtains in a dark bedroom. Luckily, we managed to find a way out of the nightmare.
I want to recover – but how?
And that’s why the full story has to be told, so that you can think: If this person can do it, then so can I!
From ME to MMA
When I was seventeen, I contracted mononucleosis and was really ill for months. As soon as I recovered, I went back to school full time. Being a trainee hairdresser, I would spend a lot of time on my feet, with my hands held high. It did not take long before I developed tendinitis in both arms, and my general health deteriorated, from hardly ever being unwell prior to the mononucleosis (common cold, gastroenteritis, tonsillitis), to being ill often.
I got my life back!
My body did not recover after infectious mononucleosis in 2006. At that time, I was only 16 years old. I got worse in 2018 and was on sick leave for long periods of time. In 2012, as a 22-year-old girl, I got the ME-diagnosis (serious degree)
This illness will last for a long time. And why is that? Because I am already prepared to die – inside
To Mammi…
The infection came suddenly – like a bolt og lightning out of the blue. The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, however, came tiptoeing, slowly but surely. It came to take away from me everything you might call an identity. And it succeeded. In the end I was no longer myself. I “was” a fatigue syndrome.
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About Recovery Norway
Recovery Norway was initiated in 2017 and formally established as a Norwegian organization in 2018. It was expanded as an international network in 2019. Recovery consists of people who have recovered from ME/CFS (myalgic encephalopathy or chronic fatigue syndrome) and … Continued
At that moment it was absolutely essential that I was there
It was in February 1999, at the age of 55, that Nina first felt that her body did not function normally. After getting an ankle fracture in the slalom hill she got a persistent low fever and easily got sweaty and tired.