Helen
Long covid recovery: “I knew that one of the things that was keeping me sick was my constant focus on my illness. I had to shift my focus away from the negative”
Jan Rothney
“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”
Eleanor Kirby
“Each week I ticked off more milestones: driving, walking, running, cycling, seeing friends, and finally working full-time in a busy secondary school! I had my life back!”
Kate Hollins-Davies
“Instead of feeling guilty and tired out, I feel confident to live my life, because I now know how to manage my emotions better”
Amy Engkjer
“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”
Paul Garner
“I have learnt with this condition people get better from hope, kindness and love, not fear and catastrophe”
Svein Tore Røynestad
A farewell letter to chronic fatigue
Nina Caspersen
“At the CFS/ME centre they were shocked to see how ill I was. Today I could not be happier with my life”
Woman, psychiatric nurse
“I had to work incredibly hard to avoid reverting to the pattern of exhaustion I had been stuck in”
Minja
“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?’”
Mette – mother of a girl
“I think insight and help to find strategies made all the difference for my daughter”
Woman in her 20s
“I am no longer afraid of symptoms, or a few days of tiredness, because I know it will pass!”
Rachel Whitfield (UK)
“I had long Covid. I have fully recovered”
Esther (49)
“I realized there was nothing spectacularly wrong with my body. My fear of never getting better had kept me from getting better!”
Daniel Hindsley (UK)
“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”
Woman (62)
“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”
Woman
“It is incredible to see how the mind and body is connected”
Mother
“Our daughter was one of the sickest in the country, but now our worst nightmare is over”
Lotte Lockert Johansen
“Eight years of sickness is history. My son once again has a mother, my husband has a wife, and I’ve got a life!”
Max
Frozen: Why couldn’t I move my arm?
Daughter (10), father and mother
“Our daughter was 10 years old, and every week mom had to carry her to her GP for help. Today she is 14 years old and completely healthy”
Jan Even Raastad
From a nursing patient to a mountain climber: “For four years I lay completely helpless and motionless in bed”
Mother of 10-year-old girl
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”
Torill Sorkmo and May Elin Game interviewed by Sophie Helbig
Beating ME: Interview with Sophie Helbig on The Puzzle of Healing
Woman (29)
“To anyone struggling with ME, I want to say that you can get well!”
Live Landmark
“You can recover completely!”
Turid Spildo
“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” – a mother´s story
Randi Ribe
«I had whiplash, neck pains and low energy after a car accident. Today I have energy enough to do what I want»
Woman in her 30s
«I was always running to the toilet and always tired. It is pretty cool to see how you can improve your life this way»
Alex Bermingham
“My whole world and understanding of things had been turned upside down, in the best way possible”
Anette Veisten Lie
I was a mother with ME and two children sick with ME – There is hope!
Mother of a 12-year-old daughter
“Now our daughter will go out and experience happiness and sorrow – just like other teenagers. She has got her life back”
Man & medical doctor
«I suffered from CFS/ME. Since my recovery, I have completed medical school and worked as a doctor – full-time»
Father of daughter aged 12-20
“My daughter was ill for eight years, lying in the dark, being fed through a tube. Today she is well”
Ann Kristin Kjærnli
“At last, there was somebody who understood. This is why I was on the phone, crying because of the kindness of these strangers”
Michael Lassen
«My life was a painful hell, but now this back that was unable to stand upright can deadlift 130 kgs»
Vilde Thorsen
«From having to sit in a wheelchair, I can now be active again and go training»
May Elin Game
“I now had the knowledge to understand, the will to accept, and the tools to adjust”
Simon Pimenta
“Never, never give up hope that you can make progress towards your goal of recovery”
Polina Chernomordik
“No magic was involved, no pills or medical stuff. Just my inner power and the power of my brain.”
Female
“I was 13 years, and had no energy at all, but now I live my life the way I want to”
Dan Neuffer
“My message to all ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia and POTS sufferers is ‘don’t lose hope!'”
Stine Toppe Andersen
“I had a shower stool and a wheelchair, but today I am proud and extremely happy to say that I have recovered”
Mother of girl
My daughter’s ME recovery story
Torill Sorkmo
“It has been important for me to feel ownership to my own process. I’ve been my own coach all the way”
Mother of a boy
“When school started after the summer holiday, it was as if he’d never been ill”
Eilen Sør-Reime
“Much of what made me ill, was probably the expectation that I would get ill”
Woman in her 30s
“The symptoms often made me feel stressed and worried, as I saw them as a sign that something was wrong with my body”
Lea
“If I had believed all the negative things I read on the net, I would not have recovered”
Benedicte Grastveit Viggen
“Luckily I am stubborn, and so I decided to disprove the idea that you just have to live with this diagnosis”
Celina, Silje og Rune Fylkesnes
“Our daughter learnt how to shift her focus away from the illness, and to replace ‘sickness thoughts’ with ‘healthy thoughts’”
Mette Høvern
“I was once one of the most severely ill people in Norway: How I recovered from ME”
Thomas Overvik (by Randi Størseth)
Documentary: An undeniable truth – a contribution to living free of ME/CFS
Oda
«I created a situation where the evidence for what I was worried about, was created by the worries themselves»
Woman (23)
“It is hard to put aside principles you have set up because you so desperately want to be believed”
Lise Bauck
“If I had let my symptoms stop me, I would never have been able to continue”
Emil, Leif og Lucie Størmer
“Emil learnt to control his focus by himself, and then things improved very quickly”
Anne Mari Romsaas Fredriksen
“I had to move in with my mother to get care, but now I define myself as recovered”
Woman
“Step by step I took my life back. My life’s big turnaround, I call it”
Anonymous
My journey into ME
Aina Elisabeth Tandberg-Bråthen
“I tricked my body into believing I would get well”
Bård Stranheim
Burned out. A journey in and out of exile from life.
Hanne Namsvatn
“I was one of the most severe cases of ME, but recovered completely”
Turid Spildo
“Body and head, yes, thank you, I`ll choose both.”
Tina Røe Skaar
“The illness experience, and the tools I learnt, made me an Olympic athlete”
Rosi Lovdal
What is ME? A spiral down into unwellness
Monica Kristin Hansen
“If I could sleep for a hundred years…”
Kristin
“When I read my story today about my illness period, I can hardly believe how bad it was”
Kirsti Dahl Johansen
“For me it became vital to think that I was well, to say I was well”
David Jameson
“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”
Bjørne Bjørnson Skarbøe
“For me it was about realising that the mind and body is connected, and learn that I could influence my health through cognitive tools.”
Camilla Wiede Hellerud
“So, here I am, never better!”
Thomas Overvik
“I was transferred to a nursing home, laid out in darkness, not leaving bed for 15 months. But then my world view changed radically”
Anonymous
“The doctors could neither explain why I was ill, nor help me. But I did get well.”
Arild Berg
“To me ME is no great mystery”
Ann Kristin Grøntjernet
“It is awfully demanding when you are seriously ill, but it is well worth the effort!”
Espen Utaker (father)
«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»
Woman in her 30s
I want to recover – but how?
Mari Hofsøy Pettersen
From ME to MMA
Woman (29)
“I got my life back!”
Aftur Spildo
«This illness will last for a long time. And why is that? Because I am already prepared to die – inside»
Nina og Svein Erik Høst
“At that moment it was absolutely essential that I was there”
