Energy crashes

[Minaret]

Just curious to know if one of the symptoms of cfs is a complete energy crash if you overdo things?

A recent example: All I did this morning was drive to the town (15 min journey),visited the bank and one shop. That was it, my energy just broke off like the limb off a tree. So I went into a cafe, as I couldn't face the drive home and I had an appletize and a small slice of tortilla (egg & potatoe). About 20 mins later I felt energized enough to drive home and lie down.

[lili2701]

hello Minaret,
isn't it linked to ur blood sugar levels? Many CFS patients have hypoglycemia..

[alicewoolf]

I think energy crashes are quite common in CFS. I know I have them. Like someone has taken the plug out and all the energy has drained out of my body. It's horrible. I guess one thing is to try and keep your blood sugar levels as stable as possible, by not having any sugar and a high-protein diet. that seems to help me.

[lili2701]

yes I do agree, eating a lot of proteins and good fats and reducing the carbs intake can really help.
I have that too, like the other day, I thought I'd walk to where I had to go and all of a sudden it was too much, I felt dizzy and so tired and thought I had to stop and take the bus for the rest of the journey.
Apparently, the prob with CFS pp is that we tend to do too much and that's why we have CFS in the first place, we need to learn pacing, resting when we need to. Also, my doc told me resting is really important, in severe cases 20 hrs a day and in others at least 15 min every three hours, and resting lying down, not sat, it makes a difference. I find it really hard to rest, harder than the diet really cos I hate having to do nothing, even tired I need to go out of the house and see people or whatever.. but I'm not a severe case of CFS so..

[Shorty]

Oh yeah it is, if i actually feel good then i go out and do too much i will suffer for days possibly weeks later. When i lose all my energy sometimes its scary, I am sooooo drained i feel like i can barely move. I have two kids so this is awful! Its a tiredness that you cant describe!

[neil25]

I still find that doctors find it difficult to understand this kind of tiredness. I told my doctor that i get completly exhausted even after a 10 minute walk and he just looked at me funny in disbelief. This is the discrimination we all face.

[Minaret]

This is interesting.

Does anyone have a diet sheet or recommended foods to help stop the energy crashes? Ive heard a good breakfast is essential, but I find it difficult to give up a breakfast of fresh fruit with nuts and seeds for bacon and eggs, that I learned on the Fit For Life program.

I am wondering if the administrators should consider a section marked diets?

[lili2701]

well I'm treated by someone who tells me what to eat according to all my issues+blood type+ayurvedic profile etc, so she takes my whole person into account before saying u shd eat this or that. I've got a book on CFS of a patient who cured herself through diets and she explains that we're all different and although a diet can work for this person, it can have the opposite effect for that one. some people can't take many raw veggies or fruits, while others can and some people can't even tolerate gluten free cereals, even quinoa or rice because his/her pancreas processes all carbs as plain sugar (whether it's complex carbs or fruit or whatever), also drinking too much is not good(that's the opposite of what we've been told) unless we are under heavy medication of course. She suggeses 15 days cures in her books which are very interesting and according to one's profile.

A diet that can help for CFS patents especially for those who also have systemic candidiasis is the specific carb diet, dunno if u've heard about it? it's cured many pp with Corhn's or ulcerative colitis. So basically you can eat veggies, fruits, meats, oils but organic and u can't eat all grains and cereals. It's hard to be honest. U can't eat any dairies except for the yogourt u make urself with raw milk because then there's not lactose left in it anymore and it's full of good bacterias for the gut flora.
It's main is to restore the flora really, u have to exclude nuts and seeds the first weeks but u can reintroduce them after and see how it goes.

I think eating gluten free for a while is good but excluding all carbs is really hard, especially socially cos u can't eat anything anymore..

I really think what's best, is to exclude all sugars, eat only fruits and organic honey and then complex gluten free carbs like quinoa, rice, millet etc or even oat sometimes cos it seems it's ok even if there's gluten in it. than a lot of veggies and good oils, virgin and cold-pressed otherwise it's not the same.

u have to experience it urself, see how it goes with u.. but yes bacon and eggs is better in some ways than nuts and fruits if u have glycemia issues.

[kenvj]

If diet could prevent energy crashes then diet could prevent CFS - and it definitely does not.

[Minaret]

Thank you for your replys. Energy crashes are weird...I am trying the complex carbs route and have looked into Ayurveda and the blood types diet. I am a fan of Ayurveda because I am a typical 'Vata' always on the go unless I am actually tied down (in effect cfs are the ropes that keep me from doing stuff).

This week I decided that I was not going to think of myself as 'normal' anymore in terms of energy expenditure.

I started by saying no to anything that I know gives me energy loss. I made myself a list

being out in the hot sun,
any fast exercise,
certain people (cant explain it - but people who talk & move fast and also people who moan all the time make me feel exhausted),
violence on tv & films,
too much to do (I can be a bit hyper when Ive got a normal amount of energy),
certain foods usually high in sugar make me buzz then make me crash,
having visitors to stay at my house for a week at a time
shopping malls.. in fact going anywhere buzzing with activity

Slowly, I have gone from a zero out of 10 energy of last week to an eight today! wow... but I am not going to see myself in the way I used to and expend any energy, unless I have to... like going food shopping ( I prefer the peace of the market to the noise of the supermarket) or cooking the evening meals and some gentle gardening and housework.

what is it makes your energy crash and are you able to either eliminate it or alter it a bit?

[niaholt]

Minaret,
I am EXACTLY like you.....think I need CFS to tie me down. I have chosen your path too. I have realized for some reason I cant do life like others. So I just potter quietly now, stay away from all the fuss. I CANT be trusted to behave around people or situations, I become hyper.

I have been so much better recently but the result was I got into a state where I thought I was Mighty Mouse. I had soooo many mixed emotions running thru me that I was IN life again that a kind of resentment set in about the last 12 yrs of loss. This only made the situation worse. Nothing like a family wedding to bring out the angst.

A simple announcement that I may have to leave the wedding early as it was on an island and a long day was met with criticism. I think 12 yrs of of pent up rage was unearthed within me that no one understood that I had not been to 1 family event in this long period of time and was being criticized, totally brought me undone. Thank heavens my Psychologist said " dont go to this wedding" the best thing ever for me to do. I stay in my own zone.....I tread my own path....leave them to theirs.....I may never be one of them.....how could I ever be after so much suffering. Pacing to my own drum is the key.

[lili2701]

lol I'm like you two too! My naturopath examines profiles (ayurvedic, blood type etc) and I'm also vata. I also need to do so much as soon as I have tiny bit of energy but that's when we're wrong!

I've been told that to heal we need to lie down as much as possible, not sit down but really lie down even if we dont sleep, it doesnt matter but the body needs that to recover. Someone I know who had severe CFS and fibro has become an expert now and advises people for diets more specifically but she wrote a book on CFS and explains how important it is to rest lying down. and to unplugg the devises when sleeping and to do relaxation for the brain to calm down etc.. but it's so hard to rest.. it's boring.. Also i read many articles explaining that CFS people tend to be hyper, always wanting to do things etc.. and it's true and it's the reason why we got this in the first place, not listening to our own body's limits!

anyway..

[Minaret]

niaholt, I so understand the wedding thing. My brother (who, in my opinion is an utter freeloader & likes to visit one or other of his large family every couple of years for a free holiday) wanted to stay with me for 3 weeks over xmas, and because I'm too nice I said 'yes'....(its odd & probably dysfunctional, but no one in my family says 'no' to each other, even when it is a big problem coming...

as soon as i put down the phone i regretted it! anyway, I worried every night and day for 10 days about it, I couldnt stand the stress any longer and told him a lie about my situation & found him an apartment to stay instead! but at least I picked him up at the airport, & when we met I recognized my energy dropping like a bomb...

a friend, later that day, who saw what a state I was in, said 'why cant you just tell him you dont want to see him' . WHAT! , I would never have thought like that. But it made huge sense...and GUESS WHAT, I did. I felt in those words a huge torrent of history I needed to vent. But just having back my space without him in it was beautiful...'in my zone'. I didnt give him any reason, I didnt need to. And I didnt need to see him again, ever, if I didnt want to! .... over the years he has become a complete stranger anyway. God that was so liberating. I have since 'spoken' with him (he asked me in an email what the problem was) and I told him the truth, how he makes me feel etc, without any malice or stress on my part. I felt speaking the truth was part of it, and very new way to communicate in my family!

lili, I wonder how many Vata types suffer CFS? (perhaps I should start a thread with Ayurveda body profiles? which Ive studied for the last 6 years)

Yes, It is difficult to actually lie down and rest (especially for vatas), and Ive taken to long siestas lately, when I am the least bit tired, reading for a bit, dozing, listening to my ipod...I feel a bit lethargic for an hour or so afterwards... but I have found the next day I have much more of a 'zing' in my step.

[lili2701]

oh yes that would be nice to open a thread on ayuredic profiles!! I dont know much about it, it would be very interesting if you could shed a light on this for us?

It sound slike your bro was what we call a toxic person to you? or at least u felt he was toxic to u? it's must have been really hard to make such a decision, especially cos he was your brother!

i guess when someone is causing u anxiety, or causing u to feel "shit" (sorry for being rude) or anything like that, it means it's not worth seeing that person anymore. still i find it very hard to do so, especially if it's someone like ur mum or dad or sis or bro.. My mum has drinking issues and at the mo i have to live with her cos of CFS and it's really hard to deal with but on the other hand, i have good moments with her and i couldnt not see her anymore. I think in my case the best thing to do would work on myself accepting her drinking issue and not escaping from it cos wherever i'd go, it'd still bear with me, although real distance could help of course. I lived away from her for years and it helped a bit but never solved everything cos what i need to solve is inside me and not her.

now i try to stay away from people who judge me and have no better things to do than criticize other people.

[alicewoolf]

Minaret your post was really enlightening. I guess avoiding things that drain your energy is the obvious thing to do but so often i do the opposite. Like I go to my aunt's for a few days every month to help her- she's ill, and I find it stressful and tiring. I just can't seem to say no! But am going to try and do what you've been doing. I guess its about really knowing what gives you energy or takes it away and acting accordingly. Sure its going to help. thank you.