I hear you @Blossom I experienced CFS after I had my first baby. You're right; you never forget. Drs thought I was making it up and told me it was normal to be fatigue as a new mother. BS, this was no fatigue. No-one checked my thyroid. I wish I'd known then what I know now. Peat is such a wonderful resource. Nightshift + stressful job is such a b****. I did quite a few years of revolving shifts and my health spiralled out of control. Of course I was well aware of the research and nightshift but I too had no option but to keep working and it allowed me to drive kids to school in the morning. The money on day shift did not allow me to earn the money to support returning to my research work. Then I started my Phd which was offered to me on a plater. All this going into menopause and my body just broke. I had to walk away from everything.
@messtafarian, I don't mean to hijack your thread only to highlight that viruses get activated/reactivated when the body's energy needs are exhausted. Our genome is scattered with viral genes. So rest, rest and more rest.
Nourish the body with fresh organic healing foods. Fruits are rich in minerals and Vitamin C and offer benefits that surpass beans and grains. Eating a slice of grained bread during my CFS years would knock me out for 3 days. I can eat bread now and suffer no effects. I was eating a diet that I thought was healthy. It was far from healthy, it was killing me slowly. Peat has thought deeply over which foods offer the most benefits. Nutrition is only one part of the equation as @Blossom mentioned.
Infared Sauna/red light are good options to heat up the body in mimicking a fever. When immune system is weakened, raising the body's internal temperature not only helps with virus killing but heavy metals too. This is why optimisation of thyroid function is so crucial- to raise the body's internal temperature. These infections come hand in hand with heavy metals. A good healthy diet will take care of heavy metals and proper digestion to absorb nutrients. If you are in a weakened state then sauna therapy maybe too much and perhaps red light would be better.
Pulse electromagnetic fields therapy is excellent. I have been most impressed with it. I had the parvo virus detected in my carotid artery. I suffered as long as I can remember with pain in my neck. After one treatment it completely disappeared, never to return. Part of my research was looking at non-invasive therapies and detection methods in the treatment of stealth infections in the cornea.
My energy levels at time of detection were as low as low can be. This was when I was doing shift work but had taken a sabatical to focus on my research overseas. After 2 weeks living in the mountains and travelling each day to Rome my energy levels improved substantially. You would think the stress of travelling would have zapped my energy further, instead I was invigorated. The professor I was collaborating with, had the most cutting edge equipment. One such equipment took a scan of the body showing areas of low energy. It was quite shocking to me and the Professor warned me to give up my shiftwork and solely focus on my research work because he feared for my health. He was right, as I entered menopause, working on my research work, my body broke. I had to walk away from everything to find a way to heal my body.
BTW, you should never determine iron status via hair tissue analysis, always on iron panel. Iron is one element in which HTMA is not reliable for. The best marker on HTMA for infection is the sodium/potassium ratio. When this ratio is < than 1, then it is a pretty good indicator of infection.
ARL : A Persistent Low Sodium/Potassium Ratio
As stated in ARL newsletter, be careful with Vitamin C as it can quickly deplete copper. Copper is required to fight infections.
I would add to be careful with supplementing iron and zinc as these too compete with copper. Do you need copper to optimise your iron levels?
Have you checked your copper status? The zn/cu ratio on hair is useful.
@Blossom is spot on here. We can't look to just one solution as being the answer. It's never been proven to work and it will never work. There is no magic bullet. Just sheer hard work, consistency and discipline in optimising the body's needs. You need to take a multi-pronged approach.
It is also helpful if you have someone to take care of your daily needs. Having energy to shop and prepare nourishing and timely meals can be too much. Extra help can help enormously; going at it alone is too stressful. Unnecessary stress you can ill afford when trying to heal. Stressful relationships are a death knell. You need to get rid of energy vampires (or minimise interactions if these are family members) and minimise all life stresses. Work towards a lifestyle that is supportive of health. From personal experience, incredibly hard to do, but never give up on moving forward. With each day comes hope, new awareness and knowledge.
