Cath’s story: A Roadmap through Chronic Fatigue
One of our past clients talks about their health journey and how their rehabilitation programme with Vitality360 has supported them
On an overseas trip in 2023, I had a bad episode of food poisoning. A few months later, this landed me in the hospital, and I was diagnosed with Hepatitis E and glandular fever. After this, I had post-viral fatigue for 4 months. I took a month's sick leave from work and had to completely stop all my activities. After 4 months of rest, I mostly recovered and started to build back up my activity levels. But a year later, with a combination of work stress and ramping up my exercise levels too quickly, I developed chronic fatigue syndrome.
“From my first appointment, Emily, my clinician, supported me in getting out of boom-and-bust cycles and then helped me progress my level of exercise. This was worlds apart from where I was before getting Emily’s help.”
My GP was really thorough and, after a series of tests, referred me to an NHS specialist clinic, which diagnosed me with chronic fatigue syndrome and put me on a long waiting list for support. Waiting for support and feeling disempowered about what I could do to speed up recovery led me to seek support from Emily at Vitality360.
When I first spoke to Emily, I was experiencing various symptoms, including: feeling exhausted (exacerbated by activity), painful headaches (exacerbated by noise), brain fog, poor quality sleep, feeling lightheaded and dizzy. For someone who had participated in competitive-level sport since my teens, not being able to do a flight of stairs without feeling exhausted was extremely demoralising.
Emily helped me baseline my activity and get out of the boom-and-bust cycle I’d (unknowingly) been in for a few months. Baselining my activity felt frustrating at first, as I was doing less than I felt I could, but I quickly realised that doing a little bit every day meant my sleep quality improved and I was able to slowly increase this baseline level of activity. We worked on strategies to reduce symptoms - including cutting out caffeine and using earplugs on my commute to reduce the severity of headaches and changing how I thought about and practised resting - to create more sustainable habits around activity.
I particularly valued Emily’s support in asking my workplace for support. The support and accommodation I subsequently received from my work allowed me to stay in my role throughout diagnosis and ongoing recovery. I was able to continue to add value at work, even if my day-to-day looked a little different at first. Being able to work from home, adjust hours, take extended breaks, and log off when I was feeling fatigued has been instrumental to my recovery and continued involvement at work.
I’m now carefully building back up my activity levels and can start doing small amounts of some of the activities I used to fill my time with, including swimming, jogging, and hiking. I’ve gained an enormous amount of empowerment through working with Emily. I now feel I understand what exacerbates and improves my symptoms, and I feel well-equipped to continue gradually increasing my activity levels.
Key Takeaways from this Journey:
“I’ve gained an enormous amount of empowerment through working with Emily. I now feel I understand what exacerbates and improves my symptoms, and I feel well-equipped to continue gradually increasing my activity levels.””
“Cath is a great example of how several fairly simple strategies had a very significant impact. She benefitted greatly from having consistent routines for her daily life and physical activity. She planned her days and weeks ahead to avoid activities that might overdo it. This helped to reduce the ‘boom-bust’ cycle and enabled her to build activities. It was also helpful for her to analyse her work tasks in detail and to implement strategies to pace herself whilst working. Although I have described these strategies as ‘simple’, they weren’t easy to implement, and part of my role was to guide Cath through this process.”
Key Insights:
Breaking the "Boom-and-Bust" Cycle: How doing less initially can actually lead to doing more in the long run.
The Power of Small Adjustments: Why sensory management (like using earplugs during a commute) and dietary changes can significantly impact brain fog and headaches.
Workplace Advocacy: The vital importance of securing reasonable accommodations to maintain career continuity during recovery.
Regaining Agency: Moving from a place of demoralisation to a place of deep understanding and confidence in one's own body.