RECOVERY AT A GLANCE
Susan was first diagnosed with Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome after a viral illness in 2005. Over the next approximately 15 years she experienced a recurrent illness pattern that she describes as four episodes, with substantial recoveries in between — including roughly a decade of good health. By 2019, after never feeling fully robust following a 2017 recurrence, she deteriorated again and began wondering why the pattern kept returning.
Susan had previously asked her GP whether what she was experiencing was ‘kind of like ME/CFS’; he preferred not to use that label and retained the PVFS diagnosis. After discovering CFS Unravelled and starting ANS REWIRE during the 2019 deterioration, Susan says her self-rating improved from around 3/10 to 7/10 within about a month. She gradually recovered completely over roughly a year and says the experience left her with a clearer understanding of the early signs, recovery tools and lifestyle patterns that mattered for her.
Explore This ANS REWIRE Recovery Experience
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This page shares one participant’s personal experience with ANS REWIRE. Individual experiences and outcomes vary. ANS REWIRE is an educational and training program and is not medical treatment or a substitute for diagnosis, advice or care from a qualified healthcare professional.
Watch The Video of Susan Sharing Her ANS REWIRE Experience
Video Transcript:
Recurrent Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome Over 15 Years
So hi, my name is Susan. I live in Cambridgeshire in the UK and I am a health and well being coach. I am a four times experiencer of post viral fatigue syndrome and I discovered the ANS REWIRE program , at episode four of my post viral fatigue syndrome. So, my symptoms, they kind of were a little bit different depending on the, so the first two episodes were very similar, and then the second two episodes were similar, and between them they were, they were sort of different if that makes sense.
So, the first two times I had very severe fatigue. I had muscle aches on the very slightest exertion I would be exhausted and my muscles would really ache. I remember just even climbing the stairs. It just felt like climbing a mountain. I found it very difficult to concentrate. I could, I couldn't read.
I couldn't watch the television. I, it was just very difficult to do anything for longer than 10 minutes at a time. The second, so that, so that was the first episode with post viral fatigue syndrome. I recovered from that and then I experienced it again about two years later, and it was exactly the same, exactly the same pattern, exactly the same symptoms.
Then I, I recovered from that and I, a period of ten years passed and I experienced post viral fatigue again in 2017. This time, the symptoms were slightly different, so I still had the fatigue. I still had the brain fog, but it was kind of slightly less. I think the symptoms generally were less severe than the first two times.
The 2019 Deterioration: When a 15-Minute Walk Wiped Her Out for a Week
But, they were still, you know, I mean, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't walk very far. I think I remember experience number four doing a 15 minute walk and being completely wiped out for the entire week and just having fluey symptoms. And that was the main thing just feeling like I was coming down with this really awful flu, so it was during experience number four.
I was actually on holiday with family and just feeling really sorry for myself and fed up and I was wrapped in a blanket looking at the sea.
Finding CFS Unravelled and ANS REWIRE
I had a lovely view, but I just felt awful and wondered if I'd ever get better. But I discovered,, the book CFS Unravelled, so Dan Neuffer's book CFS Unravelled.
So I ordered it and read it., and immediately it kind of, it resonated. So his hypothesis, of it being a dysfunction in the autonomic nervous system. It completely resonated with me and so I signed up to the course. Yeah, with trepidation and excitement I think I would say.
From 3/10 to 7/10 Within About a Month |
Within a month, and it really was a month, in fact I just looked at two of the videos that I recorded of myself on the course, you were, you, you recorded a video every month to talk about your symptoms, and the first video I did I was feeling pretty low, I was giving my symptoms, so if 10 were completely recovered and one was the worst symptoms you had, I think I gave my symptoms at number three.
I scored them at three. I was feeling fluey. I was feeling tired., Yeah, just not in a good place. By month two on my second video, my symptoms, I'd scored them at seven. I was getting so much closer to, to feeling better. And that, so that was a really drastic change within a month. And gradually over the course of, I would say about a year, I recovered completely.
Why Susan Valued the Multi-Faceted Approach
The program, I honestly, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is accessible when you're feeling tired and fluey and you don't have very much energy. It it's kind of delivered in bite-sized pieces., You have little bits of homework to do every day. It feels like you're doing something for your recovery, which is an amazing thing.
So, yeah, I mean, I would absolutely highly recommend the program. So yeah, I mean what I loved about the programme was that, that it was delivered in bite-sized chunks, that I was able to take ownership, I think, of my recovery and do something about it. I didn't feel like a victim. I could actually do something.
Um, I loved that it was sort of multi-faceted. So it didn't focus on one particular area. It wasn't all about supplements. It wasn't all about, I don't know, your diet. It was, it covered everything., And so I would say, you know, you have to do the work. You've got to put in the time during the day to do the stuff.
But it is, oh, 100 percent worth it, absolutely worth it., So yeah. If you're doubting, if you're wondering, is this something that I want to invest in? Do it. You won't regret it.
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