RECOVERY AT A GLANCE
Andrea from Toronto, says she was ill for about 5½ years. Her health problems began with sudden severe chronic neck pain immediately after surgery, later spreading to her back, hips and knees. Over time she developed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) alongside the longstanding chronic pain, with severe fatigue, disabling insomnia, brain fog, mood changes, gut problems, food sensitivities, palpitations and POTS/orthostatic intolerance symptoms.
At her worst, Andrea was housebound and spent much of a roughly three-month period in bed. Stairs were difficult, cooking was impossible, she could not teach, and severe insomnia ultimately contributed to a hospital admission. After starting ANS REWIRE, she noticed the mental process beginning to change after about a week and physical changes within a few weeks. By around four months she managed an approximately one-hour hike, and she says she was essentially recovered by about 9–10 months. She later describes working full-time, walking for an hour a day, doing Pilates and no longer thinking about ordinary walking as a limitation.
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 Andrea Sharing Her ANS REWIRE Experience
Video Transcript
From Sudden Chronic Pain to a Severe Fatigue Crash
Hi, this is a message for anyone who is looking at the ANS REWIRE program to, uh, for a recovery from ME CFS or fibromyalgia. Um, I am Andrea. I'm in, I live in Toronto, Canada, and about six years ago, I, I experienced a sudden onset of extreme pain that went undiagnosed for many years. Um, After a few years of that, I began to have flare ups that involved sleeplessness, um, and mood issues, severe anxiety, gut problems, and ultimately, with the final crash, I was um, severely fatigued and basically could barely get out of bed.
Um, at that point, my symptoms, I was, I was very, very tired all the time, but I, could not get a good night's sleep. That was probably the worst of it. Um, the joint and muscle pains continued off and on, but really what became worse for me was my inability to carry on my life. I was, um, I had been a very active person and I could no longer even walk around the block without feeling like I was going to collapse.
Um, I had to take a leave of absence from work and nobody really knew when or if this would get better. It was needless to say devastating. I was very active, successful in my career, two kids, um, really a full time, full on family, um, and professional life, which just came to a screeching halt. Um, Now over the course of those years, I had tried a number of remedies for getting well.
Years of Treatments and Searching for a Way Forward
Early on, I made the round of medical doctors, most of whom, conventional medical doctors, most of whom didn't know what to do with me. Um, they put me on antidepressants. They put me on hormone treatments. Um, none of which really helped. Um, I tried chiropractors. I tried osteopaths. I tried Chinese medicine.
Actually, I will say the Chinese medicine, the acupuncturist, did help with, um, some of the, uh, pain issues. But didn't really get at the underlying problem. Um, by the time I had collapsed in the, my, the, the final flare up, I, I was feeling quite a lot of despair. I, I knew some people who had chronic fatigue.
Finding CFS Recovery Stories and ANS REWIRE
I thought, Oh, this is a life sentence. I'm never going to get better. Um, but I, I, I'm a researcher and I did a lot of work researching what I had. And, um, I decided at one point to search, just do a Google search and look for recovery stories from CFS. I thought, well, maybe some people have recovered. And I found, um, I found Dan's site.
Um, I, I first found the cfsunravelled.com site, I read the book. And then I was directed to the ANS REWIRE site, and he was just starting up the program then. The truth is I had no hesitation about enrolling. Once I watched the first four videos, I thought, oh, that is exactly what I have. This is, he's the first person who is describing exactly the experience that I've had.
I knew he was right. I didn't know I didn't know if what he was suggesting would work because I was quite, you know, in quite a low state, but I knew he was on to something and I trusted him because of his experience as well.
From About 15% Function Toward Full Recovery
So, um, I enrolled in ANS REWIRE last May, one year ago, almost exactly to the date today.
I am 100 percent recovered. I am not only back to full time work, which I didn't know if I would be able to, but I have actually more energy than I I think I've had in a really, really long time. I ranked myself somewhere around like 15 percent when I started. And I think I'm basically a hundred percent now.
I know that sounds crazy. Um, but I'm not crazy. Um, I really was in that place and I really am just, just, I, I filled with gratitude for the fact that I am now in a very different place. So, um, In addition to being able to work, I'm actually starting up a business of my own. I'm writing a book, um, things that I just didn't know if I'd ever get back to.
But in addition, I'm also, I've become very physically active again, which is super exciting. With the spring coming on, I am out walking constantly. I can walk for hours without even thinking about it. Um. Many of my friends have commented on the dramatic recovery, but the truth of the matter is I don't actually talk about it that much because it's been important to me to, um, to stop thinking of myself as someone who's ill.
What Andrea Found Helpful in the Program
So I actually, I loved the program partially for a number of reasons. One was because it gave me a structure in my day. I mean, my day was feeling, I just felt like all I did was lie in bed all day. I mean, I had such brain fog. I couldn't read all the time. I, I often, I couldn't even watch movies. And so I had something to do, which was I had to watch my lesson and I had to do whatever homework was assigned.
And I really. I think that was the first thing that was really important to me, and I didn't find that hard, I found it easy. I was grateful that there was something there. Um, I would say that, Um, what, what was difficult at first was the meditation, not because I was resistant to meditating, but because I just felt like I couldn't calm my mind, but I stuck with it.
And it's something that is now certainly a piece of my life. I can't possibly imagine giving it up. When I get home from work after a long day, I, I know if my, if I'm feeling at all edgy that I know I have that meditation coming and I'm still listening to the same. meditation recording, and I'm not tired of it.
Um, and I would say that, I mean, the centerpiece of the program is the rewire technique. And that, that's hard. It's hard, but it's, but it's very, it's work that feels important and feels like it's getting you somewhere. It was pretty shocking to me how quickly it worked. And now when little things crop up as they do in any healthy person, I still turn to that technique as a way of, Sort of, um, not moving into any kind of anxious state around my health.
Why the Multi-Pronged Approach Mattered to Andrea
Um, and finally, I really think another thing that's really great about the program is its multi pronged approach. So, we did brain exercises, we did meditation, those things were super important, but sleep hygiene, learning to really have a serious routine around sleep was great for me, as was, um, some of the diet aspects.
So I think every one of those pieces was important to my recovery. Um, I I think it's, I think it's a remarkable program. I'm so grateful to Dan for having put it out. First of all, for having done all the research himself, which I don't think I would have had the energy to do in that state and then having put it out there for the rest of us.
Um, so I really encourage you to give it a try. Um, it's hard for me to imagine that it wouldn't work if you really give it a try and you really devote yourself to it. So best of luck with it.
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