Phases of chronic fatigue syndrome
Different things help for different people at different times. With the Release program, I have tried to make the best possible approach. But whatever state you are in, you have to build a relationship with your body, feeling and intuition again. (That doesn’t mean that your inner guidance system will never lead you towards pain anymore.)
In this model of the 5 phases in recovery, you might see where you are currently at. It is just meant to give you an idea.
If you read this in the first module, take it easy, you will get to know things in time. The program only works sequentially, as it builds on itself.
You can jump between states very fast. The final two stages are healing and improvement stages. The re-integration phase is similar to the 1st symptomatic phase, but this time with more understanding.
After moving through the darkness of stress and resistance in ‘the pit’ and ‘wired and tired’, people can shift to the reintegration phase. They have worked hard on calming down and sometimes feel even normal again. They often mention a 70% or 80% recovery but this is not really the case as they are sort of in the same phase before their stress levels screwed things up. It is easy to fall into the trap that it was a diet or any other expensive treatment that helped them to almost recover. Often people even calm down despite having a rigid protocol.
What does it take for you to calm down the nervous system? It can be much simpler than you think. In the first few modules we will work on calming down and safety to be more often in the two healing phases. After that we will work on the root cause behind the symptoms. This can cause stress to surface and makes you shift phases, but that’s okay. You’ll know how to get back to good phases (faster and faster).
| Phases of ME/CFS | Indication | Process |
|---|---|---|
| Symptomatic | Basic symptoms, including fatigue, crash, headaches, etc. Triggered by thoughts, situations and emotions. (Panicking about symptoms and energy) | Try to do a release as fast as possible Explore the unconscious mind |
| Tired and wired | Feeling stressed and being in resistance towards symptoms. A restless state with the need to distract yourself or put pressure on yourself.
Unregular heart-rate Poor digestion | Implement stress reducing habits Stop distracting yourself Try to do a release as fast as possible Explore the unconscious mind |
| The pit (Negative spiral) | Distraction and listening to the symptoms, made you slide downhill very fast. You have become afraid of the symptoms and activity: Everything from “tired and wired”but more extreme. Crashes and PEM gets more intense. The comfort-zone gets smaller and you have severe exhaustion | Understand the stress response and the symptoms Implement stress reducing habits Stop distracting yourself Try to do a release as fast as possible Explore the unconscious mind |
| No-man’s land | Extreme sleepiness Acceptance realised Yawning, trembling, shivering, bowel movements. Get stuck in self pity of being sick forever. A different kind of fatigue (sleepiness is a sign of leaving the fight or flight mode) Heart-rate calms down Less need for distraction Maybe some slight shivering on the chest | Implement stress reducing habits Enjoy your rest |
| Re-integration | Same like the Symptomatic state but with more confidence and understanding More energy Some days feel almost normal. Learned to interact with the symptoms Positive expectation of the future. heart-rate becomes normal. You are pacing and gradually building yourself up. | Implement stress reducing habits Explore the unconscious mind Do a release when needed Enjoy yourself |
