Thursday, April 04, 2024

Chronic Illness Vlog 4-1-24: Out in the World, Home Improvements & Easter


I recorded a chronic illness vlog last week, full of videos (and some photos) that show an honest view of my life with ME/CFS and Lyme. And these days, it's a pretty good life!

I am still doing really well and have been quite active, as you can see in the video. I've been able to see friends, go shopping (!), run errands, and even begin to work on our house a little (baby steps!). Small steps toward decluttering feel so good after feeling so helpless the past few years; it feels great to be productive again. Last week, I also went to the movies with my husband and enjoyed a weekend trip to visit family for Easter. This visit was a far cry from our last trip, for Thanksgiving in November, when I was so horribly sick that I needed a second nap between dinner and dessert.

As I've mentioned here before, my recent big improvements came from treating chronic yeast overgrowth (which makes me feel awful). I thought it was already well-controlled ... but I was wrong! It took all of the treatments in my Treating Yeast Overgrowth post, plus a major change to my diet at the beginning of the year. The other factor was effectively treating thyroid dysfunction (hypothyroidism, in my case). My doctor and I worked on that for over a year, but I couldn't see the full improvement with the yeast overgrowth making everything worse. 

That's the way it is with these complex immune disorders; sometimes you can't see the benefits of one treatment until you tackle another aspect of the disease. I have not experienced a single crash from over-exertion (or for any reason) yet in 2024, which feels like a miracle. I'm feeling the best I have in several years. Keep in mind that prior to this, I also treated many other aspects of the disease (see Effective Treatments, newly updated). It's like playing whack-a-mole!

You can watch last week's vlog on Youtube or right here, below:


How was YOUR week?
How are you doing?

Please leave a comment below.

You can also connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.

No comments: