Your Personal Energy Crisis and 3 Helpful Keys

When you, a person with Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, go to do a task, does your personal energy crisis keep you from doing it? Chances are, you have been faced with this reality more than once.

Many, many years ago when I went to Dr. Charles Lapp (a really good CFS & Fibro specialist in NC), I had him explain the energy crisis this way (paraphrased, of course):

People affected by Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome probably don’t make enough energy easily to supply their daily needs -and- they don’t store it well in the body… .

Imagine that each of your cells is a little storehouse or warehouse of energy. Instead of it being at least three quarters full all the time with the energy available for your body’s needs, it’s only about 1/4 to 1/3 full at any given moment. That means that you have a smaller quantity of energy available when you go to do an activity. Upon expending energy for a physical task, you use up that meager supply of energy. Suddenly, you’re devoid of any energy. You run out! Your cell is flat! You’re empty!

When that happens, your muscles do not have what they need to continue- at the least. At the worst? Well, who knows. It would take an exercise specialist or Fibro CFS specialist to explain the cascade of symptoms that probably ensue.

I think the following is key to surviving this ever-present problem:

• 1) Plan and do small tasks. Don’t take on huge to-do lists without knowing that it will probably take you awhile (maybe days or weeks) to complete it.
• 2) Give your body a chance to build & recover before you exert yourself again. It’s so odd that if this were a friend you were watching totally exhaust her body, you would step in and say, “Take it easy. Give yourself a break!” We so rarely do this for ourselves. So the key here is give your body a chance to recuperate before you begin again.
• 3) Build up your stamina gradually. That may or may not be possible, but it’s the best you can hope for unless you’re really on the road to recovery. Think of it as walking to the mailbox today. Walking to your neighbor’s house tomorrow. (And maybe you do this for several days to a week or more.) Walking to the end of the block for a few days. Walking further and further each day and week. The goal is to even hold at that level for weeks or months if necessary. This will increase your stamina and energy gradually without triggering an onslaught of symptoms!
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  And know that if you’re like Humpty Dumpty and fall of your wall into little pieces, simply start all over again when you’re able. Just be reasonable, thoughtful and kind to yourself. As long as you can remember to “move forward” when you can, you’re doing the best that you can do!

PS- I found some help with this on an ongoing basis from taking NADH and acetyl l-carnitine with alpha lipoic acid. They prop up and help my little energy storehouses.

Good diet (proper nutrition), good sleep, a reasonable thought-out approach (a plan) and a positive I-can-do-this attitude help most people to make progress gradually. And gradually is the key here, too. Go at your pace and listen to your body. Don’t get distracted by a couple of aches and pains, but if you seriously hurt, forego your task for awhile. Until science finds a way to undo your personal energy crisis (deficiency), energy management is a component of these illnesses that seems be unceasing and aggravating.

Have a happy spring day, if you can. Go smell the flowers!
Cinda Crawford, your host of the Health Matters Show

Tagged as: chronic fatigue, energy, fatigue, Fibromyalgia, personal energy crisis