Disclaimer: the information below is mainly about my experience with CFS, not CFS in general.
"The thing is though, that I've almost forgotten what normal is..."
I can relate to that. I've had this 'mystery fatigue' for a while but now, after quite some time, I can feel myself slowly getting better.
When I first started feeling unwell, it was bloody awful! I, too, had forgotten what 'normal' was and it was a horrible feeling.
Now I'm gradually feeling better. I'm feeling almost 'normal' and boy does it feel good (though there are still times when I don't feel that great, but it's not half as bad as before).
To anyone with this horrible illness: stick with it. Don't worry about anything for now, just try your best to keep healthy, etc. 'Coz when you start feeling normal again, you'll look back and think, "Wow, was I really that bad?" and then, "I sure am glad I'm feeling better now."
The problem I see with what they call CFS is that, like Noether mentioned, it's a kind of 'dustbin diagnosis'. Therefore a group of people with this CFS may have completely different illnesses.
For anyone who's interested, here are the two biggest things that I believe have helped to make me feel better:
- Not eating any sugar at all. This is one of the first things I tried after reading books about Candida Albicans. After a couple of weeks of no sugar I could think clearer than I had been able to since the illness began. Note: it's best to consult a dietitian or similar before making big changes to your diet.
- Taking acid supplements (Betaine Hydrochloride). I felt very different soon after I started this. Kept with it for a while and started feeling better. I believe this has helped massively in making me feel better. For one thing it's helped with the food sensitivites which used to affect me quite badly.
Other things which have helped are: avoiding foods I'm sensitive to (doesn't seem so important nowadays :-) and taking extra vitamins like
Vitamin C and several others.
I posted this 'coz I wanna let people who have this illness know that when you start feeling more normal again, it feels great. It almost feels like you're living in a different world.
Alright I think I've rambled on enough. I don't usually ramble on about anything so personal, but this is something that has affected my life in a big way, and I'm sure it has affected others similarly.