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Post Exertional Malaise and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS)
Post Exertional Malaise (or PEM) is one of the most common symptoms of many chronic illnesses, and is one of the defining symptoms of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS). This very limiting symptom is something that likes to rear its ugly head even when you think you’ve been so careful. And can come in many forms – sometimes I don’t even realise it’s what I am experiencing until my husband reminds me I have overdone it and what I am experiencing is the result of that. The dreaded PEM. As it’s such an important part of my life with ME/CFS, I thought it was high time I shared a bit more about…
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My Unhealthy Relationship With Food
Trigger warning: This blog post talks about my experience with the eating disorder Anorexia, and my unhealthy relationship with food. I was planning on writing this as a twitter thread, but the more I thought about it the bigger the thread got. In the end it was just too long to put on twitter. So as my return to blogging I thought it was a great way to ease myself back into things – or throw myself back into them! My goal for 2020 was to lose weight. We had 5 weddings planned, and I was just sick of feeling massive compared to all of our friends and family. At…
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5 things I’ve learned from yoga
Living with ME/CFS comes with a long list of trials and challenges to deal with on a daily basis. Among them is the inability to exercise normally. Unfortunately, along with the sheer exhaustion it brings, another symptom is post exertional malaise. Put simply, the worsening of symptoms due to physical activity. For me, I find it quite difficult to predict, but I know one thing that causes it every time – exercise. Going for a run (or even a walk), doing Zumba, tennis, literally any form of cardio is enough to make me completely unable to function the next day. My body just shuts down, even moving takes too much…
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The 12 Days of Christmas: Self-care edition.
Christmas is a crazy time of year. There is so much to do, so many people to see, presents to buy, parties to go to. The list goes on. And even though it’s meant to be about spending time with friends and family, and showing how much they mean to you, it’s also important that you take care of yourself. When life gets stressful, self-care tends to be pushed aside, but it’s still so important. So, to help you get through the holiday period this year I have compiled a self-care edition of the 12 days of Christmas. Just one thing to do each day over the holidays to help…
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My Fitness Journey: Part 6. Taking a break for my mental health
Hi guys! It’s September now, and time for another long awaited update on my fitness journey – but one with a twist! For months now I have been working really hard to try and get myself in better shape, fitness-wise. I’ve been trying to eat better, exercise more, and just make my body stronger and hopefully get a bit more energy. Well after a pretty hell-ish month, I’ve basically undone any good I had built up previously and ended up feeling worse than ever. I have been eating more than I should, mostly bad things, to the point where my body has been screaming for something healthy. And, not surprisingly,…
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My Journey to Fitness: Part 5
My apologies for the delay in posting this, my fifth installment of the Journey to Fitness series. In all honesty, I’ve been putting this off because I’ve not had a great month. My mental health hasn’t been great, I’m completely exhausted, and I have been feeling extremely NOT positive about my body. This whole journey is not meant to be about getting thin and losing weight. It’s supposed to be about loving and appreciating my body no matter what it looks like, and encouraging others to feel the same way. But with the weather getting warmer, and being too tired to actually exercise, as well as feeling generally down, it’s…
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My Journey to Fitness: Part 4
It’s been about a month since my last update to you, apologies for the delay. If you’ve not kept up with my fitness journey so far feel free to catch up here. After spending the first month or so writing bi-weekly health and fitness updates I kind of didn’t see the point in updating you so often, especially as nothing was changing. I really didn’t want you all to be reading the same post over an over again, that would just be insanely boring. In addition, I’ve also been feeling super low about my body because nothing has really changed. My weight keeps going up, and I am just so…
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My fitness journey: Part Three
It’s time for the next instalment of my journey to fitness – part 3, 4 weeks in. If you haven’t already, feel free to go back and read part one and part two. I’ve been trying to be a healthier person for just about a month – trying to exercise more and eat better – in the hope of improving my fitness and keeping myself alive longer. It hasn’t really been my aim to lose weight or get smaller. While I am a big gal, my size isn’t the problem. I just feel so unhealthy. Things I’ve more recently noticed, on top of struggling to get up one flight of…
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My Fitness Journey (Part One)
For those of you who don’t know me, I haven’t always been a fan of fitness. My health, both physical and mental, has been a struggle for basically my whole life. Currently I am overweight, medically speaking. I’m not going to sugar coat it, I am. My BMI is categorised as obese (check yours here). I am not necessarily unhappy with my size, I am bigger than I ever have been, but I am also happier. This fitness journey has never been about my size. My problem is I feel insanely unhealthy. I get out of breath so easily, even just walking up one flight of stairs, and I want…
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Old Before My Time
I’m 27, and while to me that does feel old I do know that I have my whole life ahead of me and I am still young. I’m still in my twenties. I may not be 18 or 21 anymore, but your twenties are about being young and figuring out what you want to do. It’s about having fun. Unfortunately being 27 doesn’t really stop the symptoms of CFS/ME. I definitely don’t feel 27 most of the time. No time to read now? Pin it for later! Life when you feel old before your time. I don’t feel 27 I don’t feel 27 when I have to go to bed…
