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See a different GP each time until you lock onto a good one, quite possibly one that is the hardest to find appointments for. I've had more luck with younger docs over the years, anecdotally. Still, there will probably be nothing at all they are allowed to do for you, with CFS, presuming your standard, basic blood tests are even vaguely normal. In my health authority area, anyway (Warwickshire), supplements (e.g. CoQ10) that were previously prescribed are now blacklisted (and ADHD provision no longer exists at all, but that's a separate whinge).

You'll need a good, very supportive GP on your side if it comes to claiming Employment Support Allowance (the forms and 'medicals' for which seem tailor made to have blind spots for CFS). If you thought convincing your family/GP was hard...

Anyway, if (as I see from some of your other posts) you do have POTS symptoms, you may be able to get specialist treatment and prescriptions to help with that. A friend of mine, up north, does, although I think she was perhaps a little lucky, postcode wise.

Regarding CFS in general, I've recently seen it described as a immune mediated brain disorder with strong links to the gut, and I quite liked the ring of that. There are usually major metabolic disturbances, if one is able to look closely enough, high oxidative stress (directly induced by exercise), inflammation, dysautomnia, gut biome imbalances/derangement, etc. Point being is that it seems to be a multi-system issue, where the body's balance is turned inside out, like an inverted umbrella.

Each of the previously mentioned components (nervous system, immune system, gut, metabolism) are kind of like like spokes that have been bent backwards. This is good, in that you can attack the problem from many potential angles, and possibly get little benefits from each intervention. But to put the whole lot right at once may require much more effort and co-ordination, as with an umbrella, and may be more prone to breaking in future, it seems (or already was, but hadn't been stress tested previously).

Edit: oh, and most mental/brain diseases may turn out to be similarly linked to gut dysfunction, it seems, for recent research directions. With depression possibly a an inflammatory state of the gut, feeding back to the nervous system, and back around, in a closed loop. So that diagnosis may not be far off, even if the available treatments still are.

Some specific notes:

Don't be encouraged to push yourself into exercise (via GET, etc), even when if you feel spontaneously great. A low level, and outside time in trees and sunlight are great psychologically, hormonally. Don't turn down CBT (or anything) out of hand, if offered. Show willing, if able, I guess. I've had neither, but if anxiety/thought processes are tripping you up, in particular, then sensible to address them. Meditate, even. Certainly stress can be a big drain of bodily resources.

CFSs are in desperate need of the nutrients (minerals, vitamins) from vegetables. The 'Free From' supermarket range is a great concession to the acknowledgement of food intolerance, and fantastic for those who have Coeliac disease, but tend to be even worth than regular processed foods, in terms of being empty calories, very poor nutrient density, etc. Try to make a best effort to increase intake of any vegetables that you already like, and find ways to prepare new others that might be more palatable. It's a long, ongoing process and it's hard work, at first. I only managed to start doing this properly myself after dietary exclusions gave me a whole new lease of life, a couple years back. And preparing food does use a substantial proportion of that extra energy, on most days, but worth it. Basically, something like paleo, or "stone age diet" seems to be the way to go, which aren't far off SCD (specific carbohydrate diets).

Get nutrients from a careful supplement program too (essential if diet is poor). Can be complex to implement with multi-faceted personalisation that you'll need to implement. Check out Dr Sarah Myhill. She's based in Wales, the only UK CFS specialist doctor I know of who seems to be worth a damn. I kick myself that I didn't manage to book in with her a few years back, before she became too inundated, after her book: "Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Mitochondria, Not Hypochondria" - highly recommended, and much of that same great, well rounded info is available via her website.

To go into even more detail, including most of the many relevant supplements and an overview of the various theories and treatment plans for CFS, check this cheep ebook.

While bacterial and yeast overgrowth of the upper gut definitely does happen, it seems to be something that is overly jumped at, perhaps because of how uncomfortable and distressing GI symptoms can be. Certainly an aunt of mine, in the USA, claims to have been cured from her years long bout of fatigue after being treated with a targeted prescription anti-microbial/anti-biotic (Xifaxan, I think, plus some other things), but nuking the whole gut seems like burning down a village to save it. I've not found sufficient evidence for such an extreme measure, myself.

I've had IBS (D and C), related to food intolerances: diary, egg, yeast (confirmed by Yorktest IgG testing) and most notably, histamine intolerance. Cutting high histamine foods is one of the trickest, but easily most powerful interventions I've done. A rash after eating yogurts (a fermented product) flags this up for you too, in my mind. High (serum) histamine (via intolerance or mast cell activation disorder - MCAD) can cause all manner of crazy symptoms, from dysautomnia, halucinations, sleep disturbances, rashes, anaphalaxis, etc. If the upper gut is damaged and liver metabilism is impaired then histamine might not be getting broken down fast enough, it seems. Also, dysbiosis can contribute massively, and in any case, it seems quite common in CFS, especially along side other food intolerance and/or 'leaky gut'.

I'm suspicious of anti-acids - stomach acid is needed to sterilize ingested food, to help keep the small intestine free of microbes and for digestion of food. Poor break down may slow transit and feed overgrowth/imbalance, causing bloating (and ironically heart burn).

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Sorry, I've blurted a whole lot there. Hope some of it is useful and good luck. Given that you've not been ill for long, and you had sudden onset, I think your chances of spontaneous recovery are probably as good as they can be, anyway. And the field of study and treatment currently seems to be spooling up quite fast, now. :-)

I’ve collected these over the past couple of years, and these are all of the best ones I’ve found:

https://www.cdc.gov/me-cfs/index.html

This one is very short and effective. It helped my extended family understand the severity of ME/CFS:
http://solvecfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/SMCI_infographic-Dec2017.pdf.

This book helped me and my family understand, but obviously it’s a much longer read:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0897932803/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_bOIxBb3163914

This one Is helpful for friends and family of people with ME understand better, as well as helpful for people with ME to get a better understanding of the condition and experiences patients go through:
https://katarinabrandt.wordpress.com/2018/03/25/helping-me-helps-all-of-us

https://www.meaction.net/resources/reports-and-fact-sheets/

https://health.ny.gov/diseases/conditions/me-cfs/

http://www.investinme.org/Documents/Guidelines/Myalgic%20Encephalomyelitis%20International%20Consensus%20Primer%20-2012-11-26.pdf

This one has good guides in case need to be in the hospital etc but also is super helpful to help people understand your limits and light/sound sensitivity: https://www.thegracecharityforme.org/documents/

Lots of great advice here already. I'd also suggest keeping a diary--which sounds like more work, I know--but in the long run, it will help you evaluate what helps and hurts your fatigue and pain management. You can keep it simple, just rate how you're doing on a scale of 1-10 in categories like overall fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, etc.

It really sucks that your parents don't understand what you're going through. If you haven't already, it might be time for an "intervention" of sorts. Show them this post. Print out a few articles for them to read. Tell them in no uncertain terms that while being tired and achey might seem like a minor issue, the chronic nature of your symptoms is actually a huge problem.

An example most people can relate to: having a cold with a cough. It's annoying. Usually a cough interrupts a few nights worth of sleep. But if it lingers for a week, or two, or more--the lack of sleep compounds on itself, the cough never improves, and at that point all anybody wants is the cough to go away. It starts to drive a person crazy. And that's nothing compared to 24/7 365 fatigue and pain.

If you can get your parents to understand and give you greater support, wonderful. If not, find someone else who can be an advocate for you--a friend, another family member, or a trusted teacher. Bring that person to your doctors appointments so they can listen, ask questions, and chime in when you might be otherwise overwhelmed. I would have suggested your boyfriend, but it sounds like he's overwhelmed himself at the moment.

Another thought about doctors: you may need a new approach. Set small goals (i.e. reduce the frequency of afternoon naps), see what else they can offer besides medication. If they're inflexible and won't work with you and your needs, consider a new doctor.

Lastly, you may find that certain therapies or treatment alternatives don't work alone, but may work in combination. You have a lot on your plate, and it must be so overwhelming, but the only way you're going to find relief is to keep trying new things. I'd recommend checking out The Chronic Pain Solution for additional ideas. The author maps out everything from surgical intervention to posture practice to yoga, and more.

Oh, and whatever you do, stagger new treatments. I once started 6 supplements the same day and couldn't figure out which one(s) were working and which ones made me feel crappy. I now give myself a week (at least) to adjust before layering in another treatment (this goes for things like gentle physical exercise, mental puzzles, etc. as well). The diary will help you track your results.

You've done great work so far. Take a moment to thank yourself for being proactive about your situation. It's a tremendous feat, and you should be proud!

I have a little something to add to this.

There is this book called Plants and the Human Brain. It's pretty technical and arduous so I only read about half of it. But the take home message of this book is that there's nothing righteous about plants. Plants don't make the compounds that they make for our benefit, but for their own reproductive purposes.

Basically plants and insects co-evolved for a long long time - much longer than we have been around. So during this time there were no mammals, no birds, just insects. If you are a plant that uses flowers to reproduce you need to be able to manipulate insects to do the pollinating for you. At the same time you want your leaves not to be eaten by insects. So you make chemicals that you can use on insects. On one hand you want chemicals that deter insects, like poisons, for use where you don't want to be eaten. On the other hand you want chemicals that attract or reward insects for doing your bidding, like nectar or scents.

The reason why all these drugs that plants produce work on us is only because we have similar nervous systems to insects. They were never intended to be used on us, we just haven't been around long enough for plants to evolve the mechanisms. Plants and insects go back much further in time though, and it's our distant relationship to insects that gives us the similarities in nervous systems.

For your example of the orange tree, it's not making calcium for our bones. The orange tree doesn't care about our bones, it's doing it for its own survival and reproduction. So when we benefit from plants, that's just lucky for us.

The book is Plants and the Human Brain by David O Kennedy

https://www.amazon.com/Plants-Human-Brain-David-Kennedy/dp/019991401X

Damn. It's hard for me to give advice because I had different infections from you.

I bought this book by Sarah Myhill here:https://www.amazon.com/Diagnosing-treating-Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome/dp/1781610347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499729722&sr=8-1&keywords=mitochondria+hypochondria

I've made HUGE progress with the recommendations in this book. However, googling RMSF comes up with a bunch of stuff related to Lyme which is extremely serious. You will need to treat the RMSF and ME/CFS together in order to get better and you can't do much which means you will need help.

Try and find someone who can help you read the book. If you can't, just work through it slowly as much as you can. The first thing she is going to recommend is that you get all your meals delivered and made for you if you aren't doing that already and that you switch to a paleo ketogenic diet.

Sarah is really good at what she does. She was profiled in the documentary "What about ME?" which you should also watch and get your close family to watch (in case they need help to understand) if you can: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1770767/

I can really relate- I've tried so many things and kept things that haven't helped, and thrown them out once they expired. Probably thousands of $$. I rarely have luck with supplements- I find they almost all increase my brain fog. The thing that helped me most was IV Glutathione. I'm one of those who are extremely sensitive to anything I ingest, so IV's have been better.

There's a woman who wrote a book about supplements and CFS. She has a private facebook group called "Fellow Travelers," and there are others there who have had some improvement from the stuff she recommends. She worked with a naturopathic doctor to come up with the list. One of the things she recommends most often is Ubiquinol. It's a highly available Mitochondrial targeted antioxidant. If you join her facebook group, she gives you the supplements list for free. If you're interested in her book (it's short- easy to read for those of us who can't so well), you can get it on Amazon. It's called Find Your Way: A Guide to Healing While Living With Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome and Fibromyalgia, by Clarissa Shepherd

I found physical therapy made my fatigue worse. Yes I got stronger and able to stay on the treadmill longer, but it translated into more time in bed when I wasn't at therapy.

The widespread chronic pain and migraines can be controlled through appropriate antidepressants. Antidepressants will also help with anxiety. They can also help with sleep issues.

Have you tried birth control pills to regulate your period? If you do ask for ones that carry the least risk of blood clots. While all of them can increase clotting some are worse than others. I think it's more related to the type of progesterone as opposed to the dosage. Injectable birth control would also reduce your periods.

Have you been tested for thyroid antibodies? They ruled out thyroid in my case until I pushed for an antibody test. I read a lot of books about thryroid and pushed to have this test done despite normal TSH/T3/T4 because my symptoms fit so well. Found out I had Hashimoto's and now see an endocrinologist. He isn't giving me anything for it but I found out selenium has been proven to help people with Hashi's, and it has helped me a lot.

Consider that you might have food sensitivities/allergies that are making you ill. Have you tried an elimination diet? They're not easy to do but you might learn something. I actually went through the whole "yeast elimination" thing for a few years. Here is one book on the subject. They can't really test for yeast, but if you follow the recommendations and take an antifungal and feel better then it's probably yeast.

Related to thyroid and yeast, people have reported success with the GAPS diet. I haven't tried it so I can't say how well it helps.

As for sleeping, I just reread "Sleep Right in Five Nights". The section on medication is dated at this point, but all the other tips about managing your sleep are still valid. Counterintuitively, sleeping less will make you sleep better and you will feel less tired. But I understand what it's like to be so tired that you need to nap twice a day even after a full night's sleep.

I am sorry you are suffering. Being sick sucks. Good luck.

I've barely started reading it, but someone here suggested the book "How to be Sick" by Toni Bernhard.

I didn't have any long-term friends when I got sick, because I'd gotten sober just 3 years earlier and had to stop seeing pretty much all the friends I still had. Then I moved to a rural area 1300 miles away.

What helped most was (accidentally) finding a forum with people who had a similar interest. I made a post about a problem I had, and stuck around to read other posts because I found it interesting. Because I went regularly, I ended up becoming friends with several other regulars. We don't chat much, but they are available if I need them (which is both less than I want, and less than I used to need).

There are a number of great documentaries about ME/CFS. “Forgotten Plague” Forgotten Plague Doc also on Youtube. “UnRest” by jen Brea is an award winning ME/CFS documentary, “ and “I Remember ME” is another ME/CFS Doc from a few years back. There is also a YouTube channel “Open Medicine Foundation” that has tons of videos about ME/CFS.

This is the one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your-Mind/dp/1400078393

Good luck. Also, for the depression cure, one of the steps he recommends is exercise. Obviously that won't work for us. Everything else he recommended helped me, even CBT. Note that this is NOT the same CBT that was done in the PACE trial.

Also, Myhill's book on Mitochondria really was a game changer for me. It took me almost a year to read it because on some days, I could only read a paragraph at a time. I don't know how much research you've already done, but at the time, I really knew nothing about ME/CFS and the book was a huge help. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Diagnosis-Treatment-Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome/dp/1781610347

virtual hugs

Definitely worth looking into mast cell and histamine issues if Zyrtec helps you. Have a read of this https://www.amazon.com/Never-Bet-Against-Occam-Activation/dp/0997319615 and check out his YT video if you want to learn about MC disorders.

pitsspecials is probably a sockpuppet of "sciencewatcher". He talks just like him. Just ignore him. He is just here to promote his own brand of quackery. He changes username whenever his current one falls in disrepute.

Edit: his name is David Jameson, he has published a book on ME/CFs titled "Mind-Body Health and Stress Tolerance" (no further comments needed) and he also has a homepage: mind-Body-Health.net

He is also prolific editor on Wikipedia, working tirelessly to ensure that CFS is portrayed in line with his brand of quackery.

I highly recommend this book by Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum

Have you been checked for viruses? What kind of a doctor do you see(do they specialize in CFS)?

Linkage

That's the one, as I said though it only helped me for the first 8-10 days of taking it, but it was literally like night and day to how I normally feel.

When the feeling good patch was over, it wasn't even like a normal crash (which I've had plenty of times before) I literally just went back to my fatigued default over about 2 days. Literally zero impact from the fact over the previous 7 days I'd been busy literally every day, driving and doing garden work.

https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Plague-Ron-Davis/dp/B01AT28I84

Here is the mobile version of your link

http://www.amazon.com/Root-Canal-Cover-Up-George-Meinig/dp/0945196199

I had 'CFS' a couple of years ago, and it cleared up immediately with tiny amounts of desiccated thyroid. I'm now taking quite a large amount of desiccated thyroid and thyroxine, but I'm in apparently perfect health. (Full time job, cricket both days of the weekend). No symptoms of thyrotoxicosis at all.

Even my GP agrees that I seem to be fine, although he's worried by my 0 TSH and high Free T4, but every time I try to drop the dose the lethargy, depression, aching muscles etc come back.

Could you tell me what you think of Gordon Skinner's 'Diagnosis and Management of Hypothyroidism'? It's aimed at doctors but very light-hearted in a terribly serious way. (https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Diagnosis-Management-Hypothyroidism-Gordon-R-B-Skinner/0954774515/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502359925&sr=8-1&keywords=skinner+diagnosis+and+management)

Skinner reckoned that you could have the symptoms of hypothyroidism without having funny blood hormone levels, and that this condition would respond to thyroxine. He published an open trial with stunning results, which has sunk without trace. There was an attempt at a PCRT by some brave Scottish GPs, but they buggered it up and got no effect.

He is far from being the only person to claim this. I originally came upon and tried the idea through John Lowe treating Fibromyalgia with T3, but there are many others. (https://www.amazon.com/Metabolic-Treatment-Fibromyalgia-John-Lowe/dp/0914609025) Despite being a chiropractor, John Lowe seems to have been the most careful and thoughtful of all the people who've ever looked into this, and he also published papers, but all in bloody chiropractor magazines that I can't find.

In fact it looks to me as though the balance of the evidence in the medical literature is in favour of the idea.

I actually made a subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/thethyroidmadness/ to post evidence and arguments to, but no-one's interested, so it's just a list of most of the things I found.

I also had a problem with my parents not understanding my condition, so I placed a copy of [Osler's Web] (http://www.amazon.com/Oslers-Web-Labyrinth-Syndrome-Epidemic/dp/051770353X) and some CFS-related medical journal articles in their bathroom so that while using the toilet they would have nothing else to do but read about CFS. They've been more understanding since then.

You could try doing something similar with articles describing post-exertional fatigue.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FH19QW
With this alternate "hammock" for the head because some of the reviews of the first device said bad things about the hammock part:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YGPFGM5

The single biggest change was from taking 500mg Vitamin B1 and a mix of Calcium, Magnesium and Vitamin D3 each day. Allowed me to get out and about, and live more of a life which lowered stress too.

I also have a smoothie each morning, with spinach, carrot, courgette, celery, apple, cacao powder, yogurt, frozen berries and banana. I've found a taste I like and it's an easy way to get nutrition.

Meditation.

Learning to predict what is too much, recognising the signs and stopping immediately to rest. Doing this, I can achieve more than I have in the last six years, but in incremental steps.

Say no - fuck em. I'm ill, I can't do it. I want to, but can't, so we do it a different way or not at all.