Michelle: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Treatment


This is absolutely amazing. I did not think I would ever be able to speak in front of a group again. And this is the first time in three and a half years that I’ve been able to do this. So to look out at all your faces is just, my heart is just beating. I just can’t believe it. I’m gonna try really hard not to cry, but I know I’m not gonna be successful. So it’s my hope tonight that you will be able to experience what I’ve been able to experience through the DNRS program. It really is truly amazing. Um, I was sick for eight years, and this is what I say now. I was sick with a limbic system impairment, a brain injury that manifested as chronic fatigue syndrome, asthma, numerous allergies, and numerous intolerances. So three and a half years ago, I went over the edge into the basement of hell.

And I am not kidding. The bottom dropped out of my world and I became fully disabled. I was unable to work and spent most of my day in isolation. I discovered something was worse than dying, and that was being dead and still being alive. I flat rested for four to six hours a day, and the rest of the day I spent in a recliner. I had two hours in the afternoon with enough energy to shower, do minimal tidying around the house, maybe go on a small outing and do some simple meal preparation, two to four. That was my day. My mental state plummeted and I was so sick. I wanted to die. And I mean that in the literal sense I wanted to die. When I woke up in the morning, I thought, ugh, it didn’t happen. On two occasions, I came within a hair of making that happen for myself.

I could not read or write or do basic math, look at a computer or talk on the phone. I had severe noise intolerance and could not listen to music, the radio or watch tv. I could barely speak. Being around people was almost impossible. I could slowly walk very short distances, sometimes only a few steps. I had extreme cognitive dysfunction. I couldn’t think track conversations, follow simple instructions, make decisions, or express myself. My husband essentially took over and did everything. And this was really interesting. Even with careful planning focus and intent. Like I, I would really try to say something. I never knew what was gonna come outta my mouth. I could maybe want to say, Annie’s sweater is pink. And what I would say is there’s a black chair over there. And I had had no idea where that came from. I couldn’t control it.

Conservatively, we spent $50,000 on alternative treatments, tests, you name it, that’s a conservative number. And then in December of last year, I found DNRS… amazing. So in December, I was barely functional.I really was barely functional. I could certainly get through life, but I really was not doing much of anything. I was incapable of going to the in-person session. That was just completely out of the realm for me. No way could I sit in a room for five days, sit upright for that long. It just couldn’t be done. So I did the DVD program and within three weeks, I woke up one Sunday morning. I will never forget it. And I thought I can do the in-person program. I just knew I could do it three weeks later. So I got on the internet. I found out the next one was in Ojai, California.

I went out to the living room, talked to my husband and said, I’m doing this. It’s a fairly intense program. Remember I was barely functional in December. So on the fifth day, here’s what happened. I was at the class at 8:30 in the morning, went through the final half a day of the class, had lunch, said goodbye to everybody, which is very emotional because you get very close to these people in your group. Went back to the hotel, picked Terry up. We drove to Santa Barbara, which was an hour drive. I walked all around Santa Barbara. We went on quite a long walk, including hills. Got back in the car, drove to Ventura Beach, walked there for a while and watched the surfers. Drove back to Ojai. Went out for dinner at a restaurant. I know, can you blow? I’m not done yet. I’m not done yet. And then we went back to the hotel ’cause we had a couple of things to do. I can’t remember. I think maybe I did a practice round. I think that’s what I did. That’s what I’m gonna say I did. And then we went out to a movie.

Isn’t that amazing? Any one of those items before could have knocked me out for days, weeks, or months. And that’s what I did on the last day of that program. My energy is consistent now for most of the day, and consistent from day to day. And I can do things at night. I mean, here, I’m standing here today. I’ve had a very full day. I haven’t used a heart rate monitor since mid-January. That’s gone. I make progress every single day without a doubt. My physical, cognitive, and emotional abilities are growing daily. My pain, nausea and other physical discomforts are mostly gone. I read and write on paper and the computer. I know… your face is just amazing. She’s like, you gotta take this program. Really. It’s really good. I plan my day around activities instead of planning my activities around my energy. I just figured, what do I have to do today?

And that’s what I do. I’m ready for carefully selected volunteer work. I’m just looking for the right thing. ’cause I’m not gonna be crazy like I used to be. And just jump into absolutely everything. My type A personality, I hope is long gone. I’m not yet doing all of what I want, when I want and how I want, but I am doing so much more of what I want, when I want and how I want. And even today, I went through a big shift and I know I, I just know that I am within a very short period of being able to say I’m a hundred percent back. So next picture. This is, oh this is in Hawaii. We were at, at the end of January. We went to Maui for five weeks. This is a picture of me and my hero, the man who’s stuck beside me through all of this.

You can see there’s the buildings behind us. Our hotel was just down hole a bit. We’re sitting waiting for the sunset, sort of at the edge of the beach. And the beach is just maybe as far as from me to that bookcase. That’s about it. The year before when we were there, I made it to the edge of the water one time because I made myself do it just to say I could do it. That that’s all I could manage. This time I went to the edge of the water as many times as I chose to do. This is a picture after I golfed. Nine holes golfed, nine holes here. That’s my friend Carol with me. She’s got a way bigger smile on her face than I do because she knows from the work, from the time she spent with me, what a big accomplishment this was.

I did nine holes every stroke, every hole, walking up and down a few hills talking the whole time. ’cause for me, talking was very difficult, very draining talk the whole time. Just had the best time. We’re not even, well we might’ve been at two months here since I started the DVD programs, just barely. Next picture. This is us taking in a free to us concert–Maroon Five. We went for a long walk. I know it was amazing. Went for a long walk. Along a beach. Well this long walk to get to the beach, walked across sand, which I gotta tell you, that is not an easy thing to do when you have no energy. I stood and watched this for over an hour. We, we stood, I stood in one place in sand watching this concert and then walked all the way back.

I was on my feet for two whole hours. You know, as I was doing this, I thought, normal people are gonna hear this and think, really that’s a big deal. But there are many of you in here in this room that know what a big deal that is. It’s absolutely phenomenal. This is me in the beginning, at the beginning of April, I went on a girls trip. My first girls trip in a very, very long time. I went by my first time I traveled without Terry for quite some time. I managed it all by myself. I checked myself in. I managed my bag. I was able to think through, get to places I needed to go. I was a traveling star. I kept pace with my friends. I was able to do what they did for the most part. And I’m, I’m still in training, right?

So it’s not perfect yet, but I was able to keep pace with them. I went on a two and a half mile walk with one of my friends. I…it’s just, it’s unbelievable. It really is. I am getting my life back each and every day. And that’s what I want you to be able to say too. And this program will do it for you. I’m gonna give you a little reality check here. And you’ve probably watched or gone on the website and seen other people like me talking about this. And of course we tell you all the great things that are happening ’cause it’s just so exciting that it’s happening. And I was in your place just a very short time ago and I used to think, oh really? Is that real? That can’t be quite right. And it isn’t a hundred percent right in that it’s hard to do this.

It’s not all just wonderful girls trips and golfing and things like that. It is really hard. There are some really hard days and you have to dig deep, dig deep and work hard at this. You must do the practice a minimum of an hour a day. And I can tell you, I can’t think of any day since I started the DVDs that I’ve only done an hour. But you know what? It is a full-time job being sick. It’s a full-time job being sick. And what would you rather do? Spend your time being sick or spend your time getting well, I know which direction I’m going. It’s not a quick fix at all. But here’s what’s really important. It is fixing what needs to be fixed. It’s getting to the root problem that you need to be dealing with in order to be able to be, well, all the rest of it is dealing with symptoms.

This is dealing with the root problem. I’m a hundred percent now. I’m a thousand percent convinced of that. So what I want you to know is this is not a scam. ’cause that’s one of the questions I had. Is this another money sucking scam? And I’m gonna get pulled into, no, it isn’t. Annie is the real deal. Her program is very much backed up in science. I’ve done a lot of the reading myself. Yes. ’cause I can read now I’ve read a lot of the books and I feel very confident, not just because of what she told me, but what, what I have learned as well that she really does know what she’s doing. I witness my own recovery daily and I also witness the recovery of my cohorts when we’re on the forum. What I’m learning is absolutely fascinating. All this stuff about the brain and how it works.

And I don’t know about you, but when I first heard Annie do her talk, I just felt like the world opened up for me because everything she was talking about explained what was going on with me. It absolutely did. And the more I’m learning about it, the more I know what, what’s going on with me and that this is the right track. So DVDs, which program is better for you to take? Well, I think Annie really explained and, and certainly the in-person program, if there’s any way you can make that happen, it is the gold standard, the DVD program I consider to be the silver standard. So if for some reason you don’t think you can attend an in-person program or it’s, it’s to not within your budget to be able to do that or for whatever reason, for goodness sake do the DVD program.

And I don’t know about you when it comes to health. I don’t care what color medal I’m getting, I want that medal. We had the best group. It, it’s unbelievable. I’m not kidding. This group was just really amazing. Just really strong people and we are very close. It’s… we hardly know anything about each other because what we don’t do is talk about things in when we’re working with each other. So we hardly know anything about each other. And I can tell you that, and I know this sounds really corny until you’re there, but there is love between us because of what we’ve gone through together and the support that we offer each other. It’s really quite amazing. So both are really, really good programs. The DVD program follows what Annie does in person very closely. As she said, what you don’t get is that contact with her and candy and with the other people in the room. And what you miss on or miss out on are two words that you’ll learn lots about and that’s mirror neurons. And that is the give and take and just how you build on each other with, with the cohort that you’re with. And it really does make a big difference. I’m so happy for you ’cause I know what’s coming for you and you are going to be me in a very short period of time.

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