15 Treatments for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

People often ask me what treatments I’ve tried to recover from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). While there are no medical cures, I want you to know that recovery is possible – I’m living proof of that. Unfortunately, it’s rarely a quick fix; however, when you adopt an optimistic and curious approach to working out what works for you, full recovery is achievable through natural treatments and lifestyle changes.

Over the last few years, I’ve been on a journey trying out lots of interventions. What will help you depends upon your experience of the illness and the reasons you became ill—we are all different, and so different tools and interventions will work for each of us. It’s often a case of trial and error.

Here I share both treatments and changes I made that had a positive impact on my health, in the hope it inspires you to explore what will boost your own recovery.

Please note I’m not a doctor, but rather someone who lived with chronic fatigue syndrome, on and off, for around fifteen years. It’s important you seek advice from a chronic fatigue professional before trying any of these interventions for yourself. You may also want to read my full Chronic Fatigue Recovery Blog Series <HERE>.

* I receive affiliate commission for a couple of things I recommend below, which helps fund my blog. If you’d prefer I don’t receive this, simply do an internet search for whatever you’d like to check out.

1. Diet: focus on gut health, detoxification, and optimum energy production

One of the first things I did was to start working with a functional medicine doctor who had me eliminate refined sugar, gluten, processed foods, alcohol, caffeine, and dairy, whilst also increasing my intake of plant-based foods and healthy sources of protein. It was hard at first but it became easier as I tried out new recipes and experimented with replacing some foods with healthier choices, e.g., replacing pasta with green beans.

The functional medicine doctors I’ve worked with also used diagnostic testing to create a personalised diet and supplement programme to underpin my recovery. The focus was initially to improve my gut health, remove toxins, and feed my body enough of the right foods so my body would find it easier to produce more energy.

Initially, I thought these dietary changes would only be for a few weeks until I felt better. But as the months and years have passed, this has become a new way of being. Now that I’ve discovered a way of eating that genuinely makes me feel better, I can’t imagine going back to old ways of eating. I’m very conscious I need to do everything I can to boost my health, and feeding my body the right fuel is a fundamental part of this. Yes, I occasionally love a piece of cake or a glass of wine, but my everyday diet is much better.

I also did the Zoe Programme created by Dr Tim Spector and colleagues. This was an excellent way to understand (through tests and blood sugar monitoring) exactly how my body responds to different foods and drinks. The key takeaways for me were that my body processes fat far more efficiently than sugar and the importance of consuming protein when I eat sweet things, for example, having almond butter with an apple rather than just the apple alone.

Changing my diet didn’t cure my CFS, but it did help me develop a much healthier relationship to food, identify which foods make me feel tired, and ultimately helped minimise weight gain in the years I was ill. health. I highly recommend exploring the Zoe Programme if you’re curious about personalised nutrition.

Find it easier to adopt new healing habits with my Chronic Fatigue journal. Check it out <HERE>.

2. Supplements for chronic fatigue syndrome

The isn’t a core list of supplements that will work for us all, as the reasons we get ill, our health, and lifestyles vary significantly from person to person. However, a functional doctor or nutritionist with experience in helping people recover from chronic fatigue can carry out clinical tests (many of which aren’t available through your GP) that will highlight deficiencies or imbalances—such as hormones, gut health, or minerals—and help identify exactly what your body needs to recover.

I’ve been on so many supplements as part of my recovery journey, and I honestly got to a point where I wasn’t sure what was working and what wasn’t. So, once all my clinical test results improved, I cut my supplement intake to a minimum.

If you’re considering supplements, investing in an appointment with a professional could help you avoid many unnecessary supplements that adverts would lead us to believe we need. I’ve also learned it’s worth spending the money on quality supplements that work rather than wasting money on cheap imitations.

3. PIVOTAL: Stress management and calming your nervous system

Stress is one of the most destructive forces when you’re trying to recover from chronic fatigue syndrome and many other chronic illnesses. Research consistently shows that chronic stress puts our health at risk, even when we’re healthy. Whilst a short-term release of adrenaline is helpful – it gets us out of danger – ongoing stress has a profoundly negative impact on recovery. When you have a chronic illness, your body is already on heightened alert, spending far more time than is healthy in the ‘fight or flight’ response. The last thing you need is additional stress keeping you stuck in that state.

While I was ill, I spent as much time as possible in a calm, peaceful, and relaxed state. It became my focus when I couldn’t work. This was often challenging, e.g., when my dad got ill and subsequently died, my health deteriorated significantly in the months afterwards.

Thankfully, as a life coach, therapist, and yoga teacher, I know lots of tools I can use to reduce stress. These include yoga, meditation, breathwork, tapping or EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), singing, humming, sound healing, self-hypnosis, theta healing, Reiki, and spending more time in nature. I share more on some of these below. I also love my Neurosym device and the Heartmath app as effective, restful ways to calm my nervous system.

There’s also an excellent programme called Rest, Repair, Recover that offers online classes and workshops for people recovering from chronic fatigue, long COVID, and other chronic illnesses. Doing a couple of their sessions each day was pivotal in my recovery. Check it out <HERE>.

Now I’ve recovered, I’m relieved that my new healthy habits (see below) have become a way of life. I still put my health first most days as I continue to reintegrate into normal life.

Calming down my nervous system regularly throughout the day was pivotal to my sudden, quick recovery; within three weeks of doing this (plus brain re-training as I share in the next point), after years of illness.

4. PIVOTAL: Brain re-training to boost chronic fatigue recovery

Let’s be clear: your illness and your symptoms are very real. They are not in your head!

However, just as the brain creates the pain you feel when you break an ankle, the brain is responsible for creating most symptoms you experience when you have chronic fatigue (unless there’s a medical structural reason for them).

Discovering this was a light-bulb moment for me. Initially, I couldn’t believe that faulty wiring in my brain was creating my symptoms rather than the many other reasons I’d heard ‘experts’ talk about, e.g., inflammation or dysfunctional mitochondria. However, being trained in NLP, hypnosis, and EFT, I knew how easy it is to rewire the brain. It also made total sense that by resting and becoming more cautious about doing things for fear of making my symptoms worse, I’d developed new habits (and thus new neural pathways in my brain) that were keeping me ill.

Want to understand more? I thoroughly recommend you check out Raelan Agle’s brilliant YouTube channel <HERE>. It’s got hundreds of interviews with both people who have recovered from CFS and chronic fatigue experts. Her Brain ReTraining 101 Program was the final piece in my recovery jigsaw. If you’re ready to recover now, check it out <HERE>.

5. Chronic fatigue recovery: support and coaching

When I first got ill, I was optimistic (or perhaps deluded) about how quickly I’d recover from chronic fatigue. However, as time went on, despite being a glass-half-full person and equipped with many tools to help me, I often had periods where I didn’t feel I was getting any better. During these times, I doubted I would recover and became concerned I’d need to accept that life as I knew it was over. This is when I found working with recovery and mindset coaches invaluable.

I would thoroughly recommend working with a mindset coach who has experience in helping people recover from chronic fatigue—either on a one-to-one basis or as part of a group coaching programme.

Two programmes I enjoyed were those offered by The Optimum Health Clinic and CFS Health.

There are also wellness coaches like myself who work with clients on a one-to-one basis to help them recover more quickly.

6. New health-boosting habits

New healthy habits, such as developing a morning routine that puts my health first, listening to my body, and spending more time in bed, have all aided my recovery.

Health first – most mornings I journal, have a shower, take my supplements, and do some stretching, meditation, yoga, and breakfast before looking at my phone. On the days I didn’t have the energy to get up, I’d still do the aspects of this I could before picking up my phone or computer.
Getting up later and going to bed earlier – I remember the first time a functional doctor told me to go to bed by 9 pm and to stay in bed until 9 am. Initially, I struggled with this as it felt lazy. Yet, my overachiever mindset (and desire to cram in as much as I could into a day), for over fifty years, was one of the reasons I got ill. However, as I was already struggling to be up this long anyway, I followed their advice—and found it was exactly what I needed. Getting more rest could help you if you’re at the CRASH stage of chronic fatigue or are having a relapse. Unsure what stage you’re at? Check out my What is Chronic Fatigue Blog <HERE>.
Listening to my body – this has become my mantra. I hate letting people down, and when I was ill often yearned to get on with life as I used to. But one of the worst things you can do with chronic fatigue is to push through the signals your body is sending you. Whenever I felt tired yet tempted to do something, I asked myself, What is in my body’s highest interest? Often it was to rest although sometimes it was to get fresh air, or to meet up with someone. This all involves letting go of your ego (especially if you tend to set yourself goals) and saying ‘no’ more often without worrying about what people think.

7. Energy management

Limiting activities – having chronic fatigue is like having a faulty battery in your phone: you only have enough energy to do a few things. Once your battery runs out, you can’t do any more. This was one of the hardest lessons to learn. At my worst, my body couldn’t do much other than sleep for what seemed like weeks on end. Then, as I started to feel I had more energy, despite knowing about the need to increase activities very gradually, I still had regular relapses until I accepted that any increase in activity needed to be much slower than I wanted.
Tapping/EFT, NLP, and self-hypnosis – these are my go-to techniques for letting go of negative emotions such as stress or frustration and physical pain. You can find out more about tapping for chronic fatigue in this book.
Energy medicine – I first heard about Donna Eden’s work while doing trauma healing with genocide survivors in Rwanda over ten years ago. As a leader in the field of energy medicine, Donna shares many tools and techniques to help heal your body. Find out more <HERE>.

8. Oxygen therapy

I’d heard this was highly effective in helping people overcome long COVID, so I decided to give it a try.

Oxygen therapy is known to help reduce common symptoms, including pain, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction. It involves having regular treatments of 98% oxygen in a pressurised chamber where air pressure is two to three times as high as normal air pressure. This enables you to take in a higher concentration of oxygen than you would normally. I had one to two treatments a day for three weeks.

Did it work?

Yes, the treatment itself made a huge difference in that I felt fantastic afterwards. But I underwent the treatment too soon in my recovery journey, and the travel was too much.

Prior to starting the treatment, I’d been in pain driving only five miles along the road to the nearest town. Needing to drive an hour a day each way in rush hour traffic to get to the treatment centre eroded the benefits. I tried to reduce my travel by having two sessions a day, but that made my days too long. That said, if you can get it locally, it may be worth trying.

9. Essential oils

Essential oils offer valuable support for individuals recovering from chronic fatigue by helping to reduce stress and anxiety, enhancing relaxation, and improving sleep quality. Varieties like lavender and chamomile promote calmness, aiding restorative sleep, while invigorating oils like peppermint combat mental and physical fatigue, boosting energy levels. I often put lavender oil in a diffuser when using my infra-red sauna blanket (see below) and when I go to bed. I also often use essential oils as part of my yoga practice. As I now have a good selection of high-quality oils, I also use them instead of perfume and to treat other ailments. Check out the oils I use <HERE>.

10. Slow mindful yoga and restorative yoga

If you’ve got chronic fatigue syndrome, you’ll know there are days you can barely get out of bed, and most forms of exercise or yoga would be too much. However, slow-breath-led yoga, restorative yoga, and meditation are really good ways to relax, destress, and switch off your mind. These often formed part of my daily yoga practice, especially when I was tired. On days I couldn’t do much physically, I’d lie on my mat and do meditation, to create the habit and expectation that I’d get up each day—even if only for a few minutes. When I felt more energised, I’d do a more physical yoga practice. I often also use crystals to boost my healing when doing meditations. If you’re new to meditation, you may find it easier to be led through the meditation. Check out online apps such as Deepak Chopra’s app <HERE>.

11. Breathwork

Breathwork is intentionally controlling your breathing patterns for physical, mental, and emotional well-being. There are many breathing techniques. Common benefits include stress reduction, improved focus, and enhanced relaxation. I incorporate breathwork into my yoga practice and also focus on my breathing to switch off before I go to sleep.

13. Visualisation

I’ve been using visualisation as a tool to achieve my goals for decades–it works. In the context of my illness, I visualised myself being fully fit and full of energy as I went through each day, doing all the things I’d been unable to do while ill. I have no doubt that regularly visualising being healthy helped me feel better, cope and be more optimistic, especially during challenging times.

14. Infra-red sauna

A couple of friends recommended that Infra-red light is good to help you relax (and let go of stress) as well as being a powerful way to stimulate the mitochondria in your body to produce more energy again. I decided to get an infra-red sauna blanket, which I used 2-3 times a week for a while to help me relax as part of my switching-off routine at night. My understanding is that the quality or infra-red treatment plays a huge part in its effectiveness. I honestly don’t know if it worked or not, although it was a pleasant experience. Check out the one I have <HERE>.

15. Medical Cannabis

Yes, medical cannabis is legal in the UK for certain conditions, including chronic fatigue. However, it’s rarely prescribed through the NHS. I went to a private clinic (see below).

Taking a small amount of medical cannabis each day was a game-changer for me. Within a week of taking this, I felt so much better. The pain in my joints disappeared, and I slept much better, meaning I was able to do more. It wasn’t a cure but certainly helped. But it was very expensive, and so I stopped taking it. Want to know more about medical cannabis? Check out the book The CBD Bible by Dr Danni Gordon, who also runs the London Resilience Clinic, you can check out <HERE>. Bear in mind that medical cannabis is still illegal in many countries.

Summary

In the absence of any quick cure for chronic fatigue, recovery involves finding the best natural treatments and tools for you.

This may feel like a journey of trial and error, but it is also rewarding to understand what works best for your body. While it can take longer than you hope to recover from chronic fatigue syndrome, and it can often be a soul-destroying and frustrating time, investing in new healthy habits and lifestyle changes is what will set you up for a happier, healthier future. I like to think I’ll be healthier and able to live a fuller life in the long run.

What’s next for you?

I hope this blog gives you insights into the illness and the potential for you to recover from chronic fatigue.

One tool I’ve found most helpful in keeping tabs on my recovery has been journaling. Noting down key info in my journal each day enables me to track my symptoms, mood, and recovery. It also means I have more meaningful information to share with my medical support team so I can make the most of my appointments. Check out my range of 90-day chronic fatigue recovery journals <HERE>.

Remember, you are not alone on this journey, and there is hope for a brighter future.

With love and gratitude,

Author, Therapist, and Life Coach for Women in Midlife and Beyond

Enabling you to enjoy a life of happiness, health, and vitality

Often described as one of the most authentic and inspiring souls you can meet, Alisoun is on a mission to make it easier for women in their midlife years and beyond to feel good, enjoy good friendships, and make the most of life.

Alisoun’s keynote talks, training, mentoring, and best-selling books, Nourishing Friendships, Heartatude: The 9 Principles of Heart-Centered Success and Give-to-Profit have favourably changed the good fortune of thousands of people worldwide. Alisoun loves spending time with friends, exploring the world, and living by the beach in Scotland.

P.S. Want help working out what’s next for you?

I help women explore how to make the most of the second half of life and turn their dreams into reality. Book a free 20-minute discovery session with me <HERE> to help you decide if I’d be the right person to accompany you on this journey.

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