Incredible recovery after 30 years of ME/CFS!

[Marilyn Lemmon]

I am 70 years old and have now essentially fully recovered from 30 years of ME/CFS. This was through Rebecca Tolin's online mind-body course Be Your Own Medicine. I can't recommend it highly enough. After 30 years of getting nowhere, I have my life back. Rebecca did an interview with me which is posted below. I receive no compensation from recommending her course; I simply hope that other people will find the success I have. Indeed, I met a number of people through the course with similar incredible stories to tell, not just those with ME/CFS, but also fibromyalgia and Long Covid. Please be open-mined about this- it has lots of scientific validated techniques presented in a very supportive and compassionate environment.

How Marilyn Beat 30 Years of CFS: Now Feeling Superb at 70! — REBECCA TOLIN | MIND-BODY & LIFE COACHING

Marilyn Lemmon suffered with ME/CFS for 30 years before making a full recovery through mind-body healing. She’s now hiking and skiing at 70!

www.rebeccatolin.com

 

[gentlepotato]

Great you're feeling better, Marilyn! May I ask how long you've followed the approach for and how long you've seen improvement? And how are your markers? Are you sleeping well?

 

[Marilyn Lemmon]

Great you're feeling better, Marilyn! May I ask how long you've followed the approach for and how long you've seen improvement? And how are your markers? Are you sleeping well?

Thanks for the good wishes. I started the course in April 2024. I knew by July that it was clearly working with strong hints of improvement before that. i have considered myself cured since last fall. I’ve been x-country skiing and hiking in the mountains, things i haven’t been able to do for 30 years! I still do some of the meditation and breathing techniques I learned and will do them for the rest of my life as they gave me my life back. I‘m sleeping well. I dont know what you mean by markers.

 

[gentlepotato]

Thanks for the good wishes. I started the course in April 2024. I knew by July that it was clearly working with strong hints of improvement before that. i have considered myself cured since last fall. I’ve been x-country skiing and hiking in the mountains, things i haven’t been able to do for 30 years! I still do some of the meditation and breathing techniques I learned and will do them for the rest of my life as they gave me my life back. I‘m sleeping well. I dont know what you mean by markers.

That's great to hear!

I've done a very similar approach and thought I was better for a long time, but looking back I realize I was just very gaslit. That's not to say that's the case for everyone, but I think it's an inherent danger of these "mind-body approaches", and I would caution anyone to try it if the practitioner guiding isn't using markers of some kind to see how the body is responding. So many people with ME/CFS has gotten worse with similar approaches over the years, even though some get better.

I so wanted to get better that I didn't really notice the bad signs, and the practitioner focused on the positive signs as well. Very dangerous combo.

I use pulse, temp, sleep, digestion, overall symptoms, mood, menstrual cycle (only helpful if you have a cycle of course, so not on hormonal birth control - if you're post menopausal I'm sure there's hormonal affects you can track as well).

Enjoy all the things you're able to do again, that's amazing!

 

[Marilyn Lemmon]

That's great to hear!

I've done a very similar approach and thought I was better for a long time, but looking back I realize I was just very gaslit. That's not to say that's the case for everyone, but I think it's an inherent danger of these "mind-body approaches", and I would caution anyone to try it if the practitioner guiding isn't using markers of some kind to see how the body is responding. So many people with ME/CFS has gotten worse with similar approaches over the years, even though some get better.

I so wanted to get better that I didn't really notice the bad signs, and the practitioner focused on the positive signs as well. Very dangerous combo.

I use pulse, temp, sleep, digestion, overall symptoms, mood, menstrual cycle (only helpful if you have a cycle of course, so not on hormonal birth control - if you're post menopausal I'm sure there's hormonal affects you can track as well).

Enjoy all the things you're able to do again, that's amazing!

I’m sorry to hear other mind body approaches let you down. How depressing to think you’re better and discover that you’re not. I know little about other mind body approaches besides Rebecca Tolin except for Gupta. In my case I’m so much better there is no need for medical tests, just as when you’ve recovered from the flu you don’t need medical tests to tell you you’re well. It’s been almost a year now and I’ve gone from getting symptoms after a little grocery shopping to no symptoms after a hike in the mountains.

 

[Laura S]

I wonder how her programme is different from Gupta and others? Does she address PEM? I did Gupta for a year. I feel it was helpful in alleviating anxiety in response to symptoms but it did not help with PEM. I am 72 and first got ill in 2011. I thought I had made a full recovery using meditation and pacing. I became very physically active again. but sadly I relapsed 3.5 years ago. I thought I was completely recovered and allowed myself to push a bit. Gupta has a concept of post recovery denial I had that! I started his programme after relapsing.

 

[Marilyn Lemmon]

I wonder how her programme is different from Gupta and others? Does she address PEM? I did Gupta for a year. I feel it was helpful in alleviating anxiety in response to symptoms but it did not help with PEM. I am 72 and first got ill in 2011. I thought I had made a full recovery using meditation and pacing. I became very physically active again. but sadly I relapsed 3.5 years ago. I thought I was completely recovered and allowed myself to push a bit. Gupta has a concept of post recovery denial I had that! I started his programme after relapsing.

PEM is absolutely addressed. Rebecca, who teaches the class, has fully recovered from 13 years of ME/CFS using these techniques. PEM was my overwhelming problem and I don’t have trouble with it anymore, even after a two hour mountain hike. I would add that at our age, slow and steady is advisable regardless of how well we feel!

 

[Marilyn Lemmon]

Great you're feeling better, Marilyn! May I ask how long you've followed the approach for and how long you've seen improvement? And how are your markers? Are you sleeping well?

I’m still following this approach and do the techniques daily. I’ve been vastly improved for 2 years now. My sleep is generally good and i don‘t check my markers.

 

[Rockt]

This is timely for me. I've had PEM, fatigue, brain fog, bad gut, pain and all around crappiness full time for over 20 years now so these stories always give me hope. But why it's timely is because I was recently referred to the fibromyalgia specialist at the pain clinic in my local university hospital and... nothing earth shattering in terms of treatment, but one thing that really struck me is that she referred to the condition as the brain (over)compensating for trauma. So for example, you get in a car accident and suffer whiplash, your brain sends signals to the neck to immobilize it with pain, swelling and muscle tightness, with reduced mitochondrial function to force you to take it easy and... lucky you, it never goes away. I'm over-simplifying but it got me thinking that symptoms originate in the brain so maybe they can be turned off somehow.
I think I pooh-poohed the mind-body connection in the past as new-agey but I'm starting to think there's more to it.
Thanks for posting this Marilynn and may you continue to enjoy the return of your energy.

 

[Marilyn Lemmon]

This is timely for me. I've had PEM, fatigue, brain fog, bad gut, pain and all around crappiness full time for over 20 years now so these stories always give me hope. But why it's timely is because I was recently referred to the fibromyalgia specialist at the pain clinic in my local university hospital and... nothing earth shattering in terms of treatment, but one thing that really struck me is that she referred to the condition as the brain (over)compensating for trauma. So for example, you get in a car accident and suffer whiplash, your brain sends signals to the neck to immobilize it with pain, swelling and muscle tightness, with reduced mitochondrial function to force you to take it easy and... lucky you, it never goes away. I'm over-simplifying but it got me thinking that symptoms originate in the brain so maybe they can be turned off somehow.
I think I pooh-poohed the mind-body connection in the past as new-agey but I'm starting to think there's more to it.
Thanks for posting this Marilynn and may you continue to enjoy the return of your energy.

These techniques have solid neuroscience behind them as well as a Harvard clinical trial and MDs teaching them. I can’t of course guarantee it will help you, but I certainly hope it will. For me and others I have met through Rebecca’s course, it has turned our lives around. Don’t be put off by the new-agey feel- whatever works! Good luck.