Having more than 101 ways to tackle energy-limiting chronic illness can be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, there is huge potential for making things better. But on the other hand, as each thing tends to make only a small difference, it can seem overwhelming to do everything that will make enough of a difference.

Wanting to see results, we can easily fall into the trap of putting lots of pressure on ourselves with thoughts like, “I won’t get better if I don’t do that,” or “I should be doing this.” The reality is that we can’t do everything, and how much we can do depends on the severity of our symptoms and our day-to-day fluctuations.

My journey to 80% recovery of ME/CFS has been based on taking one tiny step after another. Even though each step might not have seemed to make a huge difference at the time, it was extremely important in making the next step more possible. It’s so important to recognise the value of each tiny step because it will lead to you being able to take the next one!

Another thing that I’ve learned is that the order of the steps is important. There is no point wasting energy on one aspect of self-help if you are ignoring another aspect that will get in its way. Unfortunately, the sicker you are, the more unpleasant your experience, the more desperate you feel to make a difference, and this desperation can actually feed into the illness mechanism that can make all other self-help an ineffective waste of energy.

Self-Help Triage

1. Calming sympathetic nervous system activity / engaging the parasympathetic nervous system

When the sympathetic nervous system is active, it is preparing our body for action. Our energy and nutrition are lining up to deal with an impending emergency and are therefore not available for general well-being and healing. Any healing intervention we try is going to be less effective if we cannot engage our parasympathetic nervous system. Desperately trying to get better, putting pressure on ourselves to do things that might help, or worrying about what we should be doing will keep us out of the relaxed state needed for our body to send its resources to healing.

When your energy is limited, your number one self-help priority must be to stop wasting it on pressure, stress and worry. Easier said than done! But understanding the important value of being able to relax, accept, and let go of resistance and worry can help you want to build these skills. When you know that all else is pointless unless you take this step, it’s easier to let go and focus. Self-compassion is absolutely crucial for taking this step. Worrisome thoughts will not suddenly stop coming to mind; however, it’s how we deal with those thoughts that counts. If we can acknowledge the thought with compassion and understanding, we can  gently remind our self that it isn’t serving us and then choose to refocus on practising some kind of relaxation skill which will serve us better in the moment. I like to use the words “It is as it is, and that’s OK; all I need right now is to accept, let go and relax.”

2. Taking a relaxed attitude to optimising sleep

Our time asleep is when our body gets its best chance to send our resources to repair and healing. However, efforts at improving sleep will be futile without first having developed skills to calm the sympathetic nervous system. This issue can also be a bit of a Catch 22. Sleep difficulties tend to be an integral part of illness like ME/CFS, fibromyalgia and Lyme disease, and we may not be able to solve them completely with self-help or even with unsustainable medication. The worry that we can’t get any further without improving our sleep will get in the way of any potential healing that is available. My approach has been to do whatever I can to optimise my sleep and accept imperfection. I aim to reassure myself that although sleep is important, resting well is a close second best.

3. Learning new skills to be able to live within your energy envelope

We’ve all experienced the consequences of pushing past our energy limits – we crash. It’s obvious that this does nothing for our healing. However, it takes a lot of skill to learn not to do this. We have many behaviour patterns that were successful when we had lots of energy which are now dangerous. For example, pushing to get something finished even when you’re getting tired. Unlearning these kinds of automatic pilot behaviours and replacing them with ways of being that are more adaptive to present circumstance needs new skills. Without taking some time to learn these skills, we are constantly going to knock ourselves back. We also have to learn how to make wise choices about how we use our energy and how to recognise and avoid energy draining situations.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by what you need to do to help yourself improve your health and well-being, remember that you only need to take one tiny step at a time. Each step will lead to the next being easier. But remember all other steps will be more effective if you can first learn to relax and let go, engaging your parasympathetic nervous system and allowing your body’s resources to be directed towards healing.

This article was first published on ProHealth.com on June 12, 2018 and was updated on June 7, 2021.

Julie Holliday is a holistic life coach and writer committed to helping people take back control from energy-limiting chronic illness to live a more relaxed, balanced and fulfilling life. Julie loves spending time in nature, growing her own vegetables and spends as much of her day as possible in a comfortable pair of yoga pants. Writing as the ME/CFS Self-Help Guru, Julie shares tips on her weekly blog. You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

As I have interviewed Lyme-literate health care practitioners over the years, I’ve observed that there are two camps of practitioners: 1) those who aim to correct every problem and deficiency in the body, and 2) those who aim to treat only what they perceive to be the “root” causes of disease and those which are the body’s current greatest threats.

I used to believe that correcting every nutritional deficiency and problem in the body was key to healing; after all, if the body didn’t have everything that it needed to get well—enough of every vitamin, mineral, hormone and so forth—or if every toxin and microbe wasn’t eliminated, then how could it heal?

However, in recent years, I’ve noticed that some brilliant doctors (and other practitioners) are choosing to treat only one or two key issues in the body at a time. For instance, if a person is battling both mold toxicity and Lyme infections, they might first treat the mold before treating the Lyme infections because their belief is that trying to fix everything in the body at once can overwhelm patients, and there is a hierarchy, or order, in which the body needs to address different issues.

Taking the example of mold—some Lyme-literate doctors believe that it’s not possible to eliminate Lyme infections until any potential mold toxicity is addressed, but that the body often cannot handle treatment for both issues at the same time.

Some of these doctors also believe it is counterproductive to try to fix every problem or dysfunction that is created in the body by infections, toxins and other “root” causes of disease. For instance, if mold toxicity compromises the body’s glutathione production, the belief may be that it is counterproductive, and even harmful, to supplement with glutathione.

Thus, taking lots of supplements or treatments in an attempt to correct every problem or dysfunction in the body may not necessarily be wise, and in a worse case scenario, can even be a huge waste of energy, time and money—not to mention being a massive stress for the body rather than helpful.

Therefore, taking a few remedies to treat only one or two “root” causes of disease while reducing the number of tools that are used to treat the “downstream” effects of disease—such as methylation problems, nutrient deficiencies, hormonal dysfunction and so on—may be a welcome approach to treatment for those who are fed up with spending a small fortune every month on supplements and other tools to fix every problem in the body, and for people who are weary of having their days monopolized by having to juggle thirty, forty or fifty remedies daily.

Indeed, the “treatment treadmill” can become just as great a burden to bear for some people as the disease, and let’s face it—there is rest and peace for the body and soul when you only have to manage and spend money on just a few tools or treatments, rather than a few dozen!

On the other hand, some of the “downstream” effects that are created by disease, such as methylation problems and nutrient deficiencies, may need to be corrected in order for the body to have the ammunition that it needs to fight the “root” causes of disease. For instance, adrenal fatigue, a common condition caused by things such as Lyme, mold, cavitation infections and trauma, may need to be addressed for the body to have the stamina and immune power that it needs to overcome the infections and/or trauma.

This means that doctors who treat according to the philosophy of “more is not better” and who aim to target only one or two, maybe three issues in the body at a time must be very discerning about which issues are primary; that is, which are the “causes” of disease and which are the “effects,” and which of the “effects” must be addressed concurrently with the main causes.

This is not an easy thing, as, for example, some practitioners may discern methylation or another issue to be a cause of disease, rather than an effect, while others may believe it to be both. Hormonal imbalances are another murky area, as infections, toxins and trauma (root causes of illness) can cause hormonal imbalances, but in some cases, hormonal imbalances may also be a root cause of symptoms.

So determining which issues in the body should be treated at present and which should be put on the “back burner” is an art as much as a science but perhaps necessary. Sometimes, the downstream effects of disease will automatically resolve themselves once the main problems are dealt with, and treating them upfront may be more than the body can handle anyway.

In my own treatment of Lyme disease, I used to try to fix every issue and problem in my body. Now, whenever my body needs help, I tend to take a more middle-of-the-road approach. I will admit however that determining the remedies my body needs at any given time can still be a challenge.

So what do you do to determine what your body needs?  First, find an experienced Lyme-literate doctor who believes in finding the root causes of disease and who also understands the value of supporting key systems and uses a variety of testing tools to do this.  Bioenergetic testing using muscle testing or devices such as a ZYTO or ASYRA can, for instance, be helpful for diagnosing what’s going on in the body, but one of their drawbacks is that they may tell you every single problem your body has, and an inexperienced practitioner may attempt to fix all of the “issues” that show up on the scan or muscle test rather than the core problem(s).

Secondly, listen to your body. If you intuitively feel that your body can’t process fifty supplements or that it can’t handle treating both Lyme and mold (or other issues) at the same time, then don’t overload it with tons of stuff. If you are Herxing and feel worse as a result of taking boatloads of remedies, you may be headed in the wrong direction and need to re-evaluate what your body truly needs.

Finally, knowledge about the best treatments for Lyme and the co-conditions that often accompany it is still in its infancy, and doctors are still learning about the best way to approach this insidious disease. For that reason, trusting your intuition and what it’s telling you is  as important as listening to your doctor or health care practitioner. At the same time, it’s important to find a doctor you trust and who can help you to navigate your healing journey.

This article was first published on ProHealth.com on October 7, 2016 and was updated on June 7, 2021.

Connie Strasheim is the author, co-author or ghostwriter of 10 wellness books, including four on Lyme disease, and New Paradigms in Lyme Disease Treatment: 10 Top Doctors Real Healing Strategies that Work.  She is also a medical copywriter and Editor of the Alternative Cancer Research Institute. Connie’s passion is to help people with complex chronic illnesses find freedom from disease and soul-spirit sickness using whole body medicine and prayer, and she collaborates with some of the world’s best integrative doctors to do this. In addition to Lyme disease, Connie’s books focus on cancer, nutrition, detoxification and spiritual healing. You can learn more about her work at: www.ConnieStrasheim.org.

Songs, books and jingles are written about bugs – crickets, bees, ants, lightning bugs, June bugs, lady bugs, chiggers, ticks and spiders.

There Ain’t No Bugs on Me

Flight of the bumblebee

There Ain’t No Bugs on Me

I’d Like to Check You for Ticks

Bugs can be inspirational, and bugs can be depressingly dangerous.

2021 is the year for Brood X cicadas – billions of insects that have been feeding underground for the past 17 years and are now emerging in the eastern United States to the delight of birds, dogs and other bug-eating beings. Research is varied on the benefits and detriments of cicadas, but one thing is certain: they’re noisy critters, “clocking in at 96 decibels, drowning out the sound of passenger jets passing directly overhead,” per one source. Most researchers do agree, however, that cicadas pose no threat to humans.

The same cannot be said for ticks and chiggers. Chiggers, ticks and spiders aren’t bugs at all; instead, they’re arachnids –  critters that have eight legs. In addition, in the northern hemisphere, these eight-legged critters are a force to be reckoned with; Prevention Magazine reports predictions of Summer 2021 being a “Tick Bomb.”

As we know, ticks are responsible for the transmission of Lyme disease, so it is especially important this summer to protect yourself against tick bites. A favorite pastime for many people in the summer is hiking, which is prime time for exposure to ticks. Ticks latch onto grass, litter, shrubs and other hosts close to the ground – they don’t jump – and as the hiker passes by and rubs up against the host, the ticks see new opportunity and move to the human body, whether it’s on the pants, socks, or open skin.

I remember one hike at Wallace State Park which resulted in my white socks looking like I’d splashed through a mud puddle. I hadn’t; instead, my socks were covered with scores of tiny deer ticks. I no longer have those socks – I went back to the car barelegged after throwing them away!

Preventive measures are the best protection against ticks. Most of the ticks I’ve found have been on my legs and feet. Wearing a long sleeved shirt and light-colored long pants tucked into white socks makes inspecting for the little buggers after the hike easier. Certainly, you don’t want to wear sandals. Staying to the center of trails is also an effective deterrent. Insect and tick repellants, particularly those with DEET and permethrin, can also be very effective, but problematic for those who are sensitive to such chemicals. It is very important to check your full body after a hike, working in the yard, or doing any other activity where ticks might be present. Equally important is changing and washing and drying the worn clothes upon returning home (most ticks cannot survive an hour in a hot dryer).

Checking for ticks and prompt removal of attached ticks
is probably the most important and effective method
of preventing infection!

What if you find a tick?

Oh, gross!
A fully engorged tick stuck to my body is one of the nastiest things I’ve ever seen!

What do you do? Do you burn it off?
Ouch! No!

Twist it as you’re pulling it out?
No!

What if it doesn’t all come out?!
Gross!

Actually, my husband who grew up in the hills of Arkansas where he encountered many ticks taught me the correct way to remove the ugly critter from my body. And the Prince that he is, he did the hard work. He cleaned my tweezers with alcohol and then used them to grab hold of the tick as close to the skin surface as possible. Then he pulled the nasty creature straight upward with a firm tug. Gross!

Fortunately, the entire bug came out. That’s not always the case, but it’s also not necessarily cause for alarm. If the head doesn’t come out, you can carefully use a sterilized needle to remove it. Ideally, if you cannot remove the entire offender, it’s a good idea to have a healthcare provider finish the task.

Remember, not every tick carries infection. After removal, though, it is important to clean the bite with soap and water – and to watch for any reaction. It’s also a good idea to keep the tick in a container filled with rubbing alcohol (which ensures its demise) just in case you do have a reaction and the tick needs to be tested for infection.

Lyme disease can occur as a result of a tick bite. Per the Mayo Clinic, early signs and symptoms of Lyme disease include:

A small, red bump, similar to the bump of a mosquito bite, often appears at the site of a tick bite or tick removal and resolves over a few days. This normal occurrence doesn’t indicate Lyme disease.

However, these signs and symptoms can occur within a month after you’ve been infected:

• From three to 30 days after an infected tick bite, an expanding red area might appear that sometimes clears in the center, forming a bull’s-eye pattern. The rash (erythema migrans) expands slowly over days and can spread to 12 inches (30 centimeters) across. It’s typically not itchy or painful but might feel warm to the touch.

Erythema migrans is one of the hallmarks of Lyme disease, although not everyone with Lyme disease develops the rash. Some people develop this rash at more than one place on their bodies.

• Other symptoms. Fever, chills, fatigue, body aches, headache, neck stiffness and swollen lymph nodes can accompany the rash.

It is vitally important to get immediate treatment for infection from a tick bite. As stated in Lyme Disease Causes and Prognosis, most people with Lyme disease recover if given six weeks of antibiotics and if the disease is diagnosed immediately upon discovery of a tick or infected bite.

While research continues into treatment of Lyme disease, prevention is key. So, put on those long sleeved shirts, tuck your light-colored pants into your socks, and wear repellant if you can as you enjoy hiking and yard work this summer.

Who knows, maybe singing one of the songs or jingles might help? If nothing else, you might laugh – which is always good!