Some good news - health rating chart

I haven't blogged in about two weeks, which is by far the longest I've gone between posts since I started blogging about a year ago.  Part of the reason for the long hiatus is that I've been doing particularly well health-wise lately.  I haven't had a crash since late September!  That is also, by far, the longest no-crash streak I've had since getting sick.  Several times in the intervening weeks, I've felt as if a crash was starting (like today), but it never fully materialized.  I hope the one that feels like it's coming on now also turns out to be a false alarm.

I honestly don't know what to attribute this uptick in my health to.  Perhaps its just one of the unexplained cycles of CFS.  The nearest change in my routine was the addition of the far infrared sauna, so it's possible that the sauna is responsible for this improvement.

I haven't updated my monthly average health ratings chart in a while, so I will do that below by adding averages for the months of August, September, and October 2012.

Please don't read too much into the fact that my ratings seem high - they are not on a scale of 1 - 100, although that was my original intent.  My rating scale is shifted higher than most patients because I originally set my baseline too high and didn't give myself enough cushion at the top end.  100% for me would really be about 115 on my rating scale below. (For an explanation of why my rating scale is tilted higher than others' see here.)

[Chart below updated 10/1/13]

Month         Avg. Rating.     Notes             

Sept.          72.34                             

Oct.           77.16                  

Nov.           75.85               Started D-Ribose, Co-Q10, Acetyl-l carnitine, Vit. D3, and 

                                          vitamin powder

Dec.           80.39               Officially diagnosed; changed diet to low carb; added  

                                          ImmunoStim, NT 

                                          Factor, and pro-biotics
2011avg.   76.43

2012

Jan.            79.07               Added T3 thyroid, pregnenolone, and magnesium

Feb.           72.73               Added methylation protocol; crashed twice due to low   

                                          potassium and flu

Mar.           77.94               Added Famvir (antiviral) and Nystatin (for Candida); briefly 

                                          tried LDN

Apr.            75.50      

May            82.03              Started Equilibrant, titrating from 2 - 4 tablets per day.

June           78.52              Upped Equilibrant dosage to 5 tab/day; got a cold early in   

                                         month; ImmunoStim ran out and is on back order.

July            81.12              Upped Equilibrant dosage to 6 tab/day, plus back on 

                                         ImmunoStim

Aug.           76.90              Started using far infrared sauna

Sept.          79.80              Heavy Metal Detox

Oct.            84.10  
Nov.           85.43
Dec.           83.80

2012avg.  79.74

2013
Jan.           85.55              Increased thyroid to 62.5 and resumed taking T.
Feb.          85.52              Cold in later part of this month
Mar.          85.03              Two colds this month, with sore throat and swollen tongue
Apr.           83.43              Cold earlier in month, then major crash near end of month
May.          81.61             Cold and crash from April continued into May.
June          85.73            
July           85.10              Second half of month had a bug that lingered.
Aug.          88.48              Implemented Yasko's "short cut" supps.
Sept.         87.96              Implemented Yasko's long route supps.
Oct.          85.97               Started month with stomach flu and then had light colds on
                                        and off all month
Nov.          86.86               Moved houses toward end of month.  Packed most of month
                                        and prepared old house for renting.  Very active month.
                                        Took Doxy and Cipro.
Dec.          87.35              Groin pain this month probably prevented an even higher
                                         number
2013 Avg. 85.69

2014

Jan.          88.16               Very busy this month with post-move activities.  Brain fog
                                        started coming back during last week of month.  Had cold
                                        that week too.
Feb.         88.60               Post-move activity started to slow down a little this month,
                                        but both kids sick
Mar.         86.55               Brain fog and leg numbness returned.  Not sure why.
Apr.          88.90               Brain fog and leg numbness went away when I suspended                                            
                                       taking B12 & folate.  Continued to get colds from the kids

May         91.16               Can't explain the sudden increase this month, except that I                                            
                                       always seems to do better in the summer.

June        90.33                A nasty cough and chest cold early in the month kept this                                            
                                       month from being higher

July         90.13                Two minor bugs this month but ended strong
Aug.        89.64                Prostatitis this month brought down my average
Sept.       90.70                Prostatitis a little better; cold near the end of the month
Oct.         86.93                Prostatitis continues; have been on 60+ days of antibiotics,                                                                                   which may have set immune system back.
Nov.        88.06                Prostatitis improving
Dec.        90.80                Good month despite some prostatitis

2014 avg.89.41

2015

Jan.        87.19                Two colds this month.
Feb.        89.14                Continuing pain in groin
Mar.        93.58
Apr.         82.80               Major setback this month; possible cold
May        85.12                Continued setback; headaches and brain fog
June       89.96                Experimenting with A-L Complex this month
July         90.74
Aug.        86.80               Lots of sniffles and shortness of breath this month
Sept.       89.23               Went back on ImmunoStim toward end of month; lymph node
                                        swelling went away, but SOB and sniffles continue
Oct.        86.96               Caught a cold in middle of month; SOB continues to be major                                                                                problem
Nov.       88.26                Caught another cold toward end of month. SOB and post-
                                       nasal drip continue
Dec.       89.51  

2015avg.88.27    

2016

Jan.       85.58  
Feb.       86.86               Began month still trying to recover from PC experiment; end
                                      of month was better. Resumed taking Testosterone (cream)
                                      toward end of month
Mar.      85.03                Flu began on 3/14 and symptoms continued to end of month
Apr.      88.16                Still recovering from cold/cough that began in March.
May      90.64                PND and SOB still main symptom.
June     88.90              
July      87.80                Shingles set in toward end of the month
Aug.     87.79                Shingles almost all month, resolved by end of month
Sept.    86.23                General viral symptoms all month: sore kidneys, lymph nodes,
                                     etc.
Oct.      90.64                Back on Equilibrant (6/d), Immunostim (3/d), and B Complex.
Nov.     88.06                Was having a very good month until 11/14 when I caught a cold
Dec.     89.48                Cold still lingered early in the month.

2016avg.87.93

2017
Jan.     86.93                 Active EBV infection back.  High IgM antibodies.
Feb.     83.32                 Still with EBV, plus bad cold, plus arbitration stress
Mar.     84.06                 Was still getting over cold early in month, then had bad crash
                                      late in month (return of SOB, PND, and new type headache.)
Apr.     85.93                  Still active EBV.  Bad headache/brain fog and painful hands/
                                      fingers, improving some as the month went on.
May     87.06                 The month was decent until the 22 when I caught a bug.  Hand
                                     pain continues off and on, now joined by foot pain.
June    87.96                  One week trip out of state (cleaner air); supp holiday
July     87.67                First half of the month was phenomenal, but then crashed
Aug.    84.21                Possible re-flare of EBV in the first half of month
Sept.   84.80                Started high dose Valacyclovir, possible start up reactions
Oct.     84.64                Abdominal tenderness and gut problems getting worse
Nov.     87.34                Mostly a good month except for about 10 days of a cold, and
                                     continuing AT
Dec.    89.0                  First half of month was excellent (started back on PC and "short
                                     route" supplements.)  Flank pain and SIBO symptoms flared in
                                     second half

2017avg. 86.16

2018
Jan.     88.19             Kidney and groin pain was pretty bad but otherwise decent
                                  energy
Feb.     87.75             Caught a cold mid-late month.  SIBO symptoms improving on
                                  protocol, but not gone
Mar.    90.58           
Apr.     88.80
May     89.09             SIBO continues; Peripheral Neuropathy pops up again
June    85.96             Fell down this month with PN & swollen lymph nodes.
                                  Obviously battling some infection
July     89.67          
Aug.    92.03
Sept.   91.46
Oct.     91.45   
Nov.    92.03           
Dec.    89.41             A cold (or two) popped up this month 

2018avg.  89.71      Best year yet since ME onset

2019
Jan.    90.06            Slight dip in middle of the month due to cold-like symptoms; return
                                of PN symptoms in fingertips
Feb.    92.17            Other than a few mornings of vertigo, possibly my best month ever
Mar.    91.41         
Apr.     91.86            SIBO continues; experiments with OTC antihistamines for mast
                                 cells mostly failed
May    89.93             Small regression mostly due to very bad comeback of SIBO
                                 symptoms mid-month
June   87.93             Crashes at beginning and end of month
July    90.06             One crash of 2-3 days late in the month; exposure to sun seems
                                to help; SIBO improving after switching to Monash app for diet.
Aug.   93.54             Best month since tracking began (tied with March, 2015)
Sept.  90.03            Crashed mid-month that lasted rest of month.  Possible cold or                                        other bug.
Oct.    91.32 
Nov.   92.13       
Dec.   91.29         
2019avg.  91.02   

2020   

Jan.  89.54
Feb.  88.00              Caught a cold this month

[Outdated:] As you can see, October was my highest average yet [that comment is outdated as I continue to update this chart], and was over two full percentage points above my next highest month (May, 2012).

The biggest thing mitigating my excitement over this streak is the persistence of strange neuro symptoms, especially a slight trembling in my right hand.  It comes and goes, but it's scary when it's there.  

As the month of October went on, I found myself being more and more active.  The flip side of this is that whenever I start to get too active, I sometimes feel a crash coming on.  So far, I have been able to back off just in time and avoid the crash, but I have to really watch myself.   As I write this, I feel the last week of activity possibly catching up with me.  I plan to take it easy today and see if I can keep the no-crash streak alive.