From my teens I regularly felt that I couldn’t do even the simplest of tasks, such as making the bed!

If I wasn’t actively doing something and stopped for even a few minutes, I would feel like dropping off to sleep and yet I did not sleep well at all or feel refreshed each morning however much time I was asleep.

There was a lot of yawning and I’d find myself leaning against things to sort of prop myself up!

Despite a largely healthy diet I had uncontrollable cravings for sugar. And in fact I although I didn’t realise I was living off of a lot of sugar: the standard cereal option for breakfast (the one I ate was basically equivalent to starting the day with dessert), chocolate or biscuits of some kind throughout the day and then craving more sugar in between. Don’t get me wrong I ate some fresh, healthful food too but I was definitely on the sugar roller coaster that so many people know all too well!
I was also dealing with IBS that worsened considerably during times of increased pressure.

I was not great to live with around my period, in fact, hormonally I was in complete disarray. Think cranky bitch for at least the week beforehand!

From the outside I was doing really well. I studied hard and was a real trier academically, even if not the most gifted student. I played sport at a high level and I worked a job on weekends.

However, I had some seriously black moods that I did not understand or know what to do with.

I always got tonsillitis at least three times a year; the full blown ‘can’t swallow, hamster face’ look and so was prescribed antibiotics a lot. I then started to get a lot of thrush which was super uncomfortable.

If we jump forward to my mid-twenties the situation hadn’t really changed. Granted I’d had periods of time when I didn’t feel quite so bad but then the demands and pressures changed as I got married, started studying again and was working to fund part of the mortgage, plus my study fees.
I was still struggling through the day to day with various ailments including IBS, a suspected stomach ulcer at one point, and severe muscular pain. AND the ever-present fatigue…it was like everything I did had to be achieved whilst walking through thick mud…I was 25 years of age at this point!!

On one occasion I was so tired, after a combination of work, travel and study, that I fell asleep on the train journey home and completely missed my stop! Luckily the end of the line was only another 15 mins drive down the road as my husband had to chase the train until it got there before he had an opportunity to park the car, rush down to the station platform and run along the carriages trying to find where I was!! Eventually he found me asleep but starting to stir a little laid out on a seat…surrounded by all my belongings!!

But unfortunately when got into my own bed I still didn’t usually sleep well.

If I could get to sleep then I’d wake. Often, I did not get to sleep for what seemed like forever and then once I did I’d eventually wake anyway, not long afterwards.

I did not feel refreshed on waking, my head was foggy, it took me ages to feel like I had come to, OR I’d be so wired from the moment I woke that I’d have to keep myself from doing everything at a rate of knots until I hit a wall. I was often not a joy over the breakfast table and in fact I think I often rushed out of the house without eating anyway! I’d then find myself through the day with seriously fluctuating energy levels…wow, they would go up and down, up and down along with my mood…I was once SO, so rude to a waitress in a cafe, purely because my blood sugar was dipping badly and I was so ‘hangry’.

You know that combination of being beyond hungry and the associated terrible mood that can go with it because of the physical anxiety your body feels….?

Now, obviously there is no excuse for rudeness…I mean, I’m English for goodness sake BUT it felt beyond my control at that point in my life. AND then when my husband called me on it (and rightly so), I felt so ashamed that I literally wept in the cafe!!!

Pretty much everything felt like a chore, I had no emotional space for the good stuff, and I was emotionally really unstable (I think that much was probably clear from my last story!!).

I got sick with the flu 2 years in a row! Now, for some people they might think that is normal. I DO NOT!

IIt’s generally a sign that your immune system is compromised. I had never had the flu before, some bad colds, yes, but this floored me. I MISSED exams…if you knew me at all you would know this would NEVER happen but I physically could not leave my bed…I was a wreck!

Medically there was very little wrong with me that even the most attentive and caring GP could help with.
It was only with the support and guidance of a Naturopath, along with my own desire to feel better that I found myself starting to enjoy an energy level that I’m not sure I had EVER previously experienced.

Although nothing showed up medically real health is much more than the absence of disease what I learned was that my adrenal glands, thyroid, pancreas and gut were all crying out for some love and special attention.