{"id":832,"date":"2018-02-17T23:57:35","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T07:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recoveryfromcfs.org\/?page_id=832"},"modified":"2021-04-05T13:45:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T20:45:40","slug":"ch07","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/recoveryfromcfs.org\/ch07\/","title":{"rendered":"ch07"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”7. Finding My Energy Envelope” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left|color:%233999ad” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1514103561711{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1517547497357{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Table of Contents” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center|color:%233399ae” google_fonts=”font_family:Coda%20Caption%3A800|font_style:800%20bold%20regular%3A800%3Anormal” css=”.vc_custom_1521950923600{margin-top: -40px !important;}”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1517547735980{background-color: #3399ae !important;}”]
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<\/span>Part I: Getting Started<\/div>
\n1: Keys to Recovery<\/strong><\/a>
\n2: Now What Do I Do?<\/strong><\/a>
\n3: My Situation<\/strong><\/a>
\n4: Multiple Strategies<\/strong><\/a>
\n5:\u00a0Is Recovery Realistic?<\/strong><\/a>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span>Part II: Pacing<\/div>
\n6: Pacing vs Crashing<\/strong><\/a>
\n7: My Energy Envelope<\/strong><\/a>
\n8: Life in the Envelope<\/strong><\/a>
\n9: My Secret Weapon<\/strong><\/a>
\n10: CFS Scientist<\/strong><\/a>
\n11: Exercise<\/strong><\/a>
\n12: Minimizing Relapses<\/strong><\/a>
\n13: Expand the Envelope<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span>Part III: Other Challenges<\/div>
\n14: Managing Stress<\/strong><\/a>
\n15: Emotions<\/strong><\/a>
\n16: Beyond Loss<\/strong><\/a>
\n17: Finding Help<\/strong><\/a>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span>Part IV: Concluding Thoughts<\/div>
\n18: Recovery?<\/strong><\/a>
\n19: What Worked<\/strong><\/a>
\n20: What About You?<\/strong><\/a>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner]

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PDF version<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]\"\"The key facts about CFS were the combination of the tight limits it imposed and the high cost of exceeding those limits. Here\u2019s an example. Before getting sick, I enjoyed hiking, up to 20 miles a day. In the early months of my illness, I could walk for only 15 or 20 minutes a day on my good days and, even on good days, 30 minutes might send me to bed for an hour.<\/p>\n

CFS felt like a rigid and unyielding force, a feeling that initially gave me a sense of powerlessness. But the more I fought my limits, the worse I felt. Like many other people with CFS, I learned that if I tried to ignore my body, my symptoms were intensified greatly. After a while, I concluded that my best hope lay in adjusting to my limits. Ironically, yielding to the illness gave me some power. By listening to my body and honoring its limits, I was able to achieve some stability and to begin regaining control of my life.<\/p>\n

But what were my limits?<\/p>\n

Overall Limits: The Energy Envelope<\/strong><\/p>\n

My transition to a more productive way of living with CFS was aided greatly by two ideas. The first was the concept of the Energy Envelope, which I found in an article in the CFIDS Chronicle<\/em>, the magazine of the CFIDS Association of America (since renamed Solve ME\/CFS Initiative). Titled Think Inside the Envelope<\/em>, the article suggested that people with CFS have limited energy, but that they can gain some control over symptoms by keeping the energy they expend within the limits of their available energy. The authors called this “living inside the energy envelope.”<\/p>\n

For some time, I used this idea in a general way and found it very helpful. I would ask myself whether doing something would take me “outside the envelope” or whether I was living “inside the envelope.” I used this idea in combination with monthly evaluations using a 0 to 100 Rating Scale<\/a> I developed.<\/p>\n

My self-ratings changed only a few points at most each month, suggesting that my improvement would be slow. Rating myself was like looking in a mirror. It showed me how far from normal I was and reminded me that I could be active only a few hours a day if I wanted to avoid increasing my symptoms.<\/p>\n

The other idea from my early reading was the Fifty Percent Solution, a concept I found in the book Recovering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome<\/em>, by William Collinge. He suggests that people with CFS estimate each day how much they can accomplish and then aim to do half of that. Rather than repeatedly stressing your body by trying to do more than it can tolerate, you aim to limit yourself to a safe level of activity. The unexpended energy is a gift to your body.<\/p>\n

I appreciated his giving permission to do less and his reframing a lower activity level as something positive. Over time, I also came to think that his idea was based on the recognition that those of us with CFS often have an unrealistic idea of our capabilities and thus may be helped by a strategy that lowered our expectations .<\/p>\n

Developing a Detailed Understanding: The Little Envelopes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Using the term Energy Envelope was a reminder both of my limits and of my ability to control my symptoms to some degree by staying within those limits. After a while, however, I decided to try to define my limits in detail rather than just thinking\u00a0of\u00a0my overall\u00a0Envelope. This change was triggered by some people in the self-help program pointing out that mental activity and stress could be just as draining as physical activity.<\/p>\n

So I began to ask myself a series of questions in order to get a fix on my limits and needs in different areas of my life. I asked myself: how much mental activity (reading or computer work, for example) can I do in a day without worsening my symptoms? how much in a single session? what are the stressors in my life? how much sleep do I need at night? how much daytime rest? how long can I drive safely? how long can I stand at one time without intensifying my symptoms?<\/p>\n

I was also concerned to find my limits in other areas. In addition to those just mentioned, I included activity limits (which I defined as how long I could do various activities like housework, shopping, driving, and spending time with people), food sensitivities, sensitivity to light and noise, and emotions.<\/p>\n

In the self-help program, we have come to call these specific limits the Little Envelopes, with several to many specific limits in seven different major categories:<\/p>\n