It all started back in April 2006 when I turned the last corner, on the last stage of a 10km charity race around the Phoenix Park in Dublin. Determined to cross the finish line in just under 60 minutes, I pushed my body to its then limits, and ignored the signs that my 33 year old body was saying, “Caroline don’t do it, you’re just about to push your body one step too far”. Little did I know as I approached that final hurdle that my life would totally change and take a different road into the future.
Didn’t realise the impact stress has on the body!
In the months leading up to this tipping point, my body was showing signs of fatigue as a result of a number of personal stresses that unfortunately all landed together in the space of one year. Little did I know during this time the impact that mental stresses like worry, anxiety, and fear can have on the body. They were causing physical fatigue where my energy levels and stamina were not the same as the year before and also my immune system had weakened. During the few weeks before the run I had developed a chest cold, taken antibiotics, and was just recovering from the infection when I ran that 10km race. I pushed my immune system to its limits by placing more physical stress on it with a long run.
After that race, I woke up the next day a different person. I suffered from constant chronic muscle pain that started in my legs and then followed into most of the muscles in my body. The fatigue I now had was chronic, it was not relieved after periods of rest and I had a long list of symptoms (digestive issues, poor stamina, brain fog, poor memory, sensitivity to light and sound, muscle pain, intolerance to alcohol, nausea) that resulted in my GP eventually diagnosing chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as M.E. That race you could say was the final straw that broke the camel’s back!
Facing a future of uncertainty
I will always remember the first time I googled the term “chronic fatigue syndrome”, it was at my parent’s computer in their upstairs landing as I looked out their window at the beautiful landscape. Little did I realise how that landscape would change in the space of a few minutes as I opened the first webpage with a sad story of how a person described their life with this invisible illness. Tears strolled down my face; I wept alone, suddenly realising that there was no quick fix cure. All I could feel was a sense of hopelessness and despair as I was unsure how I was going to manage life into the future.
Taking lessons from life challenges
Looking back I believe that everything happens for a reason and the key is to take lessons from life challenges, grow from them and form a vision of how you wish to face the future. Some say you create your own luck, and looking back I firmly agree with this. Having said that I’m so grateful to the forces that be, that gave me hope and belief that I would one day recover my full health.
Health fully recovered
It took 7 years of research to learn what I needed to do to fully recover. My vision when I left my marketing career in banking in 2012 to set up a nutrition & health practice was to bring health, happiness and inspiration to as many people as possible, and it continues to be my vision to this day. Living with ill health for 7 years brought so many learnings both mentally, physically and spiritually.
Helping you to reach optimal health
I now work with people with all sorts of health problems – digestive, hormonal, weight issues and fatigue. My aim is to provide support to help get to the root cause of the health issue. The basis of my work is nutrition focused but I’m also a reiki master and energy healing is a therapy that I bring to my practice for those who are open to receiving it. Over the next year I plan to share with you what I have learned so far. So if you are interested in following then check out my blog posts here, for posts that I hope will help to fast track your health journey, and inspire you to follow the path to fully recover from whatever health challenge you are facing. I also send out a monthly newsletter, if you would like to subscribe to this just sign up under free updates here.
“I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs, but how high he bounces when he hits bottom”. George S Patton
© Caroline Seale 2016. This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 2000, no part may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised without the permission of the author.