5 Keys to Jenny's Brilliant Recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Jenny Jarman and family in Sheffield, England after her recovery from ME/CFS
Today, Jenny Jarman is starting a new career, taking care of her two young boys and enjoying getaways to Paris. Just two years ago, that was unfathomable. The British woman was bed bound with a dizzying array of symptoms, diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or ME/CFS. After a series of major life stressors, she was overcome with fatigue, brain fog, migraines, vertigo, lightheadedness, nausea, vomiting, anxiety and dizziness.
“It was horrendous,” Jenny says from her home in Sheffield, England. “It was very, very severe. There were times when I was just in bed. Everything became such a threat to me: noise and light. I would just lay there, looking at the wall or looking out the window.”
She was only in her thirties, yet Jenny felt wobbly standing up. Her husband had to accompany her to the shower. The thought of walking her son to school seemed like a trek up Mount Everest.
The once-active woman spent days in her pajamas. Her children would climb into bed—the only place they could visit with their mum. Jenny was crestfallen as she’d dreamed of motherhood.
The diagnoses mounted: ME/CFS, POTS and Long Covid. One doctor said she better get used to being a long hauler.
“It was like watching my life go on around me without taking part in it. At times it was really hopeless because I was given hopeless outcomes.”
For two years, she pursued various remedies for the debilitating symptoms: medications, reflexology, acupuncture, massage, anti-histamine diets and loads of supplements. Jenny tried to follow a strict pacing protocol but it was impossible to count steps with two little ones.
Jenny felt increasingly stressed and couldn’t make it to her humble destination: the mailbox.
She started to notice that adding pressure backfired: “I don’t think a really stressful diet and a lot of pressure was going to make my body feel safe.”
Jenny began working with a trauma therapist who mentioned the power of the mind. It felt like an ‘aha’ moment so she signed up for a brain retraining program. There was a lot of homework and once again, Jenny felt pressured to get it right. Saying “stop!” every time she got symptoms put her on edge. Then, a major shift happened.
“I was watching a recovery interview with you Rebecca! It came at a really good time because I was feeling confused about the brain retraining that wasn’t quite right,” Jenny says. “You explained everything you went through and how you recovered. You said something at the end of the interview and I totally got it! Someone had said to you “You are not sick, Rebecca.” And I thought “Oh wow, I am not sick!”
Jenny says this idea might offend her if she hadn’t learned that the nervous system can cause severe and chronic symptoms when it’s activated. Indeed, she got sick after being hospitalized and separated from her newborn. Three days after she was released from the hospital, her baby caught meningitis.
A year later, Jenny came down with Covid during a grueling time at work—a mighty storm of stressors, which threw her system into a state of threat.
Jenny read John Sarno’s books, including the Divided Mind and The Mind-Body Prescription. She describes ‘devouring my videos’ and meditations. Importantly, she started befriending her body with somatic tracking.
“You explained how to do somatic tracking and I replayed these few minutes over and over,” she says. “I lay down on my sofa and did the opposite of what I’d been doing for the whole two years. I felt my symptoms. I felt my emotions, which was just incredible. It was a euphoric moment. I felt a weight had been lifted off me.”
She started sitting with her feelings instead of pushing them away. When Jenny reached out to me for coaching, she had a firm grasp on the knowledge and just needed pointers. We talked about the importance of being true to yourself and finding self-compassion.
Jenny was a quick study. She challenged her perceived limitations, going on a family holiday without wheelchair assistance. She’d remind herself she was safe and okay. In short, she started living life on her terms!
jenny once believed she was the only person who couldn’t heal. Now, she has words of encouragement for others with post-viral symptoms.
“I was that person who felt there was no hope. It’s an awful place to be. I know you can listen to certain things and they can feel a million miles away. But this illness is not a life sentence. I’ve heard people write things on forums saying ‘I’m 60 years old so I can’t get better or this and that.’ Anyone can get better. It’s really hard to make those connections of what’s going on but once you do, you can get your life back. And it’s better as well!
Jenny’s Keys to Healing
📚 Mind-body knowledge explaining root cause (what John Sarno called TMS)
🪷 Somatic tracking meditations
🏃🏻♀️ Getting out and living her life again
💎 Being true to herself (this involved a tattoo and nose ring!)
🫶🏽 Finding self-compassion
Watch my full recovery video with Jenny Jarman. Try a free somatic tracking meditation!