4 phases of my recovering

Image by Cornell University Library via Flickr

I figured, my recovering from the worse relapse to the normal health condition (by normal standard or normal people, not the "norm" of my own - which was virtually not normal at all) consists of 4 phases:

1, get rid of the worst symptoms. Since my worst symptoms are heart and breath problems, this phase required complete rest, and good diet. Any kind of exercises (even walk) is dangerous.

With good rest and good diet, I could get rid of symptoms from anywhere like a few days to a month.

2, energy restore. This, is a long term job. It requires lots of rest and good diet. Exercise is still dangerous. Depend on how serious my relapse was, it takes from anytime like a few weeks to several months.

3, continuing energy restore and strengthening immune system. In this phase, I do need to continue to save my energy, and be very careful not overdraw. Also it's the time to start some light exercise to help metabolism and immune system. This phase is also a long term, takes about several months.

And this phase is also the trickiest period of my recovery, because, if I don't do any exercise, my heart would suffer from slow blood circulation and causes symptoms like palpitation; but on the other hand, if I do exercise, which seems no problem at all, I have to be extra careful not overdo, otherwise I would suffer serious relapse which draw me straight back to phase 1..

In fact, this phase triggered my worst symptoms countless times during my past years, and was most responsible for my endless circles of up and down. The tough part of this phase is, that my energy limit is very hard to foresee, because the symptom doesn't show up during my exercises (or any other physical activities), but usually after. So when I exercise, if I felt tired, it usually meant it's too late.

4, back to "norm", in need of maintenance and improve to real norm. This means my condition finally back to my normal health condition (I did in 2005-2006), which is the "normal" condition before I got serious trouble (over 10 years ago). It is still "sub-health" condition (because at the time when I was younger, I was never healthy). So when I reached this stage, I will need to fully engage in a healthy life style, which contains lots of physical activities, in order to boost me up to reach a real normal health condition.