Reddit - Interesting posts on Reddit, including what some doctors say about ME/CFS

[John Mac]

Why Many ME/CFS ‘Recovery Stories’ Aren’t Recovery Stories at All​

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There is a pattern I see in almost every so-called “recovery” story that makes the rounds online, especially the ones tied to coaching or spiritual rebranding.

1. The illness was never severe. You can tell they were operating at maybe 60% of normal, not 10%. They still had homes, jobs, social lives, or the energy to “go on retreats”. The language is not the language of severe disability— no mention of caregivers, shower seats, blackout curtains, or social security payments.
2. They conflate general wellness with treatment. If you drop everything and focus entirely on optimizing health — sleep, nutrition, trauma, stress — almost anyone can claw back 10–20% of function from wherever they start. But that’s not recovery, that’s compensation. The illness didn’t disappear, they just maximized the parts of the system still capable of responding.
3. They quietly redefine normal. When the story includes “listening to my body,” “slowing down,” or “needing to be gentle with myself,” that’s not recovery, that’s adaptation. They’ve shifted expectations downward to make life bearable, not reversed the disease. If you still have to pace, still crash, or still flare from stress, you didn’t recover – you’re just managing.

Every “I healed myself” story like this creates the illusion that this illness is curable or treatable — or worse, that people who are severe just haven’t “figured it out” yet. It undermines advocacy, funding, and the credibility of patients who are genuinely disabled.