Because the best way to think about the syndrome is that you are a really terrible athlete.
I find it a healthy way to reframe what I’m dealing with.
I laughed at Eric the Eel, he’s laghing at me taking out the rubbish now.
They say athleticism is a reduction in recovery period.
Combine this with the fact the brain burns loads of energy and certain aspects of the brain uses things like the inner ear and vagal nerves and lateral light receptors as specialised instrumentation to save processing power when coordinating one’s balance. (I swear one day they will figure out lying down in the dark convalescing can affect the potassium concentration of your inner ear to the point you get stuck in fatigue cycle but any how).
Keeping your head steady while walking saves mental energy. A stronger thoracic spine and neck keeps your head steady for longer with out fatiguing the muscles or the mind.
Everytime you overtrain there is a inflammatory cascade that goes with the overtraining. Building up physical body strength is the easiest way to generate athleticism.
Once you can recover without fatigue you don’t have chronic fatigue.
I also think stabilising the thoracic area helps get a neurogenesis/cellular regenerationtype response going in the spinal cord that was ravaged by a viral load.
Basically if someone is strong enough to recover from an illness they recover. If they aren’t they don’t. Hunching over screens for long periods with only stress holding you up before convalescing is probably the worst preparation for cfs. Accounting is the worst profession for it. Their low autonomy detailed complex work that is surveyed in 6 minute intervals so they have a large forced cognitive loads for a long time periods combined with minimal physical exertion. It is an anti-athletic career for a lots of people who struggle with the cognitive load.
But the docs are also right anout a psychological component - whinging doesn’t help, there is a grit component to getting better. There is also lots of overtraining while you get better which is helpful to understand. Recovery is 3 steps forward 1 step back. (My whole point is help the poor person in the brainfog choose the next best recovery step and I also understand it isn’t Drs fault they haven’t the tools to do it because there is no profit motive to create the recovery system). Exercise physiologists are really helpful for avoiding overtraining but I also think you are better taking some overtraining hits initially on the strength training side if you aren’t wealthy to get the body to the point that it escapes can escape some of the fatigue.
Strength train to at least the point of sideplanks and throw in lots of propioception band balance exercises. And remember there is 24 to 72 hour delay to overtraining. Docs do have extreme amounts of grit as do successful accountants. They are admirable but also lucky, their dopamine systems are genetically robust.
I started strength training with a fragmented swimmers stretch. 1 limb at a time. The good thing about body strength training is you see progress which is important for hope. Which is another important aspect of recovery and dopamine generation.
I couldn’t sit and work for more than 20 minutes for about 3 years. I tried to design my own cheap reclining chair so I could lie back and stare at a screen for long enough to earn some money.
The other name for cfs is myalgicencephalomyelitis which means inflammation of the thoracic spine up to the brain. Really you are trying to get the body into a band that it can operate comfortably without causing inflammation to the point that you can earn a living. And being physically strong helps with that.
Exercising your arms will aggravate your thoracic spine. I guess I’m saying train for thoracic and cervical stability (strength) accepting some overtraining initially because it is really hard to judge what is overtraining when you are weak. You have to be really patient. 3 steps forward one step back. If you can only hold a kettle bell for a few seconds then don’t. Just work on swimmers stretches and banded propioception and neck and spine strengthening exercises, you will easily overdo it trust me. Try not to. Physios and exercise physiologists deal with alot of overtrained virally unlucky athletes and are probably your best source of guidance on this facet of recovery.