Many people diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) suffer in today's society as a result of other people's confusion, doubts and plain ole' skepticism. It gets tiresome to see that look. You know the one where it's obvious that the other person thinks you're faking it. Or maybe, putting on a show. Or maybe, she thinks you have a few screws loose.

When someone does ask that pitiful question, take heart in the fact that as you get better, you won't have to endure what are, at best, pitiful attempts at communication and, at worst, careless insults. As your health returns, you won't have to endure such conversations again (except when talking about your past).

But right now, that moment, tell your inquirer, "No. I doubt that you have CFS if you're only tired. The illness is much more than that."

You've been told, "You have Fibromyalgia. Learn to live with it."

What an insult!

First you have some nebulous illness that's hard to diagnose, hard to treat, and hard to live with on a daily basis because of the pain and other tough symptoms. Then someone tells you that there is little he/she can do for you and you'll have to suffer!

Wow! Was there ever a better time to wish that someone could walk in your shoes for a day, a week or a month?

Probably not. Unfortunately, you're the one in your shoes and not only do your feet probably ache, but your whole body hurts, too.

Maybe you've heard that people with Fibromyalgia can be affected by their diet and maybe you haven't. Everyday evidence suggests that many people react "symptom-wise" to what they eat (ingest).

Here is one example:

When you're puttering around on empty and your energy level is nearly non-existent, the body and brain need real help. Such is the situation for many Chronic Fatigue Syndrome people. Your brain can't function is you don't have enough "energy" for your body.

Plus, it seems as if many things work against you such as sleep schedules and daily stress. What can you do to regularly have more available energy and get your body and life on track?

None of us "alone" possesses the ability to manifest healing.

If you (the patient) heal, it is because you are a child of God and you possess the abilities that He gave you, one of which is the ability to heal. Plus, you can receive Divine healing as a gift, as an act of mercy and sometimes after special entreaty.

Does that mean that you do not participate in the healing process? Of course not. Awareness and involvement are critical to 100% healing.

We're fortunate that God designed our bodies to heal. Many times this is spontaneous and complete. Yet, when we need extra help, there are people who show up in our lives and act as healing helpers: doctors, therapists, and others trained in the healing arts.

"Turning toward life-altering illness and away from an attitude of health can be one of the biggest mistakes of your life."

If we allow ourselves to think negatively, negative events are what we can expect. What we think becomes our reality through the natural process we'll call "self-creation."

Concept #1: If you're faced with a health challenge, your body may have an impaired memory and not know what to do to fix itself.

How could this be? Doesn't the body work on auto-pilot and always know what to do next?

Cinda Crawford is the host of the Health Matters Show and an ELT Health Practitioner. She's happy that you found this blog and podcast which is devoted to finding answers about healing Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Why should you stick around? Or have faith in what she says or what you'll find here? Those are excellent questions.

Twenty years ago Cinda came from a business background, but then Fibromyalgia (FMS) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) knocked the props out from under her. She became incapacitated and quite sick. She barely could walk or read a line in the newspaper and ended up an invalid in bed. Medical professionals agreed that she had FMS, CFS, and four viruses. Probably she had Lyme Disease, Lupus, arthritis, too. She found little comfort and few answers as she trudged from doctor to doctor. They offered her prescriptions, however she didn't want to take handfuls of drugs. Even then Cinda didn't believe that the drugs would help much. Not one of them claimed to cure the illnesses; none still do.

We'll save the rest of Cinda's story for a later date. What's important is that she's better and quite healthy now. With all of the research and investigation, plus her being an author about to publish a book, you can feel confident in her knowledge. Today she works as a mind body spirit health practitioner and helps people get well.

We invite you to come back to the Health Matters Show often and visit with Cinda Crawford and her guests. There will be lots of really good information!

P.S. We encourage you to sign up for the RSS feed and get the show delivered automatically to your computer so that you won't miss a single episode.

Concept #2: The human body is the product of the Creator. He made us to be healthy and gave our bodies the capacity to heal.

But, sometimes the body seems to lose that innate ability to fix itself. Why? What do we do? Did we do something to cause this failure?

Have you been told that you can't get well, either by a doctor, friend or family member? Do these people think you're so sick that you won't ever feel better? Maybe, they're saying this because they don't want you to get your hopes up or be disappointed.

Unfortunately, receiving such negative opinions and feedback can be very discouraging and stop the progress of your healing. Note: these people may be well intentioned, but doesn't mean their statements are helping you.

Concept #3: If your body is not functioning well enough to maintain a state of 100% immunity and good health, what is wrong? What do you need to do to re-educate your body? To re-learn How to Heal? Are there tools to accomplish this?

We all have lived long enough to know that sometimes the body's function and process of maintaining a perfect body system can go awry.

If you find that to be true in your life, it's time to analyze:
1) what is wrong,
2) how can your body be fixed,
3) and what tools are available to augment and re-educate your body, so that it will once again make use of its God-given, innate ability to heal?

Recently I received a question from Susan that asked about the body's health memory and long term health. Essentially, Susan is asking if the body has a memory that tells it how to be healthy? What do we do to if the body appears to be failing? Oh, this is a really important topic and I'm happy to discuss it here.

Sometimes we sense that our bodies are not functioning as well as they used to. Of course, the situation that we want to see is the body improving and us feeling better over time. (Sooner, rather than later, if we have a choice.)

But can the body "stop remembering" how to be healthy whether we're 62 or 22? The flat answer is, yes, it's possible.