Fighting Fatigue
The DVCC Podcast
Michaela's story takes us through the realities of being hit with an unexpected, and quite debilitating set of circumstances. From super active to struggling to get out of bed, it's been a pleasure to witness, and help, along her road to recovery.
Hello and welcome back to Life Long Fitness, where we help you navigate your forties and beyond.
Today the theme really of Michaela's story is fatigue. And I'm not just talking about tiredness, fatigue. I mean, you can be clinically diagnosed with fatigue, but it can make it extremely hard to get out of bed in the morning and can really prevent a person from fulfilling their daily tasks, just their normal daily tasks.
And there's loads of different types of fatigue and a lot of different causes for it, too. Is it really, really? I mean, you listen to this, to this podcast, and since it's a very difficult thing to deal with and a lot of the time the issue is it can go unacknowledged. So it leaves people feeling not just fatigued, but mentally fatigued too, because they just don't know what's going on.
Of course, I'm not here by all means, I'm not a doctor. So if you are if you feel like you're suffering from chronic fatigue or something, that's more than just late nights and an early morning something that's continuous and ongoing, then do reach out to speak to a medical professional. But this science to back up the things that you can do, that you can control to in these instances to try and make yourself feel better.
And one of those things is eating a healthful diet and getting regular physical activity because it can reduce fatigue for many people. So obviously, treating the underlying cause of fatigue, whether it's poor sleep or health condition, also helps. I wanted to pass you over to Mikayla now because she's had quite the fitness journey. She used to take part in little triathlons and a lot of long distance swimming and swimming.
If you're not well, for me it's extremely difficult. So long distance swimming, I think I can do 100 meters. I think that was the furthest badge I ever got. But extremely active. And once But once she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, everything, all of that activity came to an abrupt halt. And as we see in lots of cases, when you are stopped from doing something you enjoy and you stop from doing something that protects your mental health, helps your mental well-being.
Pretty soon depression and anxiety can set in. And that was the case in Kayla. She found herself putting on around six stone over that time, and it was only last year that she decided enough was enough and she was ready to get her life back. In fact, she had to get her life back. So just three months after joining the IPCC, very police say Michael has already managed to lose over ten kegs.
So a heck of a lot of weight already and is returning to sustainable fitness routine that works for her and after being sedentary, have been forced to be sedentary for so long. And getting in a routine is is huge and it's routine when she's able to work out at her own pace and it's supported every step of the way.
And the quote I really enjoyed and from the New series, I don't feel limited by my by my body. I don't feel limited by my body can and can't do so without any further ado, let me pass you over to Mikayla and I hope you find her stories inspiration as I did. I've found it a lot more at me than I thought it would.
I used to race triathlon long distance and long distance ran. So I'm about four and a half. Five years ago, I started suffering from Chronic fatigue syndrome. Then depression took over and I've just been really poorly with that on about six time over the last four, four, four years, and I was really keen to try and get rid of it.
I've lost about ten kilos in weight already. This year has been not the first time I've kind of got out and about again, I'm not very good at suffering with depression and I got I've been struggling last year just out the door and meet people that I was a bit worried. But welcome from the very start. And I remember the first time I got here, Joe was outside waiting for me and to make you feel so welcome.
And it was quite easy and I should take you through it step by step. Being able to do stuff again physically and not be limited by what my body can and can't do. So much more confidence. Yeah, a lot more confidence. I'm more confident in what I'm able to do. I'm enjoying pushing myself and yeah, not nice. Big difference to me just to love it.
I just, I just love the way that everyone, you know, you feel like they've got their arms around you and it's just really you feel so welcomed as I like. So thank you Mikayla for that brilliant podcast. Really enjoyed that and I hope you did too. Listener So I just wanted to point out a couple of things that I took away from, from Michaela's podcast, and you've seen it, you've obviously could hear me okay, these competencies continue to skyrocket and she's enjoying herself, enjoying pushing herself more and more as her body becomes more able.
And it's super inspirational to see somebody that's been so detracted from what she was used to. All that exercise has been into depression and then is coming out the other side. So I guess the first point I would make is that you can overcome it, Michaela, showing that you might have an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion, but it can be combated.
And we're very pleased to say that we've helped. But you can always find somebody to lean on, somebody to support you. If that's us, that's great, but it might be somebody else. So but know that there's people out there that can help you. And I would say number two, it sounds obvious, but it perhaps isn't. And seeking professional advice or help is essential.
And it's always good because it's always good to get underlying issues. I'm combatted You obviously had many a time where somebody keeps going to the doctor or hospital and and has to keep going back because they can't find anything. And eventually they find the underlying issue. And once it's fixed, it's a life changing experience. And so don't battle.
Seek a medical professional, get yourself checked. And as we can assume, that that can make a huge difference. So and I guess alongside all of this is never give up.
Thank you very much. Thank you so much once again for joining us on the Life Long Fitness podcast. Hopefully you found some value in today's episode. If you would like to continue the conversation, please do follow us on social media. We are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, almost anywhere you can think of at the DVCC.
Hope to see you there soon.
