Over the last few weeks, I've noticed that I couldn't keep up the pace.<\/strong> Instead of being full of energy like I was recently, I am perhaps currently at 20 % of the force<\/strong> in the past few weeks - and yet that is still significantly more than I had in previous years. The course of the disease with ME\/CFS is unfortunately non-linear<\/strong>. Constant setbacks are part of it. But as hard as it is sometimes: You have to get up again and again!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But there are also positive things to report: Kurpfalzgl\u00fcck is now also available in English<\/strong> - so that my texts and experiences can reach more people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And one more thing: I am still looking for support for social media.<\/strong> If you have the time and desire to share, co-plan or post content - please get in touch with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking back, it probably all started much earlier - long before I knew what was going on in my body. Maybe it was the EBV virus, maybe it was the flu.<\/strong> Two infections in 2019, in April and November, which I quickly ticked off at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet there were initial signals that I ignored: At the end of 2019, I lay in bed completely exhausted for several days after a double sauna session.<\/strong> In September 2020, a short vacation was even enough a long, warm bath in the tub - to drain myself as if I'd just finished a marathon. <\/strong>Presumably both are the first signs of post-exertional malaise (PEM).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I drove with my wife in October 2020, seven months pregnant<\/strong>for a short hiking and wellness vacation in the Black Forest. We stayed in a beautiful hotel, right on the edge of the forest, with a modern wellness area<\/strong>. The first few days were calm, relaxed and carefree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the last day, I wanted to take everything with me once again: a short hike, 30-minute fitness program, three sauna sessions<\/strong> - and in the evening just under 45 minutes walk<\/strong>. At the time, I thought it was a successful conclusion. Today I know that it was probably a massive overload.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A few days later, I developed cold symptoms. The coronavirus test was negative. I took it easy: no cycling to work, no sport. After a week, everything seemed to be over. I started my training program again in the evening. During the last sit-ups I suddenly felt a short, sharp pain in my head<\/strong> - OK, I thought. Infection probably not completely cured after all. Better take it easy for a few more days.\ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two days later, in the office: my head felt like it was wrapped in absorbent cotton<\/strong> - Dull, heavy, accompanied by headaches and dizziness. I went home and it got better in the afternoon. But the next morning everything was back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From then on, this pattern repeated itself day after day: worst in the morning, lighter at midday, worse again in the afternoon. Any major physical exertion worsened the symptoms.<\/strong> Even simple head movements like tying my shoelaces made me feel dizzy and like the blood was rushing to my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My GP gave me a thorough check-up but found nothing wrong. Physically, everything was fine. But the suspicion quickly arose ME\/CFS<\/strong> - because of the typical deterioration after exertion. unfortunately, this early correct initial suspicion did not help me. \ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\n I dragged myself through until the end of November. Then my orthopaedist sent me to an osteopath to have my severe tension treated. He pressed on points that I didn't know existed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The next afternoon, something incredible happened: For the first time in six weeks, my head was clear again.<\/strong> Euphoric, I carried a heavy bag from the car into the apartment the next day - my wife wasn't allowed to lift anything heavy because of her pregnancy. Shortly afterwards, I was \"knocked out\" for an hour - hello PEM.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But I didn't learn anything from it. The next day, I got back on my bike for the first time since the symptoms started and cycled to work for 20 minutes - something that used to be a daily routine. Hardly arrived: massive sweating, palpitations, dizziness.<\/strong> I could no longer sit and had to lie down on the floor in the corner of the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the most violent breakdown up to that point.<\/strong> At that moment I knew: Something inside me was seriously broken.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You can find out what happened next in the next part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have any feedback, would like to share your own experiences with ME\/CFS or just want to say hello, feel free to write to me via the comments function or in person, regardless of the channel.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Phase 1: How it all began:<\/p>\n A few harmless days in the autumn of 2020 \u2013 walks, wellness, a little exercise. Nothing that I could explain at the time indicated that this time would be the trigger for a month-long, mysterious downward spiral.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[69,67,20,61,66,63,59,70,21,43,65,60,64,68,62],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mein-leben-mit-me-cfs","category-status-update","tag-alltagsbewaeltigung","tag-chronische-erschoepfung","tag-erfahrungsbericht","tag-erschoepfung","tag-herbst-2020","tag-krankengeschichte","tag-krankheitsbeginn","tag-krankheitserfahrung","tag-me-cfs","tag-post-exertional-malaise","tag-rueckschlaege","tag-schwarzwald","tag-symptome","tag-virusinfektion","tag-wellnessurlaub"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/mann_couch_metadaten.jpg?fit=1536%2C1024&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Fabian","author_link":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/author\/fajamir\/"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/mann_couch_metadaten.jpg?fit=1536%2C1024&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1053,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions\/1053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Phase 1: How it all began (Mannheim, October 2020 - November 2020)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Early warning signals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Black Forest vacation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
First symptoms<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Everyday life collapses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The diagnosis in the room<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Brief hope - and the big crash<\/h3>\n\n\n\n