I’ve had two bad burnouts in the past 10 years, both lasted me years, both scattered my life all about the place. I’ve spent far too long in dark rooms and I’ve had to give up a lot of things I thought were key to my life. It’s been rough.

During that time I’ve learned to improve my nutrition a bunch, (largely with help from a good specialist nutritionalist). I think, other than therapy, and redesigning my life, nutrition was the most important factor to my recovering my energies and health.

I’ve spent a fortune on remedies/supplements/trying stuff, but a lot of it seemed to do nothing, or make me poop myself. I first shared this over on reddit r/cfs, and doing so had such a good response I thought I’d write a little update post following on from my original Burnout post.

Here’s what I tried, and what worked for me (note, mileage will vary – we all start this pain journey from different nutritional states. I’m not a doctor, and I only pursued most of these under nutritionist supervision – don’t take stuff without checking with a pro).

Disclaimer:

Let’s do this right: only consider changing your diet or nutrition after consulting a qualified professional. Above all, you don’t want to do any harm to your system. I am not a doctor, nothing on this website is a recommendation, please be careful with your health. Be well!

Supplements I tried

Definitely helped:

For me, the following supplements definitely ‘did something’. Mostly they reduced my key three symptoms: fatigue, cognitive impairment (brainfog), and sleep quality. Some of these dramatically helped.

Note: I’m specifically not giving doses/instructions here, this is intended to be a root for you to do your own research from

• Mitochondrial NRG
• Probiotics (Microbiome formula Mood by Garden of Life)
• Rhodiola Rosea
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D / Vitamin D3 and K2 spray
• Omega 369
• B12 sublingual
• B complex (Organic B complex by cytoplan)
• Inulin with FOS powder
• Noni Juice
• Magnesium glycinate
• L-theanine
• Ashwagandha
• Athletic greens / Daily Greens (AG1, and another brand I can’t remember)

Somewhat helped:

These seemed to have a positive impact, but either I didn’t test them super scientifically, or their effects were, (on me), marginal.

• 5-HTP
• Ginseng
• Ground seeds (flaxseed or mixed)
• Protein powder (I used organic European pea protein)
• Phosphatidyl serine
• Phyto-ADR
• Motherwort
• Vitamin B2 (Ribose)
• Coenzyme Q10

Not sure these did anything for me:

These I tried but couldn’t infer any positive change on my CFS symptoms, (though that’s not to say they might not work for you).

• NADH
• Melatonin
• Iron
• DHEA
• Lysine
• Acetyl L-Carnitine
• Alpha-lipoic acid

How I know what ‘worked’ for me

I am, by nature, a pragmatist. I am an engineer in my work and play; I dabble in a scientific mindset. All that said, I’d like to clarify how I went about verifying which of these supplements helped me with my symptoms.

Firstly, (as those who’ve suffered with CFS will know), it’s hard to do very clinical science on yourself amidst massive health challenges. Juggling extreme conditions, some semblance of a life and work, and your own healing journey is a tall order.

… so my results here are my best inferences from as methodical testing as I could achieve given my health. I cycled onto things and off of things, noting dates and logging changes. I went back again and again to things that worked, stacking my wins. I’m confident in the above, for me at least.

Secondly, this is not statistics; it’s not meant to be – it’s a study of 1. We all bring different bodies in different health states to this, and so it’s natural we’ll benefit from different nutrition to support our healing. It’s important to work through your own journey.

All that said, this post isn’t about recommending any particular supplement, or vitamin stack. This post is me sharing what’s worked, and collating all of the supplements I’ve seen mentioned into a useful starting point for you to explore.

Indexing Fatigue Supplements

As I explored this world of CFS, diet and supplementation, I found endless little strands of information which proved interesting, but cascading in nature. Reading about adrenal fatigue would lead me to HPA axis research, which would lead me to methods for calming the nervous system down. Gut health would lead to biome understandings etc. etc.

This was all very exhausting, while in the thick of burnout.

It’s only now that I’m mostly free of the symptoms that I can look back at this and collate it all. Doing so, and sharing on reddit, showed me that I only maybe captured/read up on half of the available supplements, (not that I want to try them all). The comments on the reddit thread I started were varied and many, with lots of new things to research.

… I’ll include a list of the other recommendations by redditors in the comments below.

Also, to collect this together in a more meaningful way, I made burnoutnutrition.com so that there’s a single hub for all this fatigue supplement info.

Your Experiences with Fatigue Supplementation

Did you try anything not on this list? What worked for you? I’m interested to read about your experiences with different supplements and coming back out of the abyss.

Please comment here, or on the reddit thread.

Be well!

The post Burnout Nutrition first appeared on Woody Hayday.

I started this year with a new business project (buildprofit.io), a blog revamp, a new email list, and best intentions. Last year I had taken a sabbatical to build a cabin in the woods while getting my health back up to scratch. I managed only the former of these two.

Almost 3 months into 2024 and I’m realising that ‘coming back’, post exit, and post health downturn, needs a bit more subtlety than bashing down the door.

To this end this week I started a new short experiment, a ‘warm up’.

It’s tempting to deny health or home situation realities. It’s tempting to hold on to your old ways and presume they’ll work as they always did before.

It’s counter to the general entrepreneurial narrative, but sometimes we need to let go of our expectations, go easy with ourselves, and trust that if we persevere compassionately, we’ll achieve what we’re aiming for. By being compassionate with ourselves, we might even enjoy the journey, rather than grinding ourselves into dust.

So despite the tantalising list of juicy startup ideas I have in my back pocket, I’m starting out simple. I’m making Burnout Nutrition.com. Nothing fancy. Not my life’s work. Practical, useful, and simple. Ad’s. Affiliate sales.

Scratching an itch. When I was deep in burnout, it made things harder that I had to collate disparate sources of information on the nutritional choices which might help me turn around my Chronic Fatigue. Collecting the notes and scientific papers together should make it easier for someone else.

Sometimes you have to just put the bar on the floor and step over it.

That’s okay.

I’ve got at least one decent business left in me. I’ve got my life’s work to reconcile and deliver. For now, given my state, I just need to take the first steps forwards.

And it feels good. Feels good to be writing little bits of code. To be alchemising good from those shit years.

This post is a reminder to those of you who are self-driven. If you’re impaired, if health or life challenges are swarming you; be compassionate with yourself. Yes we all know the value of committing to labour, to showing up. This isn’t about dodging work.

Perseverance pays off, but if it’s our only tool, it might not be sustainable. For me there are times it’s rational to not show up, or to set the bar low.

Trust yourself. Ignore whomever you need to. Heal. Once repaired, ease back in if you need to. This is the path to wiser power.

Be well!

P.S. I realised after writing this that there’s lessons I need to repeatedly re-learn. Fuck perfectionism. Fuck expectations. Fuck caring what people think. My needs matter. I trust myself that I’ll make epic shit. I commit to getting started, compassionately. I commit to making things which help others, without hurting me. LFG.

P.S.S. If you find this interesting, here’s what happened next after the warm-up:

The Small Bets Experiment

The post The Warm-up first appeared on Woody Hayday.

No longer.

I’ve got a lot to say after the past 7 years, it’s been quite a journey:

• 2 major burnouts. Chronic fatigue syndrome, an ambulance, a long road to recovery.
• Hung up my author-hat and set about surviving; and back to software engineering.
• Built and sold another software company (Zero BS CRM to Automattic).
• Worked at Automattic for 3 years; learned a lot.
• Refurbished a whole house, mostly by hand, DIY.
• Went from panic attacks daily to freedom from them.
• Purchased 37 acres of land to grow more trees on.
• Took a year long sabbatical and built a cabin in the woods.
• Got solidly into making things with my hands.
• Now, finally, picking back up the keyboard and making digital things again; writing here.

It’s been a long time, internet; now let’s get to making cool shit.

The post Back from sabbatical first appeared on Woody Hayday.