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Myalgic Encephalopathy, ME, Chronic Fatigue
10th May 2007
Today, I'm going to turn the letter over to YOU - the smart, clever, no doubt handsome readers of The Good Life Letter.
Because over the last week or so, many of you have written in with advice, tips and ideas so great that I just have to share them with our fellow Good Lifers.
And one of them in particular, Lynne, has written in with a brilliant view on how to handle M.E.
Seriously, if this affects your life in any way, this will help.
Besides, this gives me the opportunity to take a closer look at a remarkable therapy I've come across recently. This looks really brilliant, and if it passes my last few tests (the equivalent of primitive man banging a rock with a stick), I'll tell you about it on Sunday.
So don't miss it!
Sorry - I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit here. Why worry about Sunday's letter when today's is jammed packed full of brilliant advice for you?
So without further ado, let me hand you over to fellow Good Lifer Lynn...
7 steps to helping you deal with M.E.
Dear Ray,
M.E is a subject close to my heart, I have been a sufferer for about 24 yrs. From not being able to get out of my bed to many, many viruses and health problems, memory loss, diet problems, allergies etc, I could go on but I would only write an essay so here is a simple guide to recovery:
FAITH know that it is possible to recover ( by the law of averages, if you were meant to die you would be dead now, you are just taking TIME OUT to recover from what ever happened to make you ill)
MINDFULLNESS whilst you are in your bed allow space for thinking time, how to change your attitude to M.E and its symptoms, dump the rubbish that you can't possibly attend to and focus on breathing your hours away
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RECOVERY - after every action you MUST allow yourself to recover, getting out of bed RECOVER, eating a meal RECOVER so on and so on. Sit quietly resting, slowly breathe your way back to a calm state and when ready (however long this is) carry out another action.
EXERCISE - 1st step -if you are bed bound, then that is where we will begin - progress may be slow but long term it works. Breathing is your first exercise because you are already expanding your lungs, moving the oxygen around your body, helping with circulation etc.
2nd step - gentle stretching, lying in bed, sitting in a chair begin with thinking you are stretching even if you cannot literally do it, this way you are sending messages to your limbs/muscles etc. They will co-operate with each other one day, and you will find yourself moving again.
This needs to be at your own progress rate so listen to what your body tells you.
FOOD - eat light food that is easy to digest, food that does not take your digestive system too long to digest,( takes your energy away from where its needed most, if its stodgy or heavy etc.)
Eat only healthy food that you can prepare yourself and that you really want to eat, take your time to achieve his, as too much stress on your mind and body takes time to recover from, and you will most likely have a backlog of all that already.
Organic is best but good quality is ok too. Make it a pleasure - sit down, take your time and learn to really to appreciate it, every mouthful is making you better!
WATER - begin slowly, sip continuously as and when you find it possible. DO NOT drink it down too fast or your Urinary system will have too work too hard to process it, taking your body's energy away from where it's needed most.
BALANCE - the balance of life has to be physical, spiritual, and harmonious to all parts of your life, a variety of experiences including lots of laughter (when you have enough energy of course), negative and positive. (Always, always turn negative into positive)
Well Ray I think I have gone on for too long now so I will close and hope you can pass this on to your other readers, its all common sense so cannot hurt anyone, NO SIDE EFFECTS, its all natural action.
BEST WISHES
Lynn
Thanks for that Lynn. What a brilliant outlook on life. And what a brilliant way of copying with this much-maligned illness.
Actually I received a load of emails from readers in response to my letter on fibromyalgia (and my mention on M.E.), and here's one that puts we straight on a few things...
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An even better source of information...
Hi Ray
Love your emails, and usually I wouldn't add to your 'hundreds' of messages.
Can I just point out re your article on fibromyalgia that we are 'Chiropractors', not 'Chiropractitioners'.
And yes, chiropractic can be useful for fibromyalgia (and many of the other conditions you write about) as we are working directly with rebalancing the nervous system (and hence how the body works).
Any interference with nerves will cause malfunction, so on many occasions I read your emails and think, 'We've helped someone with that in our practice.'
Also, the NHS site is rubbish for finding a Chiropractor - people should go to www.gcc-uk.org to consult the full register for their area.
Thanks for your excellent work, and keep it coming!
Life truly is good,
Best wishes
Catherine
Great advice Catherine. And only TWO mistakes on my part (the spelling and the rubbish website). Honestly, I've come a long way since school.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the good life!
Yours as ever,
Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter
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