A lot has happened

Well once again it's been months since i updated this blog. This is partly owing to all the things that have been happening lately, and the fact that i am trying to wean myself off spending too much time on the internet. How can i summarize everything thats happened and its depths of emotion in a few short words. The first thing is, shortly after my Birthday, i got engaged! My fiance and i went for a drive to a local beauty spot where he gave me a watch as a gift. He told me to turn it over and on the back he'd had had it engraved with the question! It was very sweet so now, i am trying to get better so that i can have a 'normal' wedding day, with dancing and standing around for hours etc, like normal people do!!

On a very sad note, we lost my beloved Grandad shortly before Chrsitmas. I wont go into the details and feeling too mcuh on here because they are private and words can do justice to how we felt and how much i miss him. On Chrsitmas day we opened his Xmas present, which was a small Chrsitmas lantern that plays music, with ice skaters around a Chrsitmas tree. I put it on the windowsill where i hoped he could see it, and sat for a while. I still believe he is with us and i stil talk to him. I know if i was gone i would want people to believe that i was still watching over them; just because we cant see him, doesnt mean he cant see us. I always wear a locket with his photo too. I love you Grandad, you will always be in my heart xxx

I have just returned from staying a few days with my boyfriend and i have several things on my 'to do' list - one of which is to take grandad some flowers and to try and get to the local shop to buy a Birthday card for my friend. I like to have little goals to set myself each week, it keeps me going. It's one of the many things i learnt from attending the M.E. rehab course, which i have found has been most helpful and facilitated some recovery. Although my energy is still well below normal, i am finding that the relapses are not as severe and of shorter duration, which means i can do things slightly more often, which, in my book, is great! The course finished around 3 weeks ago now, and i met some good friends through attending it. It turned out that i had spent the weeks leading upto it in unjustifiable dread, because it turned out to be a very positive experience. It lasted a couple of hours and was run by 3 really nice ladies who talked us through ways of managing the illness, and some weeks we had guest speakers (psychologists, dieticians, etc). It was held in a Methodist church and there was a little kitchen outside with free tea and coffee where we used to have our (regular) breaks and chats! Cant be bad!

Anyway, as promised, here are some of the things i learnt that helped me a great deal. Please note this course was for people with mild to moderate M.E.

Plan scheduled rests into your day (at same times each day -as many as you need), but keep them short (no more than 30 mins), and do something slightly physical afterwards to get going again. If you rest any longer than 30 mins at a time, your body slows down and its harder to get going. Even just walking around the room or sitting up every half hour helps.

Use relaxation exercises as part of your rests - this is vital! You must rest your mind as well as body!

Rest in complete silence (unless using a relaxation CD) DONT use these while driving though obviously!!

Try and get a balance of physical/mental/social activity each day - dont do all physical one day, all mental the next, for example.

Eat something every 2 hours or so, even of its only a biscuit.

Eat a balanced diet. You can have foods with a high Glycaemic index (please google this), as long as you mix it with foods with a lower glycaemic index. This helps keep your sugar levels more blanced and helps avoid energy crashes.

Short pauses when doing things helps lower adrenaline and gives the body a rest. Pausing for 3 mins can reduce adrenaline by 50% (apparently!)

Dont do the same thing for too long - mix and match mental/physical/social activity so that you are using different parts of the brain and allowing each part of the brain time to rest.

Do one thing at a time - dnt have tv on in background while you're trying to do something else, etc.

Get up at same time each day, get dressed if you can.

Set a goal each day/week however small it doesnt matter!

Use the tortoise and hare approach. For e.g. you might not be able to do housework for an hour, non-stop, but if you break it into chunks of 15 mins with rests in between, it might be manageable (This is only an example, it must be tailored to your own needs).

Improvement should be seen as being like a staircase rather than a continual curve upwards. So if you're at a certain 'baseline' activity level which does not worsen your symptoms, maintain that for a while before increasing -you should not try to increase activity on a daily basis. Increases should only be of about 10% of what you can currently comfortably manage. Once an increase has been made, you should monitor the effect for a week or so to check its not too much for you. If it is, you should lower the 'baseline' again. It is important to find the right balance between rest and activity.

Hope this helps!!