Wow -- I haven't been here in awhile -- sorry for my absence!  

     I've been continuing to work on ME -- reducing the severity of symptoms. 

      I've added in acupuncture to my treatment plan.  This has provided improvement in many areas.

       I've also been continuing care with the chiropractors and have experienced significant improvements.  Some of them have been gradual over time, but an adjustment a couple of weeks ago, provided significant improvement which was immediately noticeable. 

       It was nothing short of amazing!!

       This will need to be an ongoing, continual improvement, but I am extremely encouraged and hopeful.  Stay tuned! 

      Other than this, I've been trying to maneuver through all the covid related stuff going on in the rest of the world, just like everyone else.  

       That's all for now.  Hope everyone has been keeping ok!


           Keeping the

                               Balance....despite the chaos!

    

       Part 1

        Part 2



        From talking to other people with ME/CFS and Fibro, as well as my own research, I put together a team of alternative practitioners.  While none of these individually or collectively, completely healed me, they were able to address specific individual symptoms.  Unfortunately, there are no cures for ME/CFS and Fibro and most often, the best we can hope for is to control the symptoms as well as addressing other contributing factors.

   My 'team' consisted of the following practitioners:

Naturopath

      My Naturopath addressed many issues for me. 

      She provided me with live blood analyses, which addressed many issues.  Some of these issues had been ongoing for most of my life and while they had nothing to do with ME/CFS or Fibro, I was over the top to finally be able to address them.  She was the first one who 'got' how severe this problem was (I had been to many Drs. over the years and none of them could help me).

     Some ME/CFS symptoms also showed up in the live blood analyses, such as muscle pain, inflammation and dehydration and we were able to effectively address these. 

     
Homeopath

      My Homeopath worked in conjunction with my Naturopath and helped address concerns my Naturopath was unable to (and vice versa).  She spent several hours with me dealing with individual issues.  She made house calls when I was not well enough to go to her and was also available by phone, skype and email (if I had a question in between appointments).  These were fabulous services which allowed me to focus the bulk of my energy (what little I had) toward improving my health and not waste it on things like getting to/from appointments, trying to hurry through my issues in the few minutes traditional doctors offer or make my best guess when I had a question between appointments.  

      She also addressed diet, dehydration and helped with my self-care plan.  Actually, I should say devise one, put it into action and then made sure I stuck to it.  


Registered Massage Therapist

      I addressed this in a previous post so won't go into much detail here.  Suffice to say, this helped immensely with my pain and my Costochondritis. 
 

Others who also had ME/CFS and/or Fibro

     These folks were invaluable.  Most times, they'd experienced the same things I  was and were more than willing to help.  They'd make suggestions as to what worked and what didn't for them.  This saved me a ton of time and gave me a starting point so I could begin researching for myself.  

On-line sites

     Dr. Sarah Myhill and similar sites were also an immense help.  Fortunately, I was directed to her site early on in my illness journey (by fellow ME/CFS sufferers) and was able to implement her suggestions.  The earlier one can start these treatments, the better the outcome and this was true for me.
​       
          I am thankful for my 'team' and all the progress I have made.   Not healed, but much better than I was. 

       What type of things have you found to work well? 

             Moving forward to  ....         

                              Balance .....  Despite the Chaos!

   

    

     
​

Alternative Healing Methodologies -- Part 2 

Part 1 

     The pain from ME and Fibro, is horrific.  At its worst, it feels like all muscles are terribly sunburned.  This is accompanied by deep bone pain and the feeling of being stabbed all over my body by millions and millions of pins.  All at the same time.

     I must admit, initially I did not realize all of the benefits massage could provide.  I knew it would be relaxing as well as helping my sore aching muscles, but I didn't realize that was only the tip of the iceberg.  

     Before I go on, I do need to mention in my province, Registered Massage Therapists (RMT) are highly trained (at least 2200 classroom hours).  They take part in several outreach clinics in various settings during their training, they are thoroughly tested by the educating institution and must also successfully pass (with at least 70%)  extensive examinations (both practical and written) by the regulatory board.  To say they really know their stuff, is an understatement. 

     This is not the standard everywhere, unfortunately.  Some countries do not require any registration and training consists of very few hours. This type of massage is for relaxation purposes only. Some spas are like this too.   There is nothing wrong with this of course, as long as it's a relaxation massage you are after.  It's important to know the difference.   For my issues, I needed a health-care professional to be part of my healing team.  A full RMT.

     They are trained in all areas of the body and they do a full assessment before the first treatment.  They take your health history and then devise a personalized treatment plan.

      My RMT can tell where I hurt, just by the feel of my tissues.  This was a bit unnerving at first as I didn't have to tell her where I hurt -- she just knew!  

     For me, the areas she has helped are:    

     Lymphatic System -- ME affects my lymphatic system, big time.  Regular massage has helped decrease my swelling, which increases my mobility.  Love it!

      Muscles -- As mentioned earlier in this post, my muscles hurt a lot.  I can be in immense pain going into the massage and completely pain free leaving the massage.

      Costochondritis -  Complete relief and hopefully healing (this is an ongoing process).    Costochondritis affects the muscles in and around the ribs and is quite painful.  I could barely stand for more than a few minutes and it was continuing to get worse.  It's difficult to accurately describe, but suffice to say it  felt like gravity was pulling my chest down and trying to hold it up caused me to become short of breath.  After just a few minutes of standing, I'd be panting like I had been running.  I'd have to lay down frequently just to catch my breath.  It continued to worsen to the point I wondered if there was a problem with my lungs or perhaps I was having a heart attack.  

     In passing one day, I said to my RMT, "it feels like there's a tight jacket around my ribs preventing me from taking in a breath".  That's all she needed to hear and seemed to know  exactly what the problem was,  inviting me to get on the table so she could take a look.  I didn't really think massage would help this issue (and wasn't my reason for telling her in the first place), but I'm not one for turning  down a massage, so up on the table I got.    

     WOW!

      Even though my body and rib area did not feel sore, it felt like horrible bruises were already there when she started working on it -- and she was barely touching it!  She was shocked at how many knots were there, but she continued to gently work on it.  Not too far into it, she said she should stop for that day as I would feel it the next day (and I did!) but when I got up off the table -- I could BREATHE!!  

      It was shocking as well as amazing and I was so very thankful.  This was not a quick fix mind you, we've been working on it twice a month for five months now.  There is still a bit of tightness and soreness (ongoing part of ME and Fibro) but I feel we have it under control.    I am able to stand upright and breathe for longer periods of time, something I haven't been able to do for a long time.  Who knew being able to breathe would feel like such a luxury.  

     General well-being -- Massage helps relax me.  Sometimes I am sore the next day (think muscles that have been tight for a long time, suddenly relaxed) but day three is Ah-mazing!!    It helps me sleep better, improves my digestion and my total feeling of well being.

      I can't say enough about the healing benefits of massage, given by a professional, highly-trained, Registered Massage Therapist.  

         Relaxing and Healing in order to promote

                                     Balance....Despite the Chaos!