Stop the world and make a connection

What Happens When We Lose Our Connection?


Recently I got very excited. Now, normally that is nothing to write home about, however, you ask anyone with M.E. when the last time was they got excited and they’ll probably say they can’t remember or they haven’t got the energy.

Energy is the key word here, and it does have a physical, organic root to go along with the metaphysical and spiritual curtain that few of the medics will go beyond.

So what lies behind the curtain that has them all so freaked out?

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, AKA Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, AKA Post viral Fatigue Syndrome and in the good old US of A it has the impressive handle of Epidemic Neuromyasthenia.

So when your GP tells you it’s all in your head, you can actually correct him by saying not only is it in my head it is also in my spinal cord and in the nerve endings in my muscles – see your medical dictionary for clues!

Dr. A Melvin Ramsey, Hon Consultant Physician, Infectious Diseases Dept. of the Royal Free Hospital describes M.E. in his paper circa 1986 as a ‘Baffling Syndrome with a Tragic Aftermath’. He also explains the different terminology used in it’s diagnosis.

Another Doctor whose paper was summarised in The Haworth Medical Press, the title, Betrayal By the Brain: The Neurological Basis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia Syndrome and related Neural Network Disorders was written by a Dr. Jay Goldstein, in which he describes a conceptualisation of CFIDS/FMS as “ impaired sensory information processing in a neural network, resulting in dysfunctional responses. Triggers include things like genetic susceptibility, neonatal stressors, and elevated cortisol levels activated from an early age due to various situations including sexual, physical, emotional abuse.

A Dr. Charles Shepherd has acknowledged that it has links to certain toxins and pesticides, organophosphates being the main contenders.

With all this weighty evidence going on how dare the GP’s call this hypochondria?
And, should we wish to go and inspect the aforementioned curtain then we can look to another eminent scientific source, Dr. Deepak Chopra.
Who writes prolifically about the cells eavesdropping on one another and their ability to hold memories, particularly traumatic memories.

Take into consideration the depression angle, a lot of physicians say that M.E. is just another form of depression and is therefore psychological, it has been proven though, that cortisol levels in the clinically depressed are low and yet in M.E. they are high, so the answer to that would be that although depression may follow an episode of M.E it is not in itself a component of the disease.

I have M.E. and I have a good idea why I have it. My biggest problem has been how to manage it for once it is got it will not go away!
It hibernates and lays in wait, it catches you out when things are going relatively okay then you catch a virus and it’s basically goodnight Vienna for anything up to 18months or longer.

I have found that actually recognising when I need to rest is the key and acting upon that information, I REST! Dr. A. Melvin Ramsey, agrees with me on that one; only wish I’d known that earlier.
He writes, ”The degree of physical incapacity varies greatly, but the dominant clinical feature of profound fatigue is directly related to the length of time the patient persists in physical effort after it’s onset; put in another way, those patients who are given a period of enforced rest from the onset have the best prognosis.”

So, NO, it is not the best thing to work through the flu, it is not the best thing to go back to work soon as you can put your feet to the floor without falling down. We need time to heal and if we don’t take it the cells in our body will mutiny and then we really will find that creek and how necessary a paddle can be. It is all very well having a work ethic, but how good is it if it means you can only work for a significantly shortened length of time?

The government is not too helpful in that department either, it could make things better with more legislation on sick days and wellness programmes in the workplace, not to mention tightening up on the pesticides and toxins that are carried on ships in our waters and used on our food and our animals on a daily basis.

Getting level with M.E is an expensive and epic journey- getting level is all you can hope for, these papers I'm on about have been in existance since 1986 and before; it's been around so long and they're still arguing whether it's a 'real disease' or not. Where have we heard that one before? The NHS does not supply most of the treatments that are helpful, and even when they do it is down to the mind set of the GP that has to refer you to it which will again depend on his budget.

For myself, it has been an awakening to how much more we can do with natural things and (dare I say it?) spiritual things. Don’t get me wrong there are extremely interesting people out there who have some very unique ways of looking at things; all in all though sorting through the chaff there is help available and again it is at a price, isn’t everything these days, but what price the ability to at least function reasonably on a daily basis?

The Shamanic way of looking at it is that a soul part has been lost and there is a void there that has been filled by the dis – ease, this is bourne out by the neo natal stressors and other triggers mentioned above. It also bears out the mind controls the body thing and Dr Chopra’s theories on cell memory.(This is a very simplistic and edited explanation of these concepts, I will have a tendency to mention them again and go into more detail).

The NLP and Ericksonian Hypnosis way of looking at it,is using neural networks and changing pathways through language and metaphor, hey, it works for me and helps me to talk to my body when it is tired and aching – my unconscious mind is a vast storehouse of resources – as is yours – just waiting to be used, making the connection is the key.

Then there is the Reiki, Aromatherapy massage, Reflexology et al. Touch and smell and relaxation, it really does make you feel better and when you feel better you feel less tired. Being tired is tiring sometimes you know the hypothalamus and the limbic system they don’t need drugs, they need some TLC; and we all know there’s just not enough of that to go around these days.

So what to do, look for yourselves, find a practitioner of any of the above mentioned therapies and some more, whatever is right for you – there’s Indian Head Massage, herbalism, sound therapy, there are so many and there is no one right answer for me it was a combination of the Shamanic, Reiki, Reflexology, hypnosis/NLP, and a great support network that I had to find for myself, my GP is of the Hypochondriacs persuasion… It seems he ignores the fact that the brain is the one organ in the body they know damn near nothing about!

I actually learned how to do most of the ones that work for me and am now trying to get into the NHS so that I can help people who haven’t perhaps the means to pay for some of these treatments.(The surgeons don't like anything they can't shake a scalpel at! When the phrase ' if in doubt - cut it out' won't or can't cut it they balk at the idea that something non invasive in physical terms will acheive what they cannot. How could we dare? Let us remember that white coats, greens and an ability to excise things doesn't mean you're right every time, and doesn't lessen the gravity of the illness just cause you can't get hold of it and put it on a slide.

When I’m not able I don’t do it – when I’m able I do it until I need to rest. If the world can’t slow down maybe we have to? If we are a Universe inside a Universe inside… Isn't it time we listened? Isn't that what Doctors used to do, so they could follow the hypocratic oath - first do no harm. Ignoring it will not make it go away and it certainly will not cure it.

Excerpts from papers found on www.meactionuk.org and www.afme.org.uk.

Contact me at Sleepy.dragon@ntlworld.com