On one of my many journeys onto the internet to find answers to Julie's chronic illness of CFS/ ME I came across this website from King's College London. The articles were all written by a Vincent Deary and covered the following subjects in great detail.
History of CFS / ME
What causes fatigue
Understanding fatigue- Towards a model of CFS
Breaking the cycle: An Overview of self help
Physiological Aspects of CFS
Problems with sleep
Problems with mood and motivation
FAQ's about CFS
I make no attempt to interpret his findings on this occasion because I think you need to read it in it's entirety to follow the flow of the articles. Reading each article in turn it became abundantly clear what was and is still happening to Julie and it was so accurate at times it was as if Vincent had read and studied Julie's case history to the point where it was a little eerie but at the same time giving me hope to a way out of the situation we find ourselves in.
It is written in a clear non medical manner that most people reading it will have no difficulties in understanding the key points being made. Over the past two months I have watched helplessly at times as Julie continued her downward spiral towards the depths of CFS/ ME, more fatigued, less sleep, more joint and muscle pain, increasing difficulties in co - ordination the list goes on and on, you are all aware of the sad facts.
We have tried everything we can to halt this downward trend taking a nutritional approach such as supplements waterless cooking and vegetable juicing to try and obtain the optimum nutrition for recovery . Meditation tapes each night, yoga, Mindfulness, Positive thinking, EFT , physcology approach all with the idea of helping the mind to heal itself, but so far it is a very slow process.
What I like about the article is it's in good old fashioned English, easy to read and understand and gives suggestions what to do to cease the decline and to enable you take some control back into your life.
I feel I owe it to my wife of 35 years to help her out of this situation because in some way I feel partly to blame for her condition. Let me explain, for a couple of years before her final crash it had become obvious to friends and family that her teaching career was exacting a heavy price on Julie and I did nothing to slow her down which may have prevented the crash that followed. I was happy with the life we were leading: expensive holidays abroad 2, or even 3, times a year on occasions but at what price? Something I will have to bare, knowing I may have been able to prevent it if I had been stronger with her.
But that is in the past and we have to deal with the now. From what is written it will be a slow process, as you are all aware there are no quick fixes for CFS/ME. Once you have pushed your body over the edge it's a long way back to normality. But I'm sure working together, like we have done all our married lives, we " Shall Overcome " this chronic illness, I will be stronger and I shall not let you down again.
To read the article in full click on the attached link and drop us a line to let us know if you found it helpful http://www.kcl.ac.uk/projects/cfs/patients/
