THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
january 27th 2011
everyone has a right to flower,to reveal his or her full potentilas a hu man being, to fulfill his or her mission in this world. you have this right, so does everyone else.this is the meaning of human rights. to scorn, violate or abuse human rights destroys the natural order of things (Daisaku ikeda)
31st december 2010
"It is foolish or deny the contribution of medicine. Otherwise faith descends into fanaticism. We must use medical resources wisely in fighting illness. Buddhism gives us the wisdom to use medicine properly. Wisdom is the basic ingredient to health, to long life and to happiness. The new century of health then, must be anew century of wisdom."
(Daisaku Ikeda: Buddhism Day by Day: Wisdom for Modern Life)
NEWS
December 2010
Wow another year is nearly over . What can I say? Thank you to all my friends and clients in England:I hope you've managed to have some joy and laughs over the Chrismas period. It's been a brilliant year for me: what could be better than recovering from fibromyalgia and helping others to do the same? December has been realy busy: many challenges to overcome.. I have really enjoyed this winter snow here in the UK:it's beauty, its wonder, its playfulness. I built a snowman and remembered how difficult it was to enjoy anything when I was in constant pain: I had Fibromyalgia - it was soul destroying. I've been asked so many times "How did you recover?" so I've been busy writing about '7 Healing Principles of the Fibromyalgia: road to recovery protocol statement', which I'll be publishing in the new year.
Fibromyalgia: Have you been suffering from inexplicable symptoms for years?
I suffered from fibromyalgia for 7 years. Disabled by it for 3, my life reduced to one big struggle. I was practically housebound. My GP suggested I write a book about coping... I wanted to write a book containing all the latest medical research... and it turned into a book, about managing symptoms (with top tips and experiences from over 40 other 'fibros').
'FIBROMYALGIA: road to recovery' (ISBN 978-1-4-523-6564-0) is currently only available as an e-book from www. Smashwords.com.
It costs $6.99 on the site (about £5). You can read some excerpts below. (see the end of this page). Here's what Sue Coutts co-ordinator of Bridgwater Fibromyalgia Support Group had to say:
“enjoying it! all that technical stuff, phew!, but you explain it rather well”
“I think there are chapters that would be very useful to use with professionals and medical decision makers as you have all the research and data pulled together… thank you for writing this book and I look forward to reading the next one”.
Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia is on the increase in the UK.
Doctors and rheumatologists say there is no cure; but I say Fibromyalgia is NOT for life: I recovered… so can you. I am now living in rural Somerset, running 3 day 1: 1 healing retreats . If you have made a determination to recover in 201, contact me:elizabethmcsweeney@hotmail.co.uk
NEWS
November 2010
I'm receiving lots of great feedback about the book, which is great because it took such a lot of effort to write it during dark years being incapacitated with Fm. I can't beleive I am the same person now I'm better. Which brings me onto that million dollar question: How did I recover? I'm getting weekly phone calls from readers eager to know and I want to help as many people as possible. My 3 day retreats are about helping people on a 1:1 intensive basis in relaxing surroundings, but I'm having trouble relocating to Dorset ( I intend to find a place that's 'just right'). Meanwhile all I can say is that one day I'd had enough of the pain and made a promise to myself to recover, from that day I took my first steps to recovery by using self kinesiology methods and Emotional Freedom Technique (see www. E.F.T.com) to alleviate the pain; regulated my sleep pattern (key to recovery); de-toxed by increasing my water/ sea salt intake and de-acidified my diet. I couldn't have recovered without my homeopath and can certainly recommend some specific remedies (research papers reviewed in my book)
NEWS
October 2010
my e-book 'FIBROMYALGIA: road to recovery', has now been assigned ISBN number 978-1-4-523-6564-0
NEWSDecember 2010PRESS RELEASEDateSeptember 2010
Title:NEW E-book LAUNCH
FIBROMYALGIA: road to recovery
Between 1.3% and 7.3% of the UK population at this very moment suffer from the insidious and painful condition which is Fibromyalgia.
Next week (September 6 to 12) is UK Fibromyalgia Awareness Week.
To coincide with UK Fibromyalgia Awareness Week Elizabeth McSweeney is publishing her first E-edition of FIBROMYALGIA, road to recovery (ISBN number TBC), written specifically with a UK audience in mind. The e-book will be published by Smashwords on the 12 September. This means it will be formatted to download onto computer and other major mobile ‘App’ platforms and available, at just $6.99 or £4.50, via www.smashwords.com and other retailers such as Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo or Diesel.
read FREE excerpts below
What other people have to say about this book
Pam Stewart, chair of Fibromyalgia Association UK (FMA UK www.fibromyalgia-associationuk.org): “I think there are chapters that would be very useful to use with professionals and medical decision makers as you have all the research and data pulled together… thank you for writing this book and I look forward to reading the next one”. Sue Coutts co-ordinator of Bridgwater Fibromyalgia Support Group: “enjoying it! all that technical stuff, phew!, but you explain it rather well”.
Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia is on the increase in the UK.
Doctors and rheumatologists say there is no cure; but Elizabeth says:
“Fibromyalgia is NOT for life: I recovered… so can you”.
Elizabeth’s story:
“At the age of 45, and having suffered seven years of the restriction, debilitation, exhaustion, pain, fear and disability of fibromyalgia, I have now recovered. Three years ago my GP suggested I write a book about coping with the illness… I didn’t feel like I was coping, far from it. In fact at one time the pain and fatigue left me with such low self esteem that I felt worthless and suicidal. But researching and writing this book became an integral part of my recovery”.
Her research, detailed in this book, involved 18 months of collating a wide range of medical information and the experiences of over 40 fellow ‘fibros’, resulting in a “…thoroughly researched, candid, and readable insight into Fibromyalgia. Written for everyone who wants to recover (their family, carers and health professionals); and written by someone who has ‘been there, done that and bought the T-Shirt’.”
With 11 comprehensive chapters detailing a wide range of information: from international research (diagnosis, causes, NHS & alternative treatments), through practical money matters (including up to date UK specific Benefits information) and top-tips contributed by 40 fellow ‘fibros’, to candid insights into impacts on family, friends and relationships;FIBROMYALGIA, road to recoveryis designed to “support your personal first steps on the road to recovery”.
-end-
Contents
Part One: Facts from Fiction
Part Two: Strategies for daily coping
Excerpts
from Chapter One:
Summary
"Everyone's experience of diagnosis is different. With more information the average journey time of 13 years is starting to come down. Though it does appear, from my research, that those 10% of people given a correct diagnosis within a year are those presenting directly to a private specialist doctor or rheumatologist rather than an NHS GP, 33% of people who responded to my research were diagnosed by an NHS rheumatologist, having suffered an average 11 years before diagnosis. 25% self diagnosed using literature or internet, presenting information to their GP, and having their diagnosis confirmed through the 'tender point' technique. Only 12% were diagnosed solely by their GP following an extensive elimination process...
It seems that no one single route to diagnosis is better than another, but armed with information from Fibromyalgia UK you may have a shorter journey. Being given a 'label' offers temporary relief, because now you can know that you are not a hypochondriac, you are not going mad, there is a medical term for it, and the pain & fatigue that you suffer has at last been acknowledged...
Top-tips for a speedy and correct diagnosis
Good communication: re-present your symptoms to your doctor as often as it takes, using specific terminology.
Find a ‘listening’ doctor:if you feel like you are not being heard change your GP. You have every right to do so. Contact your local Fm support group for insider information about local doctors, or contact Fibromyalgia UK Association who are compiling a list of supportive Surgeries..."
Excerpt
from Chapter Two:
"The good news is that you now have a 'label'. You may feel alone, but you are not: Fibromyalgia in the general population has a prevalence ranging from1.3 to 7.3 percent…”(www.ukfibromyalgia.com) ... ...I agree with American doctor Paul St. Amand MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Medical Endocrinology, Harbor- UCLA, who wrote:“New terminology should be coined to properly reflect the perturbed biochemistry of this illness. Fibromyalgia means pain in muscles and fibers and therefore describes only a few of the patient's symptoms”
I believe it may even be a misleading label because it does not accurately describe the range of pain: Pain which is not just felt in muscles. I suffered pain that was often bone deep (like severe toothache all over) and skin deep (like shingles). All fibros suffer from widespread pain at neuromuscular junctions – that is all the places where the muscles receive electrical input from nerve endings. These points of origin and points of insertion of muscles are often at skeletal joints (but not always). As a result our experience is that our body prepares to 'protect' these painful areas (often joints) resulting in inflammation and loss of mobility. The pain of Fm not only mysteriously migrates from one area to another but is experienced in different severities at different times. One day pain will manifest as deep toothache, another day burning like stinging nettles, another moment as cramp and throbbing, stabbing, tingling or numbness. Many differentials with one constant: relentless, soul destroying, physical pain resulting in incapacitating fatigue. Your GPs can't tell you what it feels like to be in pain 24 hours a day, seven days a week so you must tell them.
Before recovering I wrote:“For me it feels like a triangle: one point is like shingles, the second like rheumatoid arthritis, the third like CFS and I'm trapped in the middle suffering from pain, fatigue, and reactive depression.”
At a local UK Fibromyalgia group tai chi meeting someone described fibro to me as:“an umbrella that some days lets more pain through than others”.Another person said: “it's like having shingles permanently... the constant pain is just exhausting”. One carer very astutely summed it up as: “ the inability of the body to have restorative sleep”. To quote Christine Craggs-Hinton (from her book 'Living with Fibromyalgia') it is: “To be in constant pain; to feel too sapped to lift a limb, and to be bombarded, at the same time, by a whole host of other ailments... that's Fibro... ”If you don't suffer from Fm just imagine the worst bout of flu' you have experienced (perhaps how sorry for yourself you felt or how hard you battled to struggle through to recovery). Now imagine not recovering, no matter how much you rest or how much you fight it. That’s Fm..."
... It can cause immobility, general de-conditioning and auto immune suppression. It can begin with longer periods of respite in between ‘flare-ups’ and develop into relentless soul destroying pain (resulting in incapacitating fatigue) but it is not in itself a degenerative disease. It is real and can have severe disabling consequences that may affect career, domestic ability and social life, causing both fiscal and cultural poverty. Since 1990, and The World Health Organisation’s registration of it as a bona fide medical condition, in 1992, epidemiological studies have demonstrated that Fm in the UK general population has a prevalence ranging from 1.3 to 7.3 percent.
In my own research I asked others for their own definition of fibromyalgia. Here are some of those responses:“… a reaction to shock”;“… a CNS (Central Nervous System) sensitivity”;“I think it is a response of CNS to stress & trauma (mental & physical)”;“adrenal failure exhaustion “;“… a vicious circle”..."
Excerpt
from Chapter Four:
Summary
"So now we can understand why Dr Wright makes the argument that stress alone does not cause FM and that your pain and fatigue are not just symptoms of stress. It appears from my research that ‘we fibros’ have had to live through a much higher level of multiple traumas without adequate respite for natural recovery. Consequently this has lead to a chronic state of stress in our bodies, causing identifiable physiological imbalances. Decades of medical research with Fm patients has revealed a constant chronic stress ‘fight or flight’ response leading to: an almost permanent exhaustion stage of General Adaptation Syndrome; Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) neuro endocrine dysfunction; and up to 3 times the amount of Substance P in our spinal fluid (thus increasing perceptions of pain to 3 times the ‘normal’ volume). We have an average 50% less natural pain killing Opiods to deal with that pain and fatigue threshold; less Seretonin, Dopamine and less Growth Hormone to regulate our bodies’ response to stress. And it seems to be that all of this is perpetuated simply by insufficient deep, non-REM ‘restorative’ sleep."
Top tipBecause the cause of Fibromyalgia remains elusive it is difficult to explain. To help communication with friends, colleagues and family use the summary above and show this explanation from Dr Manuel Martinez-Lavin
"The Autonomic Nervous System in Fibromyalgia… can be characterised by a dominant sympathetically controlled system that is so maxed-out and overworked, that it is sluggish in its response to environmental stimuli and Central Nervous System demands… many people are prone to develop FM (i.e. genetic predisposition). They have a baseline hyperactive Sympathetic Nervous System, and after a triggering event (e.g., trauma, infection, etc), a central pain sensitisation state develops.”
Excerpt
from Chapter Six
"...During those periods when over the counter medication didn't even touch the extreme pain of a 'flare-up', I often felt that Fm was very much like grimacing through clenched teeth without anesthetic. As a professional complimentary therapist conventional pain management (medication) was a hard bullet to bite because swallowing 'the bullet' also meant swallowing my pride. It felt like a sense of failure and a loss of my beliefs & value systems. At first I was perplexed that the tools of my trade were not working for me and without stronger and stronger medication I felt unable to cope. In my next book I will annotate my own personal journey, through various medication, complementary, holistic and spiritual healing to recovery (I am now completely medication and symptom free), but first lets take a look at some treatments and medications both abroad and those available in the UK 'on the NHS'...."
Excerpt
from Chapter Six
Part Two: Strategies for daily coping
"The last four chapters of this book are devoted to our coping and recovery strategies. They include shared experiences of accessing and engaging with resources. From the more practical approach to choosing complimentary or alternative treatments; through a detailed look at financial and domestic needs; to the emotional impact, of fibromyalgia, on our relationships.
We must not underestimate the founding roles that keeping warm and eating nutritionally play in our recovery. But living with fibromyalgia can leave us too exhausted to climb up the stairs to bed, let alone shop, cook or run a household. For this reason I’ve tried to incorporate some pragmatic (and hopefully humorous) observations and management strategies for coping with symptoms on a daily basis.
This section also holds some gems of experience contributed by over forty fellow ‘fibros’. As my writing of this book progressed I came to realize how my own Buddhist practice, beliefs, theology, metaphysics and faith, have played a profound and crucial role in my recovery. I’ll be investigating this in more detail in my next book but I have introduced the topic here, particularly in Chapter 11: family and friends. This last chapter also introduces the concept of bio-energetics and investigates how the dynamics of ‘carer/ patient’ relationships can impact upon, and even create potential blocks to, our recovery. But we start with a more down to earth look at self help:..."
to buy a downoloadable version of this book please go to www. Smashwords where
'FIBROMYALGIA: road to recovery' is available for about £5 ($6.99)
Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia is on the increase in the UK. Doctors and rheumatologists say there is no cure; but I say:
“ Fibromyalgia is NOT for life: I recovered… so can you”.
Telephone 07773760611
November 2010
NEWS
I'm receiving lots of great feedback about the book, which is great because it took such a lot of effort to write it during dark years being incapacitated with Fm. I can't beleive I am the same person now I'm better. Which brings me onto that million dollar question: How did I recover? I'm getting weekly phone calls from readers eager to know and I want to help as many people as possible. My 3 day retreats are about helping people on a 1:1 intensive basis in relaxing surroundings, but I'm having trouble relocating to Dorset ( I intend to find a place that's 'just right'). Meanwhile all I can say is that one day I'd had enough of the pain and made a promise to myself to recover, from that day I took my first steps to recovery by using self kinesiology methods and Emotional Freedom Technique (see www. E.F.T.com) to alleviate the pain; regulated my sleep pattern (key to recovery); de-toxed by increasing my water/ sea salt intake and de-acidified my diet. I couldn't have recovered without my homeopath and can certainly recommend some specific remedies (research papers reviewed in my book)
NEWS
Septemeber 2010
my e-book 'FIBROMYALGIA: road to recovery', has now been assigned ISBN number 978-1-4-523-6564-0
PRESS RELEASE
Date: 1 September 2010
Title:NEW E-book LAUNCH
FIBROMYALGIA: road to recovery
Between 1.3% and 7.3% of the UK population at this very moment suffer from the insidious and painful condition which is Fibromyalgia.
Next week (September 6 to 12) is UK Fibromyalgia Awareness Week.
To coincide with UK Fibromyalgia Awareness Week Elizabeth McSweeney is publishing her first E-edition of FIBROMYALGIA, road to recovery (ISBN number TBC), written specifically with a UK audience in mind. The e-book will be published by Smashwords on the 12 September. This means it will be formatted to download onto computer and other major mobile ‘App’ platforms and available, at just $6.99 or £4.50, via www.smashwords.com and other retailers such as Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo or Diesel.
read FREE excerpts below
What other people have to say about this book
Pam Stewart, chair of Fibromyalgia Association UK (FMA UK www.fibromyalgia-associationuk.org): “I think there are chapters that would be very useful to use with professionals and medical decision makers as you have all the research and data pulled together… thank you for writing this book and I look forward to reading the next one”. Sue Coutts co-ordinator of Bridgwater Fibromyalgia Support Group: “enjoying it! all that technical stuff, phew!, but you explain it rather well”.
Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia is on the increase in the UK.
Doctors and rheumatologists say there is no cure; but Elizabeth says:
“Fibromyalgia is NOT for life: I recovered… so can you”.
Elizabeth’s story:
“At the age of 45, and having suffered seven years of the restriction, debilitation, exhaustion, pain, fear and disability of fibromyalgia, I have now recovered. Three years ago my GP suggested I write a book about coping with the illness… I didn’t feel like I was coping, far from it. In fact at one time the pain and fatigue left me with such low self esteem that I felt worthless and suicidal. But researching and writing this book became an integral part of my recovery”.
Her research, detailed in this book, involved 18 months of collating a wide range of medical information and the experiences of over 40 fellow ‘fibros’, resulting in a “…thoroughly researched, candid, and readable insight into Fibromyalgia. Written for everyone who wants to recover (their family, carers and health professionals); and written by someone who has ‘been there, done that and bought the T-Shirt’.”
With 11 comprehensive chapters detailing a wide range of information: from international research (diagnosis, causes, NHS & alternative treatments), through practical money matters (including up to date UK specific Benefits information) and top-tips contributed by 40 fellow ‘fibros’, to candid insights into impacts on family, friends and relationships;FIBROMYALGIA, road to recoveryis designed to “support your personal first steps on the road to recovery”.
-end-
Contents
Part One: Facts from Fiction
Part Two: Strategies for daily coping
Excerpts
from Chapter One:
Summary
"Everyone's experience of diagnosis is different. With more information the average journey time of 13 years is starting to come down. Though it does appear, from my research, that those 10% of people given a correct diagnosis within a year are those presenting directly to a private specialist doctor or rheumatologist rather than an NHS GP, 33% of people who responded to my research were diagnosed by an NHS rheumatologist, having suffered an average 11 years before diagnosis. 25% self diagnosed using literature or internet, presenting information to their GP, and having their diagnosis confirmed through the 'tender point' technique. Only 12% were diagnosed solely by their GP following an extensive elimination process...
It seems that no one single route to diagnosis is better than another, but armed with information from Fibromyalgia UK you may have a shorter journey. Being given a 'label' offers temporary relief, because now you can know that you are not a hypochondriac, you are not going mad, there is a medical term for it, and the pain & fatigue that you suffer has at last been acknowledged...
Top-tips for a speedy and correct diagnosis
Good communication: re-present your symptoms to your doctor as often as it takes, using specific terminology.
Find a ‘listening’ doctor:if you feel like you are not being heard change your GP. You have every right to do so. Contact your local Fm support group for insider information about local doctors, or contact Fibromyalgia UK Association who are compiling a list of supportive Surgeries..."
Excerpt
from Chapter Two:
"The good news is that you now have a 'label'. You may feel alone, but you are not: Fibromyalgia in the general population has a prevalence ranging from1.3 to 7.3 percent…”(www.ukfibromyalgia.com) ... ...I agree with American doctor Paul St. Amand MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Medical Endocrinology, Harbor- UCLA, who wrote:“New terminology should be coined to properly reflect the perturbed biochemistry of this illness. Fibromyalgia means pain in muscles and fibers and therefore describes only a few of the patient's symptoms”
I believe it may even be a misleading label because it does not accurately describe the range of pain: Pain which is not just felt in muscles. I suffered pain that was often bone deep (like severe toothache all over) and skin deep (like shingles). All fibros suffer from widespread pain at neuromuscular junctions – that is all the places where the muscles receive electrical input from nerve endings. These points of origin and points of insertion of muscles are often at skeletal joints (but not always). As a result our experience is that our body prepares to 'protect' these painful areas (often joints) resulting in inflammation and loss of mobility. The pain of Fm not only mysteriously migrates from one area to another but is experienced in different severities at different times. One day pain will manifest as deep toothache, another day burning like stinging nettles, another moment as cramp and throbbing, stabbing, tingling or numbness. Many differentials with one constant: relentless, soul destroying, physical pain resulting in incapacitating fatigue. Your GPs can't tell you what it feels like to be in pain 24 hours a day, seven days a week so you must tell them.
Before recovering I wrote:“For me it feels like a triangle: one point is like shingles, the second like rheumatoid arthritis, the third like CFS and I'm trapped in the middle suffering from pain, fatigue, and reactive depression.”
At a local UK Fibromyalgia group tai chi meeting someone described fibro to me as:“an umbrella that some days lets more pain through than others”.Another person said: “it's like having shingles permanently... the constant pain is just exhausting”. One carer very astutely summed it up as: “ the inability of the body to have restorative sleep”. To quote Christine Craggs-Hinton (from her book 'Living with Fibromyalgia') it is: “To be in constant pain; to feel too sapped to lift a limb, and to be bombarded, at the same time, by a whole host of other ailments... that's Fibro... ”If you don't suffer from Fm just imagine the worst bout of flu' you have experienced (perhaps how sorry for yourself you felt or how hard you battled to struggle through to recovery). Now imagine not recovering, no matter how much you rest or how much you fight it. That’s Fm..."
... It can cause immobility, general de-conditioning and auto immune suppression. It can begin with longer periods of respite in between ‘flare-ups’ and develop into relentless soul destroying pain (resulting in incapacitating fatigue) but it is not in itself a degenerative disease. It is real and can have severe disabling consequences that may affect career, domestic ability and social life, causing both fiscal and cultural poverty. Since 1990, and The World Health Organisation’s registration of it as a bona fide medical condition, in 1992, epidemiological studies have demonstrated that Fm in the UK general population has a prevalence ranging from 1.3 to 7.3 percent.
In my own research I asked others for their own definition of fibromyalgia. Here are some of those responses:“… a reaction to shock”;“… a CNS (Central Nervous System) sensitivity”;“I think it is a response of CNS to stress & trauma (mental & physical)”;“adrenal failure exhaustion “;“… a vicious circle”..."
Excerpt
from Chapter Four:
Summary
"So now we can understand why Dr Wright makes the argument that stress alone does not cause FM and that your pain and fatigue are not just symptoms of stress. It appears from my research that ‘we fibros’ have had to live through a much higher level of multiple traumas without adequate respite for natural recovery. Consequently this has lead to a chronic state of stress in our bodies, causing identifiable physiological imbalances. Decades of medical research with Fm patients has revealed a constant chronic stress ‘fight or flight’ response leading to: an almost permanent exhaustion stage of General Adaptation Syndrome; Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) neuro endocrine dysfunction; and up to 3 times the amount of Substance P in our spinal fluid (thus increasing perceptions of pain to 3 times the ‘normal’ volume). We have an average 50% less natural pain killing Opiods to deal with that pain and fatigue threshold; less Seretonin, Dopamine and less Growth Hormone to regulate our bodies’ response to stress. And it seems to be that all of this is perpetuated simply by insufficient deep, non-REM ‘restorative’ sleep."
Top tipBecause the cause of Fibromyalgia remains elusive it is difficult to explain. To help communication with friends, colleagues and family use the summary above and show this explanation from Dr Manuel Martinez-Lavin
"The Autonomic Nervous System in Fibromyalgia… can be characterised by a dominant sympathetically controlled system that is so maxed-out and overworked, that it is sluggish in its response to environmental stimuli and Central Nervous System demands… many people are prone to develop FM (i.e. genetic predisposition). They have a baseline hyperactive Sympathetic Nervous System, and after a triggering event (e.g., trauma, infection, etc), a central pain sensitisation state develops.”
Excerpt
from Chapter Six
"...During those periods when over the counter medication didn't even touch the extreme pain of a 'flare-up', I often felt that Fm was very much like grimacing through clenched teeth without anesthetic. As a professional complimentary therapist conventional pain management (medication) was a hard bullet to bite because swallowing 'the bullet' also meant swallowing my pride. It felt like a sense of failure and a loss of my beliefs & value systems. At first I was perplexed that the tools of my trade were not working for me and without stronger and stronger medication I felt unable to cope. In my next book I will annotate my own personal journey, through various medication, complementary, holistic and spiritual healing to recovery (I am now completely medication and symptom free), but first lets take a look at some treatments and medications both abroad and those available in the UK 'on the NHS'...."
Excerpt
from Chapter Six
Part Two: Strategies for daily coping
"The last four chapters of this book are devoted to our coping and recovery strategies. They include shared experiences of accessing and engaging with resources. From the more practical approach to choosing complimentary or alternative treatments; through a detailed look at financial and domestic needs; to the emotional impact, of fibromyalgia, on our relationships.
We must not underestimate the founding roles that keeping warm and eating nutritionally play in our recovery. But living with fibromyalgia can leave us too exhausted to climb up the stairs to bed, let alone shop, cook or run a household. For this reason I’ve tried to incorporate some pragmatic (and hopefully humorous) observations and management strategies for coping with symptoms on a daily basis.
This section also holds some gems of experience contributed by over forty fellow ‘fibros’. As my writing of this book progressed I came to realize how my own Buddhist practice, beliefs, theology, metaphysics and faith, have played a profound and crucial role in my recovery. I’ll be investigating this in more detail in my next book but I have introduced the topic here, particularly in Chapter 11: family and friends. This last chapter also introduces the concept of bio-energetics and investigates how the dynamics of ‘carer/ patient’ relationships can impact upon, and even create potential blocks to, our recovery. But we start with a more down to earth look at self help:..."
to buy a downoloadable version of this book please go to www. Smashwords where 'FIBROMYALGIA: road to recovery' is available for about £5 ($6.99).
