Countrygirl
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05btwpy
Starting at about 1.38.
Interview with Martine MacCutcheon and Colin Barton of the Sussex ME Society, and supporter of Esther Crawley who is their medical advisor.
This is a link to a transcript of the interview.
http://www.meassociation.org.uk/201...-from-sussex-kent-m-e-society-25-august-2017/
And the obligatory mention of the..........................
Lightning Process…
Danny: I am always wary about passing on tips and tricks, from others, but an emailer from Worthing, Denise, said earlier in her note that her daughter had M.E. from the time she was eleven, eventually had something called ‘The Lightning Process’.
Starting at about 1.38.
Interview with Martine MacCutcheon and Colin Barton of the Sussex ME Society, and supporter of Esther Crawley who is their medical advisor.
This is a link to a transcript of the interview.
http://www.meassociation.org.uk/201...-from-sussex-kent-m-e-society-25-august-2017/
Danny: You mentioned earlier the illness you had been through, and I wonder whether your fame – your profile – makes it more difficult to cope with, you probably just want to shut yourself away but people still expect things of you. How difficult was it going through your M.E. with your profile?
Martine: ‘Yeah, it was a lesson I really needed to learn, and an obstacle I had to overcome. I had to start by realising I couldn’t always put on a brave face, I couldn’t always be what the public wanted me to be. And sometimes it was OK to be in the petrol garage or on the street, not feeling one hundred per cent, and not giving everybody what they wanted. It was a valuable lesson and I think that nothing else could have stopped me really – I don’t think anything else would have made me take stock and just enjoy the simple things in life, and ‘smell the roses’.
Martine: ‘I had to have quite a harsh lesson I think to come at life from a healthier angle, because I was ‘all-or-nothing’, I was constantly in ‘fight-or-flight-mode’, I was constantly running on adrenaline; and it’s no way to live long-term. That’s why people burn-out. And a lot of people with M.E., a lot of them are sport’s stars or big politicians – people that constantly push, push, push. And I think, in a way, being in the public-eye, it was a bigger bump when I fell – don’t get me wrong – and it was a more difficult journey for me to get better, but I think it actually gave me the lesson I really, really needed. Which is that what I think – my opinion of me – must come first.
1.43.24
Danny: That’s Martine McCutcheon speaking to me earlier. Congratulations to her by the way, top 20 for her new album ‘Lost and Found’, when the charts came out on Friday. But what exactly is M.E.? And perhaps it is quite misunderstood by those of us that don’t have it. In the studio now is Colin Barton who is chairman of the Sussex and Kent M.E. Society and lives with the condition.
What is M.E.?
Danny: What is M.E.?
Colin: Well, M.E. is a neurological condition that can come on sometimes after a viral infection or a trauma, and this would manifest itself in physical and mental debility, and any type of stress would affect it as well and so people can’t sort of function physically or mentally for any useful period of time. With some people it’s quite severe – with a few it can lead to being bedbound for a long time.
Danny: Martine was suggesting at the end there that people who were functioning at quite a high level in terms of sport’s stars and people with a high profile – would it disproportionately affect them or can it hit anybody?
Colin: Well it can hit anybody, definitely. It’s likely to show up more with people who are particularly active and professional and such-like and high-achievers – it obviously shows up more then with more active people; but in actual fact it does affect people of all types.
Danny: And how long have you been living with M.E.?
Colin: I have been living with M.E. for over thirty years now, because it did take a long time to diagnose and it was in the dark old days when it wasn’t recognised as easily.
How does it affect you and what of those who don’t understand it?
Danny: And how does it affect you?
Colin: Well affects as far as physically and mentally, I can’t function for any useful period of time and I also have to avoid stress and such-like. So, you have aches and pains, and stomach problems as well can come into it, and also eyesight difficulty.
Danny: So has it affected all areas of your life would you say?
And the obligatory mention of the..........................
Lightning Process…
Danny: I am always wary about passing on tips and tricks, from others, but an emailer from Worthing, Denise, said earlier in her note that her daughter had M.E. from the time she was eleven, eventually had something called ‘The Lightning Process’.