bertiedog
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For those of you who live in the UK, I don't know if you watched the BBC programme on Wednesday evening, 7 May at 9 pm. It was called "Vertigo Road Trip" and it filmed 5 sufferers with a severe phobia of heights. Professor Jennifer Wild from Oxford University was the expert who helped these people address their fears by exposing them to different situations which would trigger their phobia ranging from climbing a glass encased staircase of a high building in London to going to the top of the tallest building in the world which was in Dubai (I think).
What stood out for me (and yes I do have a phobia of heights as well as ME/CFS) was how she told the sufferers to IGNORE the signals being sent out by their bodies. Not to tune in to these feelings at all because they were just the flight and fight hormones kicking in and were unimportant. She got one of them to jump up and down on the spot when he mentioned he had very weak and wobbly legs.
This got me thinking about the Psychiatrist's approach to ME/CFS. I guess this is what they try and do when using a CBT approach and we would complain about our legs being unable to move anymore and our CNS would be screaming at us to stop what we were doing.
I can see that there might be some benefit in this type of approach if one was simply trying to calm the central nervous system which would be pouring adrenaline into our systems when doing something physical but I know myself if I use this type of approach when walking my dog in the park and I am not on a good day I will get so dizzy and probably panicky I would almost fall over and my body would be like lead for hours afterwards. (I am lucky in that I have an oxygen concentrator and this would probably eventually get me over it sometime later.)
Personally I have found it impossible to ignore those messages if I am just not good on a certain day but I do think that sort of approach can help if I am feeling stronger and my CNS starts to try and stop me from doing some exercise. Also I find that a low dose betablocker helps me a lot if I take it at least half an hour before going out for a walk or going shopping.
I think I suffer with the hyperPOTS syndrome so I might well be different from a lot of other ME/CFS sufferers. Also I am able to have exercise on most days, stuff like a bit of light shopping or walking my dog in the park. But all this changes if I have a virus or throat infection, then I really struggle to do anything physical and just have to rest.
What I wondered, are there studies which show what harm can be done to a ME/CFS sufferer who consistently ignores the signals their body is sending out because I would have thought one could end up much sicker.
Dr Wild's approach did work for these sufferers with a phobia of heights but I cannot see that it would cure a person with true ME/CFS in any shape or form.
Pam
What stood out for me (and yes I do have a phobia of heights as well as ME/CFS) was how she told the sufferers to IGNORE the signals being sent out by their bodies. Not to tune in to these feelings at all because they were just the flight and fight hormones kicking in and were unimportant. She got one of them to jump up and down on the spot when he mentioned he had very weak and wobbly legs.
This got me thinking about the Psychiatrist's approach to ME/CFS. I guess this is what they try and do when using a CBT approach and we would complain about our legs being unable to move anymore and our CNS would be screaming at us to stop what we were doing.
I can see that there might be some benefit in this type of approach if one was simply trying to calm the central nervous system which would be pouring adrenaline into our systems when doing something physical but I know myself if I use this type of approach when walking my dog in the park and I am not on a good day I will get so dizzy and probably panicky I would almost fall over and my body would be like lead for hours afterwards. (I am lucky in that I have an oxygen concentrator and this would probably eventually get me over it sometime later.)
Personally I have found it impossible to ignore those messages if I am just not good on a certain day but I do think that sort of approach can help if I am feeling stronger and my CNS starts to try and stop me from doing some exercise. Also I find that a low dose betablocker helps me a lot if I take it at least half an hour before going out for a walk or going shopping.
I think I suffer with the hyperPOTS syndrome so I might well be different from a lot of other ME/CFS sufferers. Also I am able to have exercise on most days, stuff like a bit of light shopping or walking my dog in the park. But all this changes if I have a virus or throat infection, then I really struggle to do anything physical and just have to rest.
What I wondered, are there studies which show what harm can be done to a ME/CFS sufferer who consistently ignores the signals their body is sending out because I would have thought one could end up much sicker.
Dr Wild's approach did work for these sufferers with a phobia of heights but I cannot see that it would cure a person with true ME/CFS in any shape or form.
Pam
