I made a post in another thread regarding my experiences with aggressive rest therapy (ART). The venerable @Sasha remarked that it was an interesting account and may deserve a place in another thread so people can find it more easily.
When I first tried ART is was at the behest of my NHS physiotherapist (believe it or not) in preparation to slowly increase my activities level (GET - I knew you thought it was too good to be true). I was much better then than I am now, and I was doing 45 minutes of absolute rest followed by 15 minutes of gentle activity. It was insanely boring but I kept at it. After about two weeks I started to feel really awful. I got all sorts of new symptoms and my ME worsened considerably. At this point the aggressive rest became involuntary, but during that time my health condition was constantly shifting and changing, and after a few months my ME started to improve rapidly. I knew this was about to happen because I was constantly hungry.
Around 5 months after starting I had improved remarkably and started thinking I was invincible. As a result, I ended up chronically overdoing and drove myself into a horrendous two year crash that I am only just coming out of with the help of LDN. I tried aggressive rest during that time, but I was so sick that I could not physically rest enough as I still had to do things like brush my teeth and answer the call of nature. Fortunately I am now well enough to 'get behind' the ME as it were.
It is going to take a lot of willpower to do it again. It is really difficult. I think I may try to give it a go though as it is the only thing that I have ever felt was really healing. I will keep this thread updated if I can muster the strength of will to give it another proper go.
When I first tried ART is was at the behest of my NHS physiotherapist (believe it or not) in preparation to slowly increase my activities level (GET - I knew you thought it was too good to be true). I was much better then than I am now, and I was doing 45 minutes of absolute rest followed by 15 minutes of gentle activity. It was insanely boring but I kept at it. After about two weeks I started to feel really awful. I got all sorts of new symptoms and my ME worsened considerably. At this point the aggressive rest became involuntary, but during that time my health condition was constantly shifting and changing, and after a few months my ME started to improve rapidly. I knew this was about to happen because I was constantly hungry.
Around 5 months after starting I had improved remarkably and started thinking I was invincible. As a result, I ended up chronically overdoing and drove myself into a horrendous two year crash that I am only just coming out of with the help of LDN. I tried aggressive rest during that time, but I was so sick that I could not physically rest enough as I still had to do things like brush my teeth and answer the call of nature. Fortunately I am now well enough to 'get behind' the ME as it were.
It is going to take a lot of willpower to do it again. It is really difficult. I think I may try to give it a go though as it is the only thing that I have ever felt was really healing. I will keep this thread updated if I can muster the strength of will to give it another proper go.
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