PracticingAcceptance
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This is what the CFS specialist unit in St Heliers/ Sutton has to say on rest:
https://www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/chronic-fatigue-syndrome/?smbfolder=89
Scroll down and click the 'what is rest' PDF.
My backstory: ill for 15 months, diagnosed 8 months in, first specialist clinic appt 14 months in where they confirmed diagnosis and gave me info and an activity log worksheet.
Before I got ill, I was super productive, a social entrepreneur, and a community leader in my profession. I have never been very good at rest, and I used to suffer badly with anxiety and depression. I struggle with letting my mind go blank, unless it's blank because I've run out of energy.
The nurse at Sutton said I have to do more 'proactive' rest rather than 'reactive' rest - to pre-emptively rest, rather than rest because I have run out of energy. My rest was all reactive before.
Yesterday I started trying to make a habit of resting in the afternoon for 20 mins in one of the position in this PDF. The idea is to build more proper rest into my routine. I have been boom and busting, rather than resting too much.
Yesterday I kept bursting out into laughter when I was trying to rest... I think it was nerves! It felt so unnatural to be resting when I didn't need it. Eventually I got to a nice half-sleep mind-blank state. I didn't fall asleep because the timer was on for 20 mins. It was just right. I forced myself to wake up after that even though I really wanted to sleep.
Today, I really didn't want to rest, so I ended up tackling a big pile of washing up instead which is high level activity for me. And then - when I finally die lie down in a position from the sheet - I couldn't let go because I was TOO COMFORTABLE! Wtf? Why was it UNCOMFORTABLE to be comfortable? I tried for 10 mins but I felt too restless. I want to move, not rest.
I keep feeling that either way I'm buggered. I don't know what the right thing to do is - when I should rest, when I should move, and how much, and whose guidance I should listen to. I'm going to keep trying with this 20 mins daily rest experiment to see if it makes a difference.
But I need help. Do any of you relate to my experiences about being too comfortable, and not being able to let go? How do you overcome this?
Also, has it worked for any of you to rest in the way described in the CFS clinic pdf? What would you add or change in the PDF?
https://www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/chronic-fatigue-syndrome/?smbfolder=89
Scroll down and click the 'what is rest' PDF.
My backstory: ill for 15 months, diagnosed 8 months in, first specialist clinic appt 14 months in where they confirmed diagnosis and gave me info and an activity log worksheet.
Before I got ill, I was super productive, a social entrepreneur, and a community leader in my profession. I have never been very good at rest, and I used to suffer badly with anxiety and depression. I struggle with letting my mind go blank, unless it's blank because I've run out of energy.
The nurse at Sutton said I have to do more 'proactive' rest rather than 'reactive' rest - to pre-emptively rest, rather than rest because I have run out of energy. My rest was all reactive before.
Yesterday I started trying to make a habit of resting in the afternoon for 20 mins in one of the position in this PDF. The idea is to build more proper rest into my routine. I have been boom and busting, rather than resting too much.
Yesterday I kept bursting out into laughter when I was trying to rest... I think it was nerves! It felt so unnatural to be resting when I didn't need it. Eventually I got to a nice half-sleep mind-blank state. I didn't fall asleep because the timer was on for 20 mins. It was just right. I forced myself to wake up after that even though I really wanted to sleep.
Today, I really didn't want to rest, so I ended up tackling a big pile of washing up instead which is high level activity for me. And then - when I finally die lie down in a position from the sheet - I couldn't let go because I was TOO COMFORTABLE! Wtf? Why was it UNCOMFORTABLE to be comfortable? I tried for 10 mins but I felt too restless. I want to move, not rest.
I keep feeling that either way I'm buggered. I don't know what the right thing to do is - when I should rest, when I should move, and how much, and whose guidance I should listen to. I'm going to keep trying with this 20 mins daily rest experiment to see if it makes a difference.
But I need help. Do any of you relate to my experiences about being too comfortable, and not being able to let go? How do you overcome this?
Also, has it worked for any of you to rest in the way described in the CFS clinic pdf? What would you add or change in the PDF?