Aggressive Rest Therapy (ART)

[Strawberry]

A few years back, it seemed this was all the rage, and I haven’t heard anyone talk about it recently. My new doctor that has SEID can’t function without laying down 4 times per day.

I’m thinking of starting this again.

 

[Strawberry]

Just to update this thread, I tried aggressive rest therapy for two months but don’t feel it improved me. I have improved a bit, but I feel it has to do with other things I’ve added, not laying down for 20 minutes 4 times per day.

It worked well when I tried it 7 or 8 years ago, but not now. Maybe that was because I was still mild at that time. Mild people definitely should try it though. In my opinion.

 

[Martin aka paused||M.E.]

Just to update this thread, I tried aggressive rest therapy for two months but don’t feel it improved me. I have improved a bit, but I feel it has to do with other things I’ve added, not laying down for 20 minutes 4 times per day.

It worked well when I tried it 7 or 8 years ago, but not now. Maybe that was because I was still mild at that time. Mild people definitely should try it though. In my opinion.

I experienced every stage of this disease. Pacing is the best method not to get worse. But if you reach a tipping point of severeness, it won't make you better. It's like an exam in law studies. You start with an F (0 points) and can only try to make it better with knowledge (=therapies). But if you just make one failure you'll end up with an F again. We lawyers call that “system of frustration” and that perfectly relates to what I experience with ME.

 

[hapl808]

Pretty much same experience here. If I had rested like that when I was mild or moderate or just paced myself more carefully, I doubt I would have ended up on the more severe end of the scale. But doctors repeatedly told me there was no danger to pushing myself and perhaps unsurprisingly that led me to my current situation.

That said, I led a pretty busy life before and as we've mostly found out, figuring out how to pace yourself is quite difficult and your threshold changes daily. I usually only realized if I badly exceeded it within the next day or two. Then I would just have to wait and see if I recovered from the crash, or if that became the new normal.

 

[Judee]

Just to update this thread, I tried aggressive rest therapy for two months but don’t feel it improved me. I have improved a bit, but I feel it has to do with other things I’ve added, not laying down for 20 minutes 4 times per day.

It worked well when I tried it 7 or 8 years ago, but not now. Maybe that was because I was still mild at that time. Mild people definitely should try it though. In my opinion.

The disease is forcing me to rest more because there is no way to push through anything now but I don't think adding extra rest periods is improving anything.

So, you're probably correct. ART works better for those in the beginning stages of ME or when someone is still mild to moderate but maybe not for the more nearly severe among us unfortunately.

 

[Strawberry]

You start with an F (0 points) and can only try to make it better with knowledge (=therapies). But if you just make one failure you'll end up with an F again. We lawyers call that “system of frustration” and that perfectly relates to what I experience with ME.

I think I’m slowly going downhill with my GPA. (Grade point average). I believe I’m a C. You at least have improved from the F ( unable to post), but I wish you were at my level. Love that analogy though!

But doctors repeatedly told me there was no danger to pushing myself and perhaps unsurprisingly that led me to my current situation.

If only doctors cared! I was going to say knew, but my doctor watched me spiral down from “able to do anything but super sick daily.”

The disease is forcing me to rest more because there is no way to push through anything now but I don't think adding extra rest periods is improving anything.

I wonder if it would work for long haulers?

 

[Judee]

I wonder if it would work for long haulers?

I have heard that it can help long haulers and also newly ill ME/CFS people.

Maybe once all doctors "get the memo" (in my dreams) that exercise is not good for ME patients we will hear more stories of newly diagnosed people recovering spontaneously.

 

[Treeman]

I had to stop working 4 years ago and once I started to lay down more often I started to see a minor and slow improvement. I was on the sever end of moderate, now I'd say I'm possiblely in the middle of moderate. I possibly spend about 90% of the time laying down. However during the 4 years I've also taken some supplements/medications, but laying down just over a short period I can feel the benefits.

 

[carolynlp]

Pretty much same experience here. If I had rested like that when I was mild or moderate or just paced myself more carefully, I doubt I would have ended up on the more severe end of the scale. But doctors repeatedly told me there was no danger to pushing myself and perhaps unsurprisingly that led me to my current situation.

That said, I led a pretty busy life before and as we've mostly found out, figuring out how to pace yourself is quite difficult and your threshold changes daily. I usually only realized if I badly exceeded it within the next day or two. Then I would just have to wait and see if I recovered from the crash, or if that became the new normal.

I couldn't agree more with your experience, as it also describes me. For most of the time I've had ME/CFS, I did not realize the destructive effects of pushing myself; now I am so much worse than I was 3 years ago.

Interestingly, when I had the initial virus that triggered my ME/CFS (2014), I pushed myself hard to meet "obligations" while I was still quite sick; as a consequence, I never got well.

 

[carolynlp]

The disease is forcing me to rest more because there is no way to push through anything now but I don't think adding extra rest periods is improving anything.

So, you're probably correct. ART works better for those in the beginning stages of ME or when someone is still mild to moderate but maybe not for the more nearly severe among us unfortunately.

Agreed. I have gone from moderate to severe-moderate, but practicing ART does seem to have arrested my decline.