Monthly Archive for February, 2007

Great progress in small stages

Published
by
Debra
on 28 February 2007
in Health
. Closed

I started the XBX exercise program in early February. I’m nearly at the top of the first chart!

If you haven’t heard of it, the program was devised in the 50s for the Canadian Air Force and is a 12 minute a day plan and a series of 10 exercises. One of my friends used it when preparing for a Himalayan trek as a teenager and says it helped the whole family get fit for the mountains.

I’m also keeping up with the 5 Tibetan Rites and it’s all going really well.

57-365

Today I had my first concrete thought about taking up running again.

I’m even running on the spot every day as part of my exercise programme. That’s unbelievable!

I’m not going to go and do anything foolish - though I do feel healthy enough to start a gentle running program, but even being able to contemplate it is a massive move forward.

If i keep on like this I really will be able to take up running again in the spring, which was my original plan.

By the clock

Published
by
Debra
on 27 February 2007
in Health
. Closed

A colleague told me about someone she knew who had chronic fatigue and was in a wheelchair. Recently though, she has established a routine, eating sleeping, getting up at set times every day.

Apparently, it’s helping.

58-365

I haven’t heard of this approach before, and while it doesn’t appeal to me, I can see why it might help some people. It might even help those with the worst symptoms most.

My mother had chronic fatigue for 14 years. She got it around six months before I did, and though I recovered in around 18 months, she never really got over it.

She used to drive me mad, because as soon as she began to feel better she’d overdo it and be back to square one, or worse.

I couldn’t begin to count the number of times she told me she was feeling better so she “cleaned the house and mowed the lawn”, “cleaned the windows and took the dog for a long walk” or “spent the day shopping and went out for a meal”.

She never knew when to stop.

I tried to coach her, discussing with her that though she might want to go to her the shops and do the ironing, it would be better to do one at a time, but somehow, though she knew it was true, in her heart she never got the message.

She never seemed to get the knack of listening to her body. But for people like her, a routine could take the place of that. There would be no getting up early to take advantage of extra energy, no staying up late to finish the ironing.

Now, while I’m feeling healthy, I hate the idea of forcing myself into a routine. But if you’re in a wheelchair, having breakfast at 8 am every day is going to be much less constraining than not having the strength to walk.