Reverse Therapy for CFS/ME/FM

Finally, I've given up

2005-12-07T17:24:00.000Z

So, during the past couple of months, I've been up and down. Mostly down. In fact, I've been progressively getting worse and a couple of weeks ago I told David I could no longer carry on the therapy sessions - my life was too full of pain to deal with 'other' stuff.

So, that's it I'm afraid. To date RT hasn't helped me but I know David Mickel would want me to say that that's because I didn't give it enough time. But, I think 9 months is enough.

I hope my blog has been helpful to someone out there.

Adam.

The week after

2005-10-05T17:26:00.000+01:00

So, my meeting with David went very well, apart from forgetting the address! (I had just printed out a map). Nevertheless I enjoyed our meeting. Basically blueprints are patterns of behaviour that recur over and over again, and 'keys' are needed to unlock them and set them free. So David outlined what my keys were and now the MT process for me is slightly different (concentrating on the keys rather than anything else).

So how am I a week on? Well, exactly the same unfortunately. I don't beleive the keys 'match' me as well as David expected and I reckon he'll come up with some good suggestions upon recipt of my MT diary.

For those considering visiting David, I can recommend this B&B as it was only £30 for the night. And not too far from where David practices (a 10 min walk away depending on your strength). If you fly up, as I did go for Easyjet, it was only £50 from Stansted return. Also take the bus to Haymarket from the airport and it can take you right to the hotel (2 min walk).

My impending appointment with David Mickel

2005-09-26T10:30:00.000+01:00

About two months ago David recommended that we see each other face to face as he believes that this form of communication (rather than email) will be far better for me. David wants to discuss 'Blueprints' with me, as he reckons its these things that are impeding my recovery. I'm not exactly sure what Blueprints are but from the context of our emails I think they are deeply ingrained patterns of behaviour.

So, my appointment is tomorrow. Its a big step for me, Scotland is a quite some distance away, but I do believe in the background of MT and so want to give this my all. I think that if this doesn't get me better then its time to give up on MT.

Oh, and my health now after doing too much a month ago? No change. Massive pains in my legs even if I do the slightest bit of walking (2/3 minutes). Here's hoping David will be able to suggest some magic.

Pacing

2005-09-05T18:23:00.000+01:00

A week last Thursday I did too much physically. I had planned to visit my sister the other side of the country the following day. If I hadn't gone I would have noticed through my normal routine that I should do less and as I didn't have anything in particular to 'do' that would have been straightforward. However, I went to my sisters and I wasn't in my normal surroundings, or having my usual 'body protective' thoughts. On the Friday my muscles really ached. I should have stayed in bed and done very little to let my muscles recover. However, I was taken away by my adventure to visit my sister. I wasn't overly active, just as active as I 'normally' am. However, this was far too much for someone getting over doing too much for one day. I spent the weekend with my sister doing 'enjoyable activities' and unfortunately I'm paying dearly for not resting. For a few days I was in a lot of intense pain, and now I can just about walk for 3 or 4 minutes without having to sit down for a break. Its very uncomfortable to do anything physical. And unfortunately my life is now very uncomfortable. So this is my warning to those people who are told to 'dump' pacing. I know we are all different, and that might work very well for others, but people, just be careful.

Its nearly two weeks now since the initial over doing it day, and I'm really scared I've done some kind of damage to myself, that I won't get back to my 'normal' level of [poor] health. I normally recover in a few days. So I'm scared and worried. I'm now just trying to do as little as possible, hoping my muscles will repair themselves, but there's been no change this past week. Updates to come for sure.

Discussing the therapy

2005-08-02T00:25:00.000+01:00

I though others may find this extract to a reply I sent to a blog reader useful:

When I started MT I was told not to discuss what goes on in my sessions with anyone, and if I did it would hamper my progress. I reasoned that this was because discussing it would inevitably involve 'head-mind' and the person one discusses it with is probably going to want to use head-mind to understand the process. After a few weeks worrying about this and keeping quiet about MT, I realised it was more of a hamper to my development to not discuss it rather than to discuss it. Understanding why Mickel Therapists don't want clients to talk about the sessions I then made sure that if I did talk about it I would not get analytical about it, and if the person was heavily heading down that route I would simply stop the conversation, and say now was not the time. I've got some very open minded friends and talking about MT with them has certainly helped.

Week 15 - Trying...

2005-07-26T20:12:00.000+01:00

Received David's replies over the weekend. He really is trying his very best to help me, and what he writes makes a lot of sense. However this email discussion makes progress in understanding what I need to do very s l o w. He is a busy person and it takes a while for him to write back to my mails. He did mention that he may be visiting my part of the country at some point so that may be on the cards to speed things up.

So, I'm still at my brick wall with regards to actions. I hope that the pending replies from my emails will throw some light onto this.

Blog email updates

2005-07-08T00:30:00.000+01:00

For those of you that follow my blog I thought it might be good to have alerts via email when this blog gets updated, rather than you having to check every week or so. A Google search for this kind of thing came up with http://www.blogarithm.com

If you would like to try it out, I've added a useful subscription box to the right hand side of this page underneath all the links. Just enter your email address and you'll get alerts when this page gets updated.

Week 13 - stuck again

2005-07-07T23:28:00.000+01:00

With my new found knowledge of Mickel Reverse Therapy (MRT) I've been noticing the same old hindrances: That I can't find an action that will resolve the emotion, either because I draw a blank or because the 'ideal world' solution just wouldn't work because of my life situation (e.g. like getting a new job). So I'm feeling disheartened and upset. I really do believe in the theory but something seems to be amiss. I'm wondering if one possible problem is that I'm unable to dissolve my 'chemical memories'/'state dependent memories'. Perhaps they are deeper ingrained than previously thought. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place (I've got a fair amount of life 'stuff' that could be these kind of chemical memories which help trigger symptoms). In fact, I wonder whether its because I have a comprehensive list of these that I'm a 'difficult case' and MRT doesn't seem to be working for me.

I'm also wondering if the sporadic nature of my email conversation with David isn't helping the situation. I emailed him a couple of days ago with a 'hello?' email asking politely if I had been forgotten about or if he was too busy (I emailed him with queries about his comments two weeks ago). He emailed back within a day saying he was very busy at present but would get back to me at the end of the week. I just hope we can get moving somewhere.

On a slightly more positive note, a blog viewer recommended I read John Eaton's book on Reverse Therapy. I must say, John's book is very comprehensive and if you're at all confused about the theory of 'Reverse Therapy' then this is well worth a read.

Week 11 - Starting to actually understand the process

2005-06-23T22:23:00.000+01:00

David commented on my weeks worth of MRT diary which proved to be very helpful. I've leant some important and yet very subtle aspects of MRT which I've already noticed has helped me to get closer to the aim of writing the MRT diary. Its probably easiest if I explain the process as how I do it:

1) Practice mindfulness of my emotions and my symptoms and any correlation between the two - I'm now (most of the time) able to spot exactly when my fuzzy head increases and then I look into myself, and most importantly, without analysis or head work, I gauge how I was feeling a moment before the fuzz increased. When it seems that I know what I'm feeling, I start again, letting go of my ever so analytical mind, until I can feel how I'm feeling.

2) Try and feel what how my true self would have preferred the situation to have gone. Do this a few times until a situation makes sense or 'resonates'.

3) Do what I feel my true self wants (if I can).

4) Note if the symptoms changed.

The big hurdles I'm coming across is that usually I'm unable to do what my trueself wants, however, in my weeks worth of MRT notes this could have been down to me getting the wrong emotion to start with. However, I've been practicing what I've learnt recently and still there are things which I'm really not sure what to do about. I'm hoping that David will be able to answer these questions as he has done my last section of MRT diary.

This is a difficult process, but its possible and it has certainly helped me in finding out more about my emotional self - much more than any other methods I have tried in the past, weather that be meditation, person-centred therapy or thinking about emotions and where they are going and coming from. Even if MRT doesn't cure me of CFS, I have learnt a lot about ingrained patterns of emotions and possibly how to start to address those.

Talking of the effect of MRT, I have noticed over the last week a slight, but noticeable increase in physical energy. This may be a 'blip' which I've had before, this maybe due to the nice weather, or, just perhaps (I hope) this is down to the correct practice of MRT. I still practice the 'energy bank' ethos, even if I have more energy I never withdraw it all, always having some in reserve - this way if life happens to me and I need to expend some extra energy for some reason I don't end up doing myself an injustice and wiping myself out for a few days. There's a great story of this method written by a Lupus suffer. However I learnt the method from Better Recovery From Viral Illnesses which is a great book on pacing, even though it doesn't call the process pacing.

I do believe in continuing my usual CFS management whilst doing MRT. As my symptoms hopefully dissipate I'll then slowly try and do more. In my experience with my local MRT therapist and the experience of a reader of this blog working with a RT practitioner, this isn't exactly how MRT/RT recommends what a sufferer does, probably because they advocate not being scared of trying things the sufferer haven't done for ages. However I believe that as the sufferer is being very body aware because of the process within therapy, they should be able to decide for themselves what is and isn't possible. I'm sure that the body needs time to adjust to the fact that it is being listened to again. Therefore, I'm currently practicing a mix of the usual CFS management and the reverse therapy approach.

I know I've still yet to learn the MRT practice fully as within my MRT diary there are many unanswered questions. Here's hoping I can learn and that the knowledge helps me.

Week 9 - Getting help

2005-06-07T13:09:00.000+01:00

David wrote back recommending that he takes over my Mickel Reverse Therapy via email, which is wonderful as I'll be getting the therapy straight from the horses mouth. I don't believe that the format of the therapy will be an issue as its not really psychotherapy that we are dealing with (where non-verbal communication is very important) but the process is much more about me getting to understand the therapy and how I can apply it. I assume he could see that MRT wasn't working with my local therapist and saw that I was soon to quit and that he wanted to help. The feedback I got from my initial emails was very informative. The most important thing I learnt was that the MRT diary should be written as soon as symptoms occur, not just when I finished whatever I was doing. This has helped a lot to find the e-motional state I was in for that situation. I'm still however having great difficulties in finding the corresponding action that my body/true self would like, which is quite frustrating. He asked me to send him a weeks worth of MRT diary (which is now much more comprehensive because of his feedback) and I'm currently in the process of typing it out.

Week VII: A new hope

2005-05-24T23:07:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the Star Wars pun. I couldn't help it.

A reader of this blog recently emailed me and suggested it may be a good idea to contact David Mickel and tell him my concerns to see if he had a fresh perspective. I'm glad I did as David has asked me to send him three days worth of MRT diary. I stopped writing in my diary since my last MRT session as I believed nothing was coming from it (as my therapist agreed with me that no specific action beings about symptoms, they all do) so I've started a fresh with my MRT diary and hope what I send David in a few days will spark some more ideas to work with. Seing as David must be the guru of MRT I can safely say to myself I'm giving this the best crack that I can.

Week 6 - Nearing the end of the road for MRT?

2005-05-19T18:22:00.000+01:00

At my last session the concluding aim was to develop more fulfilling activities for myself whilst carrying on doing the activities in my life where my symptoms progress at a slower rate. As there is a background level of symptoms where no specific activity gives rise to a significant increase of symptoms there must be something in my life that needs 'sorting out'.

The trouble is, as I think I've said before, I really don't think there is that much to sort out. I'm a balanced, mentally healthy person, with friends, a partner, a roof over my head, a job (albeit part time and not terribly satisfying) and enough money to have the occasional luxury, like going away to visit a friend for the weekend.

I'm looking at what I can do about my lack of fervour for my job and career. When I cast my mind forward to an age old myself, lying on my death bed thinking of what I made of my life, I do agree with the theory that I would rather be doing something else with the majority of my life. So yes, I'm looking into a part time course for that alternative career. However its 16 hours a week and I'm really not sure if I can manage that on top of work. Perhaps it'll be the magic bullet and I'll start getting better and so I'll be able to do more, but it does seem like a large emotional risk and I don't beleive in magic bullets. The let down of having to give the course up because of my illness is a large deterrent. However, as my therapist says, its better to think less of your life in terms of what your health allows you to do and more in terms of what you would like to do. Easy to say, perhaps difficult to do, but I think I'll still give it a go. The fear is the loss of the money for a term or two and the emotional heartache of failure.

One positive thing that's happened over the last couple of weeks is that the rise of anger within me has subsided quite a lot. This correlates with me not keeping up my Reverse Therapy (RT) symptom diary as no specific activities were exacerbating my symptoms - all activities were! I believe that the extra 'analysis' of my life, my lack of ability to do the things I used to do was a cause for the anger. One could throw in other theories that the anger was rooted somewhere else, for example childhood 'stuff', and that the extra time spent on looking at my current unfortunate circumstances was a catalyst for the anger rather than a cause. However I've 'done' conventional (person centered) therapy and the conclusion was that the bad stuff that happened to me as a kid isn't really affecting me any more. Its more like a bad taste in the mouth rather than a blow to the head, if you'll pardon my poor analogy.

So, I fear that I may be coming to the end of the road with Mickel Reverse Therapy. The main theory about watching the symptoms and seeing what activities correspond to them doesn't seem to apply to me and I don't have that much scope for improving my life, or rather changing things that are not fulfilling. I have taken up the philosophy to do things only if I want to, and to try to be less of a 'yes' person, however the only thing that I think I can significantly do is the Open University course. That will for sure tell my body/true self I'm heading in the direction where by I'll be working in a role that I will find more fulfilling. However the course doesn't start 'till September and I have no idea how long I'll be able to keep the course up for.

After my last session I knew I had a few more long standing things to muse upon, like researching courses and taking a close look at my life and seeing what fulfilling activities I could concentrate on, so I delayed my next session for a month instead of a fortnight. So, when I next see the therapist in two weeks I'll talk about these worries and see what comes up. It may be my last session. If so, I'll still keep up with this blog, although the entries are likely to have more time between them.

Psychology & Health

2005-05-14T10:49:00.000+01:00

I thought those less news group savvy readers might like to see a posting I made to uk.people.support.cfs-me recently. The message is in response to a someone who was (understandably) very concerned with people addressing CFS as a pschological illness, which was a response to a BBC article about a woman recovering from CFS using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy:

"I completely agree with you that CFS is a physical illness, I have serious physical symptoms that debilitate my life. However I'm open to the suggestion that the mind plays a part in our health. I've tried nearly every physically oriented thing possible to get be better, and now, I'm taking a close look at my self and trying to see what things could change to improve my health. I wouldn't strictly say I'm looking at the mental aspects or psychological aspects of myself as there are no hard and fast current models. I'm much more comfortable in using the terms 'true self' or 'soul' instead of 'psychological'. However, there is some research to suggest that there is a link between type C personalities and health.

Unfortunately not everything is on the web - here is a book chapter that has been suggested to me (which I haven't read yet) that points in this direction.

Title: Personality and health: Dispositions and processes in disease
susceptibility and adaptation to illness
Source: In: Pervin, Lawrence A.; Ed; Handbook of personality: Theory and
research.; 638-669; New York, NY, US, 1990, xiv, 738
Author(s): Contrada, Richard J. ; Leventhal, Howard ; O'Leary, Ann
Standard No: ISBN: 0-89862-430-4 (hardcover)

However, saying that, a Google search on type C personalities and health brought up a book review. Which when taken with the usual internet pinch of salt does make good skim reading, where actually, the book synopsis makes better reading.

I've discovered recently that I thought I was less of a type C personality that I actually am. I'm now trying to figure out the best way I can creatively respond to my personality type, my conditioning and my current life. I'm hoping that this will lead to better health."

More e-motions

2005-05-05T23:34:00.000+01:00

One unfortunate side effect of the therapy is that I've becoming increasingly frustrated with my illness, less pure acceptance and more wanting to change, but so far, not being able to. And I've also become a bit more emotional to (not that I'm an unemotional creature to start with), realising that much of how I (used to) deal with difficult feelings is to suck them in and not truly see them, not deal with them and process them with my mind to dissolve them. I'm now trying to feel more, but going through a process of learning how best to creatively deal with those feelings. If RT doesn't work, at least I have learnt this, which is surely an important realisation about myself.

Week 4 - what do I want to do?

2005-05-05T22:49:00.000+01:00

The main Mickel Reverse Therapy (RT) process is to wait for the symptoms, read the message (a feeling), and then stay with that feeling, not trying to be analytical, and sensing what would be the best action for one to do. Unfortunately with nearly all of the situations which I noted in my exercise book that give rise to symptoms I didn't have any obvious or even semi-obvious actions to take, and if there were actions, they were impossible because I was ill!

As it turns out, my therapist reckons, and I agree, that most of my symptoms/messages are 'background' symptoms, because I get them (fuzzy head/achy body) whatever I do - a by product of Hypothalamitis, and that there must be something(s) generally in my life, which my body/true self is unhappy about. My task now is to work out what that is, I have inklings, but its difficult. As I'm terribly analytical, my heart speaks, and my mind jumps in a millisecond later, I've got to try and trust my heart and see where it takes me. Something for me, which is very scary.

The therapist did suggest that an area to look at is what was going on in my life before I became ill. The most obvious factor was my unhappiness, or itchy feet, with my career. I was ok with it, but I didn't want to progress any further with it, it was comfortable and I stuck with it, when perhaps, my true self didn't want to, and the little ol' mind was saying 'yes, but just stick with it, things could be worse'. In fact prior to becoming ill I was doing lots more thinking about career changes reading What Colour is Your Parachute etc, whilst being afraid of making a mistake, of taking a risk (something which I realise I rarely do - everything must be calculated and as safe a decision as possible!). I had even started to do some voluntary work in the sector I was interested in, but it was too late, I became ill a few days before the training.

So great, that's what I need to do, change career - easier said than done for someone just holding down part time work. However, the therapist helped me look at my position with less black & white thinking. Less "I'm ill, I can't do that" and more "I'll try that, it may help me improve". With this in mind I'm exploring the option of taking a part time Open University course. It'll be tough, no doubt, but it is within the realms of possibility for me to fit it in. Other things in my life will have to slide away, I wound have to spend less time on one of my favourite hobbies and perhaps less time fiddling around on the web! If I try the course for a year and it helps then that's great, if I try it and I can't do it then hey, I can say I tried to do what I thought, or even felt, was the best thing for me, and I'll try something else next, whatever that may be. The theory (hope) is that the body/true self will see that I am listening to it again, and in doing so the body will lessen the messages (symptoms) to me.

I'll leave you with a good quote from my therapist:
"Now progress gradually with the things you want to be doing that lead to a fulfilling life."

Week 3 - frustration

2005-05-02T21:58:00.000+01:00

I've got the hang of working out what I think my symptoms are trying to tell me. I'm now becoming frustrated with not being able to find out the right action for these body (true self) messages.

I have learnt a thing or two about myself from the process of writing down where I am and how it is effecting me emotionally. I've become much more aware of my emotional workings, and I actually thought I had a fairly good handle on this already! Dealing with this new found knowledge has proved to be a little tricky, but I reckon I'm lucky enough to have a good body of self-awareness to be able to think, - but not too much ;-) - about what's going on with me, and learn, understand and change for the better.

So far, still no improvement on my symptoms. Although an RT therapist may not be surprised as I still haven't found out how I can 'action' the messages my body is giving me. Oh well! I haven't given up yet!

Week 2 - aha...

2005-04-22T19:41:00.000+01:00

I understood much more about the process of Mickel Reverse Therapy (RT) in my second session a couple of days ago. The non-events of the first weeks exercises helped the therapist explain to me the direction I should be going in. The 'ah ha' moment for me was realising that the messages that the body is telling me as symptoms is actually telling me, if I stop and get a good felt sense, that I want to do something else than I am doing, that I want to say something where I normally keep quiet. In one sense, I feel like I've been living a lie, a lot of the time, to my true-self (body) for many many years. Trying to control my life and do what seems 'best', instead of doing what seems right, or rather, true, to myself. Whilst day dreaming after the session I got jealous of 'hippy types' who don't care too much (or don't seem to) and live life, as they see fit. From an external perspective this can seem reckless or perhaps selfish - there's got to be a happy medium there somewhere.

The concept of keeping a greater eye on my feeling tones when my symptoms get worse is a challenge for me as I'm quite analytical in my nature, and its hard to not go into psychoanalytic mode when I stumble across a feeling I didn't realise I had. However, I shall try and try!

This week the therapist recommended I do things (to a lesser extent of course) that I love doing but haven't done for ages because of my illness - a slightly controversial statement - I'm not doing those things because the illness prevents them! However, the philosophy is to let the body (true self) build the confidence to believe it can do these things. I think its all to do with the process of getting me back to normality as much as I can within my current limitations, and that being a catalyst for my body to return to its normal self.

I'm writing in my RT 'diary' every day. I'm still not doing it 'right' as I can't seem to find the answers to the exercises, i.e. find out what the messages (symptoms) actually are trying to tell me. So, like last session, I'll get it 'wrong' (less wring this time though) for a couple of weeks and begin another iteration.

I am hopefully, but I do have doubt. Two years of suffering and trying so many things does put a dark cloud over me. RT makes sense, but I'm two weeks in and seen no positive effect on symptoms, and I fear that I just am unable to do the things that RT sets out to do. Either because my CFS sub-type doesn't fit RT, or my conditioning as a person makes it too difficult to carry out RT.

Negativity aside, I do want to work, and mostly believe in the theory. I tell myself if I try as hard as I can, then that is the best I can do.

Week 1 - e-motions

2005-04-12T22:55:00.000+01:00

So far nothing spectacular has happened, but yes its early days. Its worth mentioning that three days after my initial appointment I had a worsening of symptoms for four days, that is, I felt like I had 'the flu'. It was strange as I had only had this 'flu type' once before a couple of weeks ago - dizzy, slightly nauseous, significantly more brain fog and weaker. Before Mickel Reverse Therapy (RT) I would have thought that I picked up a bug as I hadn't over done it on the days before hand. However, the RT model would describe this as an exacerbation of the inflammation of the hypothalamus, which could make sense as nobody around me is ill. It's difficult to reason really on the cause, but I'll give the RT perspective as much consideration as other theories. The RT perspective could match up as I've had a fairly emotional week, and as RT says, e-motions are 'energy in motion'. So it could be that things being stirred up have affected the hypothalamus. Also, a couple of weeks ago, before my first session of RT I had a similar pattern occur, i.e. an emotional few days followed by the same symptoms. This could be co-incidence, or could be something worth investigating, anyway I'll mention it to the RT therapist.

On a different note, Reverse Therapy is a talking based therapy but claims not to be psychotherapy. I doubted this for a while, but then looking up the dictionary definition for psychotherapy being:

"the treatment of mental or emotional problems by psychological means"

It makes sense for RT not to describe the therapy as psychotherapy, as RT aims to....

treat physiological problems by psychological means

Something for you to ponder on.

The day after the first session

2005-04-07T22:05:00.000+01:00

I won't be able to discuss the ins out outs of what happens in the session itself as the therapist strongly encourages clients not to discuss what goes on within that hour. Reverse Therapy submits that analysing the therapy session further with third parties actually deters from what the client is trying to achieve, that is, listening to the mind-body (not the mind-mind). This reminded me somewhat of the work of Eugene T. Gendlin and focusing, this book is a very good introduction to getting more in touch with what the body can tell you about your state of being.

Anyway, back to the session. So, I want to follow Mickel Reverse Therapy's (RT) guidelines as much as possible as I want to do this 'right', so until I'm 'cured', or until I give up on RT, I'll keep what goes on within the session to myself. However, I don't think writing a blog should matter that much, it is much the same as writing in a diary. The only difference is that the world can see my diary! I don't plan to discuss this with anyone who reads the blog until the right time. Nevertheless, I'll try and allude to some general things to help people understand RT better and allow them to make a more informed choice about whether to take it up for themselves.

So, during the session the therapist summarised the theory of Hypothalamusitis that is within Dr David Mickel's book. We then went on to discuss what was going on in my life prior to me becoming ill. From there the therapist provided me with a 'Message' that I tell myself that in simple terms, rejoins the mind and the body. As the therapist says, it's simple, and it did seem very simple, almost too simple, but that could be my strong cynical side coming out. So disbelief is present but put to the side whilst I give RT as best as a go as I can. I left with some straightforward exercises to do and the partings words that only I can make RT work, thinking back, it would have been nice if the words wore we can make RT work.

At the end of the session I asked the therapist a fairly controversial question - 'Why is Reverse Therapy so expensive?' the answer was fairly obvious - a percentage of each session goes towards David Mickel, as he oversees each session, so his time needs to be paid for, and then there is the room. I expressed my discomfort with it, and that I would expect to pay that (and maybe more) for a Dr. with 20 years experience and 10 years of medical training, but not someone with a year or two's training with a year or two's experience. Nevertheless, I accept her answer and paid without complaining further.

I pressed the therapist to say how many sessions I should have before I should see improvements. Six sessions were a good amount the therapist said, and I should see something before that. So, six sessions fortnightly, or possible every three weeks gives me 3-4 months to try RT. However, I believe I'm doing a lot of the RT already (through a good deal of self-development over the last two years) - I may simply need some fine tuning on my direction, so I would expect things to happen maybe after 3 or 4 sessions. I'll get concerned if there is no effect after that.

So, over the next two weeks, before my second session, I'll be carrying out the exercises and hoping something begins to shift.

The night before my first appointment

2005-04-04T23:08:00.000+01:00

Well, I've set this blog up to record my experiences of Mickel Reverse Therapy. I want to add to the knowledge out there on the web. In essence, Reverse Therapy is a new, fairly contraversial, alternative, expensive, talk-based therapy (that isn't psychotherapy) for CFS/ME/FM that has high claims. What it does do is make intuitive sense though for me as its philisophy is based upon CFS being caused by a skewed mind-body link. So, I've decided to use the last bit of my savings and try the therapy out. It may not work and I'll have wasted a wodge of cash. But then again, I beleive there is a fair chance it will work. So I've taken the risk. In fact, I couldn't not do it as I would always be thinking 'what if'. After all, money is there to be spent.

For more info about Reverse Therapy (RT) checkout the following:

This is the main web site of Reverse Therapy that I am going for: http://www.mickelreversetherapy.com/

The 'information pack' at the bottom left has all the high-level info you'll need from them.

The guy heading this one 'split up' from his business/therapy partner who also runs this web site: http://www.reverse-therapy.com/index.html

Likewise, they have their information pack, which can fill a few gaps of the above one.

My feeling is that they are the same therapy, just from different organisations, perhaps will a few insignificant differences.

Here is the story of a person who benefited from Reverse Therapy: http://www.beatcfs.info/reverse1.htm

And a person who Reverse Therapy (John Eaton's version) didn't work for: http://www.menotalone.com/. As of July 2005, this link no longer functions, however, you can read Google's cache of the web page. When that dies you can access the Internet Archives version of the person's last entry in 2004, things were still going well for her then (see the lack of archive for 2005).

This page has a some info and a reply from the founder of Reverse Therapy when given tough questions from Dr Charles Shepherd (a CFS expert): http://www.meassociation.org.uk/furth_treat.htm

There may be times where I don't go into much detail as things could get fairly personal. Also RT recommends that 'stuff' isn't analysed too much as it can impede the therapy, so I may not ruminate as much as I would normally do. That's it for now....