What’s the Alternative?

Many people worried about their reliance on medication start looking into alternative therapies so I wondered what others had tried so asked the Facebook groups.

'MH'  "I tried acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and Qigong. It obviously didn't cure me but I found them great help. It did take a couple of sessions before I felt any noticeable effects. I'd have carried on but sadly my doctor retired and I lost my access to acupuncture because they had a special arrangement allowing people with chronic pain to be treated on the NHS. I now pay for a massage whenever I can afford it. It helps ease the stiffness for a while, especially after work (I do two days a week). I'm very sore the day after but it's worth it because once that's gone I can move around a little easier".

'AR'  "I pay privately for acupuncture. I was very sceptical at first unsure if it would help. My clinic had assessed me and said it should help. For the first 6 weeks I went every week. I didn’t really notice any change at first. I then decided to have a two week break from it and go back in 3 weeks time to space out my appointments more and reduce the cost. After a week and a half I noticed a massive increase in rigidness around my neck muscles and a surge of extreme fatigue plus increased sacroiliac pain. This made me realise that ‘it must be doing something’! After my next appointment I decided to go every two weeks to see how I felt. This was five years ago! I’ve never looked back since. During a flare up or if I’m planning something special I’ll have a booster and go weekly or if I’m going on holiday I’ll go the week before and as soon as I return this helps to up my energy levels and reduce my pain and tiredness.It’s helped me massively. My sacroiliac pain would be unbearable without it. My Chronic fatigue is more manageable, my muscles around my neck are usually hard and this has helped them to soften which in turn helps me to relax. I also suffer with an irritable  bladder and have frequent UTI, acupuncture has helped with this reducing its frequency and it has also helped me to empty my bladder fully. Give it a try - like me persevere a little while you will notice it’s positive effects".

'RH'  "Tens machine, essential oils but just for relaxing, yoga for stretching".

'BB'  "I'd recommend mindfulness and meditation".

'HW' "I tried TENS machine but it actually made me worse so I have avoided it ever since. I'm not sure guided meditation works for me as I struggle to keep awake through it. I find EFT and Mindfullness helpful".

'MM'  "Last summer BristolFM.E United Support Group took part in a mindfulness course which included sessions, meditations, habit releasers, poems, home practices and buddying up which was great and we had really good feedback:-

- Learning coping techniques, building a bond with others.

- Habit releaser, I sat in my garden with friends watching the sky, watching the birds

eating seed. A Red Admiral butterfly flying it landed on a chair leg. I got up and investigated it for ages, lost in the moment.

- Making true friends and being able to sit still.

- Meditations – being guided focused practice for me.

- Home practices because I could deal with my own emotions, so I didn’t have to worry about other

people judging me. the moment for me was the spider in the garden, I was thinking about all the elements that gets chucked at it but still manages to grow and do its thing which is what made me realise that I could come out of a shell, grow and flourish.

- People opening-up about what they are going through and sharing.

- I have many memorable moments on the course, one of my favourites was doing the habit

releasers, 'Spending Time with Nature' and Watching the Sky. A few of us spent time together during the week in different locations practicing the habit releasers and enjoying just being in the moment with each other and nature. It was Awesome, I have come to appreciate my garden so much during this course".

'KS' "I have tried many therapies, acupuncture worked well, TENS was good, reiki wasn't for me but I found Mindfulness very useful".

So have you tried alternative therapies, do they work for you? Drop into the Facebook groups and chat.

Helen Watts