Rowan Williams Archbishop of Canterbury reported in the Telegraph has said that: “The Child Abuse scandal has left the Catholic Church with no credibility.”

The Telegraph 3rd April 2010

I think the Roman Catholic church has not had any credibility since its inception.  As an Ex-Catholic myself I feel particularly angry with The Roman Catholic church and their appalling arrogance that brings the christian belief into disrepute.

The point of Jesus’s arrival and all His preaching was to release the populace, so encased in Rules, from Rules.  The Roman Empire adopted the christian views and controlled them by creating more Rules.  And so more and more Religions (Rules) were born.

Perhaps now the ludicrousness of the rules of religions will be exposed and every person will be free as Jesus intended to think for themselves.

Because we are all born with the knowledge of who God is and that knowledge is suppressed and confused by the Rules.

Did you adopt a child who looks like Maddy McCann?

Do you know someone who has adopted a child who looks like Maddy?

Do the right thing, tell the Authorities.

Maddy’s parents, sister, brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends are not the only people suffering with their intense loss, Maddy is too.  Maddy misses her mummy and daddy, her brother and sister, her family and friends.

You are a good and kind person who wants to love a child, but you were given the wrong child, it is not your fault.  Be good and be kind, you know you want to do the right thing and tell the Authorities.  Do it today.

You can call the Crime Stoppers number on the poster below and take Maddy to the nearest police station or hospital or British Embassy and leave her with an Official.  Please do this, please allow Maddy to go home.

You will then be at peace in your mind and your soul knowing that at last you have restored Maddy to her rightful family.  Thank you so much.

Maddy McCann

The sultry tones of Marlene Dietrich hum through my conscience while I am pondering on another article.

The word that intrigues me is ‘falling’.

I see myself literally losing balance, falling over, falling off something, floating through the air and not crashing into anything, a sense of letting go and allowing myself to rest in someone else and trust them completely.

Wow.  Amazing.

Ah yes it is that first love feeling.  That dizzy euphoria of mutual attraction, a confirmation of opinions about ourselves and themselves.  A simple I like you and You like me wonderment.  An agreement.  It is so powerful.

And then CRASH.  We destroy it.  We doubt our decisions.  We criticise and we judge.  You do something I don’t like.  Should I trust you?

Yes.  You should.

Yes.  Trust your initial feelings.  Fall in love with the person you are with again.  Fall.  Let go.  You are safe.

What constitutes safe?

These types of words: warmth, comfort, happiness, caring, consideration, kindness, toleration, encouragement, peace, safety, security, nourishment.

If you can put the words: Do you give me, in front of all or some of the words: warmth, comfort, happiness, caring, consideration, kindness, toleration, consideration, peace, safety, nourishment then you are safe to fall in love.

If you have some or all of these types of words in your relationship: violence, unhappiness, uncaring, cruelty, lack of peace, insecurity in your relationship then you are not safe to fall and some type of counselling or guidance may be required on what to do with your relationship.  Love supports, it carries, it doesn’t drop you.

Don’t you think?

Winner of Guitar Rig Hero Contest by Jamye Gutierrez

Click here: Loop Soup

The link is from You Tube, it is brilliant and must be watched!

Such a clever boy! So talented!

The articles are mainly about my journey with ME so perhaps interesting to those who may be interested!
I just also wanted to repeat the thought and that is that someone knows where Maddy McCann is and not only that but someone knows that someone who knows where she is.
I just feel that the more media exposure Maddy gets, the more someone’s conscience will be triggered to reveal her whereabouts to the McCanns.
I feel so helpless and can only pray to the God I trust and believe in that He will trigger the conscience of the person who knows where Maddy is to tell the McCanns. I pray to the Lord to reveal the truth. I pray to the Lord to use His angels to protect Maddy and to encourage those who know where she is, to tell the McCanns. God forgives our mistakes as soon as we admit them. The mistake isn’t the problem, not admitting it is.

Please if you know anything, tell the McCanns, you don’t have to tell them who you are. Click here: http://www.findmadeleine.com/index.html

http://www.mariannegutierrez.co.uk/

Someone knows where she is.

And someone knows that someone who knows where she is.

Be brave, be strong, click here Find Madeleine and anonymously tell the McCanns where she can be found.

One continually wonders how one gets CFS/ME apart from going through all the known hypothesis, is it also feeling guilty about things one has no business to feel guilty about? Or does being ill cause the guilt complex to overwork?

So because I feel so guilty unless I am over 100% honest with you all, I will tell you how I feel today.

Lousy.

I was travelling along my feeling better route quite happily a few weeks ago ( see: How I feel now ) and looking forward to increasing my work load and getting off benefits who are driving me mad with their thirst to know about every penny I earn. I have to submit ‘figures’ to them twice a year I think it is although it feels like 6 times a year – all because I was earning £20 a week; when disaster struck in the form of an emotional upset that sent me reeling back to my childhood and hot-foot to a Counsellor to finally sort whatever it is in my past that can trigger an episode such as this.

Had the incident uncovered something that is the final chapter to my particular journey with CFS/ME? Was this the scab that was being painfully lifted?

3 weeks since the incident that sent me reeling I still feel lousy. I have cancelled my Perrin treatments which is possibly foolish but I can’t face the treatment because it is personal and I feel too exposed.

What I think has happened is that the incident has lowered my immune status further causing me to succumb to two infections currently doing the rounds in this area which caused further weakness.

The incident causing me stress also depleted my calcium status and one of the illnesses I succumbed to – diarrhea further depleted the calcium which left me with heart palpitations, anxiousness, distrubed sleep, emotional, and muscle cramps.

As i wasn’t feeling well I kept forgetting to take my calcium and fish oils and having cancelled my Perrin Treatment I was feeling worse and worse. Whereas before I could tolerate the odd slice of bread and some butter, I was now becoming very ill with the tiniest allergen – fever, terrible aches and pains, feeling irrational and needing the loo urgently every hour.

Does this mean that I think the Perrin Treatment isn’t working?
Does all this mean that I am thinking a psychological approach is required to heal CFS/ME?

Well no. I don’t think that. It is a fact that stress depletes nutrients including calcium. Or to put it another way, the stress reaction requires nutrients and if they are not available in the food or floating around in the blood, they are robbed from other areas of the body – the gut and the bones.

Just before ‘the incident which shall remain nameless’ I had added to my work-load because I was feeling better and my father had become ill and I was going down to him daily to help him out. So suddenly my days had become very busy – stress-over-load.

Then the incident which just tipped the balance to downhill.

I had rationalised and coped with child-hood stuff and was dealing with it on an ongoing basis. Also the calcium, magnesium and zinc supplements were making me strong. Strong bones. Strong nerve supply. Strong muscle actions. Strong emotions. Strong coping mechanisms. The Perrin Technique was clearing out the muddy waters and increasing the flow supplying continuous energy flow on a drip-drip basis that was steadily increasing.

The Easter break has given me some time off. And because of the Easter holidays I tend not to be so busy and have had nil clients this week. It has all served as a lovely break and I have been able to indulge myself and stay in my pyjamas and potter about. Joy! It has given me time to remember my precious calcium, time to sleep and dose and time to make a decision and say No, I am not doing that today.

Unfortunately I have CFS/ME.
Fortunately the Perrin Technique is helping.
Unfortunately it gives me more energy and I take the p*ss and do more than I should.
My daughter warned me last night that because I had done some pruning yesterday in the garden to remember to rest today. So annoying to be told my one’s daughter what to do! So annoying to have to rest.

I feel it is important to mention all this because so many of us CFS/MEers take a treatment process and feel better, then feel bad and think the treatment isn’t working.

Not many of us, sit down and laboriously remember all the stresses that added to the new ‘relapse’. As I said to one reader of my website – don’t call it a relapse, call it a smack on the wrists for thinking you could do so much.

April 2009
I thought I would put this as a link rather than an entry to the Diary I have written on my experiences with the Perrin Technique.

I was trying to explain to a relative I had not seen for some time on how I used to feel compared to how I feel now.

My sister piped up: Marianne, don’t you remember that you couldn’t walk up the stairs?

And then it all came flooding back.

Not only can I walk up the stairs I can run up them and often do for the sheer joy of it! And I feel fine when I get to the top!

Am I cured?

No. I don’t think so because I still can’t do the things a normal person can.

Before I was diagnosed with CFS/ME there were things that I increasingly could not do.
I could not vacuum the house it was far too exhausting and my muscles would simply stop and it felt like I was pushing the vacuum cleaner through a deep pile of treacle.
I could not have a shower and dry myself, passing the towel around my body was impossible. So I blotted a little and put my clothes on a damp body. Putting clothes on was exhausting. I couldn’t eat after that and so would get in the car to get to work without breakfast.
I couldn’t pack my house up when I moved, my sister and family had to do it. No-one understood what was wrong.
I wasn’t sleeping and would get up and watch TV during the night.
I was sweating for an Olympic medal, it poured off me at night.

When I was diagnosed and I finally gave up work I gratefully rested and felt worse. It was then I noticed the constant aches and pains, showering was leaving me a jibbering wreck and my muscles were too weak to walk to the bedroom where I eventually struggled to and collapsed onto the bed.
My neck hurt and I had a toothache type nagging pain in my upper back. I had headaches.
All this pain I had ignored when I thought I was well but sometimes I would struggle to get out of bed and sit on the edge wondering what was the matter with me and why it was such a struggle to do things.
The stairs became more and more difficult to climb and I would stand at the top, shaking, heart and head pounding with a huge need to lie down flat.
I just wanted to stay in bed, in a dark quiet room and be left alone.

I began to feel a little better when I took control of my illness. The first thing was to accept it.
Then I looked at the nutrients – food and supplements – that would help and I strictly avoided every tiny miniscule amount of allergen. I scrutinised everything.
Then I took the fish oils and then calcium, magnesium and zinc which helped the symptoms of fidgetting, itchyness, muscle cramps, heart palpitations, heart burn, acid reflux, anxiousness, stress, cognition, foggy thinking.
I got up when I first woke up.
My sleep got so much better, but the slightest thing exhausted me to almost breakdown.
Then came the Perrin Technique.

A year later I can run up the stairs, I can walk for about 15- 20 mins, if not longer and forever on some days, without needing to find somewhere to sit. I can think about increasing my work. I can teach an exercise class. My sleep is almost normal, going to bed at about 10pm, reading my book, falling asleep about 11pm if not earlier and waking generally at about 6am.

But there is pay-back when doing a full day of these things and the pay-back is simply feeling tired and the need to rest for about 30 minutes generally sometimes longer. I don’t get the muscle aches and pains or heart palpitations.

I know I have CFS/ME and I know I get tired. I still have a pain in my neck but not all the time. The pain in my back is practically non-existent. I have to avoid the allergens sometimes more so than at other times depending on the stress levels. I still have to pace myself. So I still organise my day with rests inbetween. I am able to say Yes to most social invitations or village ‘do’s’.

Before Perrin I had a very limited life style, keeping myself to myself.
Since Perrin I have a bigger, more exciting life-style and I am saying yes to far more social and work situations.

I am not worrried about a relapse, I can feel the energy flowing and can feel when it reduces and that is when I have to rest. A short rest restores fairly well considering the complete relapses of before Perrin which lasted days and weeks.

This may be the 80% better that Perrin speaks of and it may be that I won’t get any further than that. But I have another year to go, so … here’s hoping there will be more improvements!

Read this advice before attempting the stretch routine.

1. Do not attempt these stretches if you have any diagnosed conditions of the neck. In these cases it may be possible for these stretches to be carried out under the guidance of your GP or Health Practitioner.
2. STOP any stretches if you feel pain. Stretches should be taken to the point of stretch and not to the point of pain. The difference between pain and feeling the stretch is your own comfort ratio. If it feels comfortable that is good, if it feels uncomfortable that is pain. Stop if you feel uncomfortable.
3. Breathe normally throughout and take all movements with the head very slowly to avoid dizziness. You may hear clicks as you do the movements and this is normal unless you feel pain and then you must stop. It would be very unusual to hear clicks and feel pain unless you have a diagnosed condition of the neck and if that is the case you should not be doing these stretches – see point 1.
4. If you feel pain and are concerned then consult your GP, in the meantime relax and take in some deep breaths and breathe out slowly and the discomfort should disappear. I have never felt pain when doing these stretches and neither have my patients.
5. Be gentle and move slowly to the position until you feel the stretch.
6. Read through the whole document fully before attempting the stretches.
7. This stretch routine has been designed for those who are suffering from fatigue whether it has been caused by an illness or they are recovering from an illness.
8. While the body is in a state of fatigue it is unable to recover quickly. During this stretch routine it is essential therefore not to take any part of the body beyond what it can tolerate. Take all movements to the point of STRETCH and not to the point of pain. If anything is uncomfortable then STOP.
9. Breathe normally throughout and do not hold your breath. This is important because the stretches are held for quite a long time and your muscles and blood need oxygen and the balance of carbon dioxide to operate.
10. Stretches are not exercises. Exercise shortens muscles. Anything you do is exercise. Walking, sitting, standing, smiling, waving, all these movements involve the muscles in moving and this shortens the active muscles. If sitting, the hip flexors at the hip and hamstring attachment behind the knee are shortened, if standing the buttock muscles are shortened, if waving the biceps is shortened. These are just a few examples. Stretching those muscles restores their normal length and therefore their flexibility. Animals stretch all the time, even in the middle of sleeping, do we?
11. Bear in mind the energy debt you will have to pay if you suffer from a fatigue condition when you begin your stretch programme, you will need to rest afterwards. I only stretch once a day whereas my patients (non-fatigue) are advised to stretch three times a day.

Marianne Gutierrez is not responsible and cannot be held liable in the event of any person experiencing pain or damage when undertaking this stretch routine. Anyone undertaking this stretch routine should consult their medical practitioner first, and does the stretch routine at their own risk.

UPDATE! Slightly different way of explaining some of the stretches to aid clarity.

What is Pain?
Some find it difficult to understand the difference between pain and comfort with reference to tension. Pain is measured on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 is the sensation of someone touching you and 10 is agony. No matter what anyone else can cope with, your sensitivity to pain can alter with all conditions and states of health.
So when stretching allow the stretch to fall within your comfort zone. It is not the intensity of the stretch that is important in this regime but the length of time it is held. The length of time should also fall within your comfort zone. So if 30 seconds makes you feel uncomfortable then stop!

This stretch routine has been designed for those who are suffering from fatigue for any reason.

Essential to read this important advice first before attempting these stretches.

I can’t stress enough the importance of reading this bullet point advice first before you attempt the stretch programme. Thank you.

See also this praise for this stretch programme from a Reader of this site.

1. Neck and Upper Back stretch

Lying on your back in bed when you first wake up: Check that you are lying straight with knees bent and support your head with a pillow.

Put your hands behind your head and using your hands pull your head off the pillow and down towards your chest as if you are trying to touch the chest with your chin. You will feel sparky sensations from your head down through your spine to the middle of your back. Release your head and put it gently down on the pillow.

Only pull your head up as far as you can manage.
Repeat for 3 to 5 times. Each time should feel slightly easier.
Stop if it hurts or feels uncomfortable or you simply don’t like the sensation.

This movement will make you feel as if you are choking yourself. Take it as far as you can stand. We will stretch the throat later.

2. Lower Back stretch

Now lying back – remove the pillow so that your head is flat on the bed. This will produce some ‘feelings’ in your upper back. Put the pillow back under your head again if it hurts. If it doesn’t hurt then continue to lie flat on the bed and relax and allow your body to sink into the mattress.

Bring both knees one at a time up to your chest. With your arms doing the work pull your knees to your chest and feel the stretch in the lower back. Release your arms and then pull the knees up again. Do not rock the body. Let your arms do the work. It is a pull and release with the arms.

3. Buttock Stretch

Put one foot back onto the bed so that leg is bent. With the other leg, cross that leg over the bent leg and pull that knee across your body so that you feel a stretch in your buttock. Hold for 30 seconds.

Repeat this position with the other leg.

4. Hamstring (back of thigh), Calf, Shin stretch

With both legs bent and feet on the bed, bring one leg up to your chest and try and straighten it. You will feel the stretch in the back of the leg, behind the knee and in the buttock.

This is a very strong stretch, if you straighten your leg too much it may be painful so reduce the angle of stretch ie bend your knee slightly. When you have found the position that is comfortable and you are still able to feel a comfortable stretch, hold your leg in that position for about 30 seconds, or as long as you can cope.
If you point your toes while holding the stretch (for a count of 10) and pull your toes up towards your shin (for a count of 10) you will stretch the lower leg muscles as well. Return foot to bed keeping legs bent.

Repeat with the other leg.

5. Inside leg (adductor) stretch

With both feet on the bed, take one leg out to the side to stretch the inside of the leg. Support the leg with your arm and allow your arm to bring your leg back to centre when you have finished.
Hold for 30 seconds.

Do the same with the other leg.

6. Outside leg ( abductor stretch)

This diagram is not quite correct, the hips need to follow as both knees are dropped to one side, keeping both the shoulders on the bed. The stretch is felt in the waist first.

With both feet on the bed and keeping legs bent, drop both knees as if they are glued together down to one side allowing the hips to follow but keeping the shoulders on the bed. Extend the upper leg and keep the foot on the bed. The stretch is now felt down the side of the leg radiating from the buttocks and waist. If this is not too strong, increase the stretch by moving your foot on the bed up to your shoulders. When you feel the intensity of the stretch that is comfortable, stop and hold that stretch for 30 seconds or what you can manage. Don’t let it hurt. This is a strong stretch.
Return legs to the centre and keep them bent and feet on bed.
Push your back into the bed, lift your buttocks and roll back down.
Do the same with the other leg.

7. Stomach, throat stretch
(Image waiting for publication)

Turn over onto your stomach.

If you have lower back problems then keep your elbows on the bed as you stretch your head and chin upwards.

Stomach and throat stretch
Put both arms bent with your elbows in line with your shoulders and your hands on the bed for support and push up and feel the stretch in your stomach.
Do not let your back hurt.
If you feel you are able , then allow the arms to straighten taking the elbows off the bed, so that you achieve a bigger stretch of the stomach.
Allow your arms to bring you gently down on to the bed again and relax. Do this 3 – 5 times.
This movement stretches the stomach muscles.

While at the point of stretch tilt your head back and keep your mouth closed and feel also the stretch under your chin. This is a strong stretch from your stomach to your mouth – do not let anything hurt and stop if it does.

Keep your feet firmly on the bed and do NOT lift the feet up while lifting your shoulders off the bed. Very important with this stretch to STOP if anything hurts or feels uncomfortable.

8. Quad Stretch (front of thigh)
If you have a pronounced arch in your back or lower back problems put a cushion under your stomach and then try the front of thigh stretch. This front of thigh stretch (Quad stretch) can be achieved standing up but because of fatigue, it is tiring to do in the standing position.

Lying back on the bed on your stomach pull one leg up behind you and grab with hand and pull foot slightly to one side of buttock, you will feel a stretch in the front of your thigh. If you are able to tilt your pelvis up towards your stomach you will also feel the stretch in your groin. Hold for 30 seconds if you can.
Repeat with the other leg.

9. Spine Stretch

Now sit on the edge of the bed. Allow your head to drop forward into your lap. This will stretch the neck and the upper back down to the base of your spine. Allow your head to dangle for as long as is comfortable. This may only be 5 seconds to start with. As the weight of your head pulls you down towards the floor support yourself by putting your chest on your legs and your hands dangle to the floor.

10. Neck Muscle stretches

(Images awaiting publication for all of these movements)

1. Sitting back up again and looking straight ahead, allow one ear to drop towards your shoulder as if you are trying to put the back of the ear onto the shoulder of the same side as your ear. Feel the stretch on the other side of your neck. Rather than pull to feel the stretch – allow the weight of the head to pull itself towards your shoulder. Allow it to hang like that for 30 seconds. Return head to centre and look straight ahead.
Repeat with the other side.

2. Return your head to face the front, turn to look over one shoulder, as if you are bringing your chin around to look behind you. Hold for a short while (5 Seconds) or for as long as you can cope with.
Repeat with the other side.

3. Return your head to face the front. Bring your chin down onto your chest to stretch your neck as before. Return head to centre.
4. Looking straight ahead, tilt your chin up to feel a stretch under your chin, keep your mouth closed. Bring your head to face the front and look straight ahead. Now bring your chin down towards your chest again to stretch the neck.

5. Bring the head back to face directly in front of you. Turn your head a quarter turn sideways. Now tilt the head back. You should feel a stretch from your clavicle (bony protuberance at the base of your throat) up to the base of and behind your ear. This is a strong stretch.
Bring your head back to centre so that you are facing in front of you, and repeat with the other side of your head.

11. Shoulder stretch and upper back
(Image awaiting publication)

Bring your shoulders together in front of you as if you are trying to separate your shoulder blades. In this position feel as if you are trying to push your spine out from in between the shoulder blades. Push for about 5 seconds.

12. Chest and upper arm stretch
(Image awaiting publication)
Put your hands behind your back, palms up. Straighten your arms. Lift arms up to increase the stretch across the chest. Now with arms still straight try to touch your thumbs together. (impossible to do with arms straight, it increases the stretch to the upper arm and chest)

This is a great stretch for opening up the chest and stretching the pecs as well as the muscles in the upper arms.
Try not to stick your chin out as you do this and try not to arch your back. Push the arms towards each other and release. Slow push and release for about 3 – 5 times. Do not bounce or you will turn this from a stretch to an exercise and you may find your arms will ache the next day.

The stretches are now complete.

Lie back on the bed with knees bent and relax. Breathe in deeply and breathe out slowly once or twice and then allow your breathing to do what it wants. Some of those reading this may be breathing hard, others may be breathing gently. Breathe as your body wants. Relax. Sleep if you want.