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 | | | | I am now symptom-free, living comfortably in my body again. I must have had every symptom associated with Fibromyalgia, now gone.
I also realize that Bodymind was 'talking' to me for years, but I did not understand its own unique language, and yet it is familiar to us all. I just had to re-learn it.
| | SJ 2005 | | | | Read more testimonials |
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Athlete Anna Hemmings is tipped to win at the European Championships next week. Yet just a year ago, the canoeist was crippled with fatigue. Here she reveals how a revolutionary new treatment saved her career.
People assume that ME is a disease that affects unhealthy or lazy people, but I’m a professional athlete. When I first felt shattered, I assumed I’d been overdoing it and had a few early nights. But I kept getting more tired and my muscles wouldn’t function. Eight weeks later, I had to give up training. I went from exercising 16 hours a week and sleeping nine hours a night to no exercise and sleeping up to 15 hours. Some days, washing my hair was too much.
My doctors believed I’d been over training. Finally, after six months, the sports Team GB doctor diagnosed chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), as ME is now known. I was terrified my career was over, as there’s no recognised treatment. Since I was eight, my sport had meant everything to me.
No one could say why I’d developed CFS as tests didn’t reveal a cause. Then, last summer, a friend told me about Reverse therapy, a new treatment with amazing results. It’s based on medical evidence that negative emotions, like anxiety, emit a chemical discharge in the body. If left unexpressed, these can build up, switching on symptoms like exhaustion. I knew nothing was wrong with me physically, so it made sense.
As part of the treatment, I was asked to keep a diary of my symptoms. After a few days, I saw I was writing the same thing, that I was terrified. It dawned on me that I was terrified of failure, and I’d been hiding it most of my life. I’m so self-reliant and focused on winning, I hadn’t let myself dwell on fears.
During sessions, we’d discuss times when I’d hidden my feelings. The therapist also wrote messages on postcards for me to read when I needed to. One reminded me to be open about my illness. So if people asked if I was better, I should say, “ Actually, no.” It was like being forced to change my personality and I was in tears after every session. But I could feel it working - I had to score my symptoms on a scale of one to ten and each session my score went down. After three months, I was averaging three, and I felt well enough to go out in my kayak and do some training.
Incredibly, three months later, my training was going so well that it was almost as if nothing had happened. This May, I won two 15-mile races and I’m back in the national squad. I’m now preparing for the World Championships and the Olympics in 2008. I can’t believe it’s all turned around so fast - I feel healthier, mentally and physically, than ever.
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