Minions it may be then, might have to get slightly larger though.

Nah, I’m not pushing myself, just doing what I’m able too 😉

Can’t make sunday, downhlling on lecky in preparaton for an uplft day n a few weeks 😉

Bunnyhop – cheers, happy to share 🙂

Right, I’m on a laptop now so I can type, I’m sharing this as I hope I can help people out of the CFS maze…

Flow – When I exercised I found that for 4-5 days I had symptoms which were rooted back in my original virus but I couldn’t sleep easily and didn’t feel tired, more wired. I thought of it like when you have 3-4 hours sleep in a night and feel like poo the next day and sleep doesn’t make you feel better, basically unrefreshing sleep (classic PVF/CFS/ME) symptom). I found on bad days all I could do was get up and spend the day sitting down, in fact on my really bad days I couldn’t even watch TV, it was too much for my system.

Grum – yeah, when I came across it I was looking for info on the Lightning Process and found this. To be honest, I have had a year of some of the darkest times of my life but I have learnt so much that it has been an overly positive time. Difference between tiredness and no energy – can’t sleep but can’t physically or mentally operate either – I used to just sit down all day and mong out.

I’ll give you a little synopsis of where I’ve been to put this in context…

Firstly, I’ll say that I’m not someone that sits back and waits for a doctor to tell me what is wrong and for the magic bullet. Most GPs are in general practice, so are more like jack of all trades, and unfortunately there are few people out there who specialise in ME/CFS/PVF. There are a few but I think that they focus on it from a traditional medicine point of view which perhaps doesn’t help as most people will tell you there are no tests to give a scientific basis to what is happening so know way to determine what is causing it or how to fix it. Now as soon as you say that the medics and scientists will poo-poo anything you say as they believe if it can’t be quantified then it doesn’t exist – well I talk from experience and don’t give a damn as I’m much better and don’t need a scientist to ratify a process when I’ve got quality of life again.

Anyway, I started off back in Oct 2009 with Swine flu, it went after a period of time and I was back on the bike, but nearly everytime I exercised I found I was getting ill (colds, coughs etc), but it would pass and I would be back on the bike, as the year went on I was getting more ill after each ride. then in August I was struck down with a virus, off the bike for 2 weeks, got better then was hit by a virus in Sept, off the bike again but went to GT and rode hard while still feeling like shite. 4 weeks off the bike and then I had to lead a ride round the Qs – never recovered! Its worth mentioning at the time I was getting bugger all sleep at night for about a month due to my youngest waking 3 times a night (on average I’d sleep well for 4 hours before being woken and then get another hour before getting up).

Now I went to the Docs, they told me after numerous blood tests that I was fine and it would pass but I kept on. My GP was sympathetic and eventually told me I had PVF. I carried on, kept researching PVF and how to overcome it, but nothing was forthcoming (and didn’t want to consider it was ME – The lazy stick disease!) I just felt like crap all the time and it didn’t shift, every morning I’d wake up after a bad nights sleep (now due to my condition rather than my kid) and notice I was feeling just as bad as the days before and during the day I carried on.

Eventually in Jan I had a physical breakdown and was unable even to walk 500m to the shops and got very depressed (I wasnt depressed before) All I wanted to do was ride my bike once more and do the things you do, I had no social life, I was parttime at work and wasn’t able to exercise. I had some horrible mental and physical symptoms (Palpatations, chest pains, Skin shivers/tremours, insomnia, food intolerances, unable to concentrate, nasuea, memory problems, lack of energy, sensitive to noise, confusion etc etc etc). Everyday I was so aware of my symptoms it was all I thought about. Just being ill was taking over my life!!

My doctor said I needed to drop work and signed me off for 2 weeks – was a weight off my shoulders as I was really struggling to work even though I work at home and could be flexible. My doctor also told me it was more likely to be CFS with a Viral cause, similar but slightly different she said, but I’m not so sure.

Anyway, this new label gave me something new to research and I wanted to take control and do something to fight back. I started looking into it. I came across Dr Myhill (a controversial GP for what she suggests) and her website gave me a good understanding into why I didn’t have energy and I had this payback. Finally I could understand. I tried out her diet and took some supplements. I started to turn a corner and felt more satisfied about things. I still had some virus like symptoms though.

I went back to the doctor and she signed me off again, in total I ended up off for two months and then returned to work on a parttime basis for about 6 months. (I’m now back full time by the way) My Doctor told me to stay positive and pace myself, easy for her to say!!

I then paid to go to an accupunturist / chinese doctor and a number of the sessions made me feel better and I was able to do more, but soon I’d find I was doing more and got worried about it and then found myself back unable to to anything. it was frustrating.

I then paid to go and see a nutritionist, she was very good and told me to avoid wheat, yeast and importantly sugar. She also suggested some supplements. This changed things greatly and I found I had more constant energy and was able to do a lot more. a light was beginning to form at the end of the tunnel, but Id still find I could sense symptoms and was getting very aware of my limits and would really worry if I overstepped my intangible limits.

I gradually got to a point where I could ride some DJs on my bike, it was great, I could do a set (10secs on my bike) and then walk up to the start (30secs) and rest (1min) then repeat. It was so labourious but SOOOO good that I buzzed off it for days and tried to do it once a week. Gave me a real lift but I found there was some payback which in my eyes was worth it. Gradually I found I was getting more able to do this and work was becoming something I could do. But I could still feel symptoms and was concerned I couldn’t shake things. I’d get a a plateau in my recovery and it wouldn’t budge.

Then I found Dr Teitelbaum’s website and again he gave me some more info which I added into my routine. I found I started to feel better gradually and was more able to do things. But I was still aware of lingering symptoms and I couldn’t ride my bike properly still. Longest I’d been out was 10mins round the block in one go. I also found that stress and doing things outside my comfort zone would really make things worse, so I became housebound and lost a lot of contact with the outside world (thank god for facebook!!) What was the key to unlock the door??

About mid July I was getting frustrated I had made so much progress but I still wasn’t right, I could still feel symptoms and was very aware of not over doing it and pushing it. Then end of July I went to a party for a mates 40th. I got chatting to mate about my condition and he said a mutual friend had had that. This was someone who was a seriously positive highflyer in the city. He’d been doing Ironman’s and it was a shock to hear that he had CFS for 3 years, but more interesting was that he had recovered in jan and had just done his first ironman since recovering. This felt like someone had given me all my Christmas’s at once! I had started to feel I’d never ride my bike again and that I would struggle with this for the rest of my life. I made it my mission to find out what he had done to recover.

I dropped him a line by email and he replied about a week later. Bascially he said he’d done the lightining process and dramatically started recovering after the second day of the 3 day course. He said it was all uphill after that with a few dips by went from strength to strength.

My intial thought was “how did he recover in 2 days after 3 years of being ill??? Surely his body was knackered and it would take longer but why the sudden swtich???” It must be something that can switch like that, but what???

So now I had to research the lighting process, something my mother in law had mentioned about 6 months eariler but I had rubbished as this wasn’t in my mind it was my body which was knackered. But if my mate has recovered so dramtically then it must have worked.

Its interesting as it costs £1000 and you have to sign an NDA. My thoughts are if you can’t talk about it, don’t find out about it until you’ve handed your money over then something is fishy. I trawled the internet to find out more. I came across only two references to what happens and pieced enough together to see that this teaches to you retrain your mind.

The theory is that part of your brain (The reptile bit which does the fight or flight) has had its programming corrupted and as a result any “threat” fires off chemicals in your body. These threats could be anything you could be concerned with. For me it was; symptoms; sleeping; socialising, drinking alcohol (I’d been tee-total for 3 months), eating the wrong thing, over doing it, exercising, any funny feeling in my body, stress at work, stress at home… etc etc etc.

I looked into the effects of those stress chemicals on the body (cortisol and adrenaline mainly), the symptoms of too much on the body read like a list of my symptoms (physical and mental).

Finally an explanation on what was happening, my mind was knackering my body. I wasn’t mentally ill but my subconcious mind was causing the problems because my conscious mind so wanted to be well.

I was not going to pay £1000 to do it. Luckily I randomly found Ashok Gupta’s process which cost a lot less (Bought it after my holiday and have watched some of it and flicked through the book but haven’t gone all religious about his process). checked out his online free videos and it made a hell of a lot of sense and explained why pacing is so important – gradually learning and convincing your body that you can do more – but why can’t you take a bit leap I asked myself? IT suddenly explained why my mate made a massive leap forward in 2 days.

At this point I had been ill for 10 months and I had a week before a 2 week holiday in Turkey – a big personal challenge!! I started not focusing on my symptoms and being chilled towards everything. I tried not to overdo it and gradually did what I could do and a bit more. Pacing but without the worry over the symptoms or anything else in fact. I gradually found that I could do more. I then went on holiday and the first two days knocked me on my ass, mainly because it was between 40-45 degs most days and the heat was too much, but once I aclimatised I found I could swim and play with the kids most days. I had a few relapses but I was doing more. By the end of the holiday I managed to walk in the midday heat round a ruined city and then spend the afternoon playing in some seriously big waves before going out for dinner. Had I turned a corner?? I was sceptical. I was going to wait until I returned to england and see if the heat and holiday had changed things.

When I got back to the UK I realised that I still wasn’t right but I was much better. The first week was mental at work, a big conference with me away from home for 3 days – another big step for me personally. I was a little anxious but I’ve come away thinking wow I did loads more than I expected.

That Friday I got home early and decided I felt good enough to ride my bike. Took my Bfe out. Gently rode it to the hill, walked 300m up the steepest part before riding up the rest (2km). As I got to the top after 30mins of climbing I had a moment as I realised where I had been, how far I’d come and how much better I was. It was such a revelation to ride my bike again I was amazed. I rode back down on top of the world.

After that ride I fully expected to have some payback of a serious nature (Busy week at work and riding my bike!!) I was a bit tired the next day but felt good!! Wow! I’d turned a corner…

That was three and a half weeks ago and now I can say that I’m 90-95%, Ive had a few dips but nothing major. I’ve even managed some really challenging schedules at work and home with no major side effects. It has been a tough ride so far and I’m not out of the woods so far (although riding in the woods is where I like to be these days). Its going to take a good few more months to completely retrain my mind to think the right way again but its becoming more automatic.

This is my experiences, there is a lot more too it but this as I said is just a synopsis. Any Q’s drop me a line barnt at hotmail dot com

P.S. The FOD blue trail is awesome!!!

Flow – I’m just recovering from PVF / ME and happy to share my thoughts but only in my iPhone at the moment.

I’ve learnt so much about it and I’m happy to share. Turned a massive corner after goggling “ashok Gupta”

Should say that tiredness wasn’t my main symptom, having no energy, insomnia and taking 4-5 days to recover from exercise was the main ones

FOD blue and maybe a guided ride too

think we’ll have to go down at midnight and build transitions before and after the trees that are down 🙂

Could make it even more fun 😆

Tony – love to be there but thinking it’ll be near mid oct once I’m fit enough.

Sue – things turned around for me after hearing about Ashok Gupta

😀 it’s in the plan 😉

Good luck!

Sorry to hear that, Hope you’re back on it soon.

Second milestone for me yesterday – FOD red and blue 🙂

My LBS’s don’t do the best range, although my favourite waz a bontrager top from Chelt cycles.

Good ideas there, normally use Howies and ground effect, but found Howies too expensivve a d ground effect sizing a bit odd

Mainly T-shirt stylee tops, ideally not tight or plastic. Normally buy merino

Cheers, yeah CFS for me – been a rough 12 months but had a change and been 4 weeks of doing more and more with no real after effects. Gonna slowly build up overtime but I’m amazed at how normal life is becoming and riding my bike without relapse was a big moment in my recovery 🙂

What’s she got?

FACT! and a visit to Herts too 🙂

Cheers everyone! Buzzin to be back riding

Lol! Got to love Apple… So… Cranham woods….

Yeah, virus triggered an episode of Chronic Fatigue. Been unable to do any riding for 12 months. Has flown by and trough hard work and determination I managed to do my first ride in 12 months yesterday. But still a lOng way to go till I’m 100%.

Get some good box sets and books. It’ll fly by and you’ll be riding before you know it.

MartynS – I look forward to that. Strangely I was thinking about the peaks while riding yesterday.

The Turbo on my 6 year old Audi A4 went last year (100k miles on the clock), loads of smoke when it did run then wouldn’t even start. So I couldn’t even drive it the 200m back to my house, had to be recovered to the Local audi garage.

Audi charged me £80 to tell me the Turbo was ****, then quoted me £1800 to replace the turbo and a further £600 to replace the Cat as it was likely damaged due to the dump of oil etc. no way I was going to pay that

I got one from Turbotechnics and had a local garage fit it. Cost me £900 all in and was told to run it a bit to burn the oil out of the Cat, if it didn’t pass its MOT then get it fixed. Sailed through the MOT so please I didn’t listen to a main dealer.

I’ve been out for 12 months due to illness, had my first off road ride in that time yesterday and was a moment I’ll remember for a long while. 3 months will speed past.

OMG – just got round to watching this. Great run!

Someone has just added this to my confusion!!!

Alpine Head unit

I imagine this would be a quick swap out of the old headunit and in wiht this, plus installing the mic.

Halfords do the parrott at a reasonable price with fitting but should I trust them? (I wouldn’t with my bike)

Business use and company is fine with in car use (sales led organisation)

Like the look of the Parrot. Been looking at the 9200 as it will connect with my Ipod. 5AM – how easy to fit? I know how to get my stereo out but seems to be a lot of gubbins you need to shove in different places to install it.

Yeah, I’m hearing it’ll be good training for the CX season as well as a good day in itself.

Bump

27 minutes

Awesome program! For me I’d put them in this order

1 BMX – was expecting it not to flow but it really worked and grabbed me, especially with the back story of his mate
2 Skater – everything took my breath away, was hooked to see what was gonna happen next
3 MTB – didn’t grab me as much as I hoped, but the cable ride and the drop onto the track was mental
4 parkour – film production just looked a bit amateur, the stunts were good but just lost interest

But the bit of all of them together was one of the highlights

Yeah I’m jealous! Really want to see some visuals of it.

Loads going on in the BMX world at the moment

It’s a good book to ride the sofa with

I know a good coach 😉

Life’s about enjoying the ride

Flow – are you allowed out at weekends?

FACT! 🙂

Jedi – Still off the bike 9 months on 🙁 recovering but its a slow process. Hoping to be back on it before Xmas. Buzzing to ride, especially get to the 20 rolling again. Gonna miss that tombstone though

Indoor concrete 🙂

Man! I want to ride again!!! 👿

BMX 😀

Stoner – you using a Homehub?

Probably good to replenish the salts you’ve lost during the sweating too. Not just table salt I’m talking about either.

Hora – is this just a one off or regular occurance?