Why don’t so many people living with ME/CFS recover? Is the Gupta Programme simply an alternative holistic lifestyle approach? ME/CFS is not a psychological illness, it is a physical illness, how will brain retraining and psychotherapy techniques impact our real physical symptoms What is neuroplasticity and how is it incorporated into the Gupta Programme with holistic health. Is the programme more effective for people in the early stages of their ME/CFS journey? Do we have the same depth of impairment to our brains and debilitation when compared to others who have lived with this illness for l ..read more

Are our fears, our fear avoidance beliefs and our unhelpful interpretations of our symptoms exacerbating our relationship with this illness? Is mediation, mindfulness and positive thinking a daily coping mechanism for ME/Chronic fatigue Syndrome when faced with the enormous challenge this illness presents. Can you develop habits to manage your symptoms and regain your health – by taking control of your own path to health, taking charge of your life choices, adopting holistic approaches and believing we can be healthy. Will these daily practices stop you from being hard on yourself and why do y ..read more

Therapy & ME – What happens to me? Why does the word therapy make so many people uncomfortable? If healthy eating maintains a healthy lifestyle then why can’t therapy be a nutritious meal for our minds. This illness has deconditioned our minds and bodies, do we need a training programme for our minds? Do our behaviours, thinking patterns and actions subconsciously cause more harm? Surely, it can’t be as simple as identifying the patterns and triggers in our behaviours to reverse the deconditioning to our minds and bodies. Is there a connection between our thoughts, our behaviours, our acti ..read more

What happens when your only question is, why didn’t you protect my child? What happens when no one understands your child is ill and you are now in the firing line to conform? What do you do, when suddenly, you no longer recognise your child and their behaviour spirals out of control and they just want to be understood and accepted? As parents, as carers, we protect and understand our children, but what happens when the protocols designed to safeguard our children exacerbates their illness and symptoms? This is Caroline’s story, Taylors mum who was expected to cope with her child’s illness tha ..read more

No child expects to one day, to stop functioning, to no longer be in control of their mind or body. Taylor desperately tried to make her family, friends, school, and society understand she was not well. It wasn’t a behavioural issue, she just needed everyone to understand she was no longer in control. Why does a 14-year-old Taylor feel she was abandoned by the system that is designed to protect her. At 14 years old, the primary objective was to ensure Taylor went to school every day but did this overzealous encouragement impact the severity of her illness. …’ it takes a village to raise a chil ..read more

I know my husband never expected to be my primary carer – does anyone! So, what really happens when your partner suddenly finds themselves looking after someone who is now chronically ill? They were not given a choice; we didn’t have a choice and our partners are expected to cope with the complexity of ME – Myalgic Encephalomyelitis!!!! How do they cope with our daily fluctuating limitations and should we be encouraging them to safeguard their own mental health? Should we be concerned about the mental wellbeing of our partners, our children our family and friends. They may struggle to understa ..read more

Do the benefits of a mentoring programme create success or is it a magic wand that automatically guarantee's success? Is my role instrumental to my future success. Do I need to define my own goals, seeking and cultivating the relationship I want, or is my role just passive? Why can’t they live the life for me! Why do they need to help me to ask the right questions? How will I benefit from the insights gained from their experience without making the same mistakes, avoiding the same pitfalls and identifying paths to success by filling in the gaps in my experience. One thing for sure, I need a me ..read more

One of the hardest things in life is letting go, learning how and when it’s time to let go, we need to let go of the what’s, if's and maybe's. For a very long time I had lost my WHY. I had lost my purpose in life! I had to let go of what I once had and have faith in my new journey and accept who I am now and learn to be present and stop being frightened, vulnerable and lost in the past ME. I had to start living. I had to choose a new path and start over. I had to accept I could take a step back if I was unable to take a step forward and I could always do a complete U turn. I gradually regained ..read more

We need to start talking seriously about ME/cfs and how this impacts our lives, our family, our work and it’s all part of the same puzzle, we all need to listen, to react, to be inspired and to be assured Not all doctors will be a good fit for ME/cfs patients. Let go of the high expectations, otherwise we will be disappointed. We can’t simply bounce back but we can learn, behaviours thoughts and actions – positive self-view means we persevere through tough times and we are not resentful, but we are resilient. Unfortunately, 90 % of cases of ME/CFS are thought to go undiagnosed and untreated. S ..read more

Despite this illness, we find the strength to face adversity. I know I wanted to give up, this illness made me believe I wanted to give up, that’s how desperate and vulnerable this illness made me. But I know every minute of every day, we are all surviving, and we remain committed to this illness. We need to maintain our mental strength by regulating our emotions, managing our thoughts and our movements every day. Our mental strength means we don’t feel sorry for ourselves, and we don’t give up, we persist and gradually we become the best and strongest version of our former selves. We need to ..read more