AROMATHERAPY

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)

All over the world ME sufferers are coming forward and announcing that they feel utterly t. Until the late 1980s the symptoms of ME were variously ascribed to hysteria, malingering and depression because nobody could find a cause for the profound muscular fatigue and various other symptoms of which sufferers complained.

Controversy still abounds, but the consensus of medical opinion now ascribes the symptoms to the presence in the body of one of the 74 enteroviruses.. It seems that any one of these viruses can switch off the body's cells so that they cannot perform their usual function.

ME, or post-viral syndrome, has been called 'yuppie flu' because it seems to affect so many high-powered young people in stressful jobs. But this is a misnomer because all sorts of people have it, from housewives and family doctors to dentists and cab drivers.

The only thing sufferers have in common is that the condition develops after a viral infection of some sort - flu or food poisoning, for example. Instead of getting better, the sufferer becomes profoundly tired after the slightest activity and may develop any number of other symptoms, relating to practically every part of the body.

It was the very varied nature of these symptoms which made it hard for the medical profession to see the common, basic problem; plus the fact that extreme exhaustion is difficult to test for and identify clinically. Many an ME sufferer has been told to 'go home and take it easy', perhaps with a prescription for tranquillisers in their pocket too.

Before ME became more understood, sufferers were made to feel as if they were edging towards a nervous breakdown, or just imagining things or malingering, when they were in fact suffering all sorts of debilitating physical problems.

Beside the muscle fatigue , common problems are loss of concentration and memory, mental confusion, lethargy, insomnia, irritability, depression, impaired balance, sight and hearing, and headaches.

The frightening thing about ME is that it can last for years. At present people are being told that if the symptoms continue for a year there's a fifty-fifty chance that they will continue for another seven. No wonder depression is a symptom.

Essential oil treatment consists of fighting the battle on all fronts. You don't have to worry that your treatment for muscle fatigue will clash with the oils you are using to treat symptoms because essential oils, unlike chemical drugs, do not have dangerous side-effects if you take the wrong cocktail.

Rather they are like a team of good friends, all helping out in the best way they can when their particular attributes are needed. Take each day's symptoms as they come and invite your new friends to help you - whether singly or in a group, according to your needs at the time.

Several of the main symptoms of Me are discussed separately here; for those that are not you will find other treatments throughout these pages. But the one symptom you need to treat on a regular basis is the muscular fatigue, even though it may come and go.

Muscular Fatigue
If you've ever seen a cartoon of someone so exhausted that she fell asleep in her soup, it was probably an ME sufferer. Few of us, unless we have run a marathon or spent many nights awake with a sick and crying baby, can truly understand the profound nature of ME muscle fatigue.

It can come and go quite suddenly and people experience it in different ways, and in different ways on different days. It maybe like having lead weights for limbs, or an ache in the muscles like a bad flu attack, or aching bones or just a general weakness. One patient was so weak all over that the duvet on her bed felt as if it were stuffed with lead-shot.

If you have had ME for a long time you may have noticed a pattern to your fatigue; if so, use this information to your advantage and treat yourself with the oils before an attack is due.

If you are unfortunate enough to be one of those who has continual muscle fatigue, choose a time when you have nothing to do except apply the oils. Keep the oils handy so that you can use them when the best opportunity presents itself.

The aim is to avoid apathy taking over because then you won't be able to help yourself. Apply at least twice a day.

Muscle Fatigue Formula

 Muscle fatigue Essential Oils. 

Reference; The Fragrant Pharmacy: Valerie Ann Worwood

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