Plague and Pestilence

Well not quite!
I have a good old winter sore throat and down in the doldrums yuckiness. You may remember that I wrote in the Autumn about being pleased to have a virus, (heavy cold, good sign or bad) knowing that I could rely on my immune system better to rid it from my body. So now I am astonished again. I have all the symptoms, not just a bit of a runny nose. The average adult in the UK gets 5-6 colds or other viruses every year so once every couple of months is about right. I'm doing OK especially considering the number of times I have left the house in the vicinity of coughing, hacking, children and shopping centres!

For the first time in a while I've experienced insomnia this weekend. It is a problem a lot of ME patients battle with constantly. Except when I was first ill, I never had this problem continually, only if, like now, something else came along to interrupt my sleep. I took steps every day as I knew it might become an issue again if I let it take hold. The steps included and early evening meal. I still eat at about 5.30pm with a small snack, an apple, or a fruit yoghurt for example between 8pm and 9pm. Then I encourage my body to relax with no real activity after 9 pm. I will watch TV after this time as my tolerance for this has changed in the last year. I used to be wary of what I was watching- it had to be relaxing or mildly relaxing, like a cookery show or TV comedy or period drama.
Finally helping me sleep would be an audio book or as is now, my husband reading to me. I can read myself to sleep now sometimes too.
The biggest thing I learnt years ago was to not let myself sleep during the day. I would allow myself two hours in the afternoon at the most and make sure I woke up by 5pm. I still do that now and it prevents me from not sleeping at night, as the total hours sleep during the day ends up being around 12-14 hours. The other option during the day is to choose a Yoga Nidra meditation (Yoga Nidra and Introduction to Yoga Nidra?) or self hypnosis as these can recharge the body as much as sleep. Taking the body into deep relaxation helps me recover much faster.
As it still feels that my bones are actually aching with this yuckiness, whatever it is, my wrists have had enough typing, so I'll leave it there. Hope you're feeling well!