Freedom from M.E.
Supporting you in your journey to recovery...
Issue 10, February 2009
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| Quote of the Month |
"To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first."
William Shakespeare
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Welcome to our February 2009 newsletter...
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Dear reader,
 Welcome to our February newsletter... I hope you are still on track with any goals you set for the New Year, and that you've stayed warm through the blizzard conditions! February is to set to be a frantic but exciting month at the clinic. Anna and I are going to be on the road doing a series of talks starting this month, with the first two of these on the same day in two cities, you can't say we don't do things by halves! Dates currently confirmed are: 25th FebruarySheffield (3:00pm) Manchester (7:00pm) 15th AprilBristol (7:00pm) 16th AprilBrighton (7:00pm) If you are interested in coming to any of these talks, details can found at www.FreedomFromME.co.uk/roadshow It would be lovely to see you, so please do come along and say hello. Also, if you have some connections in your local area, think you might be able to help get a good sized group together, and are interested in working with us to organise something, please do contact me at alex@TheOptimumHealthClinic.com This month we have also finally started collecting data for our clinical trials. It's taken nearly three years to get to this point, but we feel that ultimately the study will benefit from us having taken our time to really design the study in this depth. We still need a few more people to be in the control group, so if you are not planning on undertaking treatment with the clinic in the foreseeable future, and are willing to fill in some questionnaires to support this extremely important research, please do e-mail research@TheOptimumHealthClinic.com Finally, there are just a few places available on our professional training courses starting in a few weeks, so if you are either looking to accelerate your own recovery path, or are interested in the possibility of working towards becoming a practitioner on the psychology side, please do visit www.TheOptimumHealthClinic.com/training to find out more, including our option of paying in monthly instalments. Have a great month! Alex (Anna, and Niki) |
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| This month on Secrets to Recovery - Message from Lois
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January saw two really important calls, firstly Transformation in 2009, which we had some excellent feedback on. This was followed with 'The Basics of Nutrition and M.E.' with Niki Gratrix, the clinic's Director of Nutrition, and will be sure to be one that people can come back to again and again. Both are available in the archive to download.
Coming up in February we have the following calls:
 February 3rd - Interview with Lucy Bellamy
Lucy became ill with M.E.in 1999 at the
age of 25. In the past two years Lucy has made a hugely
exciting recovery as a result of the understandings she has developed
about the causes and nature of her illness, and about the key
role of the mindbody connection. Lucy is also now
helping put together a book around some of the most popular
Secrets to Recovery interviews, and shares more
about this on the call.
 February 17th - Recovery goals for 2009
Q and A session
Alex
will be doing a Q and A session with members, to
cover questions arising form the "Transformation
in 2009" session. If you are a member, please post your questions
in the Secrets to Recovery group on www.OptimumHealthCommunity.com
To find out more about joining Secrets to Recovery, just visit the website at www.SecretsToRecovery.com and if you have any questions please do e-mail me.
 Lois Thorpe,
Co-ordinator of Secrets to Recovery
lois@TheOptimumHealthClinic.com
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The Optimum Health Clinic Foundation
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 January saw the first ever Optimum Health
Clinic Foundation firewalk, and what an exciting event it was. A rather brave (or just plain stupid!) group
of patients and friends of the clinic took on the burning coals with huge
enthusiasm, with most of the group choosing to walk across twice. Included in this group were Alex's mum, who
also stars in one of the best photos of the event (click here to view). If anyone ever needs proof of
a mothers' unconditional love, firewalking surely has to be it!
One of the next events planned for the
Foundation is a sponsored walk climbing Snowdon. This is being organised by Nick Wealthall, a
police officer and former patient of the clinic (Secrets to Recovery interview 20, February 2008) and is set to be a lot of fun.
Alex, and a number of the clinic staff are going to be on the walk, so
it proves to be a great social event as well as a physical challenge. The event is planned for early June, so
please do e-mail lisa@TheOptimumHealthClinic.com
to express your interest.
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Optimum Health Community
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 www.OptimumHealthCommunity.com
continues to go from strength to strength, with new members joining all the
time, and the number of postings and discussions growing each
week. One of the highlights on the
community this month is some of the videos of the board breaking filmed by a
member at the end of Conscious Transformation last week. Please go to www.optimumhealthcommunity.com/video to view these video clips!
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Laugh Your Way to Recovery - Alex Howard
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 We all know that we can feel a lot better after a good
comedy, and that laughing with friends can completely change how we feel. In fact, we've all heard the phrase "Laughter
is the best medicine." But, what does
the research say about this?
Well, a study was carried out in December 2008 that showed
that laughter absolutely has a physical impact.
In fact, it directly affects our immune system. In the study, diabetics were shown comic
videos and laughed together with hospital staff on one day. On the other day,
they participated in an in-patient diabetes educational programme. Blood samples
were collected before and after watching comedies and again after lecture time,
and changes in gene expression were comprehensively analyzed by microarray
technique.
Of the 41,000 genes analyzed, the laughter increased
function of 39 genes. Fourteen of these genes were found to be related to
natural killer cell activity. Low natural killer function is an important part
of the immune dysfunction seen in CFS.
The conclusion is, if you want to boost your immune system, make sure
you laugh more.
Here are our top 5 ways to get more laughs in your life...
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Watch comedies - we all have
different tastes, so find the kinds of comedy that make you laugh, be it stand
ups, sitcoms or dark comedy, and make sure you have a good collection at home
you can dip into whenever you need a good chuckle.
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Spend time with friends that
make you laugh. You are probably aware that some people just make you feel
happy and playful. Spend more time with
them!
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Practice laughing. Yes, in all
seriousness, practice your laugh for no reason.
You can literally fake it until you make it. The sillier you sound
trying to laugh the more it will just make you laugh!
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Practice telling jokes - get
some good joke books, and with friends or family you can just say to them, "I
have this new joke I've heard, do you want to hear it?" Sometimes, the more horrendous the joke, the
more people will laugh because it is so bad!
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Take life less seriously
generally - it's so easy to get caught in the habit of thinking we have to take
things seriously, but generally speaking, the more serious we are about our
problems, the more serious they become.
People will often say, one day we will look back on this and laugh - why
not just laugh now...
So, remember, next time you are watching a good comedy and
it makes you laugh, you are directly working on your recovery!
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Product of the Month
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 If you are looking for a long-term and cost effective solution to bottled water, click here to check out our home walter filtration systems.
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And finally...
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Wishing you all a great month, and we look forward to catching up in March!
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| Warm wishes,
The Optimum Health Clinic Team
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