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Dreamwork
Journal Keeping
Labyrinth
PERSONALITY TYPING:
Enneagram
Myers-Briggs
Prayer and Meditation
Spiritual Direction
Illness and Healing
My
secret is that I have found the places within me that illness cannot touch. I have learned to honor them.
Floyd Skloot
In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.
Albert Camus
There is nothing the body suffers that the soul may not profit by.
George Meredith
(CFIDS
is) a serious and disabling illness that is now one of the most common chronic illnesses of our time. It is also one of the most misunderstood.
. .
. The profound exhaustion of a person with chronic fatigue syndrome bears
no relation to the fatigue a healthy person feels as the result of a busy
life.
People severely ill with chronic fatigue syndrome have a functional level that is significantly lower than that of someone with cancer undergoing
chemotherapy, someone with heart disease or multiple sclerosis.
Dorothy
Wall, It's
Not in Your Head: Understanding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Although
we may look normal, our bodies are fighting a fierce battle that often leaves us too sick to do the things we need to do.
Lynn
Vanderzalm,
Snapshots of CFIDS, Profiles of Life with An Invisible Illness
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We offer
Our interest in
providing support for persons who suffer from chronic
illnesses and also for their family members comes from our own
experience
with a chronic illness, Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction
Syndrome. We
highly recommend the CFIDS Association of America website and
publications.
Chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome, CFIDS, also known
as chronic
fatigue syndrome, CFS, myalgic encephalomyelitis, ME and by many
other names is a complex and debilitating chronic illness that
affects the brain and
multiple body systems including the immune, neurological, endocrine
systems.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has established certain criteria
for diagnosing CFS:
1. Fatigue that is persistent, relapsing or debilitating; does not
improve with bed rest; and reduces or impairs average daily activity
level by more than 50 percent for a period of at least 6 months. Patient
has no previous history of fatigue.
2. The patient has 4 or more of the following symptoms, which must have
persisted or recurred during 6 or more consecutive months and predated
the fatigue:
- Short-term memory or concentration problems
- Sore throat
- Multi-joint pain without joint swelling or redness
- Muscle pain
- Headaches of a new type, pattern or severity
- Non-refreshing sleep
- Post-exertional malaise lasting more than 24 hours
In addition, a number of minor symptoms may also appear:
* Poor
sleep
* Achiness
* Brain fog
* Increased thirst
* Bowel disorders
* Recurrent infections
"Although its name trivializes the illness as little more than mere
tiredness, chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS)
brings with it a constellation of debilitating symptoms. CFIDS is
characterized by incapacitating fatigue (experienced as profound
exhaustion and extremely poor stamina) and problems with concentration
and short-term memory. It is also accompanied by flu-like symptoms such
as pain in the joints and muscles, unrefreshing sleep, tender lymph
nodes, sore throat, and headache."
The CFIDS Association
For additional symptoms, see the Symptoms page of
the CFIDS Association of America web site.
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LESSONS
I'VE LEARNED FROM MY ILLNESS
The Rev. Elizabeth W. Libbey, Copyright 1995
I am coming to understand that my illness has
valuable lessons to teach me. It
is a master teacher; but, unfortunately, in my stubbornness and
resistance to accepting my illness, I have been slow to learn its
lessons,
What do I believe are the lessons of my illness?
My
illness teaches to value the present moment, to live each day for its
own sake instead of always focusing on preparing for or planning for
tomorrow.
My
illness teaches that I do not have to be defined by what I do, or by how
much I accomplish.
My
illness is teaches me that God can provide the strength I need to face
an uncertain future in terms of my vocation and my activity level.
My
illness has given me the opportunity to learn how much my husband loves
me, “in sickness and in health.”
My
illness has teaches me yet again the value of prayer, and especially the
importance of the prayers of others which have made and continue to make
such a difference.
Who
are we? those who doctors seem to dread
as they label our inconsolable pain as "hysteria"
whose cries flail their empty ears . . .
Who are we? the ones who manifest the toxic dump
inside our blood, our hearts, and kidneys fill
with insecticide, steroids, and the essence
of disposable diapers floating down rivers into
the depths of the ocean . . .
Who are we? but the epitome of the denial
system of what is happening to the planet . . .
those around us close their eyes, telling us
to cheer up, get up, and ultimately
to give up . . .
But we keep coming
like a flood, like a plague created by man,
like the spirit of God in Israel, the first born of Pharaoh
like the truth . . . nobody wants to know . . .
And we will keep coming . . . keep shouting . . .
keep battering the walls of those who would silence us,
we will never give up, even our last breathe
blows like a never ending wind . . .
--Roxanne
Williams
Paraphrase
of the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi for Healing
Gracious, loving, caring God,
Source of all healing and wholeness,
Make us instruments of Your healing.
When we are weak and in pain, help us to rest;
When we are anxious, help us to wait patiently;
When we are fearful, help us to trust in You;
When we are lonely, help us to love;
When we place You apart from us,
help us to know that You are still near.
Healing God, grant us not so much to demand everything
from ourselves, as to allow others to help us;
Grant us not so much to seek escape, as to face ourselves
and to learn the depths of Your love.
For it is in being uncertain and not in control,
that we find true faith;
In knowing the limits of mind and body,
that we find wholeness of spirit;
In passing through death that we find life
that lasts forever.
In the name of Christ Jesus, our Savior,
our Healer, our Lord, we offer ourselves to You.
AMEN.
An Adventure In
Healing and Wholeness, The Healing Ministry of Christ in the Church
Today, James K. Wagner
See also
Dreamwork
Journal Keeping
Labyrinth
PERSONALITY TYPING:
Enneagram
Myers-Briggs
Prayer and Meditation
Spiritual Direction
Illness and Healing
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