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Who am I?

Hey there, welcome to my blog. My name is Sian, I’m 28, I live in Scotland and I have a chronic illness called M.E.  What is M.E.? M.E stands for myalgic encephalomyelitis. It is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).  How long have I had ME?  I developed M.E 2 years ago at the start of September. I was about to start college to study beauty therapy and the day before I had a headache. Ok, no big deal, everyone has headaches. By the evening it had developed into a migraine (you know, when you can’t stand the light, or sounds, and you feel like you’re going to throw up). I didn’t think too much of it and hoped it would be gone by the morning. Well, it didn’t go. In fact, I had that same migraine constantly for 6 months straight.  What did you do?  I got on with it. I started college the next day, and I attended every day I was supposed to until I couldn’t handle it anymore, which was Christmas 2016.  What ...

Pain Relief

Over the last 6 months or so, my pain levels have been pretty low, and I was able to reduce my morphine dosage in December with no immediate repercussions.

However, over the last few weeks, that has changed. I hadn't used my TENS machine in months, but now I'm back to using it daily. I tend to keep the sticky pads on my legs overnight, ready to hook up to it in the morning for speed, and to stop them quickly losing their stickiness.


I have liquid morphine that I can take for any breakthrough pain, but I tend to only use this when I really need to. It's rare I use it for my M.E. pain, I try to stick to other methods of pain relief, like my TENS, but also with magnesium and Arnica gel.

Magnesium is great for pain relief, and we absorb it much more efficiently through our skin, compared to taking a supplement, so incorporating a magnesium spray into your daily routine can be really beneficial. It isn't a quick fix, it takes time to build up in your system and start to help, but most people find benefit in using it. The one that I'm currently using is from Holland & Barrett and can be found here. It is usually around £11, but there are also alternatives available on Amazon.  




Epsom salts added to a bath can work quite quickly to alleviate pain. There are also magnesium flakes which you add to a bath, but I haven't tried them yet. 

Arnica gel is also known to help with pain and muscle fatigue. It is usually in the form of a gel, and Denys and I have both found it helpful. Again, it's not always a quick fix, but it can get to work overnight to lessen any pain or stiffness. This can be purchased online from places like Amazon.




What have you found beneficial for pain?

Thanks for reading.
That ME Girl 

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