'I'm living a full and happy life with ME'

By Sue Leonard
Monday November 19 2007

ME, or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, is difficult to diagnose and can be even more difficult to treat. But Jane Donald and Triona Ni Dhuibhir refused to give up and can now successfully

Back in 2000, Jane Donald had it all. At 26, she was working, temporarily, at Irish Garden Magazine, while she took her solicitor's exams. Highly active, she played hockey, she climbed mountains, and she was always on the go.

Then, one night, Jane experienced such severe muscle pain during a game of hockey that she almost fainted. She dragged herself to her GP the following day and fainted in his surgery. She mentioned that she'd been feeling unfit and that she'd had headaches plus stomach and bowel problems and had lost weight too.

"He sent me to a gastroenterologist at St Vincent's who diagnosed ME," says Jane. "He said, 'Stay working. This could go on for some time. And don't climb mountains'."

Two weeks later Jane went skiing, figuring that going down a hill would be fine.

"That was a major mistake. I got panic attacks and I couldn't even carry my skis. It was hopeless."

The following May, attending a talk given by an ME support group, Jane came across Dr Patrick McGovern -- a GP who specialises in the condition.

Gradually he sorted out Jane's gastric problems. When he tested her for mercury, he discovered abnormally high levels. He gave her vitamins, minerals and various homeopathic preparations, all of which helped.

Jane was able to hold onto her job. In fact, Irish Garden Magazine promoted her to Business Manager. She worked three days in the office, two at home. Life, though, was diabolical.

"Some days I couldn't even stand. I love walking, but I collapsed in the fields once with my spaniel, Oscar. I was there for hours before I could drag myself home. Another time I collapsed in the bathroom.

"I could not tolerate noise. I was exhausted, but often I couldn't sleep. Then I'd sleep for 17 hours. I lost concentration; I could watch the same film five times and still not remember the ending.

"The treatment was costing me €10,000 a year. I had to keep working because none of it was covered by insurance."

Massage didn't help Jane because she was too sensitive to touch, but she found Reiki wonderful. She trained, and then taught it to friends.

"We'd meet once a month for supper and a 'Reiki exchange'. It was wonderful. That was my only night out."

Then in 2005, she discovered Total Body Modification (TBM). This is a technique that restores the balance to the body. It corrects malfunction and allows the body to heal. It is particularly useful for ME as it gives energy through the acupuncture points.

"It deals with the causes rather than the symptoms," Jane explains. "It switches off the body's reaction. In effect it switched off the viruses. My body is not under attack anymore."

Now 33, Jane is married. She can go out in the evenings, though she won't drink.

"I'm always careful with my diet. I eat organic food and still take supplements and homeopathic remedies. I meditate every day and I do yoga too. I now have three dogs and I can walk them for two miles; it's a huge turnaround. I live a normal life, though I am careful to cut stress out of my day."

Jane is now a practitioner of TBM; she sees 10 clients a week, fitting them round her full-time job with the magazine.

"I get energy from giving it," she says. "I've turned my illness into an advantage. My clients know that I know what I am talking about."

ME, or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), is difficult to diagnose. It's a process of eliminating other possible illnesses. A further problem is that patients can often look quite well. It's a bit like when a mob-ile phone battery runs down. They look ok, but they have no energy to get through the day.

Some people are bed-bound for years. They'd do anything to get better, but because everyone suffers in a different way, it's not a case of one cure fits all.

"Nothing suits everybody," says Declan Carroll of the ME Trust. "People are going down different roads. They're spending a lot of money. You cannot take away from their enthusiasm when they find something that works. But what helps one person may not help another."

Roisin O'Keely, a Naturo-path at the Breath of Life Natural Healing Clinic agrees that every case has to be assessed individually.

"There is no easy answer," she says. "With ME, the immune system is low. Patien-ts are usually burnt out. They are generally clever, highly motivated people who work extremely hard. By the time I see them their immune system is switched off.

"The virus enters the body and the body does not respond; it gets trapped in the body. We need to raise the vitality of the immune system to enable the person to respond.

"They need an extremely nutritious diet with supplements. Herbs are particularly useful too, as they can help release the pathogen from the body.

"With ME, we use many forms of natural medicine to encourage the body to heal itself. I have one patient who has been in bed for years, and has recently improved. She took minerals, homeopathic remedies and herbs. But she needed counselling as well. That made the final difference."

Triona Ni Dhuibhir, now 19, used all kinds of remedies to help her get over ME. She tried excluding things from her diet, acupuncture and putting her life into a better routine. All these things worked to an extent, but months passed and she was still confined to the house.

Triona was 17 and in the sixth year at school when the virus first hit.

"I was off school for a week in January 2006," she says. "I had swollen glands, a temperature and a headache, and I was feeling tired. And every time I tried going back to school, I got worse again. By the end of March I had to stop going to school altogether."

And that was tough. As Triona stayed at home in bed each morning, just moving to the couch in the afternoons, her friends took their Leaving Certificate.

They left school, went on their post-Leaving Cert holidays, celebrated their results and then went to their Debs, before starting college. Triona wasn't even well enough to go back to school in September.

"Every time I tried to do anything I felt worse," she says. "So in the end I stopped trying.

"I couldn't read, I couldn't go on the computer, I couldn't even concentrate on the telly," she says. "I thought that this was just going to go on and on. It was this hopeless feeling that there was no time limit."

In January this year, Triona heard about a system in England called The Lightning Process. Started by Phil Parker, an osteopath and personal development expert, the system offers a three-day program teaching a patient how their brain and body can work together to influence their health and their life.

"I was sceptical at first," says Triona, "I had put my trust into so many other things and they had not really worked, it was hard to put my faith into something else. But I decided to try it and I went to Durham in June.

"Phil explained that my body produced adrenaline each time I was ill and that I was caught in this loop where my adrenaline went into overdrive. Worrying about being sick increased the adrenaline, so it was important to stop negative thought processes and to turn off the adrenaline."

Triona felt a little better at once. She went on holiday with her family and managed to swim every day.

"And I started to walk," she says. "I managed 10 minutes and that was really good. I knew if I kept applying the system I would get better and better."

In September, Triona started 6th year at Ashfield College. With most of her leaving certificate course already under her belt, she is able to concentrate on History and English, the two subjects in which the syllabus has changed.

"I go to school four mornings a week for two to three hours," she says. "I'm making new friends, and I feel normal again. When I get home I rest for a while, then I go on the computer or I read. That is something I really missed when I was sick.

"I go to the cinema and I go to the pub or to dinner parties with friends at the weekend. I don't go to nightclubs yet, because I still can't manage late nights. But I'm learning to drive and on Tuesdays I go to yoga with a friend. I love that. I used to really enjoy Camogie and athletics, but those sports are too stressful to go back to just now.

"I'm going skiing in January though," she says. "I've been before and I'm really looking forward to that."