Adaptive pacing : Dr Meg Arroll, psychologist and "international best-selling author"

[Sly Saint]

Looks like another thing being taken over

‘We’ve forgotten about the concept of convalescence’ – I have chronic pain and limited mobility, but this pacing technique helps me clean my home​

I have been in chronic pain since my early teens, and now at nearly 40, my illnesses are worse then ever. The only way I get anything done, be it cleaning my home, looking after my child or working is with carefully managed adapative pacing.

If you are chronically ill, suffer fatigue, or are dealing with aches and pains that are getting in the way of your day-to-day chores and housekeeping, my expert guide with advice from a top psychologist on this technique will help you get back on track.
Once you learn how to do adaptive pacing, it can make it possible to put cleaning tips into play and other tasks around the house without extra pain, fatigue or new injuries.

How to use adaptive adaptive pacing when cleaning​

Firstly, let’s break down what adaptive pacing actually is.

Dr Meg Arroll, psychologist and international best-selling author, says, ‘There are three basic facets: knowing your baseline which is the amount of activity (such as cleaning) you can do before becoming symptomatic or your symptoms worsen, developing sustainable activity levels, and pacing up, where you safely increase activity.’

Adaptive pacing therefore allows you to work with your body, rather than against it and can be applied everywhere in your life from cleaning to socialising.

If you’re wondering if this really works, I have a few very painful conditions including hypermobile Ehlers Danlos syndrome, which leads to daily dislocations and injuries, as well as severe endometriosis, which brings a host of pain and inflammation. Add that to an immune condition that makes my blood pressure plummet for no good reason and well, my life is extremely hard. It also makes tidying and cleaning overwhelming.

On any given day, I am not well enough to get out of bed. And yet, I still have to live, which means taking care of my child, contributing to our household cleaning and working. If I did my tasks without adaptive pacing in play, I would end up in bed for days, if not weeks.

‘By sheer coincidence, I also have hEDS and Stage 4 endometriosis, which was misdiagnosed for over two decades,’ Dr Meg adds. ‘I learned about adaptive pacing in an attempt to self-heal as some of the approaches prescribed to me were making my symptoms much more severe.

'Through adaptive pacing, I have been able to get the very most out of life and in my home, even with these long-term conditions. I would say this technique saved my life, as the frustration and isolation from having a long-term condition can be devastating.’

Adaptive pacing is transformative for those living with chronic health issues and will help make cleaning your house more manageable. Just be patient as it will take a bit of time to get learn what works for you.

‘Remember that you are investing in your health and yourself,’ Dr Meg adds. ‘Acknowledge the frustration, know that it’s a perfectly normal emotional reaction to the situation, and reassure yourself that you are worth this effort.

Here are the steps:

MSN

eta: another similar article from a month ago https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/ot...1&cvid=688b4f6555c94151bacae7ecece9da25&ei=38

 

[oldtimer]

I think she should produce a not too indecently lucrative video for those of us who can't get the hang of the columns and rows and coloured markers for tasks that are easy, medium and hard. All to be entered daily, or was it hourly. Not to forget notebooks to be purchased as well for listing prioities, and the photos of each room to ascertain which one needs the most cleaning and would therefore be entered in the rows, or was it the columns in the correct colour. Then you are ready to get cleaning.

Pardon me if I haven’t quite got the details straight yet. I was too busy "decluttering" the dining table to spend a lot of time trying to follow it.

 

[Mij]

She sounds a bit too obsessed with keeping the house clean. I'm more concerned about preparing food and eating to stay alive.

 

[Dolphin]

She did her PhD on ME/CFS. That was her diagnosis at the time, not sure whether she now views that as a misdiagnosis?

 

[Andy]

Any relation to Bruce Arroll by any chance?

 

[Lou B Lou]

Megan Arroll, chartered psychologist and NLP enthusiast, used to be 'Research Director' at Alex Howard's Optimum Health Clinic (which, yes, claimed, in Alex Howard's hyperbolic style, to have a 'Research Department'):


'A preliminary prospective study of nutritional, psychological and combined therapies for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in a private care setting'
Megan Anne Arroll, Alex Howard

'This study provides early evidence that psychological, nutritional and combined techniques for the treatment of ME/CFS may influence symptomatology, fatigue, function and perceived control. However, these results must be viewed with caution as the allocation to groups was not randomised, there was no control group and the study suffered from high drop-out rates.'

A preliminary prospective study of nutritional, psychological and combined therapies for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in a private care setting - PubMed

This study provides early evidence that psychological, nutritional and combined techniques for the treatment of ME/CFS may influence symptomatology, fatigue, function and perceived control. However, these results must be viewed with caution as the allocation to groups was not randomised, there...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Megan Arroll was also part of a chronic illness research group at the University of East London in Stratford, under Professor Christine Dancey.

'Pilot study investigating the utility of a specialized online symptom management program for individuals with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome as compared to an online meditation program'​

Megan A Arroll Elizabeth A Attree, Clare L Marshall, Christine P Dancey

Pilot study investigating the utility of a specialized online symptom management program for individuals with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome as compared to an online meditation program - PubMed

The specialized online program described in this study warrants further investigation, as it appears to influence perceived control and key ME/CFS symptoms over time.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Megan Arroll was also at first selected to present evidence on cognitive function in ME/CFS at the IOM/NAM Inquiry 2015. But was dropped pretty soon in favour of another academic who had done more research on ME and cognitive function. Megan Arroll had only done one small study using her local ME group for participants.

.

 

[rvallee]

Firstly, let’s break down what adaptive pacing actually is

... not a thing. Pacing is 'adaptive' by definition, so that's just a buzzword, and the way it's described makes no sense. I don't think I could care less about anything than the opinion of a 'top' psychologist about something they are obviously clueless about.

This frankly reads like one of those "I got $300K in savings and a fully-paid house at 27 on a $35K salary, here's how I did it" and it turns out "how I did it" was having rich, well-connected parents who can sit them on some executive position that requires almost no effort.

The sheer amount of bullshit that comes out of medical professionals is so unlike any other. Every profession has some bullshit, but health care is one of the biggest producers of bullshit on the planet. It just works out because instead of accounting in the absolute, they should not ever bullshit and should not ever harm anyone, they do it instead in relative terms: we help more than we harm, therefore we do no harm.

 

[Sean]

'This study provides early evidence that psychological, nutritional and combined techniques for the treatment of ME/CFS may influence symptomatology, fatigue, function and perceived control. However, these results must be viewed with caution as the allocation to groups was not randomised, there was no control group and the study suffered from high drop-out rates.'​

So the value of this 'study' is...?