What is the Todd Davenport approach to pacing?

[ahimsa]

[some people with ME/CFS] have recovered for reasons unknown to us, rather than there being a clear pattern that those recovering are the ones that paced "better" and those developing severe illnesses being the ones that paced "worse".

Absolutely true. I see pacing (or intentional rest, or whatever you want to call a strategy of doing fewer things/less exertion) as a purely short term strategy. My only goal is to reduce my symptoms and try to avoid delayed PEM which hits me later.

When I was at my worst, in mid to late 1991, I kept getting worse even though all I was doing was resting at home (other than doctor appointments which were stressful and exhausting). Then I slowly started to improve.

I have no idea why I got worse for about 5-6 months. I also have no idea why I got some partial improvement later on. But I don't think either change was the result of extra resting.

I didn't even have a diagnosis in 1991 so I had no idea what was going on. I was not doing any intentional "pacing." Without knowing what was going on I was mostly pushing and crashing. It took me a while to figure out that I was getting PEM the next day.

Anyway, even now, after 36 years of illness, pacing/resting is very hit-or-miss. It doesn't always work, not even in the short term. But I've never done it with the hope that pacing will lead to some long term improvement.