Dips

[damask-rose]

What causes them?

Up til now I'd thought it was always due to overdoing things, or not doing enough STOPs etc. But recently I've wondered if Dips are sometimes a necessary part of the healing process. I'm in one at the moment, and it seems that while all is weak and feeble externally, internally there is a lot of strengthening and re-ordering going on. As though it's necessary to be laid back in order for good things to happen.

Just wondered what y'all might think! (Including Mr Gupta himself!)

[efly]

... Im also in a dip![first big dip since Ar] but sort of feel stronger on the inside! If that make s sense.......Yes I agree with you....theres something ''necessary '' about dips.....
Efly

[jennyalynn]

In my opinion, it IS about you overdoing things. But your new self awareness of having done too much causes you to see what you are doing and gives you a break! In other words, you're learning how to accept that you are human, and not superhuman as many people with CFS believe about themselves. Having a dip is ok. It doesn't herald that you are useless, etc, you know all that subconscious stuff that used to block you. So this lightens the stress on the immune system, and enables you to process your changes better. Jenny

[damask-rose]

Well I think I finally got your point Jenny! Yes I think there's truth in what you say. So the dips many be necessary to help us learn the things you mention.

[jennyalynn]

LOL! Yes. Glad you got my point! It was my first posting and I couldn't see whether it was sent or not, so I just kept sending it!

Apologies! It was a technical error! Yes. Keep listening to yourself and hearing your internal dialogue and then you can master that wayward part of you that undermines your peace of mind.

All the best.
Jenny

[niaholt]

About Dips...Have been reading Claire Weeks book and a woman in there regales her Recovery with Dips. A woman states that now her life seems to be new kind of "reality". Weekes validates her feelings After many yrs of illness, new attempts at getting well can make us doubt ourselves at times and want to give up and go back to the old way where we knew where we stood. when we are in free fall.
The book states that "set back, exhaustion, panic- all seem part of failure....but she states we cannot go forward without them as we walk new territory. However if we hang onto these symptoms they can make us go backward, but if we realize it is only a dip then we can pick up again. All her patients had anxiety disorders and through her treatment I guess the successful ones eventually rewired their brains.

[Emergo]

I too think that dips are part of the process. Someone once told me that this is a proven process; when you try to do more and try to explore the new possibilities, you are bound to do too much. This allows you to know where you stand and take a step back, only to move forward from that point on.

[damask-rose]

These are very helpful comments: thank you very much.

I can relate to that feeling of 'free-fall'; feeling disorientated as deeply ingrained old habits die and you haven't got used to the new feelings yet. It's very encouraging to know that it's all an inevitable part of the process, rather than things 'going wrong'.

[annie]

These posts are so helpful. I tend to panic when I have a dip. I know, I know! I find it very hard not to go back over everything I have done, or not done, in the previous days or hours. I wonder if it is more helpful to just float it out, as Gupta suggests, or do some detective work and see what could be causing it. Maybe a bit of both. Has anyone any ideas about this?

[spring]

Having some awareness of what might have led to the dip, if anything, is probably helpful but the most important thing I feel is just to accept that periods like this will come along and have faith that they will not do you any harm.

On those days I try to accept the place I am in, see it as a normal temporary lull, and not be afraid that I have or will suffer any harm from it.

If I feel I need to, I give up on any plans or activities that seem too hard for how I am feeling and choose something relaxing to do even if it is just nothing much.

On the other hand if I have something I have to do or really want to do I try to have confidence that it will do me no ongoing harm - and it has always worked out ok. I make sure I make good use of the Stops and Soften & Flow to support my system.

Dips can be frightening and raise concerns of 'I'll never get out of this'. I was certainly frightened and despaired over the early dips I had. Now I tend to just go with the flow and have faith that they are a passing thing on the way to wellness.

[niaholt]

I have just come out of a huge dip and doing so well......the words today I needed to hear.....slow down. I woke with a smile on my face today...sun shining thru my bedroom windows and the palm fronds blowing in the wind. For so many years I despised them as they were all I had to look at. Now I see them as life......and I am jumping on their coat tails.

I put my good feeling down to breathing...yes I know I am repeating it all over again. I do all the Guptas plus Buteyko and then the Pranayama too. It has changed me as I can have visitors now without feeling so much adrenaline running and exhaustion. I also had Neurolink kinesiology that is so compatible with Gupta and it definitely gave me a leg up as I noticed a difference the next week as he told me I would. ( I did not believe him). However it is the breathing that has brought about more change I think than STOP.