Classic Pacing for a Better Life with ME

by Ingebjørg Midsem Dahl

Classic Pacing for a Better Life with ME is a self-help book which explains pacing and how it can be applied to daily life. Although aimed at patients, the book can also be of interest to professionals. Pacing is a coping strategy used in illnesses that cause low energy levels. It consists of splitting activities into small chunks so that symptoms are not worsened, as well as alternating activity and rest to maintain energy levels throughout the day. Pacing can be done in a variety of ways, and there are several different tools which can be of help. Classic Pacing for a Better Life with ME presents a full range of strategies to enable the reader to find the ones that suit their situation. It covers all degrees of illness severity and there is a special chapter on how to pace education, making the book useful to young readers. The first part of the book covers basic pacing, and is well suited to beginners, whereas the second part covers advanced pacing, which is relevant to patients who have been ill for a long time and have tried many ways to improve their situation. The third part of the book consists of chapters on different themes, such as how to pace social activities and big events.

Great care has been taken to ensure that the book is as easy to read as possible. All the chapters begin with a summary. This means that even people who can only read very small amounts of text can still benefit from the book. In addition, all the basics are covered in Chapter One, which means that the reader can get going straight away without having to read the entire book first. Each chapter can be read on its own like an article. The detailed table of contents makes it easy to find the sections that are most relevant to the reader's needs. The language of the book is reader friendly with everyday words and short sentences. Although the book is geared particularly towards people with ME, much of the content is general enough to also be relevant to people with other illnesses that cause low levels of energy.

336 pages, Spiral-bound

First published November 1, 2015

About the author

Ingebjørg Midsem Dahl was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1979, and still lives there. She came down with myalgic encephalomyelitis in 1983, and began taking an interest in coping and management in her pre-teens. There was no access to medical treatment for ME at the time, so coping and management became an important source of hope. Pacing was the method which turned out to give the most control over the illness, and Ingebjørg therefore began taking a particular interest in this. She wrote her first article on the subject at the age of 18. The article went on to be published in five countries. She has continued to contribute to the magazines of patient organisations, mainly in Norway, Denmark and Great Britain. When Ingebjørg’s health began deteriorating drastically in her late teens, she was forced to give up her university studies in linguistics, and instead focus on getting the illness under control. She began experimenting to develop the concept of pacing further. During this process, Ingebjørg managed to pinpoint which aspects of pacing enhance the chances of improvement, and from this was able to deduce how pacing can be carried out in order to get maximum benefit. By applying these ideas to her own situation, she was able to turn the worst relapse she has ever had, into her longest period of gradual improvement, more than a decade and a half. When Ingebjørg’s health had improved sufficiently, she began dictating a series of articles about pacing to help other patients. Over the years, the series evolved into a book, which was published in Norway in late 2015. This book has now been translated into English. Ingebjørg takes a particular interest in how coping and management techniques can be used to lead a rich and fulfilling life, despite limitations. Thanks to these techniques she has been able to pursue her other interests, languages, literature, writing, history, early music, natural sciences and different types of crafts.

Reviews

[Victoria Clutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The books is great. The experience of reading the book is great. It's really well designed for people who struggle with reading large blocks of text due to brain fog and who struggle to hold regular books.

The only part of the book that made me cringe was the part talking about how to socialise with m.e. which I suspect may be a cultural difference. Everything else was incredibly useful and despite having had m.e. for 22 years I learned a great deal from it.

[Kate]

My father is an ME sufferer and after years of muscle pain and numerous other symptoms, I read this book that was recommended by a friend. Looking at the clinical criteria, it looks like my years of symptoms put me in the mild CFS category. I won’t be going to a doc, but I will try to apply pacing techniques in my life. It was humbling to read about moderate and severe ME/CFS. I hope this book helps people.

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a very comprehensive and detailed look at pacing and is the best I have seen covering the topic.

I come to this book as a person who's had ME over 30 years, but despite my experience of pacing it's still very useful to have something so clearly set out and explained. it's helping me consider what changes might help me and that maybe I need to take a slightly more formalised approach to pacing for a while to find my limits without causing symptoms.

The book is well structured and has summaries of the chapters but I did find some sections quite lengthy in the text.

It attempts to cover, or make examples of, pacing with both mild and severe ME and does this fairly well. which is hard considering the large differences in capabilities.

I've recently found I need to set myself timers for some activities as they are so engaging I don't pay attention to symptoms or carry on too long. The suggestions of experimenting to find out how long an activity is safe and causes no increase in symptoms is very useful.

It's a pity there is no mention of using heart rate pacing, though I think this was less commonly known about when the bin was written. perhaps an updated version will include details about it at some point.

Overall very useful book for those with ME/CFS or Long Covid with PEM.

[Ben Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was dictated and then translated to English and it does kind of show. The author with ME/CFS is to be commended though for offering her experience and knowledge and has done a pretty detailed and thorough job. Most guides on pacing cover much less than this book and that can leave lots of important and beneficial elements missed out.

There is nothing in here I thought was too bad however...

Now I do feel that any book on pacing that goes beyond the basics should really cover use of Heart Rate Monitoring and Heart Rate Variability. It should also cover uses of technology more probably.

Then I am very much of the view that few people other than those mildly affected and very self aware can really effectively pace without support. This side isnt really covered, nor the challenges of user bias etc. I dont think this is a good book to learn to pace with but for someone already pacing it could help them to look at their pacing a little differently.

Broadly speaking this is better and more thorough on pacing than many other resources out there. There is a lot of dense text, many of the sections dont seem that helpful/beneficial but for an experienced pacer there is probably a good few ideas that might be of benefit.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an excellent book! As a Long Covid sufferer I found this an invaluable guide. I thought I knew about pacing but this book has gone into much more detail and so I am hoping I can now pace more effectively. Well presented and an easy read.

[Alison Bowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of great advice and written with real warmth.
The layout and font size are so helpful too.
I am already seeing benefits from a better understanding of pacing techniques thanks to this book!

[Kine Albrigtsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jeg har ikke ME og er sånn sett ikke i målgruppen for denne boka. (Jeg har mye erfaring med aktivitetsavpassing).

Denne har noen virkelig gode poenger som jeg selv har brukt flere år på å lære meg. Grensesetting, det å ikke kun leve på nødbluss energimessig og å faktisk tilpasse hverdagen til helsa fremfor å presse seg gjennom alt for enhver tid.

Boken virker litt "billig" og bærer preg av brukerperspektivet, men kanskje er dette noe av det som gjør den mer spiselig for andre som er syke?

Jeg har faktisk tro på at denne boka kan gi folk noen helt konkrete og reelle verktøy for å bli litt bedre kjent med seg selv, men som med alle andre prosesser og former for behandling/terapi/endringsprosesser krever det tid, kontinuitet og en viss form for evne til overblikk for å trekke de store linjene i dette prosjektet det er å finne ut av egen helse og hvordan man kan gjøre hverdagen best mulig.

Veldig mye gjentakelser og mye av det visste jeg fra før av, derfor en del trekk i stjerner fra min side. Jeg har litt mer tro på en aktiv dialog med et menneske fremfor å ta det fra en bok, men boka kan antakeligvis brukes som et supert verktøy og ville kanskje fått flere stjerner hvis jeg visste mindre om temaet.

[Hanna Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denne boka er midt i blinken for de med ME og sliter med å avpasse aktiviteter de gjør i hverdagen.
Den repeterer ting... ofte, noe som er midt i blinken for de med ME, for som regel det som ikke blir repetert blir glemt.
Jeg tror jeg vil ha stor hjelp av denne boka.