Thursday 26 January 2012

Why should we ... ?

I used to wonder whether M.E. was a hint from mother nature that the human race is pushing itself too hard. If you think about it, it makes sense.We do not live the way we were designed to live.

Humans were not designed to eat the way we eat. Time and time again I hear of people with M.E. developing sensitivities to gluten, lactose, sugars, colourings, or any number of ingredients in our food. None of these are naturally part of our diet. If you look at what you eat you will find synthetics in nearly everything. I went through a phase a couple of years ago where by my body would only accept rice, meat, and vegetables. I know many people with M.E. resort to trying The Stone Age Diet

Looking at a stone age world, we would have woken with the sun and gone to sleep with the sun. We'd have had no reason to be awake through the night. We would have rested through the middle of the day when the sun was at it's pinnacle also. Of course, we are all very familiar with the fact that people with M.E. sleep a lot more than the average person. It is not natural for us to be awake "all the hours God sends". 

And yet we are expected to wake up when it is still dark, push ourselves all day, push ourselves all evening, sometimes even all night, and survive on minimal sleep. Meanwhile we fill our bodies with foods that we are not designed to eat, putting added stress on systems that are already overworked and over tired. How often do you see a colleague having another cup of coffee, or drinking one of those hyped up caffeine drinks, just so that they can push themselves to the next deadline? How often do YOU feel guilty that you're not meeting targets, even if they're targets in your own head rather than targets set by corporate bullies? Are we designed to meet targets? I don't think so. I think the only targets we're really designed to meet are those of filling our stomachs, with a possible side order of reproduction. Possibly some fighting off bears involved too.

My theory falls down when you consider the fact that most people with M.E. tend to be asleep all day, and awake all night. I let go of the theory when I started reading about the possible virus connections. I was reminded of it yesterday though when a friend of mine received a letter from Atos Healthcare. She has M.E.. She also has a number of phobias. She stated to them that she cannot use public transport, and cannot use the phone. They have assigned her a medical assessment in a borough that is not her nearest, given her an itinerary of public transport that includes buses, trains, and trams, and told her to phone them if she has a problem. It made me angry. If she fails to attend the assessment, she loses the very little money she lives on (she is claiming a lot less benefits than she could be), yet if she either attends or phones them to say she cannot attend it will be assumed that she has lied about something on her form ... and she will lose her benefit.

I do understand how society works. Some people don't work, so the rest of the people have to support them. The more people who don't work, the harder it is for those who support them to get by, as more and more of their income is going in support. There has to be balance. So, yes, I understand why the DWP and Atos Healthcare try to push us to work. But sometimes I just want to shout at them. What they are doing to us is not natural. It just bugs me so much that they work so hard to try and force everyone in to such an unnatural way of life. I'm ignoring the bullying tactics at the moment, their attempt at entrapment. I'm wishing that there were options in life for those who simply cannot live the way that society expects, to be accepted and willingly supported.

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