Learn how Cassiterite helps to bring Divine light into your body from the source of all that is. This is a powerful crystal for manifestation, that aids beginnings and endings, and eases those at the end of life.
Lemurian Quartz Crystal have properties that aid you to retrieve ancient information and create spiritual healing in your life. Learn how to use them in meditation.
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Angelite or Blue Anhydrite has a soothing energy. It boosts contact with angelic beings and spirit guides, and improves communication of all types. It aids the birth of psychic gifts, channeling and mediumship.
Crown chakra stones boost psychic gifts and help you connect to the Divine Spirit. The 7th Chakra Explained: this chakra is about spiritual knowing, intuition, humanitarianism, empathy and selflessness.
Blue Calcite enhances clairvoyance, intuition, mental telepathy and creativity. It aids dream recall, boosts flow of energy to the body to clear negativity and give pain relief.
Find your zodiac birthstones: 12 astrology signs with different zodiac stones, crystals or gemstones for each sign. Lists ancient, traditional and modern birthstones for each astrology sign.
Eilat Stone also known as King Solomon's stone, has strong loving energy that connects the heart and the mind, as well as connecting the heart, throat and higher heart chakras. It helps to heal emotional issues with its highly spiritual vibration.
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Sillimanite has an energy that can stimulate endorphins like a runners high. Also known as Fibrolite, it boosts the development of clairaudience or psychic hearing and encourages higher levels of optimism and happiness.
Kunzite Crystal has a high vibration that heals relationships and releases negative feelings. It heals the emotions and helps love to fill your life. Its energy helps to lift your mood and relieves panic and fear.
Learn to use chakra kits and read what colors of stones to use to heal each of the chakras. See chart with list of chakra stones of the right chakra colors for healing each area of the body.
Developing intuition and instinct aids immediate and intuitive recognition via your psychic senses. Discover which crystals boost this gift and develop deeper spiritual connections thru the subconscious mind.
Pietersite connects you to your internal guidance system, aids will power and assists life changes. Use in meditation to aid altered awareness, develop psychic visions, telepathic ability and intuition.
Helen Hyland, Fundraising Manager, ME Association.
For people with M.E. completing a 1000-mile challenge even over the course of a year can only be an aspiration or dream (perhaps even a nightmare). They are simply not well enough to take on such a feat and to do so would not be advisable.
But I know that there are people out there who will leap at the chance of doing this because the people they care about cannot or because they enjoy helping to raise funds for a good cause and love a physical challenge.
This is exactly the kind of event that will appeal to keen or budding athletes who cannot commit to organised races on set dates, but who can safely aim to achieve a good level of fitness in 2019. It will also appeal to people who are able to walk, run, swim or cycle for pleasure as well as who already exercise on a regular basis.
The 2019 Virtual Runner Challenge
The ME Association is thrilled to announce that Virtual Runner is promoting a 1000-mile challenge throughout 2019 for M.E.
The aim of the event is simple – to challenge people to run, walk, swim or cycle the full 1000-mile distance over the course of the year. And if you can substantiate your distances at the end, you will be awarded a Virtual Runner Medal.
Virtual Runner works with over 50,000 runners worldwide, encouraging them to enter virtual races that they can complete anywhere, anytime, and at their own pace.
A proportion of entry fees is paid to nominated charities and a huge number have already benefited from significant donations – including the ME Association.
To learn more about the challenge and to join in the fun, please click here. Once you have chosen your discipline – walking, running, swimming or cycling – enter your details on the Virtual Runner website. But register early as there are limited places available!
How to run 1,000 miles
One of our fundraisers has already, comfortably, achieved that distance. David Fardon writes:
David Fardon at The Longworth 10k. Photo courtesy of Barry Cornelius.
“In 2017 I set myself an ambitious target of running 1,000 miles to raise awareness and funds for the ME Association.”
“My reason for selecting this charity is that my wife is a sufferer of this cruel invisible illness for which there is currently no cure.”
“I booked myself into various races from 10k right up to my first full marathon. This gave me something to focus on and train for and also gave me reason to report my adventures via social media with a link to my JustGiving page.”
“It also meant I got to speak to many fellow runners about M.E. and raise some awareness that way.”
Enjoy your running…
“I aimed to run about 4 times a week recording my mileage via my GPS sports watch. I varied my routes and speed of running to keep it interesting with one longer run on a Sunday. There were days when I didn’t much fancy a run but thinking about the valuable work of the ME Association and of my wife who would dearly love to run usually spurred me on. Once I was out of the door, I nearly always enjoyed the run!”
“The best advice I can give us to simply enjoy your running. Run your way because everyone needs a different approach. It really doesn’t matter how fast or slow it is – every mile counts. I met someone on a run once who told me “It’s not the time you run in, it’s the time you have,” and that’s stuck with me!”
Great advice…
“The ME Association were very supportive along the way. I was put in contact with other fundraisers and got great advice about tackling my first full Marathon. When Radio Oxford and BBC South Today showed interest in my involvement in the Oxford Half they provided great advice on how to best present myself and the work of the charity.”
“The feeling of achievement in completing the 1000 miles challenge was immense. I have many great memories of the various races I attended along the way and of course the assortment of medals. I had run on various terrains from roads to trails and even a tank training ground raising awareness and funds from the vital work of the MEA. I would most certainly do it again!”
Help and Support
If you would be interested in joining in the challenge to run 1000 miles for ME in 2019, then simply sign up to Virtual Runner.
And if you would like to help raise funds to support people with M.E. who can only dream of a challenge over such distances, then please get in touch.
Helen Hyland via email, or phone (01280 838964).
Support Our Christmas Appeal
Help us do more for M.E. research in 2019
If you have any questions about the Appeal, then please contact our fundraising manager, Helen Hyland. Thank you.
Brookite is a potent high vibration stone. Helps you connect with spirit beings in the higher realms, expands your awareness, helps you connect with angels and spirit guides, stimulates kundalini rising.
The Capricorn Zodiac Sign starts on the 22nd December. If you were born during this astrological sign check out the list of zodiac birthstones for this sign to help you to find the best Capricorn birthstone to use to help you.
Sally Turner, Patient, 21st December 2018.
For decades, ME has been the subject of controversy among doctors, patients and the public. Conflicting views on the cause and treatment of this debilitating illness have been rife, with patients caught in the crossfire. Sally Turner, who spent years housebound with ME, uncovers the latest thinking on the illness.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also referred to as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), is thought to affect around 250,000 people in Britain and 17 million people worldwide – children as well as adults.
One study, published last year, estimated that the annual economic cost of ME/CFS to the nation in relation to lost income, benefits and health costs was at least £3.3 billion, yet the illness has long been plagued by controversy.
ME involves a range of debilitating symptoms that characteristically fluctuate in severity, but is characterised by ‘profound and disabling activity-induced fatigue which almost always affects both physical and mental functioning. The fatigue and other symptoms are not caused by ongoing excessive exertion and are not relieved by rest’ (The ME Association).
Dr Charles Shepherd, medical adviser to the ME Association, explains: “We use ME, even though it doesn’t fully describe the symptoms, because many people have chronic fatigue for different reasons, whereas ME is a specific disease process.”
Living with ME
In 1984, aged 14, I contracted what my GP referred to as a ‘glandular fever-related virus’. My swollen glands and fever disappeared after a couple of weeks, but I was left with painful muscles, clouded cognitive function and crushing fatigue after minimal exertion; walking to the corner shop, sitting in a lesson at school, and even an animated chat on the phone to a friend would leave me barely able to function for hours, sometimes days at a time.
My GP said it was ‘post-viral malaise’ – it took a year, but eventually the symptoms subsided; I was over it, or so I thought.
Then, more than a decade later, aged 28, I was fighting off a nasty flu bug while also trying to manage an acutely stressful situation at work. Suddenly the symptoms returned, and with far greater severity.
Too ill to work, I lost my job, and then my financial independence, active social life and self-esteem. It would take me seven years to recover, and I spent most of that time more or less housebound. Today I’m able to work and exercise, but still have a flare-up of symptoms from time to time, and I get frequent viral infections which it takes a lot longer than average to recover from.
What causes ME?
“Emerging research suggests that ME is a complex, multi-system disease that involves abnormalities in muscle, brain and immune system function,” says Shepherd.
“We now think there’s a genetic predisposition to developing it when the right trigger appears. There is a strong degree of consensus that infections are a major factor – vaccinations and pesticide pollution may also be triggers for some people, and undue physical or mental stress at the time of the initial infection may also play a role, but we still have disagreements about what maintains and perpetuates the illness.”
ME Association Factsheets:
During an infection, the immune system releases chemicals called cytokines which are what makes us feel ‘flu-like’ and under par. Research has shown that in people with ME, cytokine levels are raised, indicating an ongoing overactive immune response.
“Another finding is that some people with ME have an autoimmune component to their illness; they produce auto-antibodies which act against their own tissues,” explains Shepherd. “We also know there are abnormalities in mitochondria [organelles in our cells that produce energy], and other research has demonstrated disturbances to the hypothalamus in the brain, a gland which helps control temperature regulation, appetite and sleep.”
The autonomic nervous system is also involved and issues with the nerve signals that pass to the heart, bladder and bowels may cause problems.
“There’s quite a lot of comorbidity going on,” says Shepherd. “People with ME may report migraine-type headaches, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), bladder symptoms and problems regulating pulse and blood pressure. All this pathology we now think is linked.”
This has certainly been my experience – along with classic ME symptoms I have also been prone to low blood pressure, IBS, hyper-sensitive bladder, vulvodynia (nerve pain affecting the vulva) and autoimmune issues.
Support The ME Association Christmas Appeal
Help us do more for M.E. research in 2019
If you have any questions about the Appeal, then please contact our fundraising manager, Helen Hyland. Thank you.
Russell Fleming, Content Manager, ME Association.
Dr Karl Morten, Oxford University.
Dr Karl Morten delivered a very interesting presentation with a number of welcome surprises to members of ME Auckland in New Zealand on Wednesday, 12th December.
He spoke about the research into energy metabolism and metabolomics that is being carried out by his team in Oxford (and in Newcastle) with funding and support from the ME Association Ramsay Research Fund.
And he provided a welcome update on the research we funded into assessing the commercial (Acumen) mitochondrial function test, as well as his team’s plans for future research.
My personal highlights:
– Dr Morten and his team are in the advanced stages of making a grant application to the Medical Research Council (MRC) for £1.6million to study metabolomics in ME/CFS. If successful, this would represent the largest single biomedical grant ever given to this field in the UK. Researchers would analyse samples from over 1,000 patients who had a variety of diseases including ME/CFS to determine metabolomic differences.
– The ME Association provided funding to Dr Morten and to researchers in Newcastle to try and validate the commercial Acumen mitochondrial test. This test is still being promoted as an aid to diagnosis in ME/CFS, but this much-anticipated research does not support its continued use and I look forward to publication early next year so that we might learn more.
– Dr Morten revealed how when examining mitochondrial function, they took blood plasma from ME/CFS patients and added it to healthy muscle cells, and this resulted in a startling effect on the cells ability to absorb oxygen. They are continuing with work in this area and hope to determine why the energetics of the cells are affected in this way.
– The work of Pawel Zalewski in Poland. Dr Morten and Prof. Julia Newton helped provide the Nicolaus Copernicus University with funding to enable Dr Zalewski to study the effect of whole-body cryostimulation on ME/CFS. We talked about this in our report of the 2018 CMRC conference, but this study will examine the effects of 10 days cryostimulation (10×3-minute immersions in extremely cold chambers) on cardiac, immune, and autonomic systems. The one-month results are very encouraging, but 12-month data needs to be collected before publication can be considered.
– Metabolomics. Returning to the Polish sample – which includes patients who have undertaken graded exercise to study its effects and features testing of aortic stiffness believed to be affecting autonomic function – Dr Morten and his team searched for metabolites (small chemicals) found in blood plasma. Using mass spectroscopy, they have found 37,000 metabolites in each patient sample, and 11,000 of those metabolites are different to the ones found in controls. Although only 5% of these metabolites are known, they have been able to determine significance and work will continue to find out what the differences might mean. Metabolomics could provide for a diagnostic test.
– The continuing success with Raman spectroscopy, which we covered recently in a research summary. Dr Morten explains more about this fascinating method of analysis that is determining differences between ME/CFS and controls with quite remarkable accuracy. They are now looking at a further 50 patients and controls.
– Research into the Ketogenic diet, which while in its infancy, appears to highlight different functional abilities between ME/CFS and controls during and after exercise. Dr Morten is not recommending the diet or the associated supplements that are available, but he feels this is another area worthy of study because it might be highlighting differences in energy metabolism.
You can watch the presentation in full below, follow using the slides, or read the transcript taken from the video and kindly formatted by “strategist” on Science 4 ME Forums.
We are very grateful to Peter and Levi Mancer from ME Auckland for producing the video of Dr Morten’s presentation and were more than happy to help cover the costs.
Support Our Christmas Appeal
Help us do more for M.E. research in 2019
If you have any questions about the Appeal, then please contact our fundraising manager, Helen Hyland. Thank you.
Discover how Isochronic Tones and Binaural Beats can be used to develop psychic powers. Use them to enhance your ESP, telepathic gifts and remote viewing abilities.
Happy Solstice everyone!
Wishing you all magic & miracles in the days, weeks & months to come ~
Image from http://www.PlacesofLight.com
Goethite boosts clairaudience and enhances creativity and emotional healing. It helps to heal grief after loss of a loved one and is easy to program with your intentions. Creates an earth connection with strong grounding energy.
Kinoite has a deep compassionate energy that aids spiritual growth, helps stress and encourages better sleep. A throat chakra stone that helps you to communicate with Spirit and to truthfully communicate what you heard to others.
Learn how your spirituality and health can be enhanced using the metaphysical and healing properties of crystals. Discover which stones will enhance your spiritual growth and good health.
Don’t take anything personally
Phenacite has a very high vibration that activates your lightbody, your higher chakras and pineal gland. Also spelled Phenakite, it helps you to contact angels and Ascended Masters and boosts intuition, telepathy and much more.
Prasiolite or Green Amethyst clears disharmonious energy, activates your inner vision and enhances your heart based spiritual connection to Mother Gaia.
King’s College London, 17 December 2018.
“Our findings suggest that people who have an exaggerated immune response to a trigger may be more at risk of developing CFS.”
New research from King’s College London finds that an exaggerated immune response can trigger long-lasting fatigue, potentially explaining how chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) begins. The study is the most in-depth biological investigation yet into the role of the immune system in lasting symptoms of fatigue.
CFS, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), is a long-term illness which is characterised by extreme tiredness. The underlying biology of CFS has remained a mystery, hampering the search for treatments. There is some evidence that the immune system plays a role in triggering CFS and many patients report their illness starting with a challenge to the immune system such as a viral illness.
Today’s Media Reports:
- BBC R4 Today Programme: 07.07am headline report with Katherine Burns and 08.50am interview with Prof. Pariante and M.E. sufferer Ellie Bunce.
- BBC Health: Chronic fatigue: Overactive immune system ‘may trigger ME-like symptoms’
- The Telegraph: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome may be triggered by hyperactive immune system, study suggests
- The Guardian: Chronic fatigue syndrome ‘could be triggered by overactive immune system’
- Reuters: Study finds chronic fatigue clues in overactive immune response
- Independent: Hope for ME patients as immune system study challenges stigma that chronic fatigue is ‘all in the mind’
- Mail Online: ME is real and your body is to blame: Chronic fatigue condition that has mystified scientists for decades is caused by an over-active immune system, study claims
By the time patients are diagnosed it is too late to catch CFS in its earliest stages, and it is impossible to assess the biology of patients before the illness develops. To get around this problem, researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) used a model for CFS based on a treatment for hepatitis C called interferon-alpha.
Interferon-alpha activates the immune system in the same way as a powerful infection. A lot of patients develop acute fatigue during treatment with interferon-alpha and a minority go on to have a CFS-like illness, where fatigue lasts for more than six months after the treatment ends.
The researchers measured fatigue and immune system markers in 55 patients before, during and after treatment with interferon-alpha, tracking which people developed the persistent CFS-like illness.
The team found differences in the immune systems of 18 patients who developed lasting fatigue compared to those who recovered as normal.
During treatment with interferon-alpha there was a much bigger immune response among those who developed the CFS-like illness, with a doubling in the levels of immune system ‘messenger’ molecules interleukin-10 and interleukin-6.
Importantly, even before treatment started, levels of interleukin-10 were higher among those who went on to have lasting fatigue, suggesting the immune system may have been ‘primed’ to over-respond.
Lead researcher Dr Alice Russell from the IoPPN says: ‘For the first time, we have shown that people who are prone to develop a CFS-like illness have an overactive immune system, both before and during a challenge to the immune system. Our findings suggest that people who have an exaggerated immune response to a trigger may be more at risk of developing CFS.’
“Piecing together the scientific jigsaw, it now seems increasingly likely that we are dealing with a sequence of events in ME/CFS that involve both infection and the immune system response.”
“A straightforward viral infection is leading to a immune system reaction that then fails to settle down.”
“And the on-going production of inflammation then causes immune system chemicals that affect various parts of the body – muscle and brain function in particular.”
“These findings also reinforce the need to investigate treatments – as are being used very successfully in inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis – which can dampen down low-level immune system activation.”
Dr Charles Shepherd, Hon. Medical Adviser, ME Association quoted today in The Telegraph, and also by BBC Health.
By the time the CFS-like illness developed, however, there was no longer any detectable difference in the immune system of patients compared to those who recovered as normal. As well as looking at people having interferon-alpha treatment, the researchers also found no difference in immune activation between 54 people with diagnosed CFS and 57 healthy controls.
Alongside the overactive immune response, those people who developed the CFS-like illness had more acute fatigue during treatment with interferon-alpha than people who recovered as normal. Yet before treatment there was no difference between the groups in their levels of fatigue or in any psychiatric symptoms like depression or recent stressful life-events.
Provides evidence that an overly-strong initial immune response can set up a long-term illness – may be relevant to #mecfs (echoes of Dubbo studies). Plus evidence that psychosocial factors have no role in chronic fatigue after immune activation. https://t.co/bnjqoBA4wY
— Simon McGrath #mecfs (@sjmnotes) December 17, 2018
Senior researcher Professor Carmine Pariante from the IoPPN says: ‘A better understanding of the biology underlying the development of CFS is needed to help patients suffering with this debilitating condition.’
‘Although screening tests are a long way off, our results are the first step in identifying those at risk and catching the illness in its crucial early stages. Confirmation is needed that the findings from people treated with interferon-alpha apply to people with CFS, and future work to better understand the factors that may be driving an exaggerated immune response is required.’
Dr Neha Issar-Brown, Head of Population and Systems Medicine at the Medical Research Council, which funded the research, said: ‘CFS/ME is a serious condition and its underpinning biology is poorly understood. Encouragingly, this work sheds light on potential mechanisms of immune dysregulation underlying early stages of chronic fatigue syndrome. The MRC strongly encourages more research to better understand this condition in order to address an area of unmet clinical need.’
Paper reference
‘Persistent fatigue induced by interferon-alpha: a novel, inflammation-based, proxy model of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ Russell et al, Psychoneuroendocrinology, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.11.032
Menalite connects you to the akashic records to aid discovery of past lives. Grounding stones that aid release of fear & help you to find spirit guides. Aka Menilite, Fairy Stones or Goddess Stones. Connect to the wise woman within you.
Aquamarine stones heighten courage when handling grief, & assist self healing. They have a lovely energy that helps you to release anger and reduce stress. A March birthstone and zodiac birthstone for a few starsigns.
Rhodonite calms you when you are angry, fearful, panicky or stressed. It stimulates acceptance and forgiveness, aids emotional healing of relationship problems and helps you find hidden talents.
