Challenge the pattern

A friend of mine Dave Liow is an exercise physiologist and health expert based in Queensland, Australia. He recommended a simple strategy; understand the pattern and then challenge it. It’s a simple two-step:

  1. What’s the pattern of the illness? The typical way the symptoms express themselves and the progression of the illness.
  2. Actively disrupt the pattern.

For me, the big two courses of action were to challenge myself physically and boost my internal systems through nutrition.

Physical challenge: One of my symptoms was the loss of strength in my right-foot, specifically the ‘stabiliser’ muscles. This was creating a loss of balance and was set to typically progress. So my strategy to disrupt this was to practice standing on one foot, (my right foot) for a few minutes at a time. This challenged my stabilisers to work harder and I saw an improvement within just a few weeks.

Internal systems: My wife, a nutritional therapist, researched what was happening to my nervous system and identified supplements that could help. Interestingly, before I started the treatment for MMN, my energy throughout the day stabilised and my body began to feel stronger.

This is another area to get expert advice on. If your symptoms have a physical nature, find someone who understands biomechanics to give you advice. If your internal systems are challenged, find someone who understands nutrition to develop a programme for you.

About these strategies

Welcome. These strategies are for people who’ve been diagnosed with a terminal or life threatening illness. If that’s you, I’m sharing them because I know something about what you’re going through, they helped me and so maybe they can help you too.

Click here to learn more about the purpose and background of these posts.