The following articles are two accounts of the same Health Kinesiology treatment as portrayed by the recipient and her daughter.

The Recipient

Having had ME for 11 years I was at the end of my tether. I could see no way out of the agony, and certainly no point to living.

I had tried:

• Acupuncture - where the needles would bounce out of my cramped muscles - agony. But did get me upright for a few hours a day.
• Cold Water Treatment - I still suffer being frozen even in summer. But did numb the pain for a while.
• Faith Healing - left me feeling warm and relaxed and slightly more content until the journey home.
• Homeopathy - which helped with not feeling so nauseous, a little less skin irritation.
• Osteopath - which again was agony but did help for a while.
• Counselling - which left me very angry and feeling somewhat of a failure.

During this time I had what appeared to be a mini stroke leaving me with only the Left side working for several months. I also did many diets (you are what you eat!) and many other ology's. I mention these as I feel they are relevant.

Every time I went for a treatment I would be positive. I really believed they would work, for a short time the placebo effect took over, I would believe I could live a normal life. But this was to my cost and each time I came crashing down.

You can imagine my disinterest when my daughter said that she had seen something called Health kinesiology on the TV. My daughter really wanted me to try this treatment, as it had impressed her so much. I reluctantly let her look for someone close to home to treat me - the first one cancelled due to bad health! There! I said proof that it's just someone else out to get my money and make me feel a worse failure.

My daughter undeterred booked up with another therapist and took me anyway. Off we went, with me really angry that I was being put through such a distressing time all for nothing. By this time a was totally anti any alternative mumbo jumbo.

We arrived at the house. At this time my movement was down to a minimum. My daughter delivered me into Hatties (the therapist) care, parked the car before rejoining us. Half way through my therapist had to go out of the room. My daughter whispered to me "Oh Mum, I am so sorry I will never put you through this again" it seemed a complete waste of time - very relaxing, a nice lie down and I did like Hattie but I was still angry at having made so much effort to get there. At the end of the treatment, my daughter and I said our goodbyes and left. I was still angry, thinking thank goodness this is over. I am NOT coming back. My daughter had not been able to park very close, so it was quite a long walk back. When we got to the car she said "how do you feel mum?" I muttered "all right I suppose" she said " you just walked all that way unaided"!!

I can not express the feeling of relief I then continued to feel. For eleven years I had been fighting gravity, cramped muscles, constant nausea, light and noise intolerances (to mention a few of the symptoms). I now felt as if the elephant, three rhino and two hippo's had got off me. It was for me a miracle.

I have continued to keep like this for the last two years. I am not cured. I still can only do one thing at a time - i.e. if I cook a meal - that's it for a day, if I go for a walk - that's it for the day, if I type like this - that's it for the day.

But hey, listen to me, walk, cook, type these are things that dreams are made of - on holiday I can get to the beach, go for a stroll, climb a mountain (well amble up a hill!) but to me it's the same. I can live. There is a point to getting up each day and when I feel I am slipping back I simply ring Hattie and she puts me right.

Just recently I did too much. We went away met some friends I talked and walked too much (Wonderful). When I got home my body went into total shut down and I was in indescribable pain all my symptoms came back - I rang Hattie and she instantly made an appointment for me. This time I was impatient. So when I was not able to get up the next morning I rang the Doctor who gave me painkillers etc. which I took. Making me feel worse and worse. I rang Hattie who talked to me, with the result I left off the tablets and within two or three day's I was moving better, within the week I was back to normal and two weeks on I am able to type this - which anyone with ME will know is a miracle.

My family and I owe so much to Hattie. I do believe you have to be very careful, and/or lucky with your therapist. Hattie is a born healer, all I can say is that Hattie and her Health Kinesiology have given me back a quality of life I had long given up hope of.

Shiela Pitman

The Daughter

My Mum has had M.E for as long as I can remember. All the way through my teens, is when I recall the worst time. If I needed my Mum for anything I had to wait till a "good day" came along.

I don't blame my Mum at all, but I choose the wrong social path for a while between the ages of 10 and 16. I do believe that without Mum being ill and Dad working away a lot things could possibly have been different. I (of course) love my Mum without question and often look back over the years to, when I wasn't the model daughter I should have been, while Mum was at her lowest. From the age of 17 (when I started to drive), I would like to think that I might have put right some of the wrongs I did.

I have spent every possible moment driving Mum to "treatments". From Acupuncture in Rufford, Herbalism in London to A Chiropractic in Sleaford. Plus many, many more, all of which have played a very small part of a very slow 14 years of illness. I have always taken an interest in every treatment that has had the slightest possibility of making my Mum better and have looked in to them all in great detail, found out the nearest place to go, then taken Mum in the hope that is time would be IT. THE ONE. The one to make it all go away.

This time I was sat watching Tele (Channel 4, reality TV) when I saw what looked to be the oddest treatment I had seen. And I thought I seen them all! I watch a few more people have this therapy and then got the yellow pages, looked on the internet and rang local tourist offices to find a local practioner. I found one in Lincoln, set up an appointment, then told Mum all about it. Mum wasn't amused, yet again false hope. See told me to stop looking and this would be the same as the rest. To Mums delight the following day, 2 days before her appointment, the salon cancelled!

I, (just in case) had already found Hatty on the internet, had phoned and got another appointment (luckily) for the same day. I got Mum in the car and started the journey to Lincoln with a very subdued atmosphere. When we got there, having only seen a bit on the TV and reading nothing of great help on the internet, didn't know what to expect from Health Kinesiology. I stayed with Mum through out the session (as I did with every session) as moral support and to stop the treatment if I felt it was too much for Mum (which I'd had to in the past). We were with Hatty for ages. After the session I got Mum to the car and started the 45 mins home. In the past this was the time we knew if the treatment had helped a little or not as Mum would suffer in some way.

I asked mum how she felt about the treatment, she replied; "Well it's a bit different from all the others". Which it is, its about retuning the body, and it had worked, for now. Mum had walked to the car without holding me and was sat in the car not slumped! This was the first time in years. When I asked Mum again minutes later how she was she said. "alright!" Again a first, straight after treatment. This went on all the way home, and each reply got better. Mum even said at one point that it was like a miracle cure, I told her to slow down and wait for a bad reaction, because that had always happened in the past. I phoned Mum and Dad all that night and next day to see how Mum was doing and to my delight she was still doing well.

I will never forget those hours, it was like getting a new Mum and friend in one, she was so different. One day after Mum even managed to pick my second child up and put him on her knee, which she couldn't do with my first and the progress kept going. We have carried on seeing Hatty over the last 3 years. With nothing but amazing progress, Mum is not completely over M.E, couldn't go to work and still finds some days a struggle but is 100% better than when she first saw Hatty. Mum and Hatty have become good friends as well over the years. If Mum feels low, which she was a month ago, she just phones Hatty and has a booster session! ...Takes a day to get sorted and is then back on track. It's wonderful!

I feel that finding Hatty and her treatments, has somehow made up for all the years we lost as a family, and I have helped my Mum have a much better quality of life than before Hatty!

Thanks Hatty

Sheila Pitman's daughter, Tina Scott