Life Story: Parts 5, 6 and 7, section C
I started writing this on the 23rd of May, 2026, it is now the 7th of August
I intend to divide it up into section A, B, C and "additional notes"
I’m still working on it. It needs so much work.
Parts five, six and seven of my life story
Section C
Sally: Is that everything about your family for now?
David: I guess so.
Let’s move on. We can talk about some of the things I tried out in an attempt to recover my health (or to otherwise manage my health problems).
One of the main things I tried was the Bruce Campbell self help approach, based on pacing and record keeping. He used to work at Stanford Medical School in patient education.
The next major thing that I was trying to deal with was constipation. I kept on trying out stuff like high fibre diets and visiting doctors. This didn’t really work for me. I still had problems. And in fact it gets worse in 2012.
I also used the Alexander Technique a lot. That was a major thing for me in life because it relieved symptoms in a very effective manner.
And I also tried the Bowen Therapy, the Butekyo method, magnesium sulphate spray, dry body brushing, a gluten free diet, cold exposure therapy, conventional massage, probiotics and a variety of supplements. I was always trying things, or asking people for their ideas on how to get my health back.
Next, I felt that there was a connection between the climate and my level of symptoms. The reason I felt this way is that when I went to Vanuatu for 5ish days in 2009, I felt much better. And I had thought that it might have been the weather that did it. And so Amanda and I contemplated moving to a warmer climate, thinking that this might be the answer.
Next, I had slept well and I’d had greatly reduced symptoms on a few different occasions and in a few so different locations. And I tried to replicate these conditions and to return to these locations to see if I could replicate the temporary cessation or lessening of symptoms that I had experienced in the past. It was a bit of a preoccupation of mine.
Just think about that for a moment. The experience of being unwell, and my day to day experiences of poor health were so significant that even a slight relief from symptoms for a day or two at someone else's place was really memorable. For example, Simon and Terry's house, or my father's house, or under hill cottage (a bed and breakfast), or Vanuatu. And I longed just to feel that way. And I thought that somehow the location or climate was tied to my health. I also had feelings and thoughts and theories that if I lived at one of these places for a few months that I could recover. I talked about it with basically everyone in my life.
I couldn't figure out why there was such a big difference in my health seemingly based on where I was (location) and what the climate was like (and the bed/mattress).
I dreamed of moving up north to Kaitaia or of moving to Darwin in Australia. Both have fairly tropical climates. I also had long day dreams and reveries of spending the holidays at Simon and Terry's weekender with Amanda and recovering my health altogether. I used to fantasise about going to Vanuatu to recover my healing full. And I would browse through page after page of holiday destinations online. And try to figure out where in the world I could go to recover. In the end, Amanda and I went on a “test trip” to Rarotonga in 2012, to see if my health improved in the tropics. It was an experiment. It failed.
I used to talk about a lot of this stuff with my family and wife. And my in laws and friends as well. In fact, they knew that Amanda and I wanted to test out going to a tropical location to see if the warmth fixed my health. And so they gave us/me travel vouchers to help to make that happen. Mostly it was Simon and Terry. They also referred us to their travel agent. And so we went to Rarotonga! And it should be mentioned once again that any of them could quite simply have told me what was wrong with me and why I was sick.
And that’s where we are at for now.
I also had problems with things like heating, cooling and the temperature inside my home. There was an ongoing struggle in my life to keep warm. To regulate my body temperature and to have a warm house. It was kind of horrible.
Now please be aware that some of these are “alternative therapies”, or quack therapies. But I didn’t know what else to try, and my doctors weren’t giving me anything useful. So I tried anything.
*
Sally: That seems like a lot to get through, and so I guess we ought to get started!
David: Yes, let’s get started.
*
Let’s first talk about the Bruce Campbell self help approach for chronic fatigue syndrome.
Sally: What is that?
David: it’s an approach to managing and curing/healing chronic fatigue syndrome. It’s from a guy from Stanford. Who used to do patient education. It’s an approach based on education and self help.
I’ll get a blurb from Google or something.
Here we go:
“bruce campbell chronic fatigue syndrome”
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell, PhD, is a Stanford-educated psychologist and recovered ME/CFS patient who founded the ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia Self-Help Program in 1998.
After falling ill and dropping to 25% function in 1997, he used self-management and pacing strategies to recover, later helping thousands of patients
Background and Recovery
Illness Onset: Came down with ME/CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) abruptly in 1997, reducing his capacity to a fraction of normal.
Personal Recovery: Gradually regained his health over four years through lifestyle changes, meticulous tracking, and pacing.
Professional Background: Drew upon his prior work in patient education and self-management programs at Stanford Medical School.
The Self-Help Program
Core Principles: Focuses on practical, non-medical adjustments like understanding energy limits ("the energy envelope"), avoiding crashes through pacing, reducing stress, and coping with emotional loss.
https://cfsselfhelp.org/about-us/bruce-campbell-bio
*
Sally: I see. That makes sense. Can you tell me more about it? Can you tell me more about what you mean by pacing and meticulous tracking?
David: Of course, I would be happy to tell you about these things.
This next segment is from their website, but with a bit of editing.
The key to successful adjustment in ME/CFS and fibromyalgia is “pacing”, which provides an alternative to the cycle of overdoing it followed by forced rest ("push and crash".)
By first understanding the limits imposed by the illness and then adjusting your lifestyle to live within them, people can reduce symptoms, decrease the frequency and severity of relapses, and experience greater stability. Pacing also provides the foundation for the gradual expansion of limits. And for eventual recovery.
Pacing is where you just basically pace yourself. And place limitations on your levels of activity to keep them within your limitations. Your limitations are this thing called “the energy envelope”.
The next thing is record keeping, which is where I kept pages and pages of records about my energy levels on any given day. It was just a one line per day thing. It looked like a spreadsheet. I’ll see if I can find you an example of one of my record keeping sheets from in the past. I did this for quite a long time.
You can learn more about the practise of keeping records for managing and recovering from chronic fatigue syndrome in the book, “Recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: One Person’s Story” by Bruce Campbell, PhD
**
Here is a link to Bruce Campbell’s book:
https://recoveryfromcfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Recovery-Story.pdf
Recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: One Person’s Story by Bruce Campbell, PhD
**
If you take a look at that book, it might help you to understand my approach to managing chronic fatigue syndrome a bit better. It’s only 56 pages long.
I will explain a little bit more in just a moment.
Sally: Wait, before you continue, was this approach to managing and treating chronic fatigue syndrome important to you?
David: Yes, it was fundamental to my approach towards managing and therefore treating my health problems. Without understanding it you probably won’t understand my story very well.
The main idea of the approach is that in chronic fatigue syndrome you have to avoid the “push crash” cycle. And to do that you must pace yourself appropriately. And once you’ve got that under control, you then slowly ramp up your level of activities, with a focus on walking. You also keep records so that you know if you’re managing activity levels okay. It’s an approach based on self help.
I used this approach a lot. It was part of my attempts to manage my energy levels and recover. It guided my thinking and behaviour in a number of ways.
For example…
I might decline to attend a family event if I thought that it might be too taxing.
Or I might insert some preemptive rest into my plans. By saying that I’ll take a couple of days off resting after an event that I attend.
Or I might rest in bed halfway through an afternoon of settlers of Catan.
Or I would keep records of how much walking I did on any given days. Or how my energy levels were on those days.
It was fundamental.
Sally: Did it work?
David: Hmmm. Sort of, it helped moderate my symptoms. But I still had other problems too. Such as my back problems and digestive problems. And there was always something else. Like struggling to stay warm. Always something else going wrong. Such as sleeping problems.
Avoiding the “push - crash cycle” seemed to help.
David: It remained an important tool in the arsenal. I of course now know that it was all bogus and the whole thing was mostly caused be cell towers and stuff.
By the way, I used to talk about this pacing and energy envelope approach with my friends and family. It was the approach that I took towards recovery. It was my primary tool. Well, other than talking to doctors, but that never really helped me.
Sally: Doctors and physiotherapists never really helped you? So you turned to this self help method from Bruce Campbell?
David: Yes, that’s correct. And it remained a significant part of my approach to chronic fatigue for quite a while.
****
****
The next thing is constipation.
Sally: Tell me about that. I gather that it has been a big issue for you in life.
David: Yes. It has been a very significant problem for me in life. And so let us talk about it.
Sally: Yes, let’s.
David: I have had a lot of digestive problems in my life, especially constipation. And I had some very bad digestive problems from 2009 - 2011.
The problem is that I can’t remember what I have said about it in the past. So I will have to review the things I have written and said elsewhere. And then I will get back to talking to you.
Sally: Okay, I will talk to you soon.
David: Okay, looking back at things, I already mentioned a little bit of it of it before now. I talked about it back in parts three and four of my life story. I also discussed it in another post called “doctors and the health situation”. But I should warn people about that post. It was very, very messy and disorganised. But it does have some useful information in it for those who want to take a minute to look at it.
Anyway, I had a lot of problems with my digestion over the three years from 2009 to 2011. I’ll talk about it a little bit more now, even though I talked about it in a previous post. If you have read that one then you would know that I often have had it at the level known as “Bristol Stool chart level one”. Which is where it comes out as hard, dry pebbles. I should also mention that it would sometimes build up so much that it would press up against the inside of my abdomen and cause me problems. What else is there to say? I tried to fight it with additional fibre or water.
Sally: What do you mean by that?
David: I used to fight it by eating more fibre. Or I should say that I tried to fight it by boosting my fibre intake. And I drank more water. But it didn’t work!
Another thing I did is that would load up on brown rice. Or would I would eat more broccoli. Or lots of this stuff called “Asian greens”. Or I would have high fibre whole grain stuff like fibre enriched cereal or bread (sometimes).
I used to do a lot of stuff like that. I would eat brown rice made into a goo or mush with extra water. Or I would have a special buckwheat porridge made by soaking or sprouting buckwheat and then soaking it in yoghurt. Or by toasting buckwheat in a pan and then turning it into porridge (toasted buckwheat porridge isn’t awful, but buckwheat pancakes are nice). But this did nothing to improve my digestion. Things were still clogged up. This digestive problems thing plagued my life. I tried to hard to fix it, but without success. I would sit on the toilet for ages and ages and ages. Just trying to force out even a few pebbles of feces. My doctor Amanda Clarke tried to tell me “don’t strain” or “just relax” or “it should come out like toothpaste”. At one point I got into the habit of squatting on the toilet to force it out. Like with my feet on the toilet seat. Or even on a few occasions I was squatting in the shower over a newspaper just to get anything out.
I would have hard, dry stool built up in my colon. In my gut. All in the form of hard, dry pebbles. And maybe I would get some of it to come out every day or two. But it was all hard and dry. I would have this hard dry stool sometimes for a month on end. I would have a month of chronic constipation. And maybe one or two days of more normal bowel movement. And then another month of chronic constipation. It was hard dry stool, and pebbles every day or two. And that’s not normal. Technically they say if anything happens, it’s not technically constipation. But it actually is. It’s a good enough term form it, a good enough “label”. I called it “chronic constipation”.
I’m pretty sure that they did this stuff by “remote control”. It wasn’t naturally occurring.
I tried lots of stuff. Here are some examples. I had tons of plums (I think I actually had some bowel movements related to those). But it didn’t really solve the problem. I tried using prunes. The plums and prunes didn’t really do much. No matter how many prunes or plums I shoved down my throat the bowel movements didn’t start going. Things were blocked and “dried out” anyway. Another other example is that we consumed a lot of kiwifruit juice once. Kiwifruits were something like ten cents a kilogram. And so we bought heaps of them. And I made juice in the juicer, multiple times. Everyone else in the flat got runny stool (I actually have them bad diarrhoea). But nothing moved for me. I just had stomach cramps. Nothing moved.
Recent: Anyway, I have just found out that a lot of it was by my mother-in-law. Remote control attacks on my digestion.
I just want to reiterate that it was chronic. Like ongoing. Years of problems. Sometimes entire months of hard, dry pebbles. And it was a constant struggle. And often on my mind all day, when can I pass even a hand full of hard stool. And I just feel it pressing on the inside of my colon. It was a semi constant preoccupation. It was horrible. And it was a relief when I got an even half way tolerable bowel movement.
And I want to mention that I saw the doctors again and again. And asked Amanda and my mother for advice.
None of the stuff I did with fibre helped. I think it made me worse. I had a horrible time of things. They actually were harming me by remote control. I really, really was suffering quite a bit. I sought out advice from my doctor, my mother and my wife. I mentioned that I had digestive troubles to a number of other people. My mother failed to advise me correctly (on purpose I might add), my doctor failed to advise me properly (I talked to doctors plenty of times but they never helped me properly), and my wife failed to advise me properly. And also my mother-in-law and father-in-law failed to advise me properly (I asked them for advice too).
When I consumed more fibre, I didn’t get relief from constipation. I just had _more_ hard dry stool. It just increased the quantity.
Here is another thing I tried, I think that I tried it in 2011/2012: I tried the low FODMAP diet. And it didn’t help. I actually think it made me worse. I also talked about the low FODMAP diet with my doctor too.
Anyway, I had digestive problems. And in the end they didn’t get better, they got worse. In 2012 they get worse.
*
One more issue. They used symptoms induced by remote control to make me think that I was “intolerant” of gluten. I did tests and trials. It was vaguely scientific.
*
[insert stories of Amanda Clarke here]
*
I want to tell you another story just quickly, from back when I was in high school.
My father attacked my digestion with cell towers and drugs and disease back in 2006 (or at least I think that he did - confirmed). And things were never quite the same.
I think it went like this…
I caught a stomach bug from him. Everyone in the family caught it. I think that everyone in the household got it. And so I had diarrhoea. He suggested I take a stool hardener. He just offered me some Imodium that his doctor has prescribed him ages ago. In hindsight, it didn’t make sense to take a stool hardener. It’s prescription medicine after all, and I had no doctor’s advice. But I trusted him, and so I took it. I took the proffered drug. He said something at the time when he gave it to me that when he took it he could just “eat anything” even KFC. And that it’s just fine. I think that the term “KFC” is a reference. So I took it. I then didn’t have a bowel movement for ages. I had the opposite problem. My bowels stopped moving. And they stopped moving for days. I felt bad. I felt queasy? And I just felt “yuck”. I guess that I had “diseased” stool inside of me because of the stomach bug, but it got stuck there because of the stool hardener. And I had days and days without a bowel movement. I think that it caused me some harm. Significant harm.
I assume that he also used an electromagnetic-quantum radio-wave attack as well to cause problems with digestion/constipation. This causes the hard, dry stool and constipation to continue on beyond what the drugs had caused.
Eventually I managed to force the stool out, piece by piece. Hard and dry as it was. It was a bit of a challenge. But it was like… nothing would come out?
I was never quite right after that in terms of digestion. It just made me unwell.
Ps: people on wifi confirmed that my father used cell tower attacks to dry out the stool and harm me even further than the disease or drugs would have done on their own.
****
****
And another story.
I’m just putting this here to demonstrate that there was an ongoing pattern of behaviour. Or a precedent. Of my parents harming me with electronic weapons. And also attacking my digestive system.
My mother attacked my health back when I was about 14, via cell towers. And caused me harm. This included harm to my digestion.
This was after I came back from my Japan trip. I think that I have already written this story elsewhere.
That also involved bad digestion and “hard dry rocks/pebbles” of almost greyish brown stool.
That was the story that also involved induced auditory hallucinations. And involved me being pale, gray faced and weak and feverish.
***
Next I have a theory, which is that my father wanted to ruin my digestion. And he had wanted to do it ever since I was young. He had long term plans to do it. But I can’t prove it. It’s just feeling.
Sally: you can tell me about it. It doesn’t matter if you can’t prove it. A lot of stuff is true that can’t be proven.
David: Okay. Just so long as we both know that it’s just a theory. I feel that it came to me in vague hints. Floated towards me in things that people said indirectly. Vaguely floated in metaphor or allusion or hints.
Here is the first one, it’s from Lake Taupo Christian school. I was engaging in banter or discussion with some other guys at school. And their banter was to create an acrostic out of the word “cool”. They talked about me being “cool”, that is a “crabby old octopus lady”. Or a “Crabby old orange lady”. Or a “constipated old orange lady”. These also refer to other reference and labels and impressions I have been given at other points in the past. This was back when I was 8 or 9 years old. And another vague hint is that my father also talked about someone getting in trouble for “putting his finger up someone’s bum”. That was my Papa. But I think that might be a different situation. But it might be a double meaning as well.
Sally: Is that all you remember?
David: Yeah, that’s about it. But also the words crab, woman, orange, octopus are sometimes used as indirect references or for word association. But I still think that it was hinted at. I just feel that it was hinted at and planned. Crab means “crabby”, woman or lady is obvious, orange is referring to me as a fruit, and octopus is a reference to me just sailing through the ocean depth disconnected from anything’s like some sort of almost totally alien creature. I think that they basically wanted to cause me to become a constipated old ladylike fruitcake and also to dehydrating me. It’s a feeling thing, based on hints. Not a fact.
I also need to mention the use of cell towers to interfere with my dreams as far back as 1995ish. But that’s a story for another day.
David: That’s all for now. I’m not sure if I should cut it.
Sally: Don’t cut it. Leave it in. It might be useful.
[i have had it confirmed by wifi that my father did have a long term plot to damage my digestive system]
What’s next?
David: We move on from the acrostic, which I think I can’t prove. And let’s just get back to the overall story.
David: It gets worse. Things get worse in 2012 and 2013. Both my digestion and my other symptoms.
Sally: Do you want to talk about that now or later?
David: I think that I’ll talk about them later. I have a few other things to cover first.
David: The digestive problems were getting really bad in 2011. Digging into the inside of my gut. But we will come back to it later.
****
****
I want to talk about the Alexander Technique.
Sally: I think that you talked about it a while ago. Didn’t you?
David: Yes, I did. Here is what I said last time. It was in note five of parts three and four of my life story.
//start//
What is the Alexander technique
The next paragraph is taken from this link:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-alexander-technique-can-help-you-literally-unwind-201511238652
“The Alexander Technique (AT) is considered to be a mental discipline that teaches individuals how to let go of tension in the body and how to enable the body to move with ease and minimal effort. AT is used to treat a variety of conditions, from musculoskeletal pain and repetitive strain injuries to breathing problems, voice loss, and sleep disorders. Many artists, musicians, dancers, singers, and actors use AT to help enhance their performance. The purpose of AT, ultimately, is to enable individuals to methodically unlearn maladaptive (negative) habits — which can show up in the way we stand, sit, eat, walk, or talk — and instead learn how to return the body to a relaxed, balanced state of alignment and poise.”
**
It helps to relieve excessive tension in the neck, back, chest and shoulders. And can bring about a tremendous reduction in symptoms.
When I did it in the past, it helped to make me feel a lot better. It makes symptoms go away.
I think it might be a scam or charlatanry though. Sort of.
I will talk about it more in future.
****
****
But anyway, the lessons made me feel wonderful. I couldn’t explain it, but they made me feel like a human being again.
They were one of the only things I could do that would relieve my symptoms. They worked like magic. They helped me to feel so much better. They were extremely effective at relieving my symptoms and making me feel better.
//end//
**
David: and here is another bit from parts three and four of my life story. But is is from the main body of text of parts three and four of my life story, not the notes section.
//start//
Next, I did a few sessions of the Alexander Technique. Strangely enough, the Alexander Technique relieved my symptoms very, very powerfully. Why did it remove my symptoms so effectively? Perhaps it was because my symptoms included the tightening of my back (aka torso) using their remote control weapons (neck, iliopsoas, chest, shoulders and upper back were all targets for long term tension and tightness). And when I went to the Alexander Technique lessons, it greatly relieved the tension. And it did so very swiftly. This is because they turned off the machines when I went to the lessons (Amanda or Paul or whomever seems to have turned off the machines). They had to, I guess, that is how it worked. And so when I am at the lessons to get tension worked on (this is the goal of the technique in the first place, or at least one of the goals) they also have to pull their finger off of the button for the remote control tension. The Alexander technique works to relieve tension in things like the neck, back and chest. It’s (sort of) a type of body work. It is a type of training. It’s very powerful, but I think it can be used in really, really nasty ways. As well as in good and beneficial ways. It is similar to qigong, or yang style t’ai chi in terms of the principles and ideas (see the ten rules of yang t’ai chi).
…
David: Sorry, I’m not sure that was the best way to explain it. The above paragraph wasn’t my best paragraph. I feel that the stuff about the Alexander Technique wasn’t very well written. But I am trying my best to do a good job of explaining things.
//end//
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Sally: Okay, I have just reviewed it. Do you want to talk about more? What more do I need to know?
David: Yes, I would like to talk about it a little bit more.
The main thing to know is that the lessons worked like magic. The format of a lesson is as follows.
You show up at the place where they teach the Alexander Technique (either their place of work or their home). And wait a while. Then when the lesson starts, you go and stand in front of a chair. And they put their hands on you. They might lay a hand on your chest and one on your back. They might adjust the position of your lower back and stomach a bit. And then place a hand on either side of your head and change the tone by guiding the angle and position of your head. And then lower you into the chair, and adjust you a little bit more. And then up again. And then once you are back in the chair again, they might place a hand on your chest to let it relax. And then press down on your lower back to let it relax. And draw each arm out to each side. To release and relax the muscles in the arms. And over all just do stuff like that. They might place a hand under each armpit, let the shoulders relax, and then let the shoulder drop after moving the hand out. They would then do things like holding the arm by the fingers and shaking it about to make it relax. They did that sort of things.
Then you lay on the table. And they do the table work. And it relaxes you.
Sally: I see. While you have been talking I googled “Alexander Technique lesson”. And I looked at a sample lesson. Anyone listening to this conversation can just google “an Alexander Technique lesson”.
David: Fair enough.
Sally: Did the lessons help you?
At the time I thought so, the moment they put their hands on me, I could feel the tension fall away. And after the lessons I felt like a new person. The reason it worked that way is that I had lots of built up tension from them using cell tower based remote control interference for weeks or months. And so when the tension was released, by contrast I felt amazing. It gave me hope.
And so I kept on going to Alexander technique sessions.
I’m not sure they were helping me! But it sure felt like it.
Sally: That’s appalling. The combination of using electronic nerve splicing to manipulate your muscles into tightening and relaxing with these lessons would have confused you very much.
David: Yes, I thought that they were helping me but actually it was just two things: they switched off the remote control thing when I went to the lessons, and also I had a lot of tension for them to release.
And sometimes they helped me quite a bit with symptoms. But symptoms are feelings, not “causes”.
What else? There was a correlation between doing these lessons and feeling good. Sometimes it would even make my digestion feel better. I would go to a lesson, and then my digestion recovered. I.e I had two days proper bowel movements. Anything to have a good bowel movement! My digestion was hell.
I read all of the books about the Alexander technique.
Sally: Really? Your bowel movements improved? Crazy.
David: I think that they just switched the machines off, and allowed me to have digestion again. That’s why my digestion improved. But I felt that there was a connection, and for me that was enough.
I also used to do this thing called semi supine every day. It is also called constructive rest. I used to lay on the ground with my knees up and my head resting on a book 4-5 cm high. My hands resting on my stomach.
You do that for about 15 minutes. It’s supposed to be good for you. I was quite consistent with it.
I also tried out the “whispered ah” technique.
And I used the Alexander Technique’s directions and “inhibition” day to day. I did this badly, because I didn’t understand the technique. And because they interfered with the tension of my muscles, I wasn’t able to quite figure the technique out. But I was trying to use it.
I actually gave up on trying to use it day-to-day and just did semi supine instead and went to lessons. Those were the focus.
The lessons made me feel totally different.
But they never quite seemed to solve the problems and I never found a solution to my health issues by going to them.
***
I saw two Alexander technique teachers, Craig Dawick and Theresa Neches. Later I also saw Carolyn Jamieson.
Let us discuss when and where I went to them. And then hope, and then difficulty in transportation.
Sally: keep going.
I went to some in Wellington in 2008. And then some in Paekākāriki with Theresa Neches in early 2009. And then some sporadically with Craig in 2009. And then a few more with Theresa in the summer of 2009/2010. And a few more with Craig. I can’t actually remember which was when.
Eventually I gave up on it. Because it relieved symptoms. But I remained sick! It would make me feel better, but I didn’t progress towards an actual recovery. It didn’t solve the problem. And so anyway, it was a big part of my life. Nothing much else gave me relief. I kept wondering if I had just done a good burst of them early on, would it have helped?
And so I gave up and tried physio for a while. And then later on physio wasn’t working. It never did. And so I was doing cranial sacral with Gayle Snyder at Willie street physio. So I tried going to Craig in Wellington again to try the Alexander technique again. And it relieved my back pain and discomfort! So I gave up on cranial. And then I gave the Alexander technique another go.
Later on in 2012 I ended up going to see Carolyn Jamieson for the first time. I wasn’t sure about her. Because she did psychotherapy as well. And she was a Buddhist and all new agey. And as a Christian I felt that that type of person was probably bad. But anyway, I went there all the same. But that came later. Note: she is actually just a really bad person.
Next issue:
It turns out (according to wifi), that Lesley was one of the main ones who was driving tightening my neck and back and chest up. They called it “stress him”. But it isn’t stress. It’s changing the function of the body. It’s tension and changing the posture and control long term. It’s tightening the muscles and causing problems long term. She actually drove me to or from a lesson or two. She knew that it was one of the only things that helped me find relief from my symptoms. She borrowed one of my copies of “the use of the self” by FM Alexander.
*
A digression:
Apropos of nothing, Lesley as it so happens was one of the primary drivers of wanting a baby. For years she had wanted grandchildren. And then I got crippled and was later exploited for IVF. She pushed for Amanda have one.
She also talked about it while driving me back from the Alexander technique lesson on day (I was struggling to walk that far comfortably: from Tiromoana Road to Princeton).
She is now basically raising Lily half the time. Or more.
*
My family all knew I did the Alexander Technique and relied on it quite heavily. I made sure to lay down in semi supine every day. And much of my family and also Amanda knew that I did that daily too.
Anyone in my family or in-laws could have talked time about any of this. Don’t forget that. I also talked to my doctor Amanda Clarke about the Alexander technique.
I placed a lot of hope in the Alexander Technique. It was one of the only things that helped relieve the symptoms. But it didn’t help me in the end.
****
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And I also tried the Bowen Therapy, the Butekyo method, magnesium sulphate spray, dry body brushing, a gluten free diet, cold exposure therapy, conventional massage, probiotics and a variety of supplements. I was always trying things, or asking people for their ideas on how to get my health back.
I went to Bowen Therapy at the local natural health place. I think that I went there 5-7 times. I practised the butekyo therapy on a number of occasions. I read about it online. It is where you try to change and reprogram your breathing. It’s dumb. It is quackery. Magnesium sulphate spray is supposed to give you magnesium via your skin. But I think it’s quackery. I tried dry body brushing, which is supposed to help lymph, but it does nothing. I followed a gluten free diet for years. I followed it from about 2008 until 2021ish. That’s quackery. I got one massage, which just hurt my back. Massage isn’t quackery, but it didn’t help me at all. I took probiotics and also I took a variety of magnesium supplements and some zinc supplements. I also took some iodine supplements. And probably a few other supplements. I ate natural yoghurt for the sake of the “healthy bacteria”. I took cod liver for a while. Along with concentrated butter oil. These were in capsule form. And I became interested in diet advice from people like Michael Pollan, The Weston A. Price Foundation, Mark Sisson (primal), Robb Wolf (Paleo), Chris Kresser (Ancestral Health). As with most things in my life, I was discussing these ideas and approaches with my friends, family and in laws.
And that’s all for now.
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Next I want to talk about church and the people that went there. Because it was common knowledge at church that I was sick. I asked the elders for advice and prayer on a number of occasions. And I talked to other (seemingly sensible and responsible) people about my health problems and what might be done about them. The people at church knew that I had chronic fatigue syndrome. I also went to a few “Pentecostal” prayer meetings outside of the church.
After that, I want to talk about more religious stuff and then some hobbies, pastimes and interests. And I will talk a little bit about trying to get involved at church. And then I think that’s all for parts 5, 6 and 7 of my life story.
[include daily devotions and memorising scripture and highlighting Christian books as I read them]
Sally: Okay then, let’s hop to it.
Sally: Could you tell me more about the time that the elders prayed for you? To be perfectly honest, this seems strange to me. Why pray for you when they could just talk to you and let you know why you were chronically ill and what caused it? They knew that you had been diagnosed with so called chronic fatigue syndrome? And that you were unable to work and study? And they knew that you were actually unwell?
David: Yes, they did know all of that. They knew that I was very unwell. And yes they knew that I had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. And they knew that I was incapable of working or studying. And they knew why I was unwell. (Please note that I was not aware even that this technology existed at the time. I only learned about it in 2023 and 2024. This system of cell towers, satellites and splicing into people’s nervous systems with electromagnetic rays and quantum effects). And so yes, they could have quite simply told me what was wrong.
Now as for the time that all of the elders prayed for me, praying that I be healed of all of my health problems.
There is a verse in the Bible.
It’s James 5:14
“Is any one among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.”
And so I asked the elders of the church to pray for me (this was the CCC in Hinemoa Street). Now, because it was more convenient for them, and because they were all going to be in the same place at the same time, they just invited me to come along to their regular, early morning elders meeting. They all work for a living, so it was on a weekday at something like 7:00 am. On something like an ordinary Tuesday. They prayed and asked God that I might be healed of my chronic persistent health problems, aka chronic fatigue syndrome. They also did the whole “laying on of hands” thing. I’ll talk about that for a moment. Laying on of hands is where they rest a hand on you while praying and asking God to help you. They might rest a hand on your shoulder or upper arm, or sometimes your head. It might be in this case called “intercessory prayer”. They also anointed me with oil, which I will talk about now. Anointing someone with oil is a little bit out of the ordinary, but it is scriptural, so it is okay. By the way, it was Geoff who anointed me with oil, he just showed up with it. And he also mentioned in passing that there was frankincense in it, for whatever reason. I hadn’t actually asked them to anoint me with oil, because it wouldn’t have occurred to me. But I guess that because I mentioned the scripture James 5:14 they decided to bring oil. And it’s just a slight smear on the forehead. Anyway, the laying on of hands is bog standard normal.
But anyway, I didn’t have my health restored to me. The cause of my health problems was that of electromagnetic rays and quantum effects being thrown at me by cell towers to fry my nervous system anyway.
Sally: To me, that’s crazy. The cell towers were frying your nervous system, leaving you exhausted, and giving you a bunch of other symptoms including waking you up at night, giving you night sweats, making you sweat profusely, temperature regulation issues, digestive problems (serious constipation), and back problems. The health problems caused to you by the cell towers actually made you drop out of university, caused you to be unable to work. And all they did was pray for you. They didn’t tell you.
David: Yes, that’s right. It would have been so easy for them to help me.
Sally: Did you trust these people
David: Yes, they were the elders of the church. They included Geoff Orchard, Stan Rolston and Lloyd Dacombe and a few others. It was an elder led church. That means that the elders and deacons are in charge of the church, and the elders and deacons run the church. There was no pastor. They were trustworthy guys to me.
I think that Mike Lockyer, Nigel Welch and Neville Forman might have also been in the elders. I forget exactly who were elders and who were deacons.
And for just a little bit more context, Lloyd’s wife Jo knew me. She used to drive me to and from church sometimes. Jo Dacombe was a deacon. Neville Forman’s wife Rosemarie Forman was a trained and certified Christian counsellor.
Sally: Ahaha, these guys are horrible.
David: Yes, they are horrible. Just awful.
I want to tell you now about something from a bit later on. Maybe a year later on. Do you mind if I talk to you a bit about a book about Freemasonry that Geoff Orchard lent me? And then I might tell you about Rosemarie Forman.
Sally: Sure, go for it.
Okay, I’ll tell you about the book that Geoff lent me. It was about freemasonry. He said that his daughter had read it or something, and I asked for a copy. I had mentioned something about Freemasons, and he mentioned the book. I had said that a family member of mine had been in the Freemasons. He then lent me the book, and I worked my way through it. Apparently it helped with supernatural healing of a person or two. Something about breaking familial curses that cause health problems.
And here is the book:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1877463000?ref_=mr_referred_us_au_nz
And here are the prayers you’re supposed to work your way through:
Squarespacehttps://caper-coconut-9weh.squarespace.comPDFPRAYER OF RELEASE FOR MASONS & THEIR DESCENDANTS
And so I worked my way through those. Amanda and I both did that out loud actually.
And so I will move on to the next topic, Rosemary Forman. She was/is a trained Christian counsellor at our church. I talked to her about my health, but I just talked with her in the foyer after church. I actually talked with a fair few people after church about my health. Or at least mentioned it. I did socialise you know! And I had been going to that church for years, since I was 15.
Anyway, she didn’t give me any advice that was useful, and I didn’t want to go to see her for counselling. She did mention that her son had suffered problems. And that he had been depressed. I talked to him briefly, which was okay. He seemed really shaken and shakey and jittery. He told me that he had been living at a vineyard. And eating a lot of “bread”. And I was like, “bread isn’t that nutritious”. But I didn’t say it, I just thought it. I don’t think that he was talking about bread, maybe it was double-speak. But anyway, I decided that I didn’t want to see Rosemarie Forman for counselling if that was her son. He looked pretty much like he was suffering shell shock, he seemed almost scared of something. Had he been on drugs? Or is he just disturbed or something? Anyway, maybe he got attacked by electromagnetic rays and quantum effects that spliced into his nervous system and messed him up, and maybe she was ms behind it. Anyway, she was a deacon and the wife of a deacon. Or maybe her husband was an elder. I can’t recall.
Sally: That seems odd. Like a mystery? Why is he so messed up? But you decided against seeing her?
David: Yeah. I did. But the point I want to make is that people like her constituted the leadership of our church. And they were the “respectable” ones.
Next…
Jo Dacombe. Her husband was one of the elders at the church. And she sometimes used to drive me to and from church. We talked a bit.
And…
That’s it for now.
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She was in charge of the church news letter, and so I asked her if I could get a prayer request into the church news letter..
Here is her linked in. She is literally chairperson of the board of autism New Zealand.
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Extra information:
Stan comes into my story later on again. I invited him to my place to get advice and prayer. This was in 2013 iirc. This might sound strange, but I thought at the time that I might have been on a terminal decline. I was really in a desperate condition. I was miserable and exhausted. And my health was very, very bad. And I had very bad back problems and digestive problems. I couldn’t even lay down normally. I needed advice and urgently.
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I went to three Pentecostal healing meetings. Where people prayed for me to receive miraculous supernatural healing. I went to two at the centre. And one held at southwards with a bunch of weirdos. It was upstairs in an events room.
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I often did daily devotions.
This is where I would pray, read the Bible and read a segment from the “word for the day” booklet. And also I would sometimes keep a prayer journal iirc.
And I liked reading Christian books and highlighting stuff. D.L. Moody was one person I read. I read secret power and the overcoming life by him. And highlighted them both quite a bit (maybe I only highlighted one).
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And I tried to join the church worship band.
Sally: ahahahhahahha. Okay, this is actually just silly. You were so religious and churchy back then it isn’t funny. Did they not think to just tell you!? That cell towers make you sick and Amanda was a monstrosity who embraced Wiccanism, communism and Egyptian blood magic and worked as a prostitute!?!
Okay, the church worship band.
David: Yes, they had me on their email list and everything. From late 2008 for about a year and a bit. But I stopped being well enough to practise guitar. And so I couldn’t really get involved.
I printed out the music and everything. And I practised and I worked with backing tapes. But I wasn’t well enough to justify the expenditure of energy to come to the practises. The practises were usually in the morning.
They needed a guitarist. And I played guitar. What else? I tried to get Nathan to learn the drums (they sometimes needed a drummer). And Jesse used to be on sound board.
Nathan Scott (the physiotherapist and former elder’s son) was the lead singer and the worship leader. I might put up a whole page for him with email chain.
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That’s all for now.
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