Laid in bed and got to thinking........

I was laid in bed last night and got to thinking about how therapeutic my new Quaker is turning out to be. I never got him with that intention but its just the way things are. I have Chronic fatigue syndrome and I'm often in a lot of pain and very tired. I knew that taking on a new baby would be more work but I knew that I'd manage.

However, I'm up earlier, pain is less, more active and less tired. Now I'm not saying that its always going to be that way but I believe that Poppet has come into my life at the right time. My two girls are more or less self sufficient and out doing their own thing a lot of the time. I work from home, am single and therefore am indoors a lot. Poppet just seems to have been the distraction and burst of life that I obviously needed.

I'm wondering if your birds have turned out to be therapy for you too?

I can't even remember my life before my birdies, everyday they fill my heart with joy. I am truly blessed to have them in my life! : )

One of the reasons I decided to take on a bird was having ME/CFS - before that I had a very active life, working full time, doing freelance music work two or three evenings a week and being a keen cyclist. When I got ill suddenly I lost the energy to do the things I enjoyed, instead sitting at home staring at the tv and becoming increasingly depressed on top of the effects of the illness. I saw caring for a bird as being something that would be emotionally and intellectually stimulating without any major physical demands.

Taking on Alice hasn't been the easiest thing I've done: I'm something of a nervous first time carer and I've felt a build up of stress related to worry about whether she's unhappy, not eating properly, losing too many feathers etc has probably contributed to me going through a bad patch this summer. There are also frustrating physical things that let me down sometimes. But the settling in period was always going to be a challenge, particularly taking on a rehomed cockatoo as a fist bird, and in the last month we've been coming on leaps and bounds. Coming home to this little bundle of energy every evening has a big effect on my state of mental health, and it's hugely rewarding to see how much progress we're making. So, yes, I think caring for a parrot can have a significant therapeutic effect.

When I start thinking in bed, my wife says it gets me into trouble

mtdoramike said:

When I start thinking in bed, my wife says it gets me into trouble

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Hahahaha!

You can't go by me. I am not a 'normal' person. I've had birds my entire life and the only time in my life when I did not have dogs (I had cats and birds but not dogs) was when I was a single mom, working full time and going to school at night. I love animals and are only happy when I am surrounded by them. Especially my birds. Not matter how achy, tired or sad I might be, all I have to do is walk into the birdroom and I am happy. I am a very happy person and I credit this to my animals.

My animals were my companions when growing up... I often didn't have friends, or if I did, I didn't have *good* friends. My pets kept me stable most of the time and gave me a reason to get up!

I can only imagine my life to be very boring without them!

Wow, surprised at people having ME/CFS on here.

I've got it too, and similarly to Monica I also didn't have friends, or good ones at least. I had my pets, my dog, cats and birds. They helped me through an awful lot.

Merlin certainly gives me trouble, a lot, and sometimes I think my MECFS would be easier to handle without him (noise sensitivity being a big one!) but then again, he makes everything better with his cuddles, kisses and chatter. I think Charlie is the more therapeutic one for me, so accepting of scritches with no biting and stuff, but I'd be lost without them both now.

I still want a dog though, but can't due to the commitment to walking, etc

Mayden said:

Wow, surprised at people having ME/CFS on here.

and sometimes I think my MECFS would be easier to handle without him (noise sensitivity being a big one!)

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I'm surprised too (but somewhat comforted) by other bird owners having CFS/ME.

I can so relate to the noise sensitivity but my light sensitivity is the worst. Thankfully my Quaker can't affect that.

mtdoramike said:

When I start thinking in bed, my wife says it gets me into trouble

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LoL
Men are not suppose to think !!!!!! Especially in bed Mike

Poppetsmum said:

Mayden said:

Wow, surprised at people having ME/CFS on here.

and sometimes I think my MECFS would be easier to handle without him (noise sensitivity being a big one!)

Click to expand...

I'm surprised too (but somewhat comforted) by other bird owners having CFS/ME.

I can so relate to the noise sensitivity but my light sensitivity is the worst. Thankfully my Quaker can't affect that.

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Well, it's only a problem when Merlin should be getting certain hours of daylight and I happen to need a dark room... but Merlin copes, we deal

Poppetsmum said:

I was laid in bed last night and got to thinking about how therapeutic my new Quaker is turning out to be. I never got him with that intention but its just the way things are. I have Chronic fatigue syndrome and I'm often in a lot of pain and very tired. I knew that taking on a new baby would be more work but I knew that I'd manage.

However, I'm up earlier, pain is less, more active and less tired. Now I'm not saying that its always going to be that way but I believe that Poppet has come into my life at the right time. My two girls are more or less self sufficient and out doing their own thing a lot of the time. I work from home, am single and therefore am indoors a lot. Poppet just seems to have been the distraction and burst of life that I obviously needed.

I'm wondering if your birds have turned out to be therapy for you too?

Click to expand...

My canary "skittle" was definitely a stress reducer for me. I'd could watch him fly around and sing for hours. His daily maintenance was nothing. I'd say therapeutic. I have fibromyalgia. I was in remission for a while and doing really good. Then I got sick 3 times in a row, the last being bronchitis. After recovering from bronchitis (which I thought would never go away) my fibromyalgia came back. It's been back now since about April of this year. I also have a frozen shoulder due to a fall last year, which the bronchitis and fibromyalgia made it worst. I am now in PT trying to get my arm to work. Not to mention my husband is recovering from cervical spinal surgery. And a customer who stiffed us out of 3000.00 of work we put into his house (husband is a general contractor) which was supposed to carry us while my husband is recovering. All of this has been very stressful and taxing on my body. But if I didn't have my bird, I think I would have lost my mind by now. :54: Yep they are messy, yep they are loud, but being able to watch Rio play with her toys, and intact with her makes it all worth it. :30:

antoinette said:

mtdoramike said:

When I start thinking in bed, my wife says it gets me into trouble

Click to expand...

LoL
Men are not suppose to think !!!!!! Especially in bed Mike

Click to expand...

hahahahahahaha, that is what she keeps telling me to let HER do all the thinking.

It does seem unusual that there are a few of us, but I'm constantly surprised how many people I've come across since I was diagnosed who know people with the illness. I have a good friend I went to university with who suffered from ME, and back then nobody seemed to have the first idea about it and she had some awful experiences - a GP we registered with told her there was no such illness, she had to hide the illness from employers. It's a comfort to know that doctors are getting up to speed on it and that more people are being diagnosed and not left to suffer.

How significant the correlation between ME and parrots is I don't know, but one thing I would say is that, whilst I occasionally feel that having the illness makes caring for the bird harder than it ideally should be, I can cope with the issues that it brings up - where as many activities are totally off the cards. And it's no consolation prize either: I'm happier caring for Alice than I've been in a long time.

I tend to carry a lot of stress in my head. Being able to talk to Hahnzel outloud and lose myself in just generally being silly with him helps me to get outside of my own head for awhile. My little feathered shrink.