Go Blue for ME - the Wild Swimming Challenge

Go Blue for ME - the Wild Swimming Challenge

Three open water swimmers standing in the sea with their arms up for the ME Association wild swimming challenge

We are calling on you, the lovely wild swimming community to do what you love, taking the plunge and going for a swim, all in aid of this debilitating and life-changing chronic illness. 

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex multisystem neurological disease that affects more than 250,000 people in the UK.

Tam from The Wild Swim Store lives with ME so this is a cause close to our hearts. 

The ME association are running the #GoBlue4ME challenge and The Wild Swim Store are calling upon all of you lovely wild swimmers to help raise money for the ME Association.  

How to get involved:

1. Go for a wild swim⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣

2. Take a photo and post it to your social media making sure you tag @thewildswimstore and use the hashtag #GoBlue4ME ⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣

3. Tag 3 friends in the post to do the same challenge⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣

4. Donate £5 to the ME Association - click here to go to the fundraising page.

DONATE HERE

What is ME?

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex multisystem neurological disease.  It includes the dysregulation of the nervous, immune and endocrine system, with impaired cellular energy metabolism and ion transport.

It is estimated to affect around 0.2-0.4% of the population in the UK, around 250,000 people. 

There is a wide range of severity, with around 25% of people being housebound or bedbound. 

It is a fluctuating condition, so that symptoms can not only vary from day to day but hour to hour which makes it very hard to plan a life around with never knowing how you are going to feel.

Despite the name of the disease, Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, is not just about having severe fatigue, there are a wide range of symptoms which vary in severity from person to person, but some common ones are:

  • Post-exertional malaise (PEM) which is when you get a worsening of symptoms after even minimal physical or mental exertion, which can be delayed for 24-72 hours or more.  Meaning it is often hard to figure out what has caused a relapse in symptoms as they can occur the next day or even three days later.
  • Flu-like symptoms including sore throats, swollen glands, headaches, fever-like sweats, lethargy
  • Sleep problems - unrefreshing sleep, sleeping too much or too little, vivid-dreams
  • Cognitive dysfunction or brain fog - problems with short-term memory, concentration, finding words.
  • Orthostatic intolerance - problems with pulse and blood pressure control leading to feeling faint/dizzy when upright.
  • Pain - which can involve muscle, joint and nerve pain
  • Temperature control - not being able to regulate your body temperature so not being able to cool down in hot climates and the inability to get warm when cold
  • Sensitivity to light and sound
  • Gastrointestinal symptoms
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