Is is possible to have a low level of ME, or is it the type of dis-ease that if you have it then you have it at full power? If you get me.

As understand it there are dozens of different degrees of ME from just feeling washed out and rather unwell to be completely bed bound and unable even to listen to the radio!
Someone showed me a copy of Action for ME's journal which was pretty scary - but not nearly as scary as a website called http://www.25megroup.org/ which is for people who are really badly affected. And really badly affected is really badly affected...

It certainly comes in all guises as far as my experience goes. It can be that people are on the way towards it and are suffering myriad symptoms and chronic fatigue. My advice is to catch it as early as you can. Fatigue itself can have many causes and the most common culprits I've found - often several of them combining to cause a problem - include lack of nutrients, malabsorption, allergy (as in coeliac), intolerance, yeast and bacteria problems. Loads of times I have helped 'ME' cases simply by nourishing the person properly. I hope you're a simple one like that, otherwise it can be very complex when it is full-blown ME!

My understanding was that ME often happened after some kind of viral illness from which you never really recovered - or even glandular fever? I certainly have one friend who had glandular fever when she was in her late teens and she just never really seemed to get better - and now she is in her early 30s... I now that she is always taking supplements and has regular sessions with reflexologists and various other alternative therapists. She gets much better but them always seems to relapse. Anyone got any ideas as to how to break the cycle?

It can certainly be a viral-onset and that's seen as 'true' ME I think, but there are many other causes. The trick is to see why she couldn't recover from it in the first place - what's up with her immune system? Is something else using all it's energy, eg an intolerance she doesn't know about, a big stressor? Are her adrenals on the floor? Is she not absorbing well so not getting the benefit of the supplements properly. Has she still got the latent virus in her system? Has she seen a homeopath (to offset the virus) or a nutritional therapist (who could use lauric acid perhaps to kill the virus)? Just a few ideas.

It's complicated. I suggest she sees a nutritionist if she hasn't already. Reiki I have also found can help enormously if it's an energtic weakness. Point is, you have to address several different factors simultaneously for it to work - and finding the right ones to address takes skill and luck! I wish her well.