I am glad to hear your thoughts. They seem to fit with my patients. I think the light massage helps because it is relaxing and they seem to say their symptoms are much with increased stress.

When doing massage in an upward direction as you stated you are moving the blood towards the heart. With all massage you should be pushing towards the heart. You see the veins have gates and if you push away from the heart you can damage the gates which would harm your circulation and cause vericouse veins. Keep up the light massage when your body allows some of the sources I have been reading say that massage can back some down from stage 3 to 1. This is the most encouraging news I have heard. Another important link seems to be getting plenty of sleep. Maybe sleeps suddies would be helpful.
Pete