The beginning of awareness

This blog is more of a personal mapping of my journey with ME/CFS. Having ME/CFS I can't be sure that I'll blog regularly, but at least I'll have somewhere to go if I feel the need to write about my experiences.

I’ve recently been diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomelitis (or as it’s more commonly known, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). Since the diagnosis I’ve faced a range of reactions from people. The most common response I’ve had is “Oh I reckon that’s what I have. I get really tired”. Whilst I don’t doubt that these people do get tired, it is disheartening to realise that so little is known about the syndrome that the general public just thinks it’s a matter of simply being tired. Considering the name of the syndrome, this is not surprising.

ME/CFS is in fact a multi-system disorder. In order to get a diagnosis, the patient needs to show a range of symptoms across the immune system, endocrine system, nervous system, digestive system, reproduction system and cardiovascular system. These symptoms vary from patient to patient with varying levels of severity. I personally exhibit around 25 symptoms, with most effecting me on a daily basis. And I’m one of the lucky ones with what would be considered a somewhat mild case. There are people with it who end up housebound or even bedbound from it. So despite the seemingly simple name, it is in fact, quite debilitating.

Over the 10 years of me having this disorder, I’ve lost a number of friends as a result of me being too sick to go out. Where people might see me as being lazy or anti-social, I am actually struggling to function on a basic day-to-day level, and trying to face the added symptoms and stresses that come from being up past my ideal 8.30pm bedtime.
So without harping on about all my symptoms and struggles, I just want to help spread some awareness around ME/CFS and hopefully get people to stop thinking of it as just being tired or lazy. May is awareness month. So this is my bit to help spread awareness and understanding about a disorder even the medical community are still grappling with.