El Paso Teenager with ME/CFS Featured in Newspaper

Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
"I was in soccer and Boys Scouts and I was getting A's in school," he said. "I can still do some of those things but not at the level I used to. I have to pick and choose what I do. There are still limits on what I can do. I just miss being my old self."

Another high achiever mysteriously brought low by ME/CFS - this time after a stomach virus. He was knocked out of school but he's got a good family behind him and he appears to be adjusting well. These stories seem to be getting out more and more in the media.



For El Paso teenager Tyler Perkins, no two days are alike. "There are some days when I'm feeling all right and then I'll feel bad the next day," Tyler said. "Sometimes I can't do my schoolwork because I'll get brain fogged and not able to concentrate. Sometimes my stomach will start hurting and there's nothing I can do to stop it."
Tyler, 15, suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS, an illness that causes severe, disabling tiredness (fatigue) after physical and mental effort, far beyond what is usually felt.
Before being diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, Tyler was as normal as any active 10-year-old.

Tyler Perkins checks on a Spanish assignment Thursday at his eastside home. (VICTOR CALZADA — EL PASO TIMES)

"I was in soccer and Boys Scouts and I was getting A's in school," he said. "I can still do some of those things but not at the level I used to. I have to pick and choose what I do. There are still limits on what I can do. I just miss being my old self."

Tyler was part of the Gifted and Talented Program when he was in fifth grade, then in January 2010 he picked up a stomach virus that never seemed to go away but only got worse.

"We worked with several doctors who were all really hopeful but they could not find what was wrong," said Karen Perkins, Tyler's mother. "We also worked with two different psychologists and had tests run to determine if there was any emotional connection."

But, again, they found nothing to explain why Tyler was tired all the time and susceptible to illness.

Check out the rest of the story here - http://www.elpasotimes.com/living/ci_27993119/chronic-fatigue
 

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