ME/CFS Story in School Newspaper

[Cort]

Well written story on a young women's life with chronic fatigue syndrome. It began suddenly when she was 14 years old...It's a typical story but they always strike home for me - she was a musician and a competitive judo player - until she caught a cold - just a cold - and never recovered. The falls in this disease are so dramatic and so often happen to otherwise healthy people that I still can't believe the medical community is not interested. It's a fascinating problem.

Illness narratives often start with a shock: a sudden blackout; an excruciating headache; a lump. My illness, however, had the most mundane beginning. In September 2008 I caught a cold. I never recovered.

Within a matter of weeks I went from a happy, active 14 year old – a keen musician and a competitive judo player – to an invalid. I couldn’t stand without fainting, I couldn’t read or watch TV; I often couldn’t speak and regularly struggled to breathe. I was in immense pain, the light hurt my eyes, I couldn’t bear to be touched, and any noise caused further, painful deterioration. My life was suddenly transformed into the cruellest test of endurance: I spent each and every day between the sofa and my bed, unable to sleep yet plagued by an infernal exhaustion so intense I could barely move my limbs. During the very worst moments I wondered how I was still alive; during those worse still, I couldn’t think at all.

After medical tests heeded no clear results, I was diagnosed with M.E. – despite my quiet pleas that I was far too ill to have something referred to as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Like most people, I was completely unaware of the utter devastation this horrific neurological disease can cause.

Check out the rest here -http://www.palatinate.org.uk/?p=58413