Living with Chronic Fatigue 13:52 Claire 0 Comments

I thought this would be a better time than ever to post about this especially when I have been looking at recent news stories. I was amazed seeing news headlines from the likes of the Telegraph stating that suffers can overcome symptoms by simple change of thought and exercise, this really got to me as I barely have enough energy to get up some days or I have a headache so pain in ties me down making exercise the last thing going through my head. Chronic Fatigue also known as ME is a condition (is this even the right term for it?) that is looked at as just being lazy, since being diagnosed I've heard number of different things like ''There's a name for being lazy?'' and ''Oh, I think I have ME I'm so tired '', people have even laughed in my face.





I first got symptoms when I was finishing year 9 and starting year 10 in school which was around 2011 which is nearly 5 years ago but it feels much longer than that. I was sleeping more, getting headaches, pains in my legs and arms and just generally unwell. I was sleeping throughout the day which is never normal for me even now, I've never just taken a nap until I starting getting these symptoms. The symptoms gradually got worse and I was bed ridden for two weeks at a time which meant missing school a lot. Every time I was ill like this I was taken to the doctors by my mum where they would take blood tests every time, check for all the normal stuff. The doctors sent me for a appointment in the hospital at a children's ward, this is when I was 16, where I saw several different doctors within 5 hours of just being there. I was still told that everything was fine. My symptoms slowly got better but I was still not myself and I'm still not now. I still got tired more than usual and went everyday with a headache.





One doctor touched the subject of the condition but nothing was done about it and was just brushed over and never looked at again. Every time I visited a doctor about my symptoms I felt like it was just in my head and I was actually fine, the more I said this the more I believed it. Still getting these syptoms but not as serve as I was when I was 14/15. Just last year my headaches were getting worse and these were what bothered me the most, so I went back to the doctors. This is where I let everything out and said how I felt, how tired I was and how bad my pains and headaches were, I also mentioned the last time I saw a doctor about this they had mentioned Chronic Fatigue. She looked into it more and asked different and more questions than any other doctor did. She also took it further and discussed it with another doctor at the practice and would contact me within a week.





At the age of 19 I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue which I had been dealing with from the age of 14, it took the doctors 5 years to diagnose me. Yes it is a hard thing to diagnose and there is no treatment for it. I told my friends about it and got a various mix of reaction some just laughed and some were more shocked that it took so long. I still get symptoms now, I get painful legs and headaches most days of the week. It is hard and quite embarrassing especially when your curled up on the floor crying unable to move because of the pain in my legs in front of my boyfriend and when you get so tired you start losing focus on something or just start making a lot of mistakes. I can't focus on one thing at a time, after a while I lose concentration and move onto the next and then maybe I'll go back to it. I am now waiting to go to a clinic to speak to someone who can help me deal with the symptoms.





I don't enjoy the pain and I don't think anyone could but I don't need people making comments that actually hurt. Just because your tired doesn't mean you have this, yes being tired is one thing but the headaches and the muscle pain also come with it too. It almost feels like you have something pushing down on you making you feel heavy. When I was missing the important parts of my GCSE's my tutor didn't care or ask if there was anything wrong, I was pulled out of our morning registration to be spoken by her in the corridor outside the class and was spoken to about missing a lot of school, she never asked why or anything. I had enough and put it straight that I literally couldn't walk and I was generally ill. People are going to think of laziness and it doesn't help reading articles saying it can be overcome by simply thinking more positively and exercising more. I could have six hours sleep and feel tired but I could have 12 hours and feel exactly the same, exercising is the last thing I want to do when I just want to sleep. I don't have naps in the day because it wouldn't benefit me, I'm trying to help myself by leaving sleep till night so I have a better sleep even though I still can go to sleep pretty early like 9pm. I would love to be able to lose weight and get fitter but I try my best to keep my energy levels up and to keep my energy for college and work.





If you have any question don't be afraid to ask. I would love to hear off other people with this condition as well. Bye for now















