My story of CFS
Ok so it's after midnight, and it's CFS Awareness Week, so now seems as good a time as ever to tell my story about CFS.
I'm 21 now, and I've had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) since I was about 14.
I don't really know what caused it, which is the same as with most people with CFS.
All I know is that in 1999, I had to leave school, I spent most of my days either in bed or at the doctors, and I felt absolutely horrible all the time.
The name Chronic Fatigue Syndrome really is misleading, because it makes people think that you're just tired all the time. CFS is more than just being tired, the list of symptoms that people can and do suffer from is extremely long, however not all sufferers suffer from the the same symptoms.
Some of the main problems I have, apart from the utterly exhausting fatigue that feels like I could've been run over by a truck after running a 5km marathon while having the flu (!!!), are severe problems with concentration, like 'brain fog', which means I am often walking around in a foggy cloud!! This has severly affected my studies that I've tried to do over the past 7 years....including my current veterinary nursing certificate at TAFE.
I also suffer from dizzyness and vertigo, nausea, headaches, aches and pains, muscle weakness, all of which are often very severe, as well as other symptoms which rear their ugly heads every so often, particularly when I'm in a relapse, which unfortunately I am now!!
Most people don't realise that CFS sufferers very often have remissions and relapses of their condition, not unsimilar to the way that people with cancer do. Not all people with CFS get better totally, some of them suffer from CFS for the rest of their lives.
One of the biggest fights that CFS sufferers has though, is with their doctors (who get frustrated with this patient who cannot get well, and suffers from a disease that doesn't have a recognised diagnostic test), their family & friends (who don't understand why this person they thought they knew so well is suddenly so tired, not acting themselves, and can't go out places at the drop of a hat), and the government, who won't provide enough money for research to be done into a diagnostic test, treatments, and eventually a cure. The government also time and time again, refuses to give people with CFS the help they need and deserve, like allowing them to get a disability support pension, which, pitiful amount that it is, is often the only means of being able to buy food, pay bills and buy medicines that are extremely high-priced in the hope they might provide some help in easing their symptoms.
May 9th-15th, 2005 is CFS Awareness Week, with May the 12th being International CFS Awareness Day.
So no matter where you live, what country, what state, support your local CFS Society and sufferers, you may not know who they are, but they could turn out to be someone you know, or even someone you love.
"I'm disorientated. I'm trying not to be jaded. When it's all so complicated. 'Cause I'm a little disorientated." Disorientated, Delta Goodrem
I'm 21 now, and I've had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) since I was about 14.
I don't really know what caused it, which is the same as with most people with CFS.
All I know is that in 1999, I had to leave school, I spent most of my days either in bed or at the doctors, and I felt absolutely horrible all the time.
The name Chronic Fatigue Syndrome really is misleading, because it makes people think that you're just tired all the time. CFS is more than just being tired, the list of symptoms that people can and do suffer from is extremely long, however not all sufferers suffer from the the same symptoms.
Some of the main problems I have, apart from the utterly exhausting fatigue that feels like I could've been run over by a truck after running a 5km marathon while having the flu (!!!), are severe problems with concentration, like 'brain fog', which means I am often walking around in a foggy cloud!! This has severly affected my studies that I've tried to do over the past 7 years....including my current veterinary nursing certificate at TAFE.
I also suffer from dizzyness and vertigo, nausea, headaches, aches and pains, muscle weakness, all of which are often very severe, as well as other symptoms which rear their ugly heads every so often, particularly when I'm in a relapse, which unfortunately I am now!!
Most people don't realise that CFS sufferers very often have remissions and relapses of their condition, not unsimilar to the way that people with cancer do. Not all people with CFS get better totally, some of them suffer from CFS for the rest of their lives.
One of the biggest fights that CFS sufferers has though, is with their doctors (who get frustrated with this patient who cannot get well, and suffers from a disease that doesn't have a recognised diagnostic test), their family & friends (who don't understand why this person they thought they knew so well is suddenly so tired, not acting themselves, and can't go out places at the drop of a hat), and the government, who won't provide enough money for research to be done into a diagnostic test, treatments, and eventually a cure. The government also time and time again, refuses to give people with CFS the help they need and deserve, like allowing them to get a disability support pension, which, pitiful amount that it is, is often the only means of being able to buy food, pay bills and buy medicines that are extremely high-priced in the hope they might provide some help in easing their symptoms.
May 9th-15th, 2005 is CFS Awareness Week, with May the 12th being International CFS Awareness Day.
So no matter where you live, what country, what state, support your local CFS Society and sufferers, you may not know who they are, but they could turn out to be someone you know, or even someone you love.
"I'm disorientated. I'm trying not to be jaded. When it's all so complicated. 'Cause I'm a little disorientated." Disorientated, Delta Goodrem
posted by PinkyAmyC @ 1:16 am
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