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Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

  
 
Ganesh
12:35 / 18.11.01
Or ME. Or Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome, Neurasthenia, Yuppie 'Flu - or the most recent, overarching label-change, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Mentioned in one of Pin's threads, I wondered whether anyone else here has had direct experience of fatigue syndrome, acute or chronic, in themselves, a friend, relative or colleague. I'm aware that, as medical diagnoses go, it remains a charged, controversial subject; in many ways, it cuts to the heart of the mind/body dichotomy, with bitterly entrenched groups arguing that it's "all in the mind", "a real physical illness" and so on.

I've had limited experience treating people with CFS, and my own views are still somewhat malleable.

Questions:

1) As above, does anyone have anecdotal experience of ME/fatigue syndromes?

2) Does anyone have specific views on the debate surrounding the phenomenon?
 
 
Mordant Carnival
17:08 / 19.11.01
Yerrr... something like that happened to me when I was around 15 or so. I was a pretty active kid: no-car family, went everywhere by bike, and thought nothing of walking up and down hills for five or six hours at a stretch. Then suddenly it all changed. I started to get blistering migranes and my lifelong asthma deteriorated to an alarming degree. Then I began to feel tired all the time. I would getup late, drag around till midday, collapse into bed for a couple of hours, then get up again feeling no better. It got to the point where I was crawling upstairs on my hands and knees. I also experienced a lot of nagging joint pain, with some redness and swelling. The GP couldn't find anything wrong with me (I've a sneaking suspicion he had me down as a case of lazyitis).

The worst of it was, fortunatly, short-lived (less than a year), although I didn't really get "better" for years after that. The joint pain gradually disappeared, and the migranes pretty much cleared up when the epilepsy arrived on the scene.

I still don't know what brought it all on. There may very well have been some psychological componant, but the symptoms were very real indeed.
 
 
Ierne
17:54 / 19.11.01
My only experiences with chronic fatigue syndrome were rather slight, with two men both in their late 40's. One was an ex-boss and another an out-of-town acquaintance. The latter was an antique dealer; he needed to work for himself, at his own pace.

Both men were ex-speed freaks who had been clean for a number of years before the CFS set in. Unfortunately I can't recall what (if any) medication they were taking.
 
  
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