Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: a post about it.

[Ginevive]

Hey; does anyone else deal with this disease? I am suffering from it; today is a particularly bad day. People will say that it is fake; it is all in your head. Tell that to my legs that will not let me get out of bed! I did actually get diagnosed with it about 2 years ago, although the tests were nothing beyond a rule-out of thyroid/anemia/diabetes. I guess this is how one diagnoses CFS.

I called off work. This means losing my holiday pay.. I just can NOT make myself do it today.

Am I 100% sure that this is CFS? Maybe about 90%. I did have Mono as a kid, and there is a link to Epstein-Barr and CFS. I have no insurance through work until mid-August, when I plan on getting it and having a full-on medical assault on myself to see what on earth is going on.

My symptoms are incessant fatigue (even after a normal amount of sleep) that does not subside with naps, but gets worse, and if I do try and get up to move around/work, I get lightheaded and have to sit down, or risk possibly passing out.

2 years ago, my doc ruled out anemia and thyroid (although he said I was "marginal" on thyroid levels.) Right now I have a headache which is almost secondary to the plain fatigue.

I really hope that it is not MS. I do have much worse symptoms in hot weather, as it is very hot now, and I overexerted myself yesterday at work. Not to mention, my husband left for 1-2 weeks out of town, on business; this walloped me as well. I am trying so hard for him and for us, because we have killed off alot of our debt and he is such a hard worker.

This kills me, because when I am energetic, I am a workaholic who will push myself to the limit. Now, I have little energy and trouble following basic instructions and having the stamina to do much of anything. And as a teen, I was a minor genius, always at the top of my classes. Things seemed to change when I was 18 and developed Mononucleosis, a result of contracting the epstein-barr virus that is exposed to 90% of humans by the age of 30, but rarely leads to much in most people.

Life is not even going in a bad direction. My husband is opening a tattoo shop, and I am in an OK job that I do not hate. Unlike depression, I am not struck by any feelings of not caring, or of not wanting to do the things that I like doing; more, it is NO ENERGY to do anything. I am not even an unhealthy weight (although a bit out of shape muscle-wise; more weak than anything else.) It is even hard for me to pay enough attention and give the effort to type this online!

Argh!