15 Days To Freedom Blog Challenge
15 Days To Freedom Blog Challenge - Day 13 - M.E. Awareness Week
08:19
11th May - 17th May
"So it is time to spread the word and shout to the hilltops about it"
ME/CFS is most often triggered by a viral infection; I
contracted the flu in my teens and then never got better. Other people develop
the illness after operations or accidents and some experience a slow, insidious
onset. The most common symptoms are severe and debilitating fatigue, painful
muscles and joints, disordered sleep, gastric disturbances, light and sound
sensitivity, poor memory and concentration.
In some the effects may be minimal but in a large number, lives are
changed drastically. Schooling and higher education can be severely disrupted
and employment can become impossible. As well as strained and restricted social
and family lives. Many suffers become housebound or confined to bed for months
or years. (ME Association, 2015).
The most frustrating part about the ME/CFS is that is fluctuates
on a daily basis. A suffer can seemly look well one day and then be completely
bed bound the next. It is this fluctuation that makes ME/CFS hard to control. A
national support group called AYME produces the ME/CFS functional ability scale
which helps describe and measure what a suffer can do and feels like in
percentage terms. It ranges from 0% where you are very severely affected to
100% where you are fully recovered. It
is a vital tool for suffers, cares and educating friends and family alike.
For the last five years my ME/CFS has plateaued between
the ranges of 70%-90%. I have learnt to deal with the fact that it fluctuates
regularly and I try to maintain it with a daily nap, rest periods and eating
clean. While I could wallow in
self-pity, which believe me I have done, especially in the beginning. I now try
to stay as positive as I can. I whole hearty believe that suffering from
ME/CFS, or any illness, can make you a stronger person with a unique passion to
take on the world!
It is this belief that has pushed me to achieve all of
the goals I have so far set my heart to, such as sitting my GCSEs, going to
university and launching my own business. I have had a lot of naysayers along
the way who have basically told me to give up and succumb to the illness. But I
believe the only way to get better is to have dreams and take steps to achieve
them. They may not materialise as quickly
as a healthy person, and you may have to do it in a slightly different way, but
just because you have an illness it should not stop you from following you
ambitions and living your life.
Do you have ME, or know someone who does? If this blog inspires you to leave a comment please feel free to do so below.
Best wishes,
Pia x
Some really useful websites if you would like to find out more about the illness:
http://www.ayme.org.uk/
http://www.tymestrust.org/
http://www.meassociation.org.uk/
http://www.actionforme.org.uk/
 |
| Article in The Gloucestershire Echo, 16th May 2015 |
0 comments