• Moomin - My M.E And Fibromyalgia Story

    As a kid I was never well, I always had bad throat infections and colds, and lived on antibiotics. I also suffered with additive intolerance.

    My M.E was traced back to my early years, as the lapsing and remitting pattern was present from age eight. As I got into my teens, I would be OK for a few weeks then need time off school for a few weeks to recover. I would also be sent home with all sorts of back pain, breathing issues, and cramps in my hands and arms. Aged 14 I had my tonsils out, and never seemed to be as well after. I remember how everyone else around me seemed to walk so fast, and I seemed to be almost running, but in reality I walking at a snail’s pace, my legs would always cramp in my calves and if I tried to walk to fast my lower back felt like it was snapping in two.

    After leaving school, I seemed to pick up a little and did a Y.T.S training course. I still had issues with tiredness and keeping going and found the workplace unrelenting and inflexible. I also started getting IBS symptoms. Looking back I managed well, the M.E was low level and I dealt with it day by day. I job hopped for ten years, never holding down one for more than a year at a time, as I was getting ill at work, once even taken to hospital after a collapse. I always thought it was sensitivity to something being used in the workplace but as time went on the pattern remained the same.

    I went to see my doctor in my late teens, and was put on Amitriptyline, for severe neck pain, and also given low level pain killers. However I was not told why, and was sent away. Years went by lunging from one job to another and finally married and in my early twenties, I walked out of work and never returned. I finally got the test done with the doctor, and was told I had Fibromyalgia. Three years later after paying to see a specialist I was told I had M.E and had, had it for a very long time and was unlikely to ever recover. That’s when we traced it back to when I was eight.

    My life turned upside down during the process of trying to get diagnosed, my marriage was under strain, money was non existent and all my husband was earning was going on the bills and food. When I finally got the letter of diagnosis, I had all my benefits back dated, and was finally given DLA. I was in a wheelchair for five years and life was really crappy. I was always ill and was also starting to develop OCD and anxiety problems.

    Doctors have never been very helpful, and because Mum had MS I was always told to stop thinking I had it, and get on with life. As far as I was concerned I had every right to have the disease ruled out and to this day they have not done so. Both my parents have now passed away and I married again. After my first two marriages failed. I have had three miscarriages, and I also think this was M.E based.

    Present day, I am happily married and struggle to accomplish everyday things by myself. I am often bed bound and months will go by without being able to go out. I am in agony all the time, I have no support from the NHS and if it was not for my husband I would have no life what so ever. Every day is a total struggle with pain, dizziness, IBS, stomach problems, lethargy and a host of other problems. I now have a power wheelchair and all sorts of other disability aids to help with life. I never did get better and I have continued to get worse and I no longer have any goods days.

    However I have learned to deal with the illness on my own because no matter what, at the end of the day you are on your own, locked in a body that does not like you. Foggy Friends has been a life saver and has given me back my voice along with all the other special people that deal with this illness every day.