I have been speaking with people who suffer from Fibromyalgia and many have said how well acupuncture has worked for them.
What I like about this type of medicine is that it looks at the illness holistically and tries a more proactive approach to treatment.
Have you tried it? What are your thoughts?
Alright, you’ve been diagnosed, you’ve had it for a while, you know it will take time to recover. So you know that you need to take it easy and not push yourself too hard.
So how do you know if you have accepted the reality of your condition, or have resigned yourself to a life of small amounts of energy?
Good question…. What do you think?
Perhaps the answer lies in your approach. Perhaps ‘acceptance’ is making peace with the fact that you cannot give 110% energy as often as you would like, but that it’s ok. I think this is easier to feel, the more energy you have. Then maybe ‘resignation’ is done with an air of giving up, of hopelessness.
I think this questions touches on a deeper question of control. There are some things you can control, and others that you can’t. Our job is to figure out which is which.
In regards to the glandular fever, personally, I believe it is better to be hopeful and keep looking to the future. You WILL get better. Maybe sooner, maybe later, but it WILL happen. If it doesnt, isn’t it better for you mentally and spiritually to believe that it is?
My, so many questions! What do you think?
“Does it exist”?
I cannot even begin to appreciate how hard it must be to be told that this crippling illness is ‘made up’ and ‘all in your head’. Wow.
Yes, there are no conclusive tests for it yet, but how can you deny this is real? Anyone who says this clearly has not experienced it themselves.
I am no doctor and have done very limited research into this, so I am not pretending to know anything that I don’t.
All I can say is that there are so many people suffering so much from CFS….. are they all making it up? W
HY ON EARTH WOULD ANYONE WANT TO PRETEND TO HAVE THIS???
Sorry, I’m getting a bit carried away here. I just want to illustrate my anger at disbelievers and extend my support to those who suffers CFS.
If there are some doctors and ‘experts’ who say this does not exist, it is no wonder some friends and family may be skeptical. I guess part of what makes it hard to believe is the sheer duration of this illness. It has been known to last decades. Decades. This is understandably mind-boggling and hard to accept initially.
This discussion leads onto my other post on Institutional support. Please check it out!
As friends and family please ask yourselves – is it better to listen to some ‘experts’ or support your loved one in need?
This is something I was not prepared for. I was told by the dozens of doctors I saw that I will feel tired and may get a bit depressed. THAT’S IT!
Mentally
Something that made the experience very hard for me was that the mental fuzziness that came with the illness. I couldn’t concentrate on things, I’d forget what I was saying midway through a sentence, and simply forgot a lot of things that were told to me. This was hard because I am normally quite mentally active and was unprepared for this ‘symptom’.
I often felt that I would have preferred a broken leg or similar, because while I would be bedridden also I would at least be able to be productive and contribute to work and do school work at least.
All I can say is don’t worry, it WILL pass. Sooner or later for some, but it will happen. I remember the first day I didn’t have the mental fog – it was amazing! I had been foggy for so long I had forgotten how glorious it is too be mentally clear.
What did you experience?
How long did it take for you to get better?
Ah yes. The ‘outside’ consequences of these illnesses on life, such as school & work etc.
I have heard stories about some wonderful organisations that have held job positions for months and those that allow shorter hours and work from home. I applaud you!
Then there are those that seemed not to care and worse, not even try to.
Some organisations have illness allowances or special consideration (schools & universities) for this sort of thing. This is great. However, we have to jump through a lot of hoops to get the paperwork done.
For example, work will give you leave if you have a doctor’s certificate. So we need a doctors certificate – easy, right? NO. We can barely get out of bed – do you know how much energy it takes to go to the doctor? More than we have! And then it will take us a week to recover from the visit and completely slows down the process.
Ok, now we need to fill out the institutional form – easy, right? NO. Form filling out requires decision-making. We are too damn tired to hardly move, let alone think clearly.
So now we’ve filled out the form. All we need to do is hand it in – easy, right? NO. Some institutions require us to physically hand 
the form in. HELLO! What do you think is wrong with us in the first place!?
But, to be fair, it may be hard for organisations to truly appreciate what these illness are like, especially if some ‘leading experts’ say CFS doesn’t exist. And perhaps there are scammers out there trying to capitalize on actual suffers, who knows?
So what do we do about it?
I’m writing about it and providing a place for people to share their story. If enough people want to help, we can change this.
What can you do to help?