There comes a pause in conversation with almost everyone I meet, where I must explain that I suffer Chronic Fatigue and Pain. The questions always surprise me. I forget that not everyone lives like this.
A FEW COMMON QUERIES: Please note, I am absolutely not a doctor or a priest so don’t take this as gospel. There are a lot of different ways to refer to these conditions and they are often very inter-linked with each other and mental health concerns too, which you tend to ‘catch,’ from the bleakness of a chronic diagnosis. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) also goes by: ‘Myalgic Encephalomyelitis,’ (M.E.) ‘a complex, multi-system, neuroimmune condition,’ symptoms include: ‘widespread pain, neurocognitive dysfunction, short term memory loss, disorientation, fatigue, hypersensitivity, etc.’ It affects everyone differently and has many different causes. Chronic Pain conditions also go by ‘Fibromyalgia.’ Sometimes chronic fatigue causes fibro and viceversa, other causes include ongoing conditions such as arthritis, or by lingering trauma from injury.
CONVERSATIONS WITH SUFFERERS/PALS:
it’s agony WHY LIVING WITH CHRONIC FATGUE/ CHRONIC PAIN ISN’T COOL Emma Stokes
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After fifteen minutes of sitting in the garden with my friend Patrick, I announce that I need to move inside to the couch. I lay down and he drapes a big ole blanket over me, I say, “Why-oh-why is it so hard to sit upright?” He retorts, “Maybe cos you have chronic pain…” This brings me to my first point - CFS/ Fibro isn’t cool when you can’t enjoy the nice sunshine in the garden. “Hey Patrick, how come it’s not cool to have CFS/ Fibro?”