My experiences of living with M.E!

Firstly for those of you who haven't got M.E I will explain why the layout seems very short, and snappy~ it is very difficult for someone with M.E to read and digest big chunks of anything, especially text. So I have written it in a way, which is a) easier for me to write, and b) easier for other people with M.E to read. I hope this explanation seems logical.

I have had the illness M.E. for over 4 years, and in that time I have been getting steadily worse in all of that time. It all began when I became ill with a chest infection, and then while I got over the actual infection, with the help of antibiotics, I never seemed to actually recover to my former fitness, or feeling of being well. I then began to get worse.

At first my main symptom was that I was tired all of the time, which wasn't helped by the fact that I was, and still am getting only about 3 or 4 hours of sleep per night. Which is not helped, at all, by sleeping tablets. From there it was a very gradual decline, to the level that I am at today, and I am still getting slightly worse too.

Most of the sympoms did begin at the very begining of the illness, within the first 6 months, and they have just been gradually getting worse. The most significant one, apart from the constant tiredness, which has been there from the very beginning is with my muscles and joints, mainly my legs, but also sometimes in my arms. They have become weaker than they were, and I am in pain with it 24 hours a day.

The pain ranges from a very dull ache, to very strong stabbing pains, usually in the lower half of my legs. I also get cramps in both my legs, feet, and hands a lot, in an average day I will have cramps more than 10 times. I am also more prone to getting headaches, with one of the major downsides being that people with M.E. are more sensitive to almost everything, including painkillers, so it is very difficult to control the pain, with out making it worse, because of the equivalent, almost, overdose of drugs.

Another big symptom is the loss of concentration, sometimes it is impossible do do anything for longer than a couple of minutes, but even when I am having a relativly 'good' day, I can't concentrate for longer than about 25 minutes, without making my general M.E symptoms worse. Alongside that one is one to do with my speech, My brain quite often works faster than my mouth, and I often say the wrong word, or can't find the word that I want at all, or most often I actually forget what I am saying, right in the middle of actually saying it!! Quite often it has been commented that it is almost like I am drunk, especially as when I am very, very tired, I do actually slur my words too.