I have struggled for over 20 years with symptoms that no one could explain. I so identify with the author. I now have a diagnoses and it is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis ME. I am so happy to finally have a name to all the issues I have been having for years. A name to explain why i can’t work, why my body does so many crazy things, why when i get tired or stressed all my symptoms rear their ugly heads and wreck havoc on my body. Why for so long I have been homebound.
I was diagnosed with a chronic, incurable disease this week, and I was happy. I called up friends and family, and they congratulated me. What may sound baffling to some, will make perfect sense to anyone who has ever struggled with an undiagnosed illness. I wasn’t happy to have the condition, but I was thrilled to have a name to call the thing that had plagued me for more than seven years. I was so relieved that I sat in my car and cried outside of the doctor’s office. No longer was my strange list of symptoms to be given in apology for why I couldn’t do something (especially when I could do that thing and more on other days). I had a name to give, and while it didn’t offer any treatment beyond what I was already doing, it dignified my saying “no” even though I seemed perfectly healthy.
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Wisdom and Life 