Tiredness turned me into a total zombie

Thanks to Jill Pigott for letting us know about this story in the Worcester
News, "Tiredness that turned me into a total zombie" (30 July 2008).

My letter here

http://www.mefreeforall.org/2008-Jul-Sep.1017.0.html#c3807

suggests that whoever called M.E. "tiredness" has never experienced the difference between the two.

If you want to reply to the letters page, the e-mail address is
letters@worcesternews.co.uk

Cheers
John
drjohngreensmith@mefreeforall.org
Dr John H Greensmith

 

http://www.mefreeforall.org/Display-news.216.0.html?&cHash=f40b2baea5&tx_ttnews[backPid]=107&tx_ttnews[pS]=1217425154&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2388

(Excerpt)

He was shaky, feverish and weak.

He struggled to keep his balance and even crawling into bed was an effort.

Joe now describes himself as being like a battery that cannot recharge.

He said: “It was just a wipe-out, like having continuous flu. Your head just feels under pressure – you can’t even do a crossword. You don’t want the radio on or the TV. It’s almost like a vegetable state, quite zombie-like. It did feel a bit like a living death.
...

Other symptoms were poor shortterm memory and he struggled to find words to express himself even though he was extremely emotional at times.

There was a continuous ache at the front of his head and aches also developed in his knees and elbows and cramp in his toes, feet, calves and leg tendons.

His throat was constantly sore and his headache often left him feeling physically sick. Even getting out of his pyjamas was a colossal effort.

* * *

Anyone who thinks that CFS is simply "tiredness" has not read the diagnostic criteria.  There's a long list of neurological symptoms (in a prior blog post) that prove it's neither "simple fatigue" nor "depression" -- it looks enough like another, more respected illness, for a number of patients to have been mistakenly diagnosed with "atypical MS".

Perhaps if we could all get on the same page with what symptoms we're talking about when we say "CFS", it would solve some of the problems.  However, the biggest problem is that you can't understand the depth of the bone-crushing fatigue until you've experienced it yourself, to know that it really is not possible to just get up and keep going at that stage.  At some times, I've gotten out of bed and simply crumpled to the floor too weak to stand, or gotten out of bed and passed out ... that's not caused by staying up too late the night before.