About two years ago, a friend drove my daughter and me the 90 miles to the doctor we were seeing for our illness. We had been doctoring with this particular doctor for about three months. His office had tested for and found out quite a few specific things that were wrong with us, after our general practitioner had pretty much told us we had the winter blues.
As our doctor started going over our test results, he looked at me and said, "You have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome." I didn't know a whole lot about this at the time, except that it was an umbrella term with several symptoms and there wasn't a known (universal) cure.
I became very angry at the doctor. How could he just "give up" after three months? That is what I was thinking. Each test showed certain things that were wrong. In my thinking, all we had to do was address each of these problems, and we'd be better. How could he lump all these results under one condition and put his hands up and say, "Oh yeah, it's Chronic Fatigue, sorry." I can't remember what I said to him. I barely listened to his recommendations for supplements, took his handouts on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and was out the door.
My friend was waiting in the car. "Well, how did it go?" she asked. "We need to find a new doctor, this one has already given up," I replied.
Now, almost two years later, I understand what he was saying to me. I have more of an understanding about this disease, bad name and all. (There is a movement in the medical community to change the name.) And even though, no other doctor since has called it that...I know that he was right and the kids and I have this disease.
It's been hard for me to give in and admit it we have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. But it's dumb at this point, not to. The different problems that we have with amebas/parasites, candida, viruses, etc. that are persisting in our bodies are the symptoms and conditions of this debilitating disease.
It is a hidden disease because of the fact, that people who have it can look normal when they do go out and about. But there is much to know about those who suffer with CFS. Below is a video that describes what sufferers go through and deal with.
We have been blessed with faith in the Triune God. Without this faith, we would not be blessed with the quality of living that we enjoy today after 2 and 1/2 years with this disease. We've been blessed with family and friends that try to understand. We hope we can continue to help people understand and gain awareness of CFS. We know of at least 8 people just in our church community who suffer from this problem and there are probably more that we aren't aware of, or who may not yet know what is causing their fatigue or other health problems.
I try to focus on the positives on this blog, mostly as an encouragment for my own family - that we may be reminded of God's faithfulness to us as we go through this illness. But understanding is an important part of being a faithful witness, and so I will try to expand the awareness of this chronic illness in hopes of helping us all to be a little less ignorant.
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