I was<\/strong>\u00a0once an over-achiever (formerly dubbed \u201cprofessional student\u201d because of my love to learn and to conquer anything new or challenging) and overly organized,\u00a0having OCD.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Now I suffer from<\/strong>\u00a0brain fog, barely able to remember what I have to do and how to do it daily. That is, if I have the energy to get up\u00a0and do anything.<\/strong>\u00a0It started after pregnancy when I assume my immune system did not recover. I<\/strong>\u00a0contracted mono.\u00a0I do not know how many times I have had it, only that I cannot recover from it.<\/strong>\u00a0 First, it was called chronic EBV\/Mono.\u00a0 I have good days and bad days and have learned to pace myself, take frequent breaks or stay\u00a0bedridden.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0It is<\/strong>\u00a0not rocket science for us who have learned to live with it but to relay that to doctors is another story. I feel bad for my family more than anything else.\u00a0For years (since 2008),<\/strong>\u00a0I\u00a0did not<\/strong>\u00a0know what was going on but felt like I was dying and no one could tell me what was wrong.\u00a0 Many felt like it was a psychological problem and for a while, although I\u00a0could not<\/strong>\u00a0imagine how\u00a0your mind could make your body feel so bad<\/strong>.\u00a0I have tried it all: hormones, depression meds, and removal of my thyroid, tonsils, FESS, and fusions in my cervical spine.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0I have been through all the diagnoses, medications, and treatments.<\/strong>\u00a0 I had seen improvement with a facility nearby in Arlington but they quickly closed and\u00a0I have<\/strong>\u00a0found little help since.\u00a0 I still search for answers on my own but have given up on the medical community to help.\u00a0 I long for the days when I was active and able and mourn for the days that I could have had with my son\u00a0if I were in good health.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0I, as many here, pray for the day that not only is there an accurate diagnosis but a cure for a disease that steals so much of your life and your livelihood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Humans of ME\/CFS I was\u00a0once an over-achiever (formerly dubbed \u201cprofessional student\u201d because of my love to learn and to conquer anything new or challenging) and overly organized,\u00a0having OCD.\u00a0\u00a0Now I suffer from\u00a0brain fog, barely able to remember what I have to do and how to do it daily. That is, if I have the energy to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/kimberly.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}