In 1994, I graduated with my Master\u2019s Degree in Intergenerational Studies. I advocated for children, families, and the elderly. I started the Texas chapter of Generations United. I was a healthy 34-year-old married working mother about to train for my 1st half marathon. Then on Thanksgiving Day in 1994, I went for my usual 2-mile jog. Afterward, I lay down on the sofa and took a nap. When I woke up, I knew something was terribly wrong. The fatigue was so crushing I knew I would never run again.<\/p>\n
Within 5 months, I had to quit my job because the cognitive symptoms were so severe I could no longer recognize words or follow a conversation. I knew ME\/CFS was not medically recognized, so when I quit my job I said it was to start my own business. No one knew I was really sick except my husband. No one would\u2019ve believed me anyway because I looked perfectly normal on the outside.<\/p>\n
It took 6 months to leave my professional and personal life before I was able to truly stop and rest. When I finally did, I only got sicker. I was bedridden for the first five years. I couldn\u2019t listen to music, read a newspaper, talk on the phone, or do anything for more than a minute. I could not be upright or the flu-like symptoms would be worse.<\/p>\n
While resting, just the slight movement of turning from one side to the other would exacerbate all my symptoms. I\u2019d go weeks without bathing. How I managed to be a mother to my young son I don\u2019t remember.
\nMy husband would come home from his job in the middle of the day to feed me lunch\u2014that was until the gastrointestinal symptoms started. I tried every diet possible. I went from 125 lbs to 97 lbs in just 2 months.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when we really got scared. We thought I might die.<\/p>\n
I was finally diagnosed with ME\/CFS in 1998. I received Social Security disability, saw a specialist, and tried medications and vitamins. I have 13 volumes of journals from that life-altering time period. No one understood, so I cut off all ties with family and friends in the real world. I lived in the world of sickness with ME\/CFS. I struggled to exist daily and to make sense of it all for the next 23 years.<\/p>\n
Over time I got stronger and found medication to address specific symptoms. I\u2019m a textile artist now and can function. However, I still must sleep ten hours a night, rest every afternoon, and if I exert myself too much I relapse for weeks or months. In 2016, I did too much and was bedridden for the first ten weeks of 2017.<\/p>\n
The public world still does not know I struggle with ME\/CFS daily, but I consider myself one of the lucky ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Humans of ME\/CFS In 1994, I graduated with my Master\u2019s Degree in Intergenerational Studies. I advocated for children, families, and the elderly. I started the Texas chapter of Generations United. I was a healthy 34-year-old married working mother about to train for my 1st half marathon. Then on Thanksgiving Day in 1994, I went for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":744,"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\/deborah_m.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764"}],"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=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofchronicillness.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}