by Una Hearne. May is M.E. awareness month so I'm writing this to raise awareness of what it's like to live with. Living with any chronic illness is different for each person - this is my personal story. Please note I am not looking for sympathy, I believe everyone has sh*t to deal with in life, this is just my sh*t. :-) And I'll explain the picture at the end... History I have had M.E. since a bout of Glandular Fever (Mono) age 16, I'm now 55. Historically M.E. has been dismissed as a ...
by Una Hearne. You'll have heard of it by now - Long Covid. It is not being called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME or CFS) yet but the similarities are alarming. Long Covid is being taken seriously by some doctors but unfortunately not all. There are even medical professionals with this illness facing the same scepticism - from their own colleagues - which people with ME/CFS have faced for decades. Centuries actually. The whole issue with ME/CFS scepticism is the historic assumption that any illness unknown to medicine at that particular time ...
by Una Hearne. We talk in terms of fighting illness/ obesity/ drugs/ redundancies etc. Fighting can be a brilliant frame of mind. I have a friend who had cancer and approached it as a battle. With military efficiency she fought, she won and we couldn't be more pleased and proud of her. However, fighting is not always the right frame. It depends on the situation and what works for you as a person. For me, facing ME/CFS, I find the most useful frame of mind for me is the very opposite of fighting - ...
by Una Hearne. Beth had two goals for the year. She set them the day she was diagnosed with cancer and told that her full time job for the year would be treatment. Her goals were: 1) Beat cancer 2) Spend as much time as possible with her sister who was getting married in September. They had always shared everything and Beth was not going to miss out on this. In between Chemo days, when Beth was well enough, she and her sister spent days planning, discussing and giggling. They went dress and ...
