M.E. and me. A BBC documentary.

Following the link below will take you to the BBC I player website where you can watch a 30 minute documentary about what it is really like to live with M.E.

Talking with Mr Tree Surgeon this morning, we’ve concluded that now even my own parents get a highly filtered version of my everyday suffering. I don’t show you the worst of my illness because I think it makes me happier to do things that way; to have moments of playing along with the facade that it’s all not as bad as it really is. On Saturday night though, he had to scoop me up off the floor and fetch a sick bowl as my body seemingly started to shut down after a big day the day before. So watching the video below will give a glimpse of what goes on behind closed doors and away from Instagram filters and highly edited Facebook posts.

This next sentence is hard to write but, spurred on by Sophie’s strength in showing the world her reality in the video, and with it being M.E. Awareness week, it is perhaps a good time to come out and say how huge an impact this illness can really have.

I have had to make the decision to not have children because of the true, gruelling reality of my M.E.

Not having children is something that, I feel, goes against who I was born to be and who I imagined I would become. It is not a decision I have made lightly and it is one that can hurt my heart on some days. Yet there it is. And there are so many others out there, like me, who, for whatever reason relating to their M.E. have been made to come to the same point. I will talk about it a little more at a later date.

If you could make half an hour to watch the link there are hundreds of thousands of people like me who would be very grateful.

M.E. and me on the BBC

For those outside of the UK try YouTube