I get asked what it was that enabled me to see progress* with my health.
Honestly? I think it boiled down to three things:
• Luck
• Privilege
• Circumstance
The conditions within which I became ill with M.E. were as favourable as they can ever be.
• I had just graduated from university ergo my education was unaffected by my illness. I didn’t have to attempt to study alongside my new health restrictions.
• I had never had my heart set on one career and had not yet entered full-time employment. So, although devastated that taking over the family business wasn’t ever going to happen for me now, I didn’t experience the loss that others have.
• I was living at home and so had no mortgage to think about or bills to keep on top of.
• I became ill with severe M.E. from the get go. So unlike many others, I didn’t have to face the impossible task of trying to hold down a job because the choice was made for me. There was no pushing through. I couldn’t lift my head off my pillow.
• I had no dependents and no responsibilities. No children. No pets. Only myself to think about.
• I had the full support of my family, particularly my mum.
• My mum’s advocacy and understanding of M.E.
• I was diagnosed alarmingly quickly and seen by a CFS/ME Clinic within six months of my first symptoms. The clinics aren’t great but I didn’t have years of waiting and wondering like the majority of people do.
My point is, be careful whose journey you compare yours to. Because the circumstances are likely to be very different from your own.
All that and I’m still not better than this?! Yeah, sorry about that.
Just go a little easier on yourselves, that’s all.
*Don’t mistake progress for recovery.
M.E. myself and I 