What it’s like to have M.E. Symptoms explained.
1 Confusion - a symptom I have experience today and more frequently lately. One hour My brain can be functioning ok ish then with little to no warning I can become confused- affecting my ability to remember things or work simple things out such as navigating the new Facebook layout, finding a channel on tv or recently I could not work out how to navigate my way around a local nature reserve on my scooter despite knowing it well, even conversation can be difficult. This can make one feel quite vulnerable and can be distressing at times. So if someone you know with ME struggles suddenly when conversing or requests assistance to do something that appears simple - please do not think they are stupid - they may actually be highly intelligent but this illness can be causing this issue ( more symptoms in this area will be mentioned)
I want people to understand ME better- why? So that people like me don’t get harassed for taking a disabled parking spot, or don’t get laughed at or given filthy looks ( or have judgemental comments made) being on a mobility scooter, so that people stop thinking that because we appear to “look well” for an hour or two on the day’s where we actually manage to get out that we are well, it being thought of as lazy when we would give anything to be able to do just half of what we could pre illness. Plus a whole host of other reasons. ME is one of the most complicated illnesses I have encountered despite being a nurse previously - being told to man up and exercise or just push through can and does make us worse in many cases. So I will be making frequent posts to help people to understand- even many of our Drs dont understand because they are taught very little about ME and do not keep up to date on it - some don’t even believe it exists- we have to literally fight for help at our weakest.
Please do not comment with sympathy- I am trying to educate people - at the very least I hope my friends will understand me better and why you don’t see me very often. This is the start of a new series of short blogs only explaining symptoms and what we experience, what we have to go through as a result of having M.E.
