Something Was Wrong!

The following story is one woman's account of being diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

It was the year of the millennium and for the past two years travelling the world had been my life. I can still remember it, as if it were yesterday. I based myself in the city of London where people hustled and bustled throughout the overcrowded streets. Two years had flown and I was back at Heathrow Airport checking in my bags for the long journey back to Melbourne, Australia.

As I sat anxiously waiting for my flight to be called, I thought back to how I had left my 'laid back Melbourne lifestyle', and wondered how much it had changed.

The flight was exhausting, not to mention the six-hour stop over. It felt like forever sitting impatiently and waiting for the flight to continue. I found myself pacing the same shops over and over, anything to pass the time.

As we touched ground my excitement took over, I had butterflies in my stomach but at the same time I was emotionally overwhelmed. My passport was stamped and I was through the arrival gates to be greeted by family and friends.

I was jet lagged for days, my body clock all over the place. I found it hard settling back down and it took some time re-adjusting to Melbourne life. I re-entered the workforce in no time, which was a lucky thing, as I hadn't realised the amount of debt my visa was in.

Over the months I was complaining of flu-like symptoms but continued to work and brushed it aside. But as the weeks went by I just felt so tired, like I couldn't shake if off. I visited my GP who advised me that I had developed a case of the flu, so I spent the next few days in bed.

Recovered and back at work, the workload was becoming increasingly busier; it really seemed to take its toll on me.

Weeks later my tiredness continued. I just couldn't ignore it, it had got to the stage where I just couldn't cope, I was dragging myself to do the simplest of tasks and my memory was failing me. I felt quite distressed.

I talked to my doctor about my recent events. I was given the routine blood tests and fortunately for me, the tests came back normal. We talked about stress levels and I recalled increasing workloads and demands.

But for some reason I knew it was more than stress. I was young and healthy and led a hectic social life but surely I could deal with a bit of stress!

It really wasn't until I was struggling to hear patients on the other end of the phone that I quickly came to the realistion that something was very wrong with me! At first I thought it was my hearing but tests from an ENT (ear, nose, throat) surgeon confirmed my hearing was fine. Then I started thinking it was all in my head, how I had concocted up this imaginary illness.

I was becoming desperate and returned once again to the GP's, but this time I swapped doctors. He was thorough and gave me the news of Glandular Fever. I was bed ridden for the next couple of weeks and surprisingly I felt better. I was given the OK by my doctor and returned to work. This was my mistake!

Later that year I spent two weeks in Vietnam and two weeks in Bali. I felt great. The following year was like a rollercoaster ride; one day I felt fine, the next I was exhausted with fatigue. That's when it happened, my body couldn't take it anymore, it shut down and I felt worse than ever before. I resigned from my job; I had to get to the bottom of this. I could sense there was definitely something wrong and I wasn't prepared to take any more risks as my health was just far too important. I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, upon hearing the news, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. One thing was for sure though; I was relieved my mysterious illness had a name.

** CLICK HERE to read Part 2 of this woman's experience with CFS **

- S.C.