My M.E. Story

My birthday, 12th May, just so happens to fall on M.E. Awareness Day. I was diagnosed with M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) when I was 18 or 19 years old. It was November time, I was in my first year of commuting to University and my insomnia suddenly became unbearable.

I was getting up at 6am to travel the hour to my campus and was getting about twenty to thirty minutes of sleep each night. This lasted for about a month. I felt like I was walking dead and probably looked like it, too. The following month it flipped, I would sleep eighteen hours a day and be absolutely exhausted. Enough was enough. I paid a visit to my Doctor.

My Doctor was American and she was absolutely fantastic, she did blood tests to see what was triggering my exhaustion. All the things that can cause tiredness came back normal - iron levels, thyroid activity etc. She concluded that I probably had M.E. and suspected that I had been dealing with M.E. for quite some time and not realising it - I have had insomnia from about the age of eight.

Since my diagnosis nearly ten years ago, I have had periods of time where I was able to hold down a full-time job. I have also had points where I was using a wheelchair and struggling to get out of bed most days. The symptoms I struggled with the most were fatigue and pain. I say "were" because at the moment the pain and the fatigue are not a part of my life. I have tried many prescribed painkillers over the years but found that I would get all of the side effects (which often included drowsiness), without the benefit of pain relief. I have used essential oils to help manage my pain and has been what was most successful in my experience. I have also found that for me, good health coincides with trips I have taken to North America. Living in Canada for this year, I am in a good spell, but I don't want to deteriorate again when I get back to England.

I have spent a lot of the year abroad trying to improve my health. I have found a Holistic Doctor in Vancouver who treats a lot of people with M.E. (C.F.S. as they call it here). Last week I had two food sensitivity tests; I have the results of one test - I am intolerant to wheat, lactose, milk, pork and sugar. Or, in other words, my body can't digest those ingredients (along with some other foods: bananas and MSG, for example). I am hoping that through changing my diet I will be able to stay out of the wheelchair and keep up with being able to walk five miles,and not see any side effects.

My husband has Coeliac Disease, so all of our meals tend to be wheat free anyway. But it's daunting changing my diet and cutting out pretty much all of our go-to meals. If anyone has any food blogs they can recommend, I would be very grateful. I'm already searching through Pinterest for ideas and inspiration.