In the photo opposite, I am pictured on Mt Ruapehu in August 1987. A couple of months later, I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. That year, especially over the final university term, I had worked far too hard and overtrained in an effort to overcome constant fatigue with exercise. The stress I put myself under that year, especially when sudying for my final exams in that third term, triggered the final onset of CFS, which had been creeping up on me over my years at university. During those exams a day came when I knew I had pushed myself over the edge and done myself in. I felt physically torn - as if I had damaged myself badly. I never did recover after those exams. I don't believe that stress alone was the cause of my illness, but that it was the trigger. A year later, at the end of 1988, I was no longer able to walk and became bedridden and confined to a wheelchair for almost seven years. I still have limited mobility and have to lie down most of the time.
What follows is a brief account of my illness.
I am 33 and have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), and multiple sensitivities which are associated with it. I studied law and politics at Auckland University between 1983 and 1987, but was getting sick all that time. I now recognise classic masked allergy symptoms through my school and university years, but these went undiagnosed by numerous doctors. I was feeling unnaturally tired much of the time and had various other symptoms, too. Although I was heavily into tramping, skiing and physical fitness at university (and before that, cricket, until I was forced to stop due to injury), I had to spend more than the usual amount of time resting. (I have since met people who have been diagnosed with CFS with a level of fatigue similar to that which I often had during my years at university. There has never been a time when I have been able to work a full day without getting totally exhausted - even when I was seventeen. As a student, however, because you plan your own hours of work to a large extent, you can work around your times of fatigue; but I was never able to do part time work to earn extra money during term time, as I needed to spend too much of my spare time resting.)
I consider CFS to have started at the end of 1987, at age 22, but I had really had it creeping up on me for years - there had been times as far back as 1985 (or even earlier) when the diagnosis might have been appropriate. The fatigue didn't become chronically severe enough to stop me from being able to achieve my normal everyday activities though, until after my final exams in 1987 - until then, I had been able to achieve most things with enough rest - including my recreational activities mentioned above.
CFS as a diagnosis is rather general, as it bunches different patient groups together, under a shared umbrella. Many look forward to the day when these different groups of CFS patients are separately identified - this is a common concern among patients and doctors, as there are clearly different groups of patients, with different factors contributing to their individual illnesses. It would be helpful if patients such as myself, for example, were classified as that group of CFS patients in which sensitivities are playing a major role in their illness.
I was bedridden from late 1988 until around 1995 (and couldn't even feed myself for long stretches or chew for a year at a time twice - or get out of bed and into a wheelchair for months at a time), but now am able to live on my own, semi-independently, as long as I minimise my exposure to things I am sensitive to as much as possible.
Since I moved out of town in January 1996, to the east coast north of Auckland, where the air is cleaner, I have become strong enough to get around the house without a wheelchair (as I had to previously), as long as I rest for long periods between my activities. I am still basically house-bound, however and can't often go out socially, as it can take a couple of days to recover - and, if I overdo it really badly, about a week to do so.
My multiple sensitivities to foods, chemicals and other inhalants - sometimes known as Environmental Illness - had eventually became far advanced, to the stage where masking starts to break down and on top of of the delayed symtoms without an obvious cause, that are characteristic of masked allergy or intolerance, you get immediate symptoms. In my case, the masked/delayed synmptoms were mainly fatigue and an instatiable appetite and the immediate symptoms I now experienced were a raised pulse, my heart beating hard and a raging unrelieved tension throughout my body. Very few people get to this stage.
Thankfully, through careful management (avoiding incitants - things that provoke sensitivity reactions - as far as possible and rotating my diet strictly), the worst of that phase passed and those symptoms are now reduced. The fatigue has also reduced enough to allow me to live semi-independently, on my own - but I still feel pretty terrible physically: I have a 'stress-response' feeling to some extent all the time (mainly one of restlessness, with muscle tension and sometimes with the heart beating harder than usual), or a frazzled exhaustion due to an inability to rest that accompanies this state; but all my symptoms fluctuate, so I vary from feeling not too bad as long as I take my time over things, to feeling very groggy, to feeling like a restless rag-doll, to feeling totally 'wired' - very tense all over and sometimes agitated - to everything in between; my mental fatigue ('brain fog') is generally pretty bad. How I feel depends a lot on my level of exposure to the things I am sensitive to - what I have been eating and what inhalants I have been exposed to (like traffic fumes, dustmites and chemical inhalants commonly found indoors etc.); the weather has an effect: damp northerly winds always make me feel worse - it seems, because damp conditions encourage moulds; I feel better when there are dry southerly winds.
When I was bedridden, because I was in such a weakened state, it took me a long time to do the reading I needed to do, in order to find the books that were to be helpful. Finally, on a doctor's advice, I read Dr Randolf's book Allergies, Your Hidden Enemy and other books and a lot of things fell into place; I was too sick at the time, however, to implement many of the changes that were advocated - basically, avoidance measures to manage my sensitivities. The conversion of one's room to a chemical-free, hypoallergenic oasis can be a difficult task and and as I was bed-bound, it took a long time to make the changes advocated.
After making those changes and seeing a couple of allergists, however, I became strong enough to able to move to my parents' beach house on the coast north of Auckland in January 1996, to escape city pollution and allergens such as dustmites, which are inescapable in a carpeted house. I have as a result been stronger, and able to live semi-independently, with home help for shopping and house work. In Auckland I was in a wheelchair, but since my move I have had enough energy to walk just enough to get around the house for necessities. I still, however, need to spend most of my time lying down at present. I spend quite a lot of time lying down resting in silence, listening to the radio or music or reading (when I can); I watch TV selectively - when I am not up to reading, which I would much rather do. Before and after doing anything (especially physical things) I need to lie down and rest, sometimes for hours.
Things that keep me going include email - it helps break the isolation (not totally, as there is no substitute for seeing friends face to face). Music is important - I am keen on jazz, and especially Miles Davis. I would love to be able to master jazz guitar (and rock and fusion guitar too), and if possible would make it my primary pursuit (to be honest, given half the chance, I would be passionate to the point of obsession about the guitar if I was well enough to put in the time and energy to study and practice). I am, however, too sick to study or practice at present - a few scales and a bit of messing around is all I'm up to - sometimes I go for months without being able to touch it. I also listen to a lot of classical music; as for rock, the only band I tend to listen to these days is Thin Lizzy. I also love black and white photography which I do a bit of, when I can. I can occasionally do a bit of writing and have written some stories (all non-fiction about my experiences from my ilness so far, I regret) and quite a few poems. If I was well enough I would probably do some sort of writing for a living as that seems to be what I am best quailifed for. I am also a frustrated bookworm - often my concentration is not good enough to read and my eyes tire quickly, so I usually have to read light stuff like travel and sometimes childrens' books. I mostly find that poetry and heavier books are beyond me at the moment.
Back | Home | Resources | Our Products
| Products by
Price | Our
Competitive Edge
| View Cart |
Filters | Cash
Out | Contact Us
Dustmites | Mold Allergies | Asthma | The Air We
Breath | Chemical
Allergies | Ozone Free
| Pollen Allergies
| Common
Contaminants
Email for Info:
Intuition Marketing
Authorized Distributor
©1999 Intuition
Marketing. All rights reserved.
This information is intended for your general knowledge.