new here

Am 46, think I have been fighting cfs for many yeats but just treated for depression, cfs never mentioned by any gp, Im constantly tired, breathless, everyday chores are a major effort, now been told my spine is very arthritic and i need two new hips and am tons of painkillers including oramorph and diazepam as well as the anti-depressants, it's all spiralling downwards and I'm convinced orthopaedic surgeon thinks all the pain is in my head I'm just a silly peri-menopausal woman feeling sorry for herself. It's cost me my job and ruined my life and puts a huge strain on my relationship with my partner and every single day is a constant struggle, going to bed is a relief. I don't know anyone else who feels like this that I can talk to and I feel ashamed to tell anyone that I'm convinced I have it. I just need to know where I can go to help instead of just drugs

[Raffael]

Hello and Welcome, please don't feel stupid or ashamed. Like you my ME and my Fibro was put down to depression and I would "grow out of it" I battled for years with doctors, last year I was finally diagnosed with both ME and Fibro as well as two squashed disks and nerve damage in my back. Keep fighting, stay calm. Have you asked your doctor for a referral? Go and have a look at the hummingbird foundation for ME (google it) it's very informative and realistic, suggest it to your doc. Good luck.

[Hidden in reply to Raffael]

Have seen specialist about my back he said it was in operable because if he removed the bad discs and fused the vertebra which is what my gp said would happen, I would get more pain above and below the affected area so he recommended steroid injections in the facet and sacro iliac joints. That was in October and I'm still waiting, Ive just had steroid injections in my hips but it's not really helped as they both need replacing. I had an argument with the specialist he says the pain in my legs is not sciatic even though the symptoms there are of sciatic pain, and that all the pain killers were responsible for the depression ( WRONG) and that I should see a psychologist to help me get out of this mindset. I'm reduced to putting Oramorph in my coffee it makes me so sick, and I take zomorph and diazepam too, do they think I take it because I like it? I dont want to be reliant on all this stuff. Thanks for the info I'll have a look

[Hidden]

Are you in the Edinburgh area if so for more local group support try EDMESH's own web site edmesh.org.uk or the ME association meassociation.org.uk. The ME Association also has a telephone help line. For moral support and peer advice try the EDMESH facebook group facebook.com/groups/2905418....

[Hidden]

Am about as far away as I could be-Redruth! Many thanks for the info

[annebrewitt]

Hello Arrow,

Your symptons are not stupid, but are typical of Me/Chronic Fatigue. I can relate to the feelings of struggling to do simple tasks. It can be a nightmare and doctors also can be

the one thing that can cause so much added stress when there need not be.

In my case, my daughter and I were only really taken seriously, after the top consultant of my surgery had to retire, due to getting the condition. Before that, he actually said my daughter only had a virus and that there was nothing else wrong. It was some time later, that we found out he had retired. We then noticed that at last we were being believed to really have this condition, even though it had been diagnosed by those where Me/Chronic Fatigue was their field of medicine and they knew what they were talking about. The best thing is to ask to be referred to an Me/cfs cliniic. They know what sufferes have to go through and are a lot more sympathetic. I wish you all the best.

God bless Anne.

[Hidden]

Thank you for that I am trying to get an appointment with my gp and it's like pulling your own teeth I'm thinking of changing doctors. Arrow is the name of my horse-the only thing that gets me out of bed and out of the house, I don't know where I would be without him