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Summer
2000
Readers’ Forum
Correspondence
with the Chronicle editor
Recovery not impossible
I
got sick with chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS)
in the fall of my freshman year of high school. By the time I was diagnosed, I was barely able to get
out of bed.
Simple tasks such as brushing my teeth were nearly impossible. I could not attend
school, so tutors came to my house. After I worked on my schoolwork for as long as I could concentrate,
I would get into bed and sleep for the rest of the day.
It was horrible, but I did it. After four
years, I was finally well enough to go back to school full time.
I am now in my fourth semester
of college and I have been accepted to nursing school at Johns Hopkins University. I know that my experience
with CFIDS will help me provide my patients with emotional support as well as medical care.
Erin
Whyatt, Garrison, N.Y.
Bring severe CFS to light
I am a 20-year-old who has been ill with a very
severe case of
CFIDS for two years. At one point, I was so dehydrated that I had to have a liter of intravenous
fluids a day to prevent complications such as cardiac arrest and stroke.
Although I enjoy hearing
stories of recovery, I believe a subpopulation of persons with CFIDS (PWCs) have been overlooked—those
of us who are totally incapacitated by this disease. I have been close to death because of my illness
and I know the same is true for many others.
I am not suggesting that this is an intentional oversight.
However, I feel strongly that there needs to be more focus on severely ill patients because most of us
are too sick to advocate for ourselves, write to the Chronicle, work or even sit up in bed.
No,
people do not usually die of CFS, but they can die from the complications of this serious illness. If
more people realized that, we might receive better support and understanding.
Megan Gurney, Manassas,
Va.
[Editor’s Note: The first two letters illustrate the wide
diversity among
PWCs and the challenge we have in making the Chronicle relevant to all our readers. If you have
suggestions for ways we could better serve severely ill patients, let us know—see inside cover for contact
information.]
Don’t push people away
My response to Marla Perkins (“Keeping
other people out of your envelope,” Spring 2000) is thank your lucky stars! I can’t imagine anyone
even acknowledging that I have an illness.
I would be thrilled if anyone asked me about my symptoms.
As Edna Ramirez voiced in the Readers’ Forum of the same issue, many people believe that someone is not
really sick unless they have a disease like cancer.
Donna Messer, Abingdon, Md.
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