Childhood

Yesterday I suddenly had the crazy idea to shift a set of drawers in my bedroom. This is the sort of thing I used to do all the time only a few years ago. I was never afraid of hard work and moving furniture around the house was fun.

This chest of drawers was not a big deal to move, but my state of health is different now and I can't just throw myself into projects anymore.

After careful consideration, a second or two, I went ahead. I wanted to do it, and if I didn't do it now I knew I would have to wait forever for family to help me.

So carefully and slowly I emptied and removed all 6 drawers. The empty chest wasn't heavy, so I slipped a towel under one end and again slowly pushed and manoeuvred the empty chest into its new spot.

By now I was pretty tired, but I knew this would happen and that I would have to pay. My heart was thumping, I was breathing shallowly and rapidly, so I sat down for a bit.

I had done it, but now needed to replace the drawers and their contents. It took me the rest of the day.

By evening I was exhausted and quite 'wired', and had to consciously remind myself to relax my breathing.

Today I'm doing as little as possible.

When I was little, my mum and dad tried lots of different things to help my brother and me with our allergies. They tried different diets, eg. dairy free and replacing with goats milk. We hated the taste so it didn't last. They tried different therapies such as colour therapy as well as regular visits to our GP and Paediatrician.

We were given cortisone medications which helped a little but I was still hospitalised a couple of times with asthma.

My eczema was also so severe at times that I would just sit and scratch non stop.

All my life I've had allergies, asthma, eczema, hay fever, and when I get colds I sneeze and stream for days. I'm allergic to moulds and small furry animals in particular. They will set me right off, sneezing and itching.

How much did these conditions, amongst others which I will set out in future posts, pre dispose me to CFS? Multiple allergies indicate a sluggish/weakened immune system.

So here then I have the beginning to what I believe, in hindsight, to be the FIRST-OF-MANY-TO FOLLOW set of conditions and circumstances that led to me being diagnosed with CFS.

I wonder if any other CFS sufferers have had a gradual, lifetime type onset of CFS? I'm only speculating of course, and have only recently put lots of pieces together.

I may actually have had CFS for much longer than my diagnosis of January. I've certainly had the symptoms for much longer, but it's only recently that I began to wonder if CFS is what was happening in my body.