Edna’s Story
I am a retired US Navy nurse practitioner. I was commissioned into the Navy in 1996, immediately after completing my bachelors in nursing. I caught a flu while at work at in 1997. My temperature went up to 103.8 degrees Fahrenheit. I believe this is when I first became ill with ME/CFS. It took seven years to be diagnosed, even with wonderful doctors all around me. Then I was ostracized and tormented about my illness until I managed to retire but only after having to hire my own attorney at a whopping $15,000.00 – my entire life’s savings.
I managed to retire with my soul barely intact and moved to be closer to my sister and family, and find a part-time job which I love. However, I now see ME/CFS day in and day out in my own patients. These Veterans often became ill during their military service or deployments. One barely middle-aged man has been ill for 20 years without a diagnosis.
There is not only a lack of knowledge of ME/CFS, but an ignorance in diagnosing and treating. Even when the diagnosis is handed to another provider on a silver platter, it is often either ignored or simply refused acknowledgement. Patients continue to suffer, and I get more and more frustrated. Patients are diagnosed as bipolar, depressed, anxious, and psychosomatic and ME/CFS is never even considered in the differential. It is abhorrent.
This is just a touch of my own story, but I wanted you to know how my own illness has affected my desire to help others, and how my ability to help others continues to be blocked due to lack of appropriate knowledge.
Edna
U.S.A.
