“I started a job at a hospital. I got stuck with a dirty needle and had to get blood work done to protect myself. The nurse started drawing my blood, and it was going everywhere. ‘I’m about to pass out,’ I told the doctor. I woke up to them all holding me, telling me once again, I had a seizure. I knew something was wrong.”
‘I’m going to pass out.’ She yelled, ‘Sit down, sit down!’ I bent my knees and that’s it. I fell, hitting my head on the concrete floor. This is when all my issues began.’ Young woman’s harrowing journey to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome diagnosis
‘I did a quick 20 minutes on the elliptical at the student gym. When I woke up in the morning, I couldn’t lift my head.’ Woman describes freak accident after typical gym workout
“I was only 18. I had my whole life ahead of me. I was a freshman at my dream college, making friends, and discovering myself. I knew my life and body would never be the same. I could no longer walk and fell to the ground. The pain was unbearable. The workout was nothing I hadn’t done a hundred times before.”
‘I don’t think mom is breathing, I fell asleep and I don’t think she’s breathing.’ I called 911. My dad and rushed to my childhood home. But I knew. Then I heard the medics say, ‘That’s it, call it.’
“I made her coffee and we sat together like we always did in the morning and chatted. Later I took her home, gave her medicine, and kissed her goodbye. I tried calling the next day, but was told she was ‘resting.’ My heart had already broken.”
‘I was sent home alone in an Uber in the middle of the night. ‘Just tell me your name!’ I couldn’t remember for the life of me what it was. All I could do was cry. That’s the only thing I remembered how to do.’
“I’ll never forget how I felt. I seemed hungover, except that wasn’t the case. My doctor told me, ‘Have you ever thought that it might be all in your head?’ Everything began to take a turn. I was once the quick-witted friend who always had a joke. Now I was the girl in the back of the classroom, crying because I didn’t know how to be a person anymore.”
‘I was told to ‘Man up.’ Did they honestly think I was just a drug seeker? ‘I can’t keep feeding you with medication,’ my doctors said. ‘The pain will eventually just go away.’ Was I going mad?’
“It started when I was 17, during my last year in high school. One day it struck, and it hasn’t left since. I went dizzy, I felt sick, I was confused. My head was pounding like a freight train. I just wanted to be a normal teenager.”
‘A co-worker came up to me. ‘Half your face looks a little strange.’ I tried to respond, but couldn’t move my mouth to speak. My first thought was, ‘Am I having a stroke?’
“I rushed to the hospital. The pain was so bad I literally thought, ‘There’s no possible way I am going to survive this. A human being can’t survive this much pain.’ I was prescribed a copious amount of medication. When would I stop needing it? Never. I thought I would never get a chance to be a mom, but I didn’t want to give up my dream.”
‘I love when you are healthy, and can play with me,’ my son said. That CRUSHED me. I was forced to observe my son from a distance, watching his life from afar. I couldn’t join in.’
“When my husband and I decided to have a second child, crap hit the fan. I felt like a failure, yet nothing was ‘officially’ wrong with me. I would overdo it just to show him I was a good mom. I would regret it later.”
‘He asked, ‘What parts do you have?’ I said, ‘EXCUSE ME?’ I was uncomfortable being interrogated. He pressured me. I refused. He decided putting his hands on me was the ‘right’ thing to do.’
“I met a doctor I hadn’t seen before. I lifted my shirt to show him. Accidentally, I lifted it a bit too far, revealing my scars. He stared. I knew he was staring. Instead of doing the right thing, he decided to ‘find out for himself.’”
‘The beds around me emptied and my eyes clouded with tears. I knew something was wrong. It felt like I was giving birth. I tried to muffle my cries.’
“My world seemed to be falling upside down. Human hands felt like knives. I pushed back, knowing something was not right. The doctors and nurses were completely puzzled.”
‘I was out at a restaurant. ‘I’m not feeling well,’ I said. I knew something was wrong. Shaking, I excused myself and drove straight home. When I got back, my world crumbled around me.’
“I crawled to the bathroom. I couldn’t stand up without blacking out. I was paralyzed. I was supposed to be getting ready to go off to college with friends and I suddenly found myself unable to get out of bed. The wheelchair made others roll their eyes. ‘You don’t need that,’ they said. ‘Faker.’
