I am so very sorry to hear your young daughter has CFS. It's so hard (and stressful), especially for teenagers, to just write off what others say out of ignorance.

Stress always makes it worse and that may be why her health is declining.

Even if she does not want to write anything here, have her read what others are saying about their symptoms and challenges, especially loveandlighttoyou's "Unsung Hero Award". It confirms that what she is going through is real and not a character flaw in any way!

For friends who are important to her, she may want to educate them by sending snippets of articles or posting links on Facebook if she is into that. Let her know that others will not be able to fully understand it, but those who truly care about her will be empathetic.

Ideally, she'd find others her age who are also chronically ill, but not necessarily have CFS. Some of my best friends have long-term chronic illnesses because we can relate to each other on levels that a healthy person cannot.

If you haven't already, talk to the principal about her health and limitations and ask for help in creating a schedule and alternatives that are more manageable such as home schooling, self-paced internet courses, and tutoring so she doesn't have to go to school every day. I can't recall the name of a young man who went through this in high school, but when my brain is able to retrieve it, I will send that info to you as well.

Thank you for being such a caring and understanding mother! As you may have read, some of our mothers are the ones who are labeling us as lazy and worse. Good luck to both of you and keep us posted.

I am saddened that your daughter has to deal with such a demanding condition at such a young age. Its going to be tough on her, on you and on everyone close to her.

Please be patient with her, with yourself, with those around her who simply do not understand. Hold on to faith and keep encouraging her, this is a tough road but its not the worse thing that people have to go through, she will deal with what this illness throws at her and she will come out stronger, wiser and a better person.

PS : She may need a professional counselor to help her to cope with all the aspects of this illness.

thank you ... I have now got my daughter to join ... codywolf92 .. I think the support an advise will help us both :)

I can't imagine trying to cope with CFS at that age. People like your daughter are such an inspiration as they struggling to cope. If she is reading this, my advice to you is to destress as much as you can. Find things that help you relax: a back rub from mom, holding a pet, sitting in the sun, or reading a book. One of my favorite things to relax is to sit in this huge solarium at the Woodland Park Zoo in seattle, as birds sing and talk in the background. When I sit still for a long time the birds get used to me and will land quite close.

It is good to hear about your support and help for her. Caregivers like you, the mom are great, wonderful, special, and I just don't have enough words. My own wife is my special support person.

Good luck and take care.

I found this on YouTube. It is about a young girl with CFS. Despite the numerous spelling errors, I think the message is a good one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZru5lMLu1k&feature=player_embedded

I am very sorry to hear about your daughter. Chronic fatigue syndrome is a horrible illness that just keeps taking. It is very hard to even begin coping. I am 19 now and have been diagnosed with Cfs for 5 years. I went to public school as long as I could after I was diagnosed. My mother even had my schedule changed so I could go just a few hours a day. I still missed way over half the school year. Although it was nice to be able to go some of the time to be around people and pretend to still have a childhood. My mom also did everything she could to make sure my teachers understand how I felt. This included making me go on some of my worse days so they saw how bad I was feeling. I must say I do think this helped my friends understand a little bit more and more every time.

It took my friends a lot of time and maturing until they realized something was really wrong with me. I would tell your daughter to never waste her energy on someone who doesn't believe she is sick. We have very little energy anyway so we all ways have to chose wisely what we use our energy on. I try to only use my energy on things I enjoy or things I have to do.

It got to a point where I was moving to high school and wouldn't be able to get the credits I needed to graduate going half days. So my mom learned about online high school. I went to Oklahoma virtual high school. It was a huge blessing to me. I do feel like I missed out on a bunch of stuff like not walking on stage with the class I grew up with to get my diploma. There is a lot of little stuff I won't be able to get back but what I did get was my closest friends back. After I left public school the people who really cared about me came to my house to hang out. Since I had a more flexible schedule I could work on school for a hour then take a nap. Then when my friends came over after school I could spend time with them. When usually I would go to school for a few hours and be so worn out I would sleep the rest of the day and all through the night.

Reading information on chronic fatigue was one thing that helped me the most. It took a long time but I finally started to understand how it worked and why I was feeling the way I do. It also helped me to only be surrounded by good people. My friends and family who all believe me and only want to help me any way they can.

Chronic fatigue has become so much more known! The technology is advancing and more money is going into research. So try not to give up hope. It changed everything about your life but not always for just bad.

I'm sorry you both have to go through this. You will both be in my prayers.

I am so sad that someone so young has to deal with this.

Oh how I wish she didn't have to go through this, that she had her chance to revel in life, and not have to be a warrior in this struggle.

Please encourage her to join and read what others go through and experience. I am a mother of two girls, ages 28 and 23, and I would hate for either one of them to have to go through this.

My heart goes out to you and your daughter.

Hugs, Genie

I've had CFS since I was 14, I'm 29 now. I have it in complication with lyme disease and other health issues. You take it one day at a time, you try not to plan to far in the future so you aren't let down if your health screws up plans. That's the way I've done it at least. If she wants to talk there are quite a few people on here that understnd what she's going through. If you or she ever wants to talk I'm around as well. I wish you the best of luck and health.

Thank you all for the support an advise .. My daughter has joined site an read all .. codywolf92 is her name here.... it has helped alot an she feeling a little better knowing she isnt alone dealing with it .... we are looking into home schooling .. still waiting for meeting with school an CAMHS.