
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Support Group
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) describes a sense of exhaustion and post-exertion malaise, even when you have gotten enough rest and sleep. The disease is characterized by six months of incapacitating fatigue experienced as profound exhaustion and extremely poor stamina, and problems with concentration and short-term memory. The cause is unknown, but it is a...
I know you're probably thinking about football players and boxers and such. Sure -you can injure your brain through repeated blows that way. But you can also injure it chemically, through chronic exposures. On MRI's I have the bright spots (ubo's) often seen in us and sometimes in people with MS - but I don't have any lesions. Those are a different type of scar tissue. This isn't something you have to really wonder about much, because we do have the technology now to look right at it all. You can look up these types of scans or a pathology site via google and see pictures of them all. They ARE clearly different, and you can see it for yourself. Pretty cool - though it's intensely weird when you have pix of your own brain to look at.
The only thing I thought was off the wall was that I got a diagnosis of ADD because of the brain fog and the way the scans looked. Then, the defense attorneys tried to claim ADD is lifelong and I had only been hiding it all these years. Ummm....hello. Nobody could 'hide' ADD and come up with that kind of academic record. If anything, I'd had unusually good powers of concentration. So either the doc said ADD so he could legitimately prescribe ADD meds to help me out, or else we need a word beyond brain fog to describe this particular kind of brain injury - because it sure as heck wasn't there before the mold, even if it does amount to a functional kind of ADD now.
All I know is, when I'm off the meds, I can't read or write or remember anything much at all - can't pay attention long enough to find any given memories. You really couldn't tell it from Alzheimers without a brain scan. But this IS something different. It's encephalopathy - the 'E' in ME. It's brain damage, right enough - just not from getting bopped on the head. For me, treating it like ADD works out pretty well, though others caution against it. But for this, I'd definitely be in a home or something by now due to the inability to handle my own affairs.
Just some other ways to look at it....
I may have plenty of scar tissue but it didn't cause this. I have a theory about what caused mine that is a combo of other things. First off, I test positive for a biotoxin disease of some sort. Within the next couple of months I will begin treatment for that. Another member hear told me about genetic markers for stress ... I am CERTAIN I'm chock full of them due to my family's history (and therefore my own.) For me personally, I KNOW my ability to handle stress has deteriorated GREATLY since I've been sick. I wonder if my cup just literally overflowed and my body couldn't fight it off anymore.
Karyn