What Hope ?

Most people will know of someone who suffered from CFS and recovered. In fact, many suffers will recover in their own time, though which treatment is successful, seems to depend on the individual. And the time for recovery can be long.

What is particularly confusing is the lack of consistency in treatments to promote recovery for specific individuals. It seems to me that CFS is a response to one of a number of anomalies in the body, and so one specific treatment is not appropriate for all suffers. CFS may be a more general response to a variety of imbalances, be they hormonal, structural, or some other function.

It would be good to see more research to link the illness to the imbalances, however, CFS has a remarkably low profile, with very little research money available, considering the numbers who suffer, so it's not surprising there is less interest - it's something that can too easily be dismissed as "just tiredness" or "all in the mind".

For me, it's a matter of patience, managing my energies to get the best quality of life, while waiting for my body to click back into balance, either simply through rest, or through one of the treatments. And hope that the money lasts !

However, there is hope with CFS, though it's often hard to see it. It may be further away than we might wish, but if we can get a little pleasure amongst the pain, the wait will be worthwhile.