Fighting for ME recognition

Slough Observer

An ME sufferer whose life was turn upside down after being diagnosed with the condition, wants people to take the illness more seriously.

Caroline Wynn had it all, a loving husband and career, but all that changed, when she was diagnosed with ME in 2004.

Myalgic Encephalitis (ME) causes muscle pain, and intense mental and physical exhaustion. Every patient is different, but for Mrs Wynn, the condition means she has to take medication every day to prevent her legs and feet going into spasm.

The 42 year old from Stoke Road, Slough said, 'When you have ME, energy becomes a luxury - I am not talking about not having enough energy to run around, but not having enough energy to go to the bathroom, or make cereal. It all took a toll on my relationship with my partner, because instead of being my husband, he became my carer.

I felt awful because it wasn't fair on him. He put on a brave face, and said it was okay, but I knew he wasn't happy, so I decided to end the marriage in 2006, because we would have ended up hating each other.

The former warden, at an elderly housing shelter, now wants to share her story to mark ME Awareness Week this week.

She added ' I used to be very active, I loved going dancing, and I miss that alot now, but I have managed to get through it by keeping positive. We do get a rough deal, but I want everyone to know that people with 'ME' aren't just tired, its a serious condition that needs help.

She will join members of the Reading Area ME Support Group on Monday, where they will lobby Slough MP Fiona McTaggart for more specialist care of the condition.

She said, I think that the closest specialist care of ME is in Oxfordshire, and the thing with people who have ME, that we can't travel for miles and miles.

We need care closer to home, because the problem is that not that enough GP's understand ME.
They think we are just tired or depressed, but the condition is much more complicated than that.