{"id":26027,"date":"2020-05-13T09:33:10","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T09:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/?p=26027"},"modified":"2021-05-06T12:04:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T11:04:06","slug":"gwyneths-me-story-part-1-trapped-in-my-useless-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/gwyneths-me-story-part-1-trapped-in-my-useless-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Gwyneth’s ME story part 1 – trapped in my useless body"},"content":{"rendered":"

ME Awareness week:<\/span><\/strong>
\nGwyneth’s ME story part 1 – trapped in my useless body <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Gwyneth Hopkins is one of a small percentage of people who has recovered from ME within 5 years. Here is her story, told in 3 parts.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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I suffered from ME from September 1998 to October 2003.<\/p>\n

Getting a diagnosis<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"In November I was rushed into hospital with what was diagnosed as a mini stroke. I was kept in for nearly a month undergoing endless tests, a lumbar puncture and multiple scans. In the end by a process of elimination they diagnosed ME. It was useful having an early diagnosis but they wanted to keep me in hospital because I was so weak. In the end I had to beg to go home. Hospitals are noisy and being in a stroke ward the lights were on all night and there was noise as the other patients were being attended. The lights hurt my eyes and I was very sensitive to sound.<\/p>\n

The trouble was that to do the tests, they were injecting me with different chemical substances and eventually they were injecting me in the stomach twice a day with something to thin the blood because I had become bedridden and they were worried that I’d suffer from blood clots.<\/p>\n

I didn’t realise it at the time but now I know I’d been getting weaker as a result of even more overload on my body caused by foreign substances (injections) on my already overloaded immune system.<\/p>\n

Year One<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The first year was spent suffering from multiple symptoms and pains and on an average day I spent 5 minutes out of every hour out of bed, usually just enough to wash or go to the loo. Sometimes the short walk to the bathroom exhausted me so much I’d collapse and be unable to move for nearly two hours when I was then able to walk or crawl back to bed.<\/p>\n

In the first few months I had magnesium injections on the suggestion of my GP and they helped a lot with the muscle pain. I also tried Amitriptyline to help with the lack of sleep. I did sleep a bit longer when I eventually got to sleep but I took myself off it because of the side effects and took Bach Flower Remedies instead.<\/p>\n

By the end of the first year I had experienced all the following symptoms:<\/p>\n