Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ Myalgic Encephalomyelitis is a complex condition characterized by severe and persistent fatigue. There is no cure, nor biological marker to diagnose the illness. Many sufferers of CFS/ME can recall when they first became sick, sometimes down to the day. They may even remember what they were wearing, what the weather was like, etc. Likewise, I contracted the Epstein-Barr Virus, more commonly known as mono, in April of 2017. I was 22 years old and a senior in college. I had been working at a convenience store on campus for about a year. At the end of my shift on April 21, 2017, I walked across the street to the student health center. I wouldn’t usually see a doctor for what I thought was a cold, but it had been lingering for over 2 weeks. I knew many of the nurses there, as they would often come buy food during their lunch breaks. I had a high fever when I arrived at the appointment, and I still remember the nurse asking me how I managed to work through my shift. I felt like she was exaggerating a bit, but it was still a valid question. The doctor tested me for strep, and the test came back negative.
The fever eventually wore off, but the fatigue lingered. Every month or so, my glands would swell again and I would feel like I had an active infection. I went to urgent care in December of 2017, and was told, without any tests being conducted, that I had Herpes 1. I would get a panel done a couple years later and find out that I did not have Herpes 1. In January of 2018, my primary care doctor conducted tests to see if I had mono and the tests came back negative. I would later realize she only tested for an ACTIVE mono infection, although I told her I had been feeling sick for about 10 months. She knew the test would be negative, and was thrilled to confirm that it was nothing. In fact, she said, I was just getting recurrent colds from constantly being surrounded by people on a crowded college campus.
After feeling sick for over 2 years, I thankfully got a new primary care doctor. She conducted a test panel for Epstein-Barr Virus, Lyme, and Antinuclear Antibodies. My EBV values indicative of a convalescence or reactivated infection were through the roof. The high ends of normal ranges were 8.9 for Early Antigen (D)-IgG, 17.9 for VCA-IgG, and 17.9 for EB Nuclear Antigen-IgG. My values were, respectively, >150, >600, and 93.4. I was very lucky to get a diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, based on these results, after only 2 years and a few months of being sick. Sadly, many sufferers never even find a doctor who believes it is a real condition.
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