CFS

<superfoodist> imagine lead weights being attached to every part of your body and imagine the air being thick as syrup and you trying to move through it
<superfoodist> while being stung by blunt needles from the inside while your head is boxed into one inch of plexiglass.
<superfoodist> There's your abbreviated summary of CFS, and even that doesn't quite cover it.

<Kromulent> "You know what it's like when you have the flu, really bad? When you're just glued to the bed and sneezing and basically want to die?"
<Kromulent> "Then there's that first morning when you just start to get better? You feel ok if you don't move around too much, but the slightest thing can tip you over the edge?"
<Kromulent> "You can watch TV, but even that can be too much, and you'll suddenly need a nap. Studying is out of the question. Running an errand would kill you. Anything stressful or physical would be like poison".
<Kromulent> "It's like that, every day, all the time".

<jocelmeow> "Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. It's a neurological illness that has left me bedridden since 2007. It affects pretty much all body systems, and it feels like having the crushing exhaustion of mono, the all-over body pain of the flu, the noise/light/sound/smell sensitivity of a hangover, the weakness of having just worked all your muscles to failure at the gym, and the feeling of not having slept for a couple nights no matter how much you sleep, all of it constantly. No cure, no FDA approved treatments, and [...] nobody knows for sure what causes it. It affects one million people in the U.S., 17 million worldwide. And last year the federal government spent a grand total of $6 million on research...probably because the CDC renamed it 'chronic fatigue syndrome' in the U.S. in the late 80s. People think it's made up. Does this muscle wasting look like it's all in my head?"