Hello! Anyone else on here have ME/CFS?

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#1

Hello lovely people! I hope you’re having a good day.

Thought I would I introduce myself and also pick your collective brains. I am in the UK and considering asking my GP (general practitioner/doctor) for a referral for an ADHD/Autism diagnosis. I am 47 years old.

I work for the National Health Service as a mental health practitioner. So I am likely to get diagnosed by people who may be my colleagues in future. So that is a bit scary. There are strict laws in the UK about patient confidentiality though (and if you break those laws as a mental health worker you can say goodbye to your career) so it should be OK.

I got diagnosed with ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) in 2018 but had it since 2006. I got totally exhausted (think hangover plus jetlag) following a series of viral infections (common colds) and never fully recovered. I went from being able to work a 5 day week and do exercise in the evenings and weekends and now can basically work a three day week and go for short walks.

I think I may have ADHD and / or autism because I really struggled to make friends at school until I was 13. I would do stuff other kids thought was weird and I didn’t know why. I just didn’t “get it”. As an adult I was fine with study (other people set deadlines) but when it came to working out what to do for a career, and how to progress and form good relationships I was in my 30s before I started to get a handle on that stuff. I did the Autism Spectrum Quotient and Adult ADHD questionnaire and my scores are borderline.

Just wondering if other people in here have fatigue conditions on top of ADHD and how you manage them?

Also would you recommend going for a diagnosis?

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#2

The closest thing I have to a fatigue condition is a vitamin D deficiency. And for that I just take a daily supplement.

I got my diagnosis and it came in pretty handy for college because I ended up needing accommodations. I think it’s generally a good idea to get a diagnosis when you can, because you never know if your situation will change so that you’ll need accommodations/medication/therapy/etc. more than you do now. Plus, I think it’s nice for medical personnel to know what they’re dealing with.

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#3

Hello @ThursdayNext . Welcome to the HowToADHD forums!

My mom and grandma both struggle with fatigue. There are times in my life when 8 have, too. The times when I have been short on sleep or have been dealing with a lot of stress, it’s easily explainable. But sometimes, I’ve been fatigued for no apparent reason. It hasn’t happened much in the last 10 years.

I would certainly recommend getting evaluated for ASD and ADHD. If you are borderline for each, that’s the self-test implied, then it seems to me there’s certainly is something there.

My own ADHD seemed more severe at the time of my diagnosis, but I was also diagnosed with anxiety at the same time. Once the anxiety was successfully treated, my ADHD was much less noticeable by the mental health counselor who diagnosed me.

  • She made the observation that she could see how my ADHD was overlooked for so long, and that I appeared to be “mild to moderate” in severity. When compounded with the anxiety, my ADHD traits seemed much more severe.

From what I’ve read, ASD and ADHD share some similar traits and similar impact. However, it’s estimated that 80% of people with ADHD have at least one comorbidity, and at least 50% have two or more comorbidities. It’s not unusual for ASD and ADHD to be comorbidities with each other.

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#4

@Dawnslayer , I’ve been taking a vitamin D supplement for about 3 or 4 years now, and in that time I’ve definitely been feeling fatigued less often.

My three biological kids and I all started supplementing after one son was diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency, but the rest of us had been developing the same symptoms of dark circles under the eyes and looking more pale than we used to.

  • The one son also experienced abdominal pain, which was the reason he went to the doctor. After a thorough examination, and a full battery of blood work, the only thing that was off was that he had a vitamin D deficiency. After three weeks on a supplement, his pain was gone. After a month or so on vitamin D supplements, all of us looked better (no more dark circles under our eyes, and we were our normal paleness, not vampire-pale anymore).

An aside for @Brooklyn :
My kids’ mom has always said “our family bleeds Dodger :blue_heart: Blue.”
When my son had abdominal pain a few years ago, his diagnostic tests included an ultrasound of his liver and other organs. The monitor display showed arteries as bright red and veins as bright blue. My son saw that on the screen, turned it to his mom and said, “Hey, I really do bleed red and Dodger Blue!” :blue_heart:

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#5

Thanks for the input folks. I think the diagnosis may help if I need accommodations. It definitely helped with the ME/CFS. When I had a cold which floor you if your have my condition it makes it easier to explain why I need time off or why a piece of coursework may be late.
Vitamin D and ME/CFS aren’t linked but I live in the UK and our health service says everyone should take it daily from September to March because we have so little sunshine. They say all year round if you spend a lot of time indoors. Definitely helps you have fewer cold too.

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#6

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from my experience with vitamin D deficiency, it’s that it can really screw a person over. I’m really happy that all I have to do is take a daily supplement to prevent the symptoms from popping up again.

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