Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Crossdressing..

[battybattybats]

On the radio at the moment I'm listening to an interesting program on CFS mentioning interesting things about the interplay of stress on people with CFS... particularly that it's onset often occurs when someone finds themselves in a strong damned if you do damned if you don't situation of high stress and also a viral infection...

Well as many of us exist in a strong damned if you do damned if you don't dilemma (at least in our own perceptions) I'd suspect that CFS might be more common amongst crossdressers or at least as common as the rest of the population.

My own illness has lasted more than half my life and it was other stresses than crossdressing that were involved when I came down with the illness (being substantially bullied at school for being different and not conforming etc).

So anyone else here diagnosed with chromic fatigue syndrome AKA myalgic encephalomyelitis (hope I speeled that correctly) or it's sister illness fibromyalgia or am I the lone one here (which itself would be interesting!).

[Joy Carter]

I had it twice in my life time. It was work related as I was in law enforcement. It took several years to get over the first time. The second one was worse and I retired on disability. Can't carry a gun and be on mega scripts. :o

[battybattybats]

It looks like only us two... out of how many posting members here? I wonder if the stress release from dressing is enough to counter the development of CFS? Perhaps I need to dress more to help my recovery :)

[Kate Simmons]

I've never had it Batty but all of my kids did. To the point that they could not attend school and needed tutors to come to the house. They eventually overcame it or at least learned to deal with it. Anyway, I know how debilitating (and frustrating) it was for them.

[battybattybats]

All your kids!!! Yikes! How many of them are there and did they all get hit with it at once?

[Kate Simmons]

It hit them mostly in their late teens individually. It was frustrating for us as parents as they actually could not get up in the morning to go to school. It's also hard to get Doctors to diagnose this sometimes and with several meetings with the School officials to try and make them understand just how real this is. They would even go so far as to infer that our kids and us needed psychiatric counseling which insensed me to no end, even making subtle threats of punitive action against us for not sending our kids to school. I finally convinced a Doctor to make the recommendations for home schooling and that was the end of it. It did leave a bitter taste in my mouth for the school district, especially the arrogant administrators who thought they knew more than everyone else. I was ready for legal action but it never came to that.:straightface:

[Marla S]

I was never diagnosed with one of the respective syndroms.

Nevertheless, I became more and more depressive over the years, felt exhausted and finally had to quit my last job, because I wasn't able to do the simplest things anymore. Blood pressure through the roof.

Certainly it was somehow related to CDing, though there have been other factors.

But considering my situation now, I tend to say that I lived most of my life off my personal track.
Usually I got all the jobs done, but it seems like the recharger had a malfunction and finally the batteries were exhausted.

I think accepting myself like I am gave me a new recharger. It seems that I am more tolerant to stress and crisis now (to short to tell definitively) and found more joy in life than before. Blood pressure normal.
Another positive side effect: I lost a few pounds because I don't eat due to feeling frustrated.

Now it's time to learn to live actually ... missed a few decades of training.

[SarahLynn]

I have had it one time and it was so debiliating that i needed three weeks off from work just to get myself to want to get out of bed. That was after 14 weeks of full time work without a single break. i am on the job 24-7 in a high stress job and unless i am home do not have a break from that stress. It is easy to get this stressed out, but now i force myself take a break every month or at the greatest every 5-6 weeks.

SarahLynn

[battybattybats]

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/default.htm is the link to where you can download the radio program. A transcript will be up later in the week. Don't let the name of the show-all in the mind- put you off, it's just the name of the regular psychology show and they acknowledge the recent genetic discoveries.

[Andi]

Batty, If dressing helps you deal with CFS Then that's a good thing. I have had Crohns disease for the last 50+ years. It has very similar symptoms to CFS among several other symptoms. Medical opinion is that Crohns is also aggravated by stress. Stress is what I've had - large # of kids, executive level job, and hiding my cross dressing from everyone for fear of being caught. No, dressing doesn't help with my stress level, it's just fun for me regardless of the stress and Crohns.

[Rita B]

I think that I probably had it at one time but just passed it off as a consequence of my constant depression

[Joy Carter]

I can tell you girls that dressing only added to my stress. Feelings of worthlessness were there. Unstoppable thoughts of suicide. I was in counseling for quite some time over this. And was prescribed allot of drugs. One's so strong that stated I was not to drive. And diving was a major part of my job. The second one was brought on by four years of job stress. And while I changed jobs and sought help. I wasn't able to return to my career. I lay blame on myself for this because I over worked myself. And the other was I was outed at work. Give a bunch of guys who think they are macho a reason and your toast.

[Lovely Rita]

On the radio at the moment I'm listening to an interesting program on CFS mentioning interesting things about the interplay of stress on people with CFS... particularly that it's onset often occurs when someone finds themselves in a strong damned if you do damned if you don't situation of high stress and also a viral infection...

Well as many of us exist in a strong damned if you do damned if you don't dilemma (at least in our own perceptions) I'd suspect that CFS might be more common amongst crossdressers or at least as common as the rest of the population.

My own illness has lasted more than half my life and it was other stresses than crossdressing that were involved when I came down with the illness (being substantially bullied at school for being different and not conforming etc).

So anyone else here diagnosed with chromic fatigue syndrome AKA myalgic encephalomyelitis (hope I speeled that correctly) or it's sister illness fibromyalgia or am I the lone one here (which itself would be interesting!).


Your thread is very interesting. To ask a very dumb question....Joy and you stated the causes but what would you say are the common symptoms?

Tiredness? etc.

[KatieZ]

I've never had CFS that I know of. Don't really know much about CFS at all.

But, I do know that when I come home from work stressed out, or for any reason for that matter, all I have to do is fem up and I'm feeling relaxed and at ease.

[Joy Carter]

Your thread is very interesting. To ask a very dumb question....Joy and you stated the causes but what would you say are the common symptoms?

Tiredness? etc.

Thanks for asking Rita. Mine were many and I felt like a hypochondriac.
Lack of sleep was the biggest. Then anxiety. Migraines then Paranoia.(There was more).
I felt totally whipped and had no drive or ambition. My lovely wife got on me several times because she felt that I had given up. I spent four months sitting in the family room with a remote. Trying to get my head strait. It didn't work. But I did come back around on my own without the mega doses of drugs and counseling this time. Leaving the source of irritation (career) and getting involved in another job was the best thing I did. Not to mention my fantastic wife for support.

[Andi]

This is from the Mayo Clinic web site -

Primary signs and symptoms
In addition to persistent fatigue, not caused by other known medical conditions, chronic fatigue syndrome has eight possible primary signs and symptoms. These include:


Loss of memory or concentration
Sore throat
Painful and mildly enlarged lymph nodes in your neck or armpits (axillae)
Unexplained muscle soreness
Pain that moves from one joint to another without swelling or redness
Headache of a new type, pattern or severity
Sleep disturbance
Extreme exhaustion after normal exercise or exertion