M.E. stands for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and is also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. M.E. affects over 200, 000 people in the UK.

There is no treatment or cure for M.E. and patients have to suffer with some of the most appalling symptoms, including extreme fatigue, headaches, muscle pain, muscle spasms, insomnia, sleep reversal anxiety, constant sore throats nausea, dizziness, sensitivity to sound, a light touch, taste and smell swallowing problems in the most severe cases, seizures and paralysis.

M.E. is a debilitating illness, which robs people of the one thing that matters most energy. You need it to do everything, from the little things like getting out of bed or eating a meal to the big things like walking, going outside and generally living a normal life.

M.E. can affect people in a variety of ways and no two people’s symptoms or abilities are the same. This makes the illness very hard to categorise or understand, which leads to particular problems with diagnosis.

There is no treatment or cure for M.E. and patients have to suffer some of the most appalling symptoms including extreme fatigue, head aches, muscle and joint pain, muscle spasms and weakness, insomnia, sleep reversal, anxiety, chronic sore throats, nausea, dizziness, sensitivity to sound, light touch, taste, smell, swallowing problems and in the most severe cases, seizures, blindness and paralysis.

Sufferers may have a combination of any or all of the symptoms and these will change throughout their illness.

The severity of the illness also varies. Some people only have a mild case and can lead relatively normal life, while others are bed bound for months, if not years. Unfortunately I’m of the latter and I was bed bound for six years and although I am now starting to recover, it's a long, slow process.

The hardest thing about having ME is that is cannot be seen and the symptoms don’t respond to normal drugs. The easy answer in the past has been to put them down as “all in the mind”. Fortunately now medical research is beginning to produce results. It has recently been discovered people with ME have got several genes which are either over or under active. The hope is that now a test can be found to diagnose the condition and from there a treatment, and one day a cure can be discovered.

There are no known treatment for ME. The only one that has been recommended is pacing. This involves alternating between activity and rest, learning to listen to your body and not push yourself to collapse, thus allowing your body to recover on its own.

Many people claim to find miracle cures, which I don't believe in. I tried have tried a huge range of therapies and hundreds of pills and potions, none of which have made me better. I do have Reiki, a form of hands on healing which I believe is aiding my body to rest and the benefits of relaxation allow me to recover on my own.

I believe that people can recover from ME, but that their body has to be at the right stage and there is nothing you can do or try to make the body get better if it's not ready. There are times when no matter how careful you are, you still get worse, and others when you push yourself, but don't suffer. It’s one of the many mysteries of the illness and one I hope will one-day be explained.

Recovery is another mystery. Some people can get better in a matter weeks or months as if overnight the body starts working properly. Others take years and some never recover, although I wont allow myself to believe I will be one of them. Ever since I was 10 I knew I would get better. It was just going to take time, I hadn't expected 15 years, but hey, I'll get there one day!