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HEALTH & WELLBEING


Living with M.E. J


ane was working as a nurse and midwife when she came down with what she thought was a cold. When it turned out to be


viral myocarditis, she and her husband Wing Commander Stuart Logan were understandably worried. Six months later, the virus had gone but Jane still wasn’t better.


“I was diagnosed with post-viral fatigue syndrome,” recalls Jane. “It took me about nine months to be well enough to return to work part-time. A couple of years later I had a relapse, and that was when I was diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.)”


M.E. is a long-term, fluctuating illness that causes symptoms (see box) affecting many body systems.


“I was quite lucky because we were living at RAF Uxbridge at the time,” says Jane. “My GP was


very good, very proactive. She referred me to the specialist M.E. clinic at Hillingdon, which was only a mile from my house. Not everyone is able to access services so close to home, and military families move so frequently that it can be difficult to get the right support at the right time.”


M.E., often referred to as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS or M.E./CFS) within the NHS, affects 250,000 men, women and children in the UK, and the cause is still not known. Common theories include autoimmune deficiencies, viral infections, autonomic/ sympathetic/central nervous system dysfunction and genetic factors, amongst others.


“I didn’t meet anyone else with M.E. from a military background when I was first diagnosed,” says Jane. “But at the clinic I came across scientists, art historians, people from a huge variety of backgrounds. We kept in contact for quite a while after we finished treatment, and that was really


Around a quarter of people with M.E. are severely affected, remaining house or even bed-bound for considerable periods. But even for those whose symptoms are more


helpful. I also got in touch with the charity Action for M.E. to learn more about the illness – even though I was a nurse myself, I knew very little about it.


“Since then, I have come across many people with M.E. at different camps – people who are still serving, people who have retired, wives, husbands, kids. All have such different experiences when it comes to coping with M.E. because services differ so much from place to place. Also, because you move every two or three years, you might be able to set up access services in one place, and then have to go through it all over again. Now that Stuart has been posted to Belgium, I have on occasion had to travel to Germany for treatment, a six-hour round-trip.”


36


Envoy Spring 2015


www.raf-ff.org.uk


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