yokelfelonking:imhereforthetryus:weaponizedhorse:a-heist-of-words:marnz:the actual disease is
yokelfelonking:imhereforthetryus:weaponizedhorse: a-heist-of-words: marnz: the actual disease is called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, aka Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Here is a link to the article: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a12779054/what-is-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/ CFS is a poorly understood disease that doctors don’t take very seriously; often they tell you that it’s all in your head or that you have depression. It is more prominent in DFAB people but we don’t know why. The diagnosis process is one of ruling everything else out so it’s really hard, time intensive and costly to get a formal diagnosis. Other co-morbid things that often pop up with CFS: fibromyalgia, IBS, and migraines. I totally understand that this tweet is just a joke and that it’s Not That Deep but it does downplay the fight hundreds of thousands of people wage every day to get their doctors to listen to them, take them seriously, and actively do research. The woman featured in the screencap, Jen Brea, made a documentary called Unrest about her experience with CFS, and is one of the leaders of the movement to make medical professionals take us seriously & to raise awareness. Unrest is currently on Netflix, if you’re interested in watching it. Disability & chronic illness activism doesn’t get a lot of recognition or support from able bodied people so it would be cool if everyone could pitch in and at least signal boost articles like this or educate themselves and their friends and families instead of making jokes like this. Thanks Chronic Fatigue Syndrome can be a bitch and we just brush it off because “it’s normal to be tired” but it’s not! It’s really not! “The disease is called men” no it’s an actual disability that ruins your life but sure just turn it into a joke about men If this is a known disease whu arent doctors taking it seriously Three major reasons:1.) There’s an unspoken assumption that Modern Medical Science™ knows everything there is to know about the human body (pro tip: it very much doesn’t);2.) “Tired and achey” are symptoms for about a million billion other things that aren’t CFS;3.) When you’re trying to determine what’s causing symptoms, you start with the most basic and probable causes.So when someone comes in with “tired and achey syndrome,” and the doctors rule out this, that, and the other thing, and run test after test and none of them turn anything up, the obvious assumption - given the previous assumption that “modern medicine has it all figured out” - is “this is either psychiatric or the patient is just full of shit.”Meanwhile, the patient - who has that same assumption - is going to think less and less of the doctors, who are “supposed to know about this kind of thing, they’re doctors, that’s their job, they went to medical school and they did all these tests on me and I’ve been suffering from this for forever and they just keep doing more tests and sending me to other doctors and none of them can tell me what’s wrong, they’re saying I’m faking this and I’m in real misery and they’re just telling me I’m crazy, are they all stupid, what the hell is wrong with our medical system?”And the sad truth is that some patients are full of shit. They’re drug-seekers, or want doctors excuses to not have to work, or have some type of personality issue that makes them drama queens and attention-seekers. And the folks who really do have CFS, or something like it, can get unfairly painted with that same brush. -- source link