Pamela Rose was hospitalised for 5 days and lost half of her blood as a result of complications arising from a mystery illness first described by doctors as ‘laziness’.
Pamela explains that her symptoms began with regularly feeling as if she was coming down with something.
“”I felt tired all the time. Sometimes I’d be too weak to walk and my husband had to push me up the stairs. I’d get odd periods of feeling like I was coming down with something and then a couple of days later, I’d be back to normal.”
Pamela suffered through several bouts of tonsillitis, culminating in quinsy – an abscess behind the tonsils that began to gradually close her windpipe and landed her in hospital for 5 days.
“I had to have an operation to remove my tonsils which resulted in an infection that caused the wound to burst. It was like a horror film, I lost half my blood”.
Pamela was eventually diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – an illness most commonly associated with tiredness, but can actually manifest itself in a number of ways.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – also known as ME or ME/CFS – is a long-term illness most commonly associated with an overwhelming feeling of tiredness.
Because of a lack of research and understanding of CFS, it often goes overlooked and stigmatised as ‘laziness’ – something that Pamela dealt with firsthand.
Sufferers often have to put up with their conditions in silence, and accept that there is little treatment out there for them.
“I don’t know any other serious chronic condition that people are so sceptical about. You have to accept that your life has to be lived differently for now. It’s not surrendering, it’s a strong and constructive thing to do”.
Now in recovery, Pamela has turned her personal experience into a way to help others and share her expertise as a Fatigue Coach – particularly with those suffering from long Covid.
“Before I’d even fully recovered, I knew I wanted to help people. I had very supportive people around me and that made a big difference. Not everybody has that, so I wanted to be that person they could go to”.
