glandular fever, staf, chronic fatigue....all at 20! help!?

Question

ok my boyfriends little sister is 20. for the last three or so years now she has had glandular fever (and yes i can't spell these medical terms, deal with it! lol) she has also developed staficocoli (how ever you spell that) in the last year. her parents think she is now getting chronic fatigue. but she has been sick for three or more years. she spends her days at home in bed, walking round the house, relaxing etc. they don't go to doctors for her as they don't agree with medicine, they go to more natural and alternative places. she doesn't have a job, didn't finish school, etc etc. Sometimes my boyfriend and i think she isn't as bad as she makes it seem, because she gets taken out to lunch at least twice a week by her parents, gets heaps of money spent on her, when they never spent a cent on the other kids, and she gets everything she wants. for example they spent one grand on her for christmas, and only a hundred on the other kids, just cos they thought it would cheer her up!is this

is this all real? does anyone out there know anything about the diseases she has? what can be done about any of them? i am worried she is going to waste her life! she needs to get better and study or get a job etc etc. What do you know? what do you suggest? what has worked for you or someone you know? anything!! please!!! do you think chronic fatigue is a real thing? some people think it's just an excuse. I have no idea!! tell me your opinion!

Answer 1

I believe that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is real. (See source for full details)

However, I believe that there are very large numbers of people who are told they have CFS, when they do not. There is a huge list of medical conditions that have similar symptoms. First thing that needs to happen is getting a proper diagnosis. This needs to be done by a MEDICAL DOCTOR. (Avoid doctors with ACNEM after their name.)

Technically, the law only allows doctors to diagnose medical conditions. That's partly because Australian law does not require a license, education or any experience to be a naturopath, herbalist etc. If the diagnosis has not come from a medical doctor, then that's got to be your first plan of attack.

A simple series of tests may uncover something like coeliac disease, hypothyroidism, graves disease, hypercalcaemia or a number of other conditions. Some of these are easily treated by change of diet or simple medication.

Until a proper diagnosis is made, there is no real way to determine what the problem is. The tests may not pin-point the exact problem, but they will certainly narrow the field down by excluding some possibilities.

Answer 2

Hi- I'm not sure if this info is going to be of use or if it is of importance to your situation but I'll tell you anyway in the hope that it might be!

I am 19 and have infact just been diagnosed with M.E (also known as cronic fatigue). I have had many symptoms other than tiredness and have also found it hard to live a normal lifestyle.

I get times where I am like any normal person and can go to Uni and get my work done and then I get weeks and weeks where I cannot get out of bed or do anything other than be in the house because everything exhausts me.

I also find that there is a midway point where I am fine in the house and can go out for meals or lunch with my grandparents but anythign thing more makes me worse and I get exhausted very quickly. It might be that your boyfriends sister is at the midway point and it well enough when shes not doing too much but as soon as she does more it makes her worse.

A good website to look at to help diagnose M.E is http://www.afme.org.uk/- it is a really good site and explains things alot better than I am!

It might also be worth me mentioning that I also had glandula fever for a year, recovered but then got post viral fatigue. My M.E has only been diagonosed a year and a half after the post viral problem but i have suffered with it ever since the original problem.

My G.P was also not willing to diagnose me with M.E and kept saying I was depressed (even though I wasn't) In the end my family ended up paying to see a private specialist who took along time talking through my symptoms before diagonosign me with M.E

I am now recieving help from the local hospital. I am not on any medication but am learning how to cope with the illness and how to manage my symptoms without talking pills for it.

I would def recomend looking at the website I listed above as it was really usefull. Remember that in order for M.E to be diagonosed there has to be other symptoms; which the website explains. It might be worth trying to find out if your boyfriends sister has any of these problems. Maybe you could ask her without telling her what you want to know for and if she doesnt have many of them it is unlikely to be M.E

I hope some of the info i've given can be of use.... if not then I hope someone else can give you some info!

Good Luck

Also sorry for any spelling mistakes! I dont have time to go back and check through!

Answer 3

she needs to go to the doctor's
natural remedy's are good but she really needs help or she could get really really sick.if she's not already!!!!

even if you take her and don't tell the parents, she needs it seriously