When people ask you what M.E. is they usually follow it with "are you tired all the time" and I usually reply with "yes" and that's it, end of conversation, they go away thinking I'm pathetic and I go away not caring because it's impossible to explain anyway and if I did they wouldn't understand. So yes, M.E. is being tired all the time. M.E. is waking up in the morning tireder than when you went to bed at night (because at least at night you've had all day to wake yourself up). M.E. is much more than just being tired though and having a bug at the moment is really drilling that one home to me.

The most infuriating symptom for me is mushy brain. I can't think. My mind feels like it's full of porridge and although I know the thoughts are in there somewhere they won't come out, they get stuck in the sludge. This is most apparent when I'm trying to say something, the words are in my head but they never seem to make it to my mouth, I sound like a blithering idiot and feel like one too. Add in a dose of clumsiness because my brain isn't reacting quick enough to its surroundings and you've got a body that might as well have been hitting the bottle all day for all the use it will do me.

Then you've got the delights of the muscles in your arms and legs playing up. I'm quite lucky in this respect, I'm not one of those people that ended up in a wheelchair. I can walk about ok, if a little slower than I like sometimes, and I don't suffer too badly from pain unless I'm overtired or I've had a clumsy session and walked into something.

My most interesting symptom is my dodgy circulation, numb hands and feet make for an interesting party trick, especially when I'm sat there in the middle of summer wearing a woolly jumper My ability to turn even the mildest of bug into something major is also quite a feat if a little infuriating and often painful.

Other symptoms include poor memory, headaches, light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, sore throats, stomach issues, sleep disturbances...

So now I sound like a complete hypercondriac I shall leave you, probably non-the-wiser, but maybe with a little more understanding, maybe...