BY JULIE BEUN, POSTMEDIA NEWS
SEPTEMBER 21, 2011
For 18 hours a day, Shelley Schellin waits.
She waits to have enough energy to get out of bed. She waits for her
body to stop aching enough to get dressed. She waits for friends to
stop by and keep her company during her long, lonely days. But mostly,
she waits to restart the life that was stolen from her nine years ago.
But after nearly a decade of suffering from myalgic encephalomyelitis,
orchronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME), so severe that it literally takes
a day to recover from an hour of grocery shopping, the life of the
strong, vibrant woman who was preparing for a career in natural
medicine is now a stone-cold memory.
"It was a busy, hopeful life," recalls Schellin, 42. "I had a small,
close circle of friends. I worked, travelled, did normal activities. I
loved going to craft shows and taking evening courses. I would go out
for dinner with friends and visit my family outside of the city. Now,
life is dramatically different. My dreams and goals are gone."
It sounds like pitiful stuff, and it would be if coming from someone
ending a tragic love affair. But for those suffering from CFS/ME, it=92s
almost a grotesque understatement.
Believed to be initially triggered by an infection, virus,
vaccination, parasitic infection or reaction to environmental toxins,
CFS/ME is more or less a dramatic overreaction by the body that puts
it into a state of constant over-vigilance. "The majority of people
say something like =92I was at a Christmas party and 20 of us got the
flu. Nineteen got better, what happened to me?=92 " says Dr. Alison
Bested, Ontario=92s leading expert, author of Hope and Help for Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia (Cumberland) and a speaker at next
week=92s International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic
Encephalomyelitis Research and Clinical Conference, part of which is
open to the public.
Typified by debilitating fatigue that lasts more than six months,
along with muscle pain, aching joints, headaches, poor memory or
post-exercise malaise, CFS/ME has no cure and can span a lifetime. In
fact, according to an antipodean study of patients suffering from
infections such as Red River Fever and mononucleosis, 10 years after
the infection, 10 per cent had developed CFS/ME.
And it=92s on the rise. While more than 500,000 Ontarians currently
suffer from one of three related conditions =97 CFS/ME, fibromyalgia or
multiple chemical sensitivity =97 nationally, Statistics Canada says
reports of CFS/ME in the past five years have increased by an
astonishing 24 per cent. Nor are they getting much help. Due to lack
of knowledge about CFS/ME within the medical community, there are few
specialists; Bested is one of a handful of Canadian doctors focusing
in the area. Yet she is so overloaded, she had to close her private
practice and now sees patients only at Toronto=92s Environmental Health
Clinic at Women=92s College Hospital.
"It=92s as common as diabetes, yet from a Ministry of Health
perspective, it=92s not even on the list of chronic diseases," she says,
pointing out that disability pensions can be very difficult to obtain.
"It=92s an invisible illness. I think in terms of patient populations,
they=92re getting sicker over time, because patients don=92t take it
seriously at first, since we=92re taught to push through exhaustion and
exercise more. But with this condition, you=92ll literally push yourself
into a crash."
Schellin=92s life unravelled after she developed a stomach infection
several years ago. She lost weight, then noticed muscle pain and
severe fatigue that never seemed to go away, no matter how many hours
she spent in bed. Her doctors had no answers, and it wasn=92t until she
began to see environmental health specialist Dr. Jennifer Armstrong
that the pieces fell together. The only U.S. board certified
specialist in Ottawa =97 environmental medicine isn=92t recognized in
Canada =97 Armstrong currently has a three-year waiting list for new
patients.
Part of the problem lies in how extensive a medical history must be to
put together the triggers, symptoms and treatments. After two to three
hours of taking a history, Armstrong literally has a checklist.
Patients are told to clean up their living conditions =97 everything
from getting rid of mould, carpets, paint cans, harsh cleaners,
newspapers and other allergens to moving if they live under cellphone
towers.
In many cases, an elimination diet that cuts out things like dairy,
sugar, gluten and tap water is tackled next. "In the meantime, we do
blood tests and look for vitamin deficiencies, any metabolic
abnormalities and thyroid function," she says.
"We look for evidence of infections like H. pylori or Epstein-Barr,
which can be treated with anti-bacterials in the former case and
antiviral medication in the latter."
From then on, it=92s a case of wait, wait, wait and see. "If you see a
cause and effect through the timeline, sometimes, things are quite
clear and sometimes they=92re not. Sometimes, a light bulb goes on, like
the patient had their apartment sprayed for bugs 10 years ago," she
says. "It=92s a puzzle and it=92s interesting to put it together. Some
patients want to puzzle it out and some are just too sick."
For patients without access to the limited number of specialists,
however, the case is more dire. And it is costly, since many of the
tests and potential treatments are not covered by OHIP since there is
no single diagnostic test for the condition. For example, measuring
elevated cytokines =97 signalling molecules critical to the immune
system =97 can more accurately assess inflammation, but the test is
currently used for research purposes only.
"I=92ve tried just about everything that=92s come my way," admits
Schellin. "The really difficult part is that you=92ve lost your
financial stability and you=92re looking at alternative treatments that
aren=92t covered and are extremely expensive. If you can manage to try
it, you end up in a situation where you have to rely on the goodness
of your family to pay for these treatments."
The burden of health to Canada is even greater: based on a study by
the U.K.=92s Sheffield Hallam University, the bottom line cost to the
Canadian economy is about $3.5 billion annually, while a U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention study estimated that the loss of
productivity per affected person is roughly $20,000.
Yet Bested remains hopeful that someday soon, all that will change.
Recent U.S. research has linked CFS/ME to a potential retrovirus; the
fallout is that the Red Cross and Canadian Blood Agency no longer
accept blood from those with chronic fatigue syndrome.
"This was a real step in recognizing this as a physical illness," says
Bested, who adds that the Australian research linking CFS/ME to things
like mononucleosis show "it=92s an acquired physical problem. If it
affects cell membranes and punches holes in them, well, guess what?
Anything in your body could be affected. It=92s a deregulation of the
immune system."
It=92s a small comfort to Schellin, who spends her days so crushed by
fatigue and inertia, she says she=92s "entirely focused on survival.
When I look back at my teen years, my attitude was =92why would I want a
day off when I can be making money?=92 Now I can=92t even relate to that.
I look normal, even healthy. But I feel like my life is passing me
by."
=A9 Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/invisible+illness/5437071/story.html
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