Chronic & Trying

Chronic & Trying Sharing the reality of living with M.E/CFS. Awareness, symptoms, crashes and pacing.

18/05/2026

Why People With M.E Say "Fine" | ME/CFS Masking and Energy Conservation.

When someone with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E) says "I'm fine," they often aren't. "Fine" is a low-energy social shorthand, a way to avoid the cognitive and emotional cost of explaining a long-term illness to people who don't have time, context or understanding. It's not deception. It's conservation.

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18/05/2026

M.E Isn't Fatigue, It's an Energy Impairment | Why Words Matter in ME/CFS.

Why is calling Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E) "fatigue" so misleading? Because it's wrong. As ME advocate Broken Battery (Adam) has highlighted using the 2021 NICE guidelines, M.E is an energy impairment that dramatically limits activity, not tiredness. People with M.E have a measurable, biological inability to produce and sustain energy at a cellular level. Using the right terminology helps clinicians, family and patients understand what M.E actually is.

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17/05/2026

Why Cooking Is So Hard With M.E | ME/CFS Daily Task Reality.

Why is something as ordinary as cooking so difficult for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E)? Because it combines physical effort, prolonged standing, sensory load and decision-making, all of which draw on the same limited energy supply. A single meal can trigger Post-Exertional Neuroimmune Exhaustion. Microwave meals, batch cooking and meal support aren't laziness; they're survival.

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17/05/2026

What Is Pacing? | M.E / ME/CFS Pacing Explained | Energy Envelope.

What is pacing for M.E? Pacing is the evidence-based management strategy for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, endorsed by the CDC and central to UK NICE 2021 guidelines after graded exercise therapy was removed. It means staying within the body’s limited energy capacity to prevent Post-Exertional Neuroimmune Exhaustion. In M.E, the energy crash comes before the symptom crash, which is why pacing must be proactive, not reactive.

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16/05/2026

The Small Things You Lose to M.E | ME/CFS and Everyday Grief.

The losses that come with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E) aren’t always dramatic. Most of them are small, eating without planning recovery, watching a whole film, walking somewhere without calculating the return journey. These quiet losses add up. People with M.E grieve in ways most people never see.

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16/05/2026

Is M.E Testable? | Dr Byron Hyde’s Nightingale Definition and Real M.E Tests.

Is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E) actually testable? Yes, though most GPs aren’t trained to look for it. Dr Byron Hyde’s Nightingale Definition established M.E as a measurable disease with documented physiological abnormalities. SPECT brain scans show reduced cerebral blood flow. Two-day cardiopulmonary exercise testing shows abnormal recovery. Tilt table tests reveal orthostatic intolerance. M.E is not a vague syndrome, it’s a diagnosable condition with measurable findings.

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15/05/2026

Why Showers Are So Exhausting With M.E | ME/CFS Daily Energy Costs.

Why is showering so exhausting for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E)? Because it combines almost every form of physiological stress at once, heat, upright posture, arm elevation, and sensory input. For many people with M.E, a single shower can trigger a crash.

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15/05/2026

The Royal Free Hospital Outbreak 1955 | Where the Name M.E Came From.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E) isn't a modern illness. The name was first used in 1955, after an outbreak at the Royal Free Hospital in London where 292 doctors, nurses and healthcare workers fell ill during a polio epidemic.

Their symptoms looked like polio but they didn't recover. The pattern was documented globally, Akureyri Iceland 1948, Los Angeles County 1934, and outbreaks in New Zealand and Australia. M.E has a 70-year clinical record.

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14/05/2026

Why do many people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E) feel better in the evenings?

Possibly because the demands of daytime - sensory input, social expectations, posture, conversation - all draw on limited energy reserves.

As the day quietens, the autonomic nervous system has less to manage.

For many people with M.E, late evening is the only stretch of the day they feel close to themselves.

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14/05/2026

Why does Awareness Day so often lead to a crash for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E)?

Because cognitive, emotional and sensory exertion all draw from the same limited energy supply.

Replying, commenting and scrolling for hours can trigger Post-Exertional Neuroimmune Exhaustion just as physical activity would.

The crash can take 24 to 72 hours to arrive and last days.

This is the real cost of being visible.

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13/05/2026

What does loneliness in
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E)
actually look like?

Not always an empty room - often a full inbox of messages you can't answer.

The cognitive and emotional energy required to maintain friendships can be enough to trigger a crash for people with M.E. Connection costs energy.

Many of us go silent not because we don't love people, but because we've run out.

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