One Year Milestone
View from the Trenches of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
It’s been a year!
I am extremely grateful to all of you who have joined me here. I had no idea when I began View from the Trenches of ME where it would lead or whether I could be consistent.
This experience has brought me joy and satisfaction thanks to all of you who have subscribed, liked, shared on social media and/or reached out to me with positive feedback.
Much of the information I share in these articles is based on the International Consensus Criteria for ME and the International Consensus Primer for ME. See HERE for links in multiple languages.
How Do I Do It?
Someone recently asked me how I was able to do this since I have ME. Yes, I really do have ME and all the neurological issues that come with this disease. As is typical with ME, my thought processing is slowed, I have trouble with word finding, I have very impaired short term memory, etc. So writing these articles isn’t easy and takes much longer than it would have before ME impacted my life. Despite the challenges, I feel that putting what I’ve learned about ME into this space is worth my precious energy.
As with so much that gets done in my restricted world, it is because I have excellent support in my life. Not only does my husband (now retired) take care of our household, he reads these articles to help me be more succinct and coherent. I am sure everyone appreciates that he helps make the articles easier to read… well, as easy as this complicated topic can be.
I have loved to write since childhood and have great appreciation for the power of words. I was an executive secretary experienced in creating reports and writing business letters, and I’ve been typing since the days of manual typewriters. My parents owned a small town newspaper and I learned the importance of quality journalism at an early age.
Table of Contents
I have now published over 60 articles. Which is far more than my ME brain can keep track of. Due to that, I created a table of contents chart to help me remember what I’ve covered. I have posted this chart online to help my readers also find the information. I update it periodically and it can be found HERE.
Free
Subscribing to my Substack is free and all of the articles are free to view. Please feel free to share them with friends, family, medical professionals, etc. in order to help educate.
Thank you!
Again, my sincere thank you to everyone who has joined me on this journey. I still have a lot of topics to cover, so as long as I am able I will continue to write what I can when I can.
Colleen
Information provided here or in comments is not to be considered medical advice
Congratulations on one year, Colleen. I'm sure all your subscribers appreciate the variety and clarity of your articles, and I hope they share them widely and encourage others to subscribe. There is so much info out there and it can take a person (especially a pwme) many years to know which sources are trustworthy. When sharing your work on social media, I usually try to emphasize your decades of experience and your integrity.
The table of contents is a great idea. Many thanks to you and to your very supportive husband. Keep on writing - the M.E. education that you provide is always needed.
Congratulations, Colleen! I’ve appreciated your writing as I’ve done my own here on long COVID. Keep up the great work!