Comic: But........ you did it before by Mahli Quinn

"A wonderfully illustrated comic to explain Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Encephalopathy (M.E) also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) to other people."

The video is 6 minutes long but easy to understand. Posted by ME Association. Full description on YouTube, below the video.

I chuckled a couple of times while watching, it has some quite witty moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4Rijt8jtZg

 

That is seriously one of the best accessible/light hearted things i've seen!
It obviously doesnt cover everything, but it does explain the issue of 'but you did it before' in a way that is graspable - i love the 'shower 105%' chart.

 

1) It should have mentioned battery power levels permanently lowering after exertion. The effects of ME for some patients like me are permanent not just a few days or weeks. It should have also mentioned a change in the rate at which the battery's power is lowered per equivalent activity.

2) I don't like the focus on fatigue, what about the other symptoms of ME?

 

I see what you mean , but it isn't about fatigue but available power. The CPET testing results show that we have damage to our cellular respiration which makes the ATP that powers all the systems of the body.

Batteries are a very good analogy for us. Not having enough energy available to perform essential processes would explain all downstream symptoms.

Fatigue is common to countless conditions but it comes from inadequate energy despite properly functioning aerobic cellular respiration yet for us we start from a broken system. The visualisation of us having substandard batteries is very apt.