Superfish suffering from chronic fatigue

[Ember]

By Rodney Stevens
29th Jan 2014 6:00 AM
Comments (1)

JUST days after being named Young Australian of the Year Jacqueline Freney has revealed she is battling chronic fatigue syndrome.

The Skennars Head Paralympic champion was diagnosed with the illness in the first week of January after eight months of testing to eliminate all other possibilities.

The 21-year-old, who was born with cerebral palsy, said extensive testing had to be done to ensure she was not suffering anything that would exacerbate her illness.

"The last 12 months have been quite a challenge for me," she said.

"I have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome so I am just taking things day by day at the moment."

Chronic fatigue is a neurological illness that affects the central nervous system.

Sufferers of the illness experience flu like symptoms, pain, disrupted sleep, difficulty thinking, and changes in blood pressure, hormones and body temperature typically after exercising.

When she received her diagnosis, Ms Freney said she stopped training and focused on getting better.

"At the moment I am just trying to stay healthy and look after myself...."

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[leela]

I really like how the explications if the illness in the media are getting more and more accurate, referring to neurological effects, CNS disruption, hormonal imbalances, and degrees of disability. It is very encouraging to feel and hear the tone shift, as well as the kind of data offered.

 

[Bob]

Thanks for posting, @Ember.
As @leela says, it includes really helpful information about ME/CFS.
But perhaps it's possible that Jacqueline is experiencing over-training syndrome, rather than ME, and will recover in a few months. (i.e. Prepare for further stories about a recovery from ME!)

 

[Ember]

The comments (2) are less encouraging.

 

[Christopher]

The comments (2) are less encouraging.

They're miserable, demented people. Don't worry about them :3

 

[Sea]

Thanks for posting, @Ember.
As @leela says, it includes really helpful information about ME/CFS.
But perhaps it's possible that Jacqueline is experiencing over-training syndrome, rather than ME, and will recover in a few months. (i.e. Prepare for further stories about a recovery from ME!)

Yes I wondered about this too. It would be hard to know what interaction Cerebral Palsy and overtraining would have together.

Having said that though, I know this girl (my children trained along side her years ago) and she has trained hard for many years so I would think she and her coaches should know the difference between pushing too hard and illness.

 

[Firestormm]

I do share the concerns, but as someone who did not know of this lady until the article, she is one heck of a superstar: https://www.facebook.com/JacquelineFreneyParalympian If she is again able to help then perhaps she could become someone to raise positive awareness about the condition. Certainly doesn't seem to be short of contacts. I do hope she improves - nightmare when this hits of course - and seems she also endured a significant period of waiting until a diagnosis was afforded. But given her profile I would imagine the diagnosis was a reliable one.