Hip
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This poll asks whether the amount of reading you do has changed since you developed ME/CFS: are you still reading as much as you used to when you were healthy, or do you read less now that you have ME/CFS?
Here I am referring to the in-depth sort of reading, that involves getting stuck into a good book, or reading long newspaper and magazine articles and essays on interesting topics.
I am not talking about reading emails, text messages, short forum posts, or reading stuff online when you are Google searching for something, which just information hunting rather than in-depth reading.
Before getting ME/CFS, I used to be a fairly voracious reader, reading books, newspapers or magazine articles for perhaps at least 3 hours each day, sometimes much more.
However, since getting a viral brain infection in 2005, and then not long after developing ME/CFS, I have not read a single new book (nor re-read any of my best loved books), and I now rarely read newspapers and magazines (probably just a few newspaper articles a month, and even with those, I just skim through).
In my case, the brain infection led to some ADHD symptoms, making reading much more difficult. But in addition, I find that the brain fog of ME/CFS makes it hard to get much out of reading: reading requires that your mind and imagination works fluidly, because it's your mind and imagination that fleshes out the words and descriptions on the page. But I find my mind is usually too tired or brain fogged for this, so it just becomes too much effort to read, and thus I find reading is no longer enjoyable or natural.
Also, if you are like me and have the emotional flatness symptoms of ME/CFS, you may find it harder to tune into literature with an emotional content, because instead of grabbing your interest, that emotional content seems to have less meaning for you.
Watching TV is easier, because the television does all the work: you don't have to use your imagination to flesh out the written word; the TV provides all the sounds and images for you. So I find watching the news on TV, or watching a film on TV, much easier than trying to read a newspaper or book.
These days, I find I mostly read ME/CFS-related stuff online, which still requires some effort, but I make the effort because it seems to be the most pertinent topic to read if you are hoping to find treatments that may improve your health. But I would not call this in-depth reading, and I would not call this getting lost deep within an enjoyable book or article; my reading of ME/CFS stuff online is just information hunting.
Here I am referring to the in-depth sort of reading, that involves getting stuck into a good book, or reading long newspaper and magazine articles and essays on interesting topics.
I am not talking about reading emails, text messages, short forum posts, or reading stuff online when you are Google searching for something, which just information hunting rather than in-depth reading.
Before getting ME/CFS, I used to be a fairly voracious reader, reading books, newspapers or magazine articles for perhaps at least 3 hours each day, sometimes much more.
However, since getting a viral brain infection in 2005, and then not long after developing ME/CFS, I have not read a single new book (nor re-read any of my best loved books), and I now rarely read newspapers and magazines (probably just a few newspaper articles a month, and even with those, I just skim through).
In my case, the brain infection led to some ADHD symptoms, making reading much more difficult. But in addition, I find that the brain fog of ME/CFS makes it hard to get much out of reading: reading requires that your mind and imagination works fluidly, because it's your mind and imagination that fleshes out the words and descriptions on the page. But I find my mind is usually too tired or brain fogged for this, so it just becomes too much effort to read, and thus I find reading is no longer enjoyable or natural.
Also, if you are like me and have the emotional flatness symptoms of ME/CFS, you may find it harder to tune into literature with an emotional content, because instead of grabbing your interest, that emotional content seems to have less meaning for you.
Watching TV is easier, because the television does all the work: you don't have to use your imagination to flesh out the written word; the TV provides all the sounds and images for you. So I find watching the news on TV, or watching a film on TV, much easier than trying to read a newspaper or book.
These days, I find I mostly read ME/CFS-related stuff online, which still requires some effort, but I make the effort because it seems to be the most pertinent topic to read if you are hoping to find treatments that may improve your health. But I would not call this in-depth reading, and I would not call this getting lost deep within an enjoyable book or article; my reading of ME/CFS stuff online is just information hunting.
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