JOIN THE CLUB

Just a line to say I'm living,
That I'm not among the dead,
Though I'm getting more forgetfull
And mixed up in the head.

I've got used to my arthritis,
To my dentures I'm resigned,
I can cope with my bi-focals,
But - ye gods - I miss my mind.

Sometimes I can't remember,
When I'm standing by the stair,
If I should be going up for something
Or have I just come down from there?

And before the fridge so often
My mind is full of doubt,
Now did I put some food away,
Or come to take some out?

If it's not my turn to write dear
I hope you won't get sore,
I may think I have written,
And don't want to be a bore.

So remember I do love you,
And wish that you lived near,
And now it's time to mail this,
And say goodbye my dear.

At last I stand beside the mail box,
And my face - it sure is red.
Instead of posting this to you -
I've opened it instead.
Author Unknown
Reprinted from M.E. and You Newsletter
Official Journal of the M.E./C.F.S. Society of NSW Inc., March 1993

After New York

I wanted to call,
I wanted to write.
I wanted to be wity,
evocative, and bright.

But my bed reached out
and trapped me
Forcing unrelenting sleep instead.
There were even moments I thought
"I could be dead".

And if that were true
How would you know I drifted away?
So I write now to tell you
I've finally risen to face a new day.

Once again I stand, as strong as I might,
With the same old refrain:
My brain just turned left,
While my body took a right.

By Terri Wood, who wrote this poem and sent it to some of her healthy friends after a long period of being out of touch due to CFS. Reprinted from the SENTINEL, May/June 1993

CIDS
Our memory is here to stay
It's just that some days it goes away.

Pains and fever, part of the plight
Oh, how I wish they'd just take flight.

Energy, oh, how I yearn for you
I wish that soon my share would be due.

Fatigue, fatigue, go away and hide.
So I don't feel as if I'd just died.

While we hang in there biding our time
Researchers are working with their own dime.

For answers we wait and want to know
So bad press and their stories will have to eat crow.

Yuppie they say, but what about kids
Older folks too, let rename this CIDS.

The government's no better, they're slow to respond
So write a letter and create a bond

They must have our input if we're going to survive,
This mass epidemic in which they think we thrive.

Whatever the answer will finally be
when it comes, it will set us free.

Nany Smith, Author and CFIDS Patient
Reprinted from the MEssenger, August 1992

THE CFIDS ERASER

There's a big eraser in my brain,
Our memory is here to stay
It's just that some days it goes away.

Pains and fever, part of the plight
Oh, how I wish they'd just take flight.

Energy, oh how I year for you
I wish that soon my share would be due.

Fatigue, fatigue, go away and hide
So I don't feel as if I'd just died.

While we hang in there biding our time
Researchers are working with their own dime.

For answers we wait and want to know
So bad press and their stories will have to eat crow.

Yuppie they say, but what about kids
Older folks too, let's rename this CIDS

The government's no better, they're slow to respond
So write a letter and create a bond

They must have our input if we're going to survive
in which they think we thrive.
Whatever the answer will finally be
when it comes, it will set us free.
Nancy Smith, Author and CFIDS Patient,
Reprinted from The Mass.CFIDS Update, Spring 1991

In Praise of CFIDS Turtle Or Do Turtles have CFIDS?

While the world whirls by - hurry, worry and waste;
the turtle moves at a slow, steady pace.

And though it might take time--you see,
to travel the distance from point A to point B.
The slow motion it makes towards its objective;
is perfectly permissible from a turtle's perspective.

So PWC's take heart and take heed;
though the turtle's not known for notorious speed.
It still gets where it's going, and going it "gits"--
and if things get too touch, it "tucks in" and sits.

So if you "Dance with the Serpent" and
the snake takes a bite;
Just behave "like the turtle", tuck in and sit tight.
Though it may take some time---week, day or hour;
You'll be back on your feet, if you use "turtle power"!

Anonymous
Reprinted from the CFIDS Chronicle, Spring 1992
The CFIDS Association, Inc. P.O. Box 220398, Charlotte, NC 28222-0398

Medication Merry-Go-Round

Two, four, six eight, now it's time to medicate.
CFS means lots of pills, for aches and pains and other ills.
B-1, B-6, B-12 and more, iron tablets by the score
CoQ10, Omega 6, anyone for "pick-up sticks?"

Get a shot, wait and see, try intravenous therapy.
Acupuncture's on the list, a daily nap is never missed.

Range of motion exercise, slowly tried is often wise.
Forswear that glass of dry champagne, carrot juice is safe and sane.
T-cells, B-cells out of line, NK cells are in decline
Grab a fist of vitamins, brace those old "intestamines."

Once again, it's out the door, to buy up half the health food store.
Meds pile high, routines are set, are we having fun as yet?

By Genie Gengler
Excerpted from the Catharsis, Vol. I, Issue l, 1993
Reprinted from MEssenger, Summer 1993

N'T
I haven't run a marathon,
I didn't drink the beer.
I haven't got a dose of 'flue,
Nor a bout of diarhoea.
I haven't banged my head about,
Nor spun myself around.
I haven't eaten far too much,
Nor heard a violent sound.
I haven't been mistreateed,
Nor taken the wrong pill.
If that's so, they why the hell
DO I FEEL SO BLOODY ILL?

By Toni Willis
Reprinted from the MEssenger, November 1992