I rarely got sick, but then I got pneumonia in 2018…

Back in 2018, I got a nasty dose of pneumonia and a pulmonary abscess that saw me admitted to hospital. For about 24 hours, they thought it was something much worse, and I’ll tell that crazy story another time, but after recovering from the pneumonia, I developed a range of weird fatigue-based symptoms that wouldn’t go away.

These were eventually diagnosed by three doctors to be chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and as I write this FAQ, some seven years later, I’m still dealing with it. This symptom sequence is not uncommon, but I had no idea I’d still be dealing with it in 2025.

CFS is a real doozy, and I can’t overstate both the tedium of the symptoms and their constant recurrence, and the tedium of trying to explain it to people. I can feel good for months, and then just slightly overdo it at the gym and be wiped out by fatigue, stomach problems, phantom smells, and body-wide aches and pain. These bouts can last for weeks, and at their worst, literally prevent me from doing any useful work.

For those who might think, “Ha, I get tired too, what’s the problem?”, I’ll say this: as a lifelong and quite serious long-distance runner, I know a thing or two about effort, training and feeling tired. CFS is like normal tiredness, x 10, plus a hangover, and arthritis, that lasts for weeks! Honestly, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.