Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

A Woman Who Dared—With ME

It was late afternoon, and I could barely get my body out of bed. In fact, I had been in bed most of the last few days—or was it weeks? Even with all that rest, my legs were still too weak to stand up.

Eye-Opening Dispatch from “Kingdom of the Sick”

Laurie Edwards is all too familiar with life in the “kingdom of the sick,” which is how cultural critic Susan Sontag famously described the hidden world of chronic illness. From an early age, the 32-year old writer, blogger and mother of a young daughter has spent weeks of her life in the hospital and endured […]

Rivka Solomon Acts Up, Chronic Fatigue Be Damned

Rivka Solomon’s 2002 anthology, “That Takes Ovaries!,” still inspires action. That book (and play of the same name) even spurred its own international movement, serving as a blueprint for at least 600 open-mike speak-outs and performances in which girls and women celebrate their own “ovarian acts.” But Rivka has done much of this from bed.

Campaign Tackles Women’s Chronic Pain–But There’s a LONG Way to Go

In mid-May, supported by Reps.  Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and other prominent lawmakers, a group of advocacy organizations launched the “Campaign to End Chronic Pain in Women.” The campaign is aimed at conditions that predominantly (or only) affect women, such as chronic fatigue syndrome, interstitial cystitis and vulvodynia. It will tackle the discrimination and […]

Why Don’t Doctors Listen to Women?

I hear it all the time: Why don’t doctors listen to women? Who would know their own bodies better? Yet time and time again, women tell their doctors how they are feeling only to have the doctors make the leap to diagnosing the women as depressed or overreacting, or give some other dismissive response. Why? How do […]