Anyone who copes with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or Fibromyalgia (FM) knows there are people out there with all sorts of theories about what’s wrong with them. We’ve heard it all: You’re just depressed. If you’d exercise more, you’d feel better. The insulting “it’s all in your head.” And on and on.
The worst insult is probably: Everybody gets tired.
We know that! Before we got sick, we just got tired, too. But this fatigue is far beyond anything I (or most of the rest of us) would wish on anyone. If you can imagine how you feel on the worst day of having the flu, you can imagine how somebody with CFS feels on a good day.
That’s why it took me more than two months before I could get past the opening line to read the article I’m about to recommend.
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Coping with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS, CFIDS) and Fibromyalgia makes it difficult to maintain a social life and network of friends. Not only are we sick and tired, we are often left or forced by our symptoms to remain at home alone. Studies done by Carnegie Mellon University and the American Heart Association concluded that social isolation and loneliness can impair the immune system. Conversely, a social support system may actually strengthen the immune system.
For more information:
Being a loner reduces immunity and heart health
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Pammy is the main character in two comic strips by 
A professional writer since 1984, Pamela Rice Hahn is the author of more than 20 published books.