Hi everyone!

I'm new here. Actually my CFS (which never came with fibromyalgia pain- only migraines and neuro symptoms) was found out to be something called Hashimoto's Encephalopathy, a rare complication of autoimmune thyroiditis (I had no idea my thyroid gland was under attack- my hormones always tested normal).

Though HE gets better with steroids, I don't think it was diagnosed early enough, so I am prone to relapses of fatigue. My illness looks a lot like CFS.

Boy, can I relate to all your stories! I think the worst part is not knowing what the day will be like ahead of time. For this reason I just stopped planning a whole lot of things. I used to be good at following a schedule but that's not realistic now.

I can also relate to Doody and the messy house. I used to be neat as a pin but now have learned to be tolerant of clutter and dust. I did get a lot of cleaning done when I was in remission, but when the fatigue came back had to stop cleaning.

And then the posts about work... It's really hard to fit in when you don't look sick but are profoundly fatigued. Very isolating! And if you aren't peppy you are looked at as having a bad attitude. To try and fix this, I am going to try and work from home. Not sure doing what, yet, but I don't want anyone to see me or judge how fast I work on my bad days.

I wish more doctors realized just how disabling fatigue is. I think that chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia are hardcore neurological diseases. I suspect that the fatigue in these diseases is the same "central fatigue" that is seen in MS and considered its most disabling symptom.

I don't know if this applies to anyone here, but for years my HE was mislabeled CFS. I guess it makes sense, since I had swollen lymph nodes in my neck (which I now realize were draining my thyroid) and there is a lot of overlap between these diseases...

I wonder if anyone here has been checked for HE? You can have totally normal thyroid hormone levels, it's the thyroid antibodies that are elevated but doctors usually do not check antibodies unless the hormones are off, first. Most doctors have never heard of HE.