When Helen Wood was eight years old she struggled with constant aches across her body and chronic fatigue.
She constantly visited her GP who kept blaming the symptoms on an infection.
After years of doctor appointments, Helen who lives in Thornbury was finally diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, known as M.E. or chronic fatigue syndrome.
She was unable to continue school, leaving with no GCSEs, and now spends her days trapped in her own home.
Walking to the shops or even boarding a bus is too tiring for Helen, who is now aged 29.
Frustratingly for Helen, she finds people do not understand her illness and some throw 'strange looks' when they see her parked in a disabled bay.
Parents could be jailed or fined for drinking in front of their kids
She said: "Not every ME sufferer has the same symptoms and to look at me most people would think there is nothing wrong with me.
"ME is in fact an invisible illness and so how I look and how I feel are two different things.
"I spend most of my time on the couch. I barely leave home apart from having appointments. It's depressing. I want to get better and lead a normal life.
"I didn’t choose to be ill like this.
"We do get lots of weird looks from people when we are either parked on double yellow lines or in disabled spaces."
To raise awareness about the condition, Helen and her mum Liz will be handing out leaflets at the Mall on Saturday.
The event coincides with ME awareness week which is running until May 12.
What is ME?
According to the NHS the main symptoms are :
- sleep problems
- muscle or joint pain
- headaches
- a sore throat or sore glands that aren't swollen
- problems thinking, remembering or concentrating
- flu-like symptoms
- feeling dizzy or sick
- fast or irregular heartbeats (heart palpitations)
- Chronic fatigue
Most people find overexercising makes their symptoms worse.
The severity of symptoms can vary from day to day, or even within a day.
