Former midfielder Alec Waterman was midway through his first AFL season when he was struck down with prolonged and crippling fatigue.
Alec, the son of dual West Coast Eagles premiership player Chris and older brother of current Eagles player Jake, says fatigue left him physically and mentally exhausted.
Unable end the house he was eventually delisted of your West Coast Eagles.
‘It was like a bomb going off’
“I aroused from sleep one day when i could hardly wake up, it was a like a bomb sounding,” says the now 22-year-old.
“There were months at a time when I couldn’t set off.”
Alec was told you have the infectious viral disease glandular fever and post-viral fatigue illness, but says his symptoms were a bit like those with chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME).
“While some tips i experienced was characterised as post-viral fatigue, it absolutely was all of the same symptoms,” he explains.
“There was not a test for this, so we were just eliminating exactly what it might be.”
What is chronic fatigue syndrome?
What the young athlete describes is certainly one of the toughest aspects for chronic fatigue sufferers.
The complicated disorder is characterised by extreme fatigue that can’t be explained by any underlying medical problem (among the possible factors are viral infections, genetics and thyroid issues).
And it has been viewed with scepticism by a lot of in the community, including some doctors.
Up to 240,000 Aussies are afflicted with the CFS, and that is classified as a neurological disease through the World Health Organisation (identical category as ms and Parkinson’s disease).
Blood test promises a solution to chronic fatigue sufferers
Now researchers at Stanford University Med school have identified a biomarker they believe could help identify chronic fatigue syndrome by way of a blood test, offering relief into the millions of people that suffer from the illness globally.
The researchers exposed blood cells to low salt levels to result in stress they are saying mimics the outcomes of chronic fatigue syndrome.
They then compared the blood cells’ response in 20 CFS patients and 20 men and women without the condition.
They found the pattern of airport terminal the salt stress was different on the CFS patients and says their test has the potential to be key in future that will help doctors identify and diagnose new patients.
It may even point to new avenues of treatment.
Chronic fatigue syndrome: The quest for answers
Senior study author Ron Davis, a renowned biochemist and geneticist, notes: “Too often this complaint is categorised as imaginary.
“But there’s scientific evidence this disease isn’t an fabrication to a patient’s mind.
“We clearly see a difference in exactly how healthy and chronic fatigue syndrome immune cells process stress.”
Finding scientific evidence the illness is mostly a personal quest for Dr Davis, whose son has experienced chronic fatigue syndrome for your decade.
How Alec is looking to the future
For Alec, everything forward may be a victory. Now back along with junior club Claremont from the WAFL, the inspirational young footballer says he’s taking it one day at a time.
“Do I pause to think that I’ll get a chance at AFL again at some point? I guess Anways, i do,” based on him.
“But getting completely well is my first aim using this program . concentrating on enjoying each day as it comes.
“If, and whenever, the time becomes right, I’ll definitely have another crack.”
Written by Liz McGrath.
